The LSU Tigers really haven’t been an elite college hoops program since the days of Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Jackson, and coach Dale Brown in the early 1990’s.
Over the past decade, the school has sent a number of players to the NBA ranks like Glen “Big Baby” Davis, Brandon Bass, and Marcus Thornton, even though the team has had mediocre success in the top-heavy SEC Conference led by Kentucky and Florida.
But for those lifelong, diehard Tigers fans, help is on the way in the form of #1 ranked high school player Ben Simmons and 5 star guard Antonio Blakeney for next season.
Currently, the team features 2 elite big men in the form of super sophomores Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin, both of whom will be playing in the NBA in the near future. Surely 3rd year coach Johnny Jones hopes both Mickey and Martin will stick around to be paired with Simmons and Blakeney, in an effort to give Kentucky a run for their money next season.
This season, the 6’10 Martin has been a beast, scoring 16.2 ppg, pulling in 8.9 boards per game, tallying an impressive 14 double-doubles on the year.
In addition to putting up 28 points and 13 rebounds in a win against Florida on Saturday, he had the signature dunk of the weekend, bringing back memories of former NBA Slam Dunk Champion Isaiah “JR” Rider, who won the 1994 NBA Dunk crown for his now famous “East Bay Funk Dunk”, bringing the ball between the legs midair while dunking.
Check out Jarell Martin, finishing off an impressive in game “Eastbay Funk Dunk” over the weekend….
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen has also provided content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, Cleveland.com, CSN Philly.com, Buckets Magazine, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
