The Bayou Bandit is back for LSU basketball. But an eligible starting five? That’s another story.
The tradition continues! It’s another year of our countdown of the top 100 preseason teams in college basketball until the start of the season. Each day, we will reveal the next team until we reach the team slotted at number one. Up next: LSU basketball.
For those that need a quick reminder of what happened with LSU basketball in the offseason, here goes. Even before officially letting go of head coach Matt McMahon following a 15-17 record in his fourth season, (and perhaps months before that) the Tigers were working on getting Will Wade back to Baton Rouge just four years after firing him following an FBI investigation into his program.
Wade agrees to a deal and leaves NC State after one season, punctuating a remarkable return to glory after being one of just a few head coaches actually punished for their roles in the pay-to-play scandal that also engulfed Arizona, Auburn, and Kansas, among others. But even though players are now allowed to make money, Wade is seemingly not content to stand idly by and follow rules.
Every player from last year’s LSU basketball team is gone. Wade has replaced them with a handful of legitimately eligible transfers and almost two handfuls of players that need in-court battles just to see time on the court, including RJ Luis, who was on last season’s preseason roster for the Boston Celtics. Is that allowed? Nobody knows, but that hasn’t stopped Will Wade before.
Classes started weeks ago, and there’s only four players listed on the LSU basketball roster. Obviously, we can’t build a preview with four players, so we’ll just assume a Louisiana judge lets everybody on the court, and every player with eligibility in question will receive an asterisk. (Spoiler: it’s most of them.)
It appears that college basketball jumped the shark years ago, and we’re now moving through uncharted waters with Will Wade as our fearless leader. Maybe we need to leave space on our depth chart below in case he decides halfway through the conference season that Naz Reid hasn’t used up all four years of eligibility.
Nobody knows what will happen in Baton Rouge this season. But since the Tigers are in the CBB Rank Top 100, we have to pretend we know. Without further ado, your 2026-27 LSU basketball team, give or take two-thirds of the roster.
Head coach: Will Wade (13th season overall, coached at LSU from 2017-22)
2025-26 record: 15-17 (3-15)
2026 postseason finish: No tournament
Notable departures:
- Every player from last season. All of them.
Notable non-conference games:
- at Gonzaga (Nov. 14)
- vs. Arizona State (Nov. 25) – Acrisure Series
- vs. SMU (Nov. 26) – Acrisure Series
- vs. Wake Forest (Dec. 1)
- at Houston (Dec. 13)
Projected Rotation
PG: Donovan Dent (6-2, 185, Sr.)*
2025-26 stats: 13.3 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 2.9 RPG, 1.7 SPG (UCLA)
SG: Skyy Clark (6-3, 210, Sr.)*
2025-26 stats: 11.5 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.2 SPG, 42.7 3PT% (UCLA)
SF: RJ Luis (6-7, 215, Sr.)*
2024-25 stats: 3.8 PPG, 1.7 RPG, 0.7 APG, 0.5 SPG, 49.0 FG%, 46.2 3P% (Arizona)
(Signed by Boston Celtics G-League affiliate last season)
PF: Mouhamed Dioubate (6-8, 235, Sr.)
2025-26 stats: 8.8 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 1.0 APG, 1.0 SPG, 1.0 BPG (Kentucky)
C: Brice Dessert (6-11, 247, Sr.)*
2025-26 stats: 8.7 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 0.6 APG, 1.3 BPG (Anadolu Efes – BSL, Turkey)
6: Yam Madar (6-3, 190, Sr.)*
2025-26 stats: 13.2 PPG, 4.0 APG, 3.0 RPG, 1.4 SPG (Hapoel Tel Aviv – IBSL, Israel)
7: Saliou Niang (6-8, 201, Sr.)*
2025-26 stats: 9.0 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.7 APG, 0.9 SPG (Virtus Bologna – LBA, Italy)
8: Abdi Bashir Jr. (6-5, 170, Sr.)
2025-26 stats: 13.2 PPG, 2.3 APG, 2.2 RPG, 44.4 3PT% (Kansas State)
9: Márcio Santos (6-9, 254, Sr.)*
2025-26 stats: 8.6 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 1.1 APG, 75.4 FT% (Maccabi Tel Aviv – IBSL, Israel)
10: Michael Ružić (6-8, 220, So.)*
2025-26 stats: 7.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 0.7 APG (Joventut Badalona – Liga ACB, Spain)
11: Divine Ugochukwu (6-3, 200, Jr.)
2025-26 stats: 5.1 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.4 SPG, 44.2 3PT% (Michigan State)
12: Austin Nunez (6-2, 175, Sr.)
2025-26 stats: 9.8 PPG, 2.8 APG, 2.1 RPG, 1.1 SPG, 88.5 FT% (UTSA)
13: Gilad Levy (7-3, 242, Fr.)*
2024-25 stats: 1.7 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 0.1 APG, 5.6 MPG (Afula – IBSL, Israel)
LSU basketball team MVP: RJ Luis Jr.
Obviously, this is dependent on Luis being eligible. Scratch that, actually. This is dependent on if Will Wade puts RJ Luis Jr. on the court. The former Big East Player of the Year spent one year at UMass before blossoming into a very good player for St. John’s under Rick Pitino. He declared for the draft, was signed by the Utah Jazz, traded to the Boston Celtics for Georges Niang and two future picks, then signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Maine Celtics (Boston’s G-League affiliate) before being waived. Now he’s in Baton Rouge.
If he plays, Luis is the best player on the LSU basketball roster. At 6’7″, 215, he’ll likely start on the wing, and his scoring ability speaks for itself. In his junior season with the Red Storm, Luis scored 30 against Villanova, 29 against Creighton, and 28 versus Marquette, all team wins. But his bag isn’t all just in the scoring column: Luis recorded a dozen double-doubles in his two years in The City. RJ Luis is a very talented player and he’ll make a huge difference for LSU basketball if he gets the opportunity. That “if” remains to be seen, however.
LSU basketball make-or-break player: Mouhamed Dioubate
Dioubate transferred in from Kentucky after two previous seasons at Alabama before that. Now in his third locale in the SEC, Dioubate brings a strong work ethic and physical game to Baton Rouge. Last season with the Wildcats, Dioubate started 10 of the first 11 games he saw action in, but eventually settled into a bench role as the year went on. Prior to the diminished role, Dioubate did produce some solid offensive performances, hitting the 20-point mark twice and averaging 10.4 PPG and 6.0 RPG in those 11 games.
If that is the statistical output for Dioubate this season, it’ll certainly be acceptable. However, anything less than that would be disappointing, considering Dioubate was one of just a few members of the team guaranteed to have eligibility and be able to play. He projects as the team’s starting power forward as everything stands today.
Key statistic: Personal fouls per game
First, a slight disclaimer that since absolutely zero members of last year’s team return, the 2026-27 version of LSU basketball isn’t likely to mirror the same strengths and weaknesses as the previous season. But if we have to point out something of concern, why not something discipline-related?
The Tigers averaged 18.7 fouls per game, fourth-most in the SEC last year and just shy of 300th nationally of 365 D-I teams. When the Wade era was in its heyday, the Tigers averaged 18.1 fouls per game in the 2018-19 season and 16.0 fouls per game in the 2019-20 season. Unless Huey Long rises from the dead and demands Will Wade simply put his 2018 team back on the court and see what the NCAA does about it, LSU basketball probably isn’t reaching the Sweet Sixteen again this season. But cutting down on the fouls at least makes it somewhat more plausible.
LSU basketball 2026-27 projections
Projected conference finish: 12th in the SEC
Projected postseason ceiling: NCAA Tournament second round exit