“I’m not an excuse-maker … I don’t blame anybody or complain,” he said. “The reality is we didn’t take over the 22-win LSU team that went to the NCAA tournament (last season). We took over a program in crisis — zero players, zero signees.
“We really had to start at ground zero, try to put a team together and do our best moving forward. Unfortunately, wasn’t able to get it done at the level I would have liked to in January and February.”
That’s when LSU lost 14 games in a row before ending the streak with a win over Vanderbilt on Feb. 22.
That lengthy drought clearly frustrated McMahon, regardless of the circumstances he alluded to earlier.
“Yeah, I’d love to sit here and tell you the foundation is in place,” he said. “That was the goal going in, to have the culture established — a winning culture — to move the program forward.”
He hopes to use some of those tough times as a springboard going into his second season.
“The reality of it is … oftentimes you learn what not to do,” McMahon said. “You learn what corrections need to be made, whether in roster construction, culture, offensive and defensive schemes, preparation, whatever it might be.
“We’ll certainly address all of those areas and make the improvements necessary to move the program forward.”
How many players return for the 2023-24 season is a question mark with McMahon and his staff already at work identifying the team’s shortcomings.
LSU’s best player this season, All-SEC second-team forward KJ Williams, has exhausted his eligibility and is headed to the pro ranks.
Beyond that, McMahon could try and retain the three freshmen from his first recruiting class — forwards Jalen Reed, Tyrell Ward and Shawn Phillips — to build around.
They were the main players in what wound up as the No. 17 recruiting class in the 247Sports composite listing, and they combined to average 8.8 points and 6.9 rebounds after slow starts.
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