Will Wade Says LSU Tigers Were Being 'Extra Cautious' With Shortened Rotation

The LSU Tigers took the court for the first time under Will Wade on Thursday night against the McNeese St. Cowboys, winning the game 63-60. It was a bit of a dogfight, but it was the Tigers' first exhibition with a limited roster of players.

LSU had 10 players on their roster at the event, but really only five players saw real minutes. Freshman bigs Jordan Bender and Strake Pearson ended up playing 14 minutes in total, and every other minute on the court was taken up by the starters, who all finished with at least 34 minutes played. Wade expects to have more players for the next exhibition.

"We have another couple of kids who were cleared, but we were being extra cautious not to poke the bear. We have another two that are cleared to play, but we wanted to make sure all the paperwork was final before we did it. We were not trying to do anything untoward towards any acronym. We were extra cautious," said Wade after the game.

Wade was very focused on not naming any players until they are fully cleared, but given past reporting, it's not too hard to parse through.

Skyy Clark is an easy one, as he was listed on the roster. The Tigers are clearly very confident that he is going to end up playing this season. He was a part of a Kentucky '5-in-5' ruling, but should be protected by one from California. He'll be massive for their guard depth, especially with Austin Nunez beginning the year hurt.

Less obvious, but still very clearly being targeted by LSU, are international standouts Brice Dessert, Saliou Niang and Gilad Levy. All three players could be seen on video from LSU Reveille's Tripp Buhler.

Dessert and Levy would help out Michael Ruzic, who is seemingly the only center the team has to turn to right now. Ruzic did well with 11 points and 16 rebounds, but they're going to need that depth. Dessert is a 6-foot-11 center who has spent time in France, Turkey and the EuroLeague. Levy is a massive center, listed anywhere from 7-1 to 7-3, and has spent three seasons in Israel. 

Niang could give the Tigers an elite presence on the wing next to Mo Dioubate. He is a former NBA draft pick. He is a great athlete and should be a massive asset on defense. 

There is also the case of former draft pick RJ Luis, who had received his eligibility, only to have the conference come out with a statement of rules that would almost immediately deem him ineligible. That won't get LSU to give up, but Luis wasn't with the team, unlike those other players. He'll be one to watch over the coming weeks, but things don't look great right now.

There is a reason why there have been many detractors of Wade and his recruiting practices this offseason. It's unconventional and has led to them still waiting for eligibility and roster finalization with under a month left until the campaign tips off. The coach isn't worried.

"I know everybody likes to say, 'Oh my gosh, what's gonna happen?' Look, our guys were behind in the queue. These other guys have been getting cleared, who they played with on the same teams. The other guys made more money than our guys made. We have all their contracts, we know all their situations. Like, it was inevitable that they were gonna have to clear our guys once they started clearing these kids at other schools," said Wade.

If they do get the players they expect to get, though, Wade is very confident that they'll be able to compete in the SEC.

"Oh sh--, we look good with the full group. I mean, dangerous. We look like a team that could compete with just about anybody when we've got the full group," said Wade with a smirk.