LSU Basketball Ranked No. 14 In the Athletic's "Early Top-25" Preseason List

Because of uncertainty around NBA draft, LSU could be returning more players than initially thought

If all goes well for Will Wade and the LSU basketball program over the next couple of weeks and months, the Tigers could be bringing in their deepest and most impressive roster in recent memory. On Friday, LSU was ranked No. 14 in the Athletic's preseason "Early Top-25" list by senior writer Seth Davis.

Other SEC teams to place in Davis' top-25 were Kentucky (No. 7) and Tennessee (No. 12) with Gonzaga, Baylor, Villanova, Wisconsin and Creighton rounding out the top-five.

Fresh off a 21-10 season that would've been good enough for a second consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament, there's good reason to believe that LSU could return more players from last year's team than initially thought. There are four underclassmen to watch over the coming weeks that could potentially decide to enter their names in the NBA draft, point guard Javonte Smart and forwards Darius Days, Trendon Watford and Emmitt Williams. 

All would benefit from returning another year to Baton Rouge and with the exposure they'd get from the incoming freshman and transfer class, LSU would be competing at the highest level in 2020.

"One or two of the projected returnees might enter the draft, but there doesn’t seem to be much of a demand for them so I expect this team to return mostly intact," Davis wrote. "That would mean Tigers are returning four starters from the team that tied for second in the SEC. Watford will be the leading returning scorer (13.6 points per game) and should be poised for a breakout sophomore season. Will Wade’s incoming freshman class was ranked sixth nationally by 247Sports, and O’Neal, who transferred in from UCLA midseason, will be a nice addition if he is deemed eligible to play immediately. "

Watford made his decision on Easter Sunday electing to test the NBA waters. As of now his plan is to retain his NCAA eligibility so he could return to school if he doesn’t like his draft position. He’s the No. 78 prospect according to NBADraft.net.

Obviously the loss of top scorer Skylar Mays is a hit to the team but incoming freshman Cam Thomas is a dynamic scorer the program hasn't seen in quite some time. Thomas scored 31.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists in his senior season, shooting 56% from the floor and 37% from three-point range. 

"He’s the best scorer I’ve seen come out of high school or AAU since I’ve been coaching," Wade said back in November. "He’s as prolific a scorer I’ve ever seen. Tremendous kid, tremendous family. His mother Leslie is a great lady, sister Shanice, really good people. They’ve done a great job of putting him in positions to be successful and locking in on his development."

In addition to Thomas, LSU signed guard Jalen Cook and big man Bradley Ezewiro, received commitments from four-star guard Eric Gaines, four-star forward Mwani Wilkerson and brought in transfers Josh Leblanc and Shareef O'Neal. It's the No. 6 ranked class in 2020 according to 247Sports.

Should Wade convince one or two of Smart, Days, Watford and Williams to return, LSU would be one of the favorites to win the SEC and compete for a national championship.

"Certainly we feel like we're moving in the right direction. We're gonna have a very good team and a deep team, which is important," Wade told LSUCountry in March. "We're certainly going to have a few more pieces next year and we're excited about that. That's what you want as a coach, to put the pieces to the puzzle together to make it look good. I think we will have a very, very good team next year and we're looking forward to that."