Will Wade is not your normal college basketball coach.
Just to review, he hired a criminal lawyer from New York to help him against the NCAA in a major recruiting violations investigation of his program for most of the five years of his first term as LSU’s men’s coach from 2017-22. The NCAA found five of the most serious Level 1 violations directly attributed to Wade.
But normal college coaches tend to hire lawyers with experience working with the NCAA to combat the NCAA. It didn’t work as Wade got fired by LSU because of the violations in March of 2022 and was out of coaching for a year. Then he was exiled to a head coaching job at McNeese State, where coached the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons before landing at North Carolina State.
Here’s another part that is not normal about Wade. He got hired by the same school that fired him – LSU – just four years later.
And here are more abnormalities. LSU has started basketball practice for the 2026-27 season, but officially Wade has only four players, according to the LSU athletics website. He said he has been practicing since Tuesday with 15 players and talked about several of them by name at a press conference on Wednesday.
“We’re still working through eligibility with three or four of them,” Wade said.
Does he not even know how many exactly have eligibility issues? Is that “normal?”
Wade was quick to bring up the fact that he is not the only basketball program operating under odd circumstances. Gonzaga also only has four players officially listed on its roster, but is practicing with more than that. And BYU only lists its 2025-26 roster. But that makes none of those normal. Just part of the abnormal club.
Will Wade talked about his 15-man roster, including UCLA transfers Donovan Dent and Skyy Clark, even though those 2 are not on his official 4-man roster.https://t.co/fjPRF1IdYP
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 23, 2026
“We’ve been operating as a normal program since we started the semester in August,” Wade said.
“Normal” in secret, that is, which isn’t normal.
“Normal,” other than the fact that no one really knows for sure who is on his team, other than Wade and his staff along with friends, family, agents and LSU and NCAA officials, hopefully on those last two.
TIGER RAG PROJECTED LSU MEN’S BASKETBALL 2026-27 ROSTER (13 Of 15)
NAME, HT., WT., POS. CLASS, PREVIOUS COLLEGE OR PRO TEAM, HIGH SCHOOL, AGE
-ABDI BASHIR JR., 6-5, 170, Guard, Senior, Kansas State, Phoenix Prep, Phoenix, Arizona, Age: 22 – on official roster
-JORDAN BENDER, 6-8, 200, Forward, Freshman, Northside Christian School, St. Petersburg, Florida, Age: 18
-SKYY CLARK, 6-3, 210, Guard, Senior, UCLA, Montverde Academy, Montverde, Florida, Age: 23
-DONOVAN DENT, 6-2, 185, Guard, Senior, UCLA, Centennial High, Corona, California, Age: 22
-BRICE DESSERT, 6-11, 247, Center, Freshman, Andalou Efes pro team, Istanbul, Turkey, Age: 23
-MOUHAMED DIOUBATE, 6-8, 235, Forward, Sr., Kentucky, Putnam, Queens, New York, Age: 22 – on official roster
-GILAD LEVY, 7-3, 242, Center, Freshman, Palencia pro team, Palencia, Spain, Age: 24
*-RJ LUIS, 6-7, 215, Guard/Forward, Senior, St. John’s, Christopher Columbus High, Miami, Age: 23
-SALIOU NIANG, 6-6, 190, Forward, Freshman, Virtus pro team, Bologna, Italy, Age: 22
-AUSTIN NUNEZ, 6-2, 175, Guard, Senior, Texas-San Antonio, Wagner High, San Antonio, Texas, Age: 23 – on official roster
-MICHAEL RUZIC, 7-0, 160, Forward, Freshman, Joventut pro team, Catalonia, Spain, Age: 19
-LUKE STANSBURY, 6-2, 185, Guard, Redshirt Freshman, Stephen F. Austin, Age: 21
-DIVINE UGOCHUKWU, 6-3, 200, Guard, Junior, Michigan St., Clements High, Sugar Land, Texas, Age: 20 – on official roster
*RJ Luis received a temporary restraining order from a Baton Rouge judge against the NCAA on Aug. 24 that has allowed him to practice and potentially play for LSU this season, which begins on Nov. 3 against LSU-New Orleans. That was even though he signed contracts with two NBA teams after going undrafted in 2025 following his junior season at St. John’s. Luis will soon have to clear other legal hurdles, however. Alabama’s Charles Bediako also received a temporary restraining order from a Tuscaloosa judge, allowing him to play last season, despite previously playing in the NBA developmental league. But the same judge later sided with the NCAA and reversed the ruling after Bediako played in only five games.
