With LSU struggling, Ben Simmons not likely to play in NCAA tourney

GET A GOOD look at Ben Simmons while you can. Barring an unlikely late-season run or an equally unlikely SEC Tournament title, LSU (16-12, 9-6 SEC) is not going to make the NCAA Tournament. Maybe Simmons can get to Madison Square Garden for the NIT Final Four, but while the freshman from Australia and almost certain No. 1 pick in the 2016 NBA draft has put up some amazing numbers, his team has no kind of NCAA résumé.

The Tigers' nonconference wins were over McNeese State (6-19), Kennesaw State (10-19), South Alabama (12-15), North Florida (20-10), Gardner-Webb (15-14), Oral Roberts (14-14) and American (9-18). Their nonconference losses were to Marquette, North Carolina State, College of Charleston, Houston and Wake Forest. They are 3-6 on the road, all SEC wins against Vanderbilt, Alabama and Auburn.

Before Tuesday night's 85-65 loss at Arkansas, LSