By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
As two LSU men’s basketball players sat at the podium Wednesday night discussing the Tigers’ 85-81 exhibition win over Central Florida, one of the player’s jersey numbers couldn’t be seen as he sat back in his chair.
So, I asked one of the LSU Sports Information Department student assistants who the player on the right was. He looked up, couldn’t see his number either, and said, “I don’t know. I’ll ask.”
And I said, “Dude, you’re the guy to ask, not the one to do the asking. You should know already.”
And usually, these students know everyone on the team without numbers.
But not this year.
“You can’t tell the players without a scorecard,” was a popular sales pitch back in the day at Major League and minor league baseball games by vendors trying to hawk game programs. And it’s true, particularly early in the season. Buy a program, find the number of the player you’re interested in, and see where he is.
That’s not the case with the LSU basketball team right now. You can find a number and name on the rosters distributed to media before games, but that may or may not mean the players are eligible to play on the team yet. They can practice before becoming eligible nowadays. And they can also get paid via NIL collectives and the like while they wait to get eligible. And if they don’t get eligible, LSU is out the money, unless it wants to sue back.
The player I was asking about was No. 1, Abdi Bashir Jr., a senior guard for the Tigers who transferred from Kansas State. He scored 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting for the Tigers in their win over Central Florida, incluing 6-of-12 shooting from three-point range.
Bashir has been eligible since he signed with LSU last June. That’s not the case for much of LSU’s Limbo roster.
“I would love to update you (on the roster), but because all my words are being used against us, I’m not going to,” LSU coach Will Wade said when asked about the status of possible incoming players to his official roster after the Central Florida win. “I’m not trying to be a jerk. I’m not. But I’m not going to talk anything about eligibility right now, just because of the situation that we’ve got.”
Smart move by Wade. He previously discussed players he hoped would soon be eligible and that got Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey angry. You won’t like Greg Sankey when he’s angry, particularly if you have any association with LSU. Sankey tends to act more like a headmaster at a hoity-toity private school for young boys than the commissioner of a major collegiate athletic conglomerate. Not very presidential.
Instead of handling emotional issues behind closed doors with the leaders of his member schools as most presidential leaders do, such as former SEC commissioner Mike Slive, who was a former lawyer and understood the law for what it is. He did not confuse law with inaccurate, misappropriated and gossip-heavy charges for a frivolous lawsuit like the one he has going against LSU at the moment so he can win a pissing match.
Sankey is mad at Wade for trying to get former St. John’s player RJ Luis on his roster. And Sankey has a point, Luis signed with two NBA teams after his college career ended with the end of the 2024-25 basketball season. But Wade is trying to adhere to Lord Sankey.
“We’re going to follow all the SEC protocols with him,” Wade said just last Tuesday. “It’s been pretty clear what the SEC protocols are on that.”
That is mighty respectful, coming from Wade, who has embraced the outlaw image and reveled in it for much of his head coaching career in college basketball.
“He didn’t travel with us to McNeese, and he hasn’t been rostered,” Wade said.
And if Wade is smart, he won’t be. Cut your losses, Wade. Come out and go one step forward with Luis. “I have no plans to roster RJ Luis.”
Maybe that will appease Sankey for the time being.
And it could help Wade get the other players he wants rostered who are in limbo – particularly 6-foot-7 forward Saliou Niang, a former pro player in Europe, 6-11 center Brice Dessert, a former pro player in Europe, and Skyy Clark, a 6-2 fifth-year senior guard from UCLA.
If Wade can get those three players, look out. That way he can play more than six or seven guys a game, which he did in his first two exhibition victories and looked good doing it. Wade likes his chances, but the Nov. 3 regular season opener is getting close.
The problem is Niang, Dessert and Clark are all already on the LSU rosters distributed before games, though not on the official roster on the LSU website. They have been on the game rosters just in case they suddenly get eligible shortly before the game, which is what happened to freshman center Michael Ruzic, a former European pro player from Zadar, Croatia, last week just a few hours before the LSU-McNeese State exhibition game.
What LSU basketball sports information legend Kent Lowe doesn’t want to happen in this season like he’s never seen before is for a player to suddenly take the court whom he doesn’t have on his roster yet. This is why Niang, Dessert and Clark have been on the game rosters, yet haven’t played. They could get the go-ahead at any time – like right before LSU’s final exhibition game at Florida State on Oct. 24.
Wade likes his chances for two or three of those making it to the roster.
“I just feel good about some of the information we have on the ground on some things,” Wade said. “I feel good about my information. We’ll see if we’re right.”
Some of the players with eligibility issues have already been cleared, Wade said, but he’s just being extra careful, which is smart. Meanwhile, everyone can practice just in case they get cleared.
“We’ve got a pretty good idea of who we’re going to play, and we’ve got a pretty good idea of who’s eligible,” Wade said. “We’ll see how it all shakes out.”
And then the most anticipated final roster in LSU Basketball history will be distributed.
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