And Wade is unsure when his full roster of 15 will be released, but he expects that to be done before the Nov. 3 season opener against LSU-New Orleans. None of the media outlets that cover LSU basketball have all of the 15. Most have only 13 as on the above Tiger Rag roster. The Oct. 8 exhibition game at McNeese State will likely be an impromptu get-to-know-the-team affair with media members searching for the final two.
“As great as he was, he was always better under pressure.” … the late Bill Russell, who lost an NBA title with the Celtics to Bob Pettit. https://t.co/r8U4bPfbpq
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 25, 2026
So far, LSU’s Kent Lowe, who has been the men’s basketball sports information directdor since 1988, has not filled in the missing roster pieces to reporters, and he has never been this close to a season starting without a public roster.
“Yeah, I mean, look, Kent and I were just talking, and I could release it today,” Wade said Wednesday. “But there are some reasons why I’m not. And I’m not having to say you have to agree with it. But it’s in the best interest of a couple of the players for some different reasons. So, I’m always going to err on their side. We’ll make sure we get the roster updatged when we feel like it’s in the best interest of all those guys.”
But he still discussed several players with reporters.
“I was going to ask you about the three international guys,” one reporter said at Wade’s press conference. “Those are – Saliou Niang (6-foot-6 freshman forward, age 22), a native of Dakar, Senegal, in West Africa, who recently played for the Virtus Bologna pro team in Italy, Brice Dessert (6-11 freshman center, age 23), a native of Pontoise, France, who played for the Andalou Efes pro team in Istanbul, Turkey, and Michael Ruzic (7-0 freshman center, age 19), a native of Besancon, France, with Croatian parents who played for the Joventut pro team in Catalonia, Spain.
“We got more than three,” Wade said. “But those three all bring something different. The bring some much-needed height, some much-needed physicality. Ruzic’s more skilled. Brice is much more around the basket. Niang reminds me of Tari Eason (LSU player for Wade in 2021-22 who averaged 16.9 points, 6.6 rebounds). Very similar to him. They’re all really good players and will help us quite a bit this year.”
When asked about a previously reported addition named Marcio Santos (6-8 freshman center, 23), a native of Tres Coracoes, Minas Gerais in Brazil who played for the Maccabi pro team in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wade said, “No.”
When asked what happened to Santos, Wade said, “You’d have to ask the NCAA on that.”
So, Wade is cooperating with the NCAA in his second term at LSU? That’s not normal either.
Wade also plans on cooperating with the Southeastern Conference and commissioner Greg Sankey with regards to another player who is practicing with the Tigers amid asterisks. That is former Big East Player of the Year guard/forward RJ Luis (6-7, 215). A judge ruled that Luis could play regarding an eligibility lawsuit against the NCAA last month. Those are all the rage now, but Sankey has a rule against Luis playing as he signed with two NBA teams.
“I want to be careful about not doing anything with that because of the SEC,” Wade said. “I think everybody knows who I’m talking about (Luis). With him, we’re going to go through the process. We’re going to abide by what the SEC tells us to abide by. We’re not trying to do anything to any of that. We’ll see where that ends up.”
Wow. This is the new Will Wade, which sounds more normal than his first LSU and NCAA tour.
“I wouldn’t trade our guys for anybody.”
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 23, 2026
-Will Wade on his 15-man mystery roster at press conference on Wednesday. But just 4 officially. pic.twitter.com/BDp0dJsqb1
“Looking forward to putting a product, a team, on the floor that everybody at LSU can be very proud of and that Louisiana can be very proud of,” he said.
And if the players Wade is practicing end up not staying on his team, or not staying very long, he’ll take the blame.
“Write about what an idiot I am,” he said. “Like I told our guys, we’re going to be unconventional. We’re going to be unapologetic about it. Everybody’s waiting for us to fail. That’s fine. If we fail, I own it. But I felt this was the best way to try to deliver a championship team for LSU from the jump.”
Wade thought he would do better in the transfer portal shortly after he was hired last March, but he kept being turned down and had to revert to many more overseas players than he originally planned.
“We ain’t going to be worse than we’ve been,” he said, taking a shot at former coach Matt McMahon, who was fired after back-to-back seasons of 14-18 and 3-15 in 2024-25 and 15-17 and 3-15 in 2025-26. Wade won the SEC championship in 2018-19 and reached three NCAA Tournaments, though he missed that in 2021 on suspension over the NCAA investigation and the second one in 2022 when he was fired.
“I mean, hell, what’s the downside?,” he said.
True, paying players is no longer against NCAA rules, so Wade is not an NCAA target on arrival as he was the last time.
Wade will also be staying more on the mainland in future recruiting.
“It’s going to get back to high school recruiting,” he said.
Now, that, would be normal.
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