Hello, LSU: The Tigers at a glance

Sometimes the committee gets things right, like it did with the pairing of NC State and LSU. These teams are the same in the sense that they can be great and incredibly confusing within a short span of time. Also, they are incredibly similar in overall quality. Ken Pomeroy's site predicts a one-point win by NCSU. Thursday night could get weird. Really weird. Probably not in a good way.

Just who are these NC Stateish Southeastern Conference chaps? Perhaps this is the UNC State we've heard so much about recently? Below is a quick overview (the full preview will come later in the week), plus some fun facts for fun-related purposes.

LSU vitals

Record: 22-10 (11-8)
Pomeroy ranking: No. 43
Wins vs. Pomeroy top-100: 12
Best win: West Virginia (No. 25 in Pomeroy Ratings)
Worst loss: Missouri (No. 210 in Pomeroy Ratings)

Adjusted tempo: 69.8 poss/40 minutes (ranks 13th)
Adjusted offensive efficiency: 106.8 (ranks 75th)
Adjusted defensive efficiency: 94.7 (ranks 37th)

LSU @ StatSheet
LSU roster
LSU schedule
LSU stats 2015

Fun facts!

-- LSU is making its 21st NCAA tournament appearance and has been to the Final Four on four occasions. The Tigers' first trip to the Final Four was in 1953, by way of Raleigh. They beat Lebanon Valley and Holy Cross in Reynolds Coliseum to advance to the national semifinals that season.

--  In 1966, Press Maravich left NC State after two years as head coach for the head gig in Baton Rouge, and he took his son Pete Maravich with him. This still bums me out. Maravich's tenure at LSU was actually a mess for the most part, but still, we coulda had Pistol Pete, man!. (Weren't academics the issue with Pistol Pete? Correct me if I'm wrong here.)

-- Tigers head coach Johnny Jones briefly served as an assistant coach for Mark Gottfried at Alabama. Jones, who is in his third season, never coached Ralston Turner. Turner opted out after the Tigers fired Jones' predecessor.

-- NC State and LSU have never met on the basketball court, but this could be the first of two meetings between them in 2015. Both teams are also in the 2015 Legends Classic field.

-- LSU's leading scorer is forward Jarell Martin. You can't spell Jarell Martin without Errant Jam. I'm just saying. LSU's second-leading scorer is forward Jordan Mickey. An anagram for Jordan Mickey is Jay Rim-Conked. ("Rim-conked" is the basketball term for when you go up for a dunk and knock yourself unconscious by accidentally hitting your head on the rim. After Mickey dunks, a teammate might be heard saying, "Oh, J. rim-conked again.") LSU's third-leading scorer is guard Keith Hornsby, whose name can be rearranged into only one anagram with the word boner in it. Yeah, I was disappointed too.