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NCAA Approves Transfer Waiver for LSU Basketball Forward Shareef O'Neal

Josh Leblanc's waiver denied but will only miss a handful of games for Tigers

LSU basketball will officially have all of its pieces for the 2020 season. On Wednesday afternoon, the Tigers received word that the NCAA had officially approved the transfer waiver for UCLA transfer Shareef O'Neal. 

The news was first reported by Jon Rothstein and officially confirmed by O'Neal himself on social media a few minutes later.

"They cleared my waiver man ! Thank god I can play this season. I was waiting and scared it wasn’t gonna happen! Thank you so much," O'Neal wrote. 

It wasn't all good news however as coach Will Wade said on Off the Bench Wednesday morning that the waiver for forward Josh Leblanc was denied, meaning Leblanc will miss the first handful of games for the purple and gold this season. 

"Shareef has just been playing tremendously. We had our last scrimmage yesterday," Wade said about O'Neal on Wednesday. "Rebounded the ball well. He can really, really help us. Been very, very pleased with his growth. He's an unbelievably talented player. You look at where he was coming out of high school, just hadn't played a lot in two years because of the surgeries and different situations and circumstances, he just hasn't played a lot, but boy now that he's starting to get the feel and in practice, he can really, really shoot the ball."

As for Leblanc, Wade has been singing his praises since the Georgetown transfer joined the program midseason in 2019. Wade views him as an elite defender who can guard 1-4 and be a huge contributor to the team this season. 

In totality, Leblanc will miss five games before the team takes on UNO on Dec. 16 according to Wade. 

"He’s going to be so good, he’s better than I thought. He’s long, he’s athletic, and he’s maybe our best defender," Wade said after just a few weeks of Leblanc being on campus. 

Wade is set to meet with the media on Thursday to preview the trip to Lincoln, Nebraska where the Tigers will take on San Francisco, Western Kentucky and Saint Louis on Nov. 25, 26 and 28.