By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
What new LSU basketball coach Will Wade has been telling the many media members close to him and others for months may finally come to public fruition on Monday – the first day of classes at LSU.
That is the day when his official roster may actually grow from four guys without pictures on the LSU website to double digits as several of his commitments may become signees.
Wade’s best signee is not official yet, as he also has the most baggage. That is former St. John’s 6-foot-7 forward RJ Luis, who was the Big East player of the year in his last college season in 2024-25 when he averaged 18.2 points and 7.2 rebounds. Luis signed NBA contracts with the Utah Jazz and Boston Celtics after that season, which tends to make players ineligible by the NCAA. But LSU lawyers have been trying to finesse the situation for months and have found a local judge to help them, which tends to be all the rage in player eligibility battles recently.
Luis is expected to appear in 19th District Judge Ronald R. Johnson’s East Baton Rouge Parish court at 1:30 p.m. Monday, and a favorable ruling would not be a surprise. LSU and Luis have filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, and who hasn’t lately? The suit is asking the NCAA to disregard Luis’ NBA contracts as he played in no regular season games.
Wade just got a previous favorable court ruling on Tuesday for another top transfer commitment in UCLA fifth-year senior guard Skyy Clark. He is headed to LSU for the 2026-27 season after he and 72 other college athletes suing the NCAA for a fifth season were granted a temporary restraining order, according to the Texas Trial Group.
Clark averaged 11.5 points a game last season for the Bruins, who reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He shot 47 percent from three-point range. He was the No. 7 point guard in the country from Montverde Academy in Florida when he signed with Illinois in 2022. The 73 college athletes suing the NCAA all signed in 2022 and are claiming they deserve a fifth year, because the NCAA recently passed a new rule that gives athletes after 2022 five seasons in five years.
If Luis and Clark proceed to the LSU written roster, that would give the Tigers six players so far. The first four are previous transfer signees, including three ranked additions – No. 11 small forward Mouhamed Dioubate (No. 68 overall) of Kentucky, No. 26 shooting guard Abdi Bashri (132 overall) of Kansas State and No. 48 point guard Divine Ugochukwu (243 overall) of Michigan State. The other transfer is unranked guard Austin Nunez of Texas-San Antonio.
Wade also has four international commitments he expects to get signed and enrolled by Monday or soon after – forward Saliou Niang of Italy, center Marcio Santos of Brazil, center Brice Dessert of France and forward Michael Ruzic of Croatia. That would be 10.
And Wade has a commitment from unranked prep forward Jordan Bender of Northside Christian School in St. Petersburg, Florida.
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