Why It's So Important LSU Basketball Earned Double Bye in SEC Tournament
For well over a week, LSU coach Will Wade has consistently talked about the first goal for the Tigers' postseason run being to earn a double bye in the SEC tournament. The purple and gold achieved that first goal on Tuesday with an 83-68 win over Vanderbilt as the Tigers will finish top four in the conference for a third straight season.
With the top four finish secured, it allows LSU to not have to play the first two days of the tournament. That's signifcant for many reasons, not the least of which is it gives LSU a better chance to make it to the final game of the tournament.
Most important for Wade and the Tigers is that securing the double bye ensures that the team will play a quality opponent.
"Barring some major upset, it ensures that your first game in the tournament is going to be all for gain and nothing to lose," Wade said. "You're not putting yourself in a tough spot where you gotta win a tough neutral site game over a Quad 3 opponent. The rest is big and if you wanna win the thing it's a lot easier to play three games in three days than four games in four days."
While LSU baseball has made it a time honored tradition to win the SEC tournament over the last 30 years, it's been a completely different story for LSU basketball. The most successful stretch in the tournament for the purple and gold was from 1979-81. During that three year period, the Tigers made it to the tournament semifinals in '79 and '81 while capturing the lone tournament win in 1980.
LSU under Wade has had similar success to those teams during the regular season as the win over Vanderbilt secured a third straight 10-win conference season, something that hasn't been done in nearly 30 years.
"That’s not easy to do and certainly not easy to around here. I think that is very good for our program and where we are and where we want to continue to be," Wade said. "If I'd have told you the day I took the job that three out of four years we'd finish in the top four y'all would've laughed me off the podium. Do I wanna be better than we are now? Hell yeah. But at the end of the day it's not all bad."
Wade knows that the mark of any successful program is consistency and that's what he has brought the last four years to the program. To keep putting LSU in a competitive position to get multiple attempts at winning an SEC tournament and advancing in the NCAA tournament.
"The more cracks you give yourself at it, eventually you're gonna break through," Wade said. "We're not gonna win the SEC every year but if you're in the top four every year, you're in the conversation, you're gonna give yourself an opportunity to win it. At the end of the day that's what it's about.
"We came here and said that we wanted to build a consistent program. That’s about as consistent as it gets, finishing in the top four of the SEC. Every year you’re going to give yourself an opportunity to do great things."
