LSU Basketball Practice Report: A look at Will Wade’s “new normal”

By CODY WORSHAM | Tiger Rag Editor 

First year basketball head coach Will Wade promised “a new normal” for LSU.

His first official practice certainly had a new look to it.

Five of his seven new players joined seven returners on the floor Friday for a 45-minute session open to the media, in addition to a longer portion not open to the press.

Before practice, the team spent time meditating, a tool Wade himself utilizes.

The Zen stopped at the door, though, as the session was packed with energy and uptempo drill work.

After a warm up, the team ran through several half court sets. Wade divided his teams into Gold and Purple.

Gold: Skylar Mays, Marshall Graves, Brandon Sampson, Aaron Epps, Mayan Kiir, Reed Vial

Purple: Tremont Waters, Daryl Edwards, Brandon Rachal, Wayde Sims, Duop Reath, Kavell Bigby-Williams.

Injured players Jeremy Combs and Galen Alexander spent practice on the stationary bike with strength coach Greg Goldin.

Wade was very particular about his team’s spacing and timing. Every miscue, be it by a centimeter or a millisecond, was met with a loud, forceful correction.

The team then split up into guards and bigs. Greg Heiar and Bill Armstrong took the guards, while Tony Benford and Wade took the bigs.

I got a better view of the guards, who worked out right in front of us. Heiar, known in college hoops circles for his player development, had three stations running, including one with tennis balls. Players would dribble with one hand and, when changing directions, toss the tennis ball in the air and catch with the other hand.

Shortly after the guards started working on screen and roll defense.

The bigs worked mostly on screen and roll and pick and pop footwork.

Some photos and videos below:

 

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