With 2019 in full swing, why not spend some time establishing some New Year’s Resolutions? Of course we all have the typical lose weight, get healthier, don’t go out as much, but what about our favorite sports teams? Well, I’ll try my best to answer that question right here and this time I’ll focus in on the LSU Tigers!
LSU Football: Improve on Punt Returns
While it’s easy to say that the first thing the football program needs to put in their resolutions is crash the college football playoff, that’d be too easy to say that and honestly that’s the expectation we all have about the Tigers next season. You have all the talent that’s coming back along with one of the best recruiting classes in recent memory and you have a recipe for success in 2019 and beyond. However, that’s a tough goal as long as Nick Saban is still in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
That being said, I’ll put this as a new year’s resolution because it’s been a glaring issue all season long. We saw some of the questionable decision making from Jonathan Giles and some muffed punts during crunch time is something that many fans would like to see be fixed. Thankfully, there’s someone like Derek Stingley Jr. that has gotten some reps during bowl practice.
LSU Men’s Basketball: Make the Big Dance
While the expectations for this basketball team is to make it back to the big dance after missing out on it the last few years, it feels like it’s a lot more attainable largely because of how good the conference looks as a whole. The conference of Dixie has a ton of quality teams like Tennessee (11-1) and the Mississippi State Bulldogs (12-1) and LSU is in the mix with them after the start of non-conference play.
The Tigers have a lot of talent up and down the roster, but you’ll need them to step up significantly if they want to achieve that goal. You’re going to have to see Naz Reid step up once SEC play gets started along with the continued consistency of Tremont Waters. Most importantly, they need to get a couple of wins in the SEC tournament to solidify their resume.
LSU Women’s Basketball: Make it Back to the Big Dance
When you look at Nikki Fargas’ women’s basketball team, there’s a lot of positives at this point in the season with only three losses on the board in non-conference play. While the SEC isn’t as stacked on this side of the world like men’s basketball is, there’s still a lot of landmines that they have to deal with and obviously you’ve got one of the big dogs in the sport in Mississippi State.
Much like Will Wade’s crew, the Tigers will also likely need a couple wins in the conference tournament to get into the dance unless they wind up running the table.
LSU Softball: Get Back to OKC
LSU Softball has been on the rise the last couple of seasons, but came up short in the Super Regional of making it back to the Women’s College World Series. It’s a work in progress, but Beth Torina has a chance to do some good things in 2019.
The pitching staff at first glance isn’t the world beater that we had seen in previous seasons, but those issues can certainly be ironed out as the season progresses, but they’ll be tested with matchups against programs like Oregon and Florida State and that will likely be a huge positive once they flip the switch to conference play.
LSU Baseball: Make It Back to Omaha
It’s Omaha or bust this season. With all the players coming back this year, the hype around LSU is at an all-time high concerning the baseball program. Just read off some of the names coming back: Antoine Duplantis, Zach Watson, Daniel Cabrera, Zach Hess. This is a team that’s got a lot going for them and they haven’t even played an inning.
Also, not using a Jack/Johnny Wholestaff setup during midweek games would be nice. Just saying.
-Clint Domingue