Will Wade’s process to create his 2026-27 LSU roster has angered several SEC coaches, who feel the returning Tigers coach is pushing the boundaries of eligibility further than they should. The LSU coach had already announced that he would focus on bringing several international professional players to quickly create an experienced lineup for the Baton Rouge school.
CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander recently explained the situation as follows:
“A couple have spoken publicly, albeit with kid gloves on. Privately, a lot of coaches are fairly furious with Wade over this. … He has no issue with being a villain.”
An anonymous quote reported on Wednesday, ESPN, this Wednesday was a bit more explicit, with the unknown coach allegedly saying:
“What you’re doing is fucking it up for everyone else”
It seems the feeling is the NCAA will move to close out the loopholes that Will Wade is blatantly taking advantage of this offseason, thus closing the door on other coaches recruiting experienced players in the future. The short-term gain will only be Wade’s.
Will Wade on how he plans to approach the recruitment phase of the offseason
In the first week of May, Will Wade went on Inside College Basketball with Jon Rothstein and talked a bit about how he envisioned his recruitment drive in this offseason to go. From the get-go, he was adamant that he would use the international route to create a competitive LSU roster, and he didn’t care that this could be controversial:
“This year I’m going to lean a little heavier on the international route. This will be the last year some of those guys will be eligible. So we’re going to lean a little heavier on the international route. Those kids have a lot of experience. There’s just some natural things that they’ve learned over there that really help college basketball and can translate to us in college basketball. So we’re gonna do that,” Wade told Rothstein.
“We’re gonna certainly get some of the best guys we can from the transfer portal. We’ve gotten a couple and we’re going to try to get a couple more, but we’re going to supplement that with some overseas guys.”
So far, Will Wade has managed to get five international players to sign up for the LSU Tigers’ 2026-27 season. All but one of the players is 22 years old or above.
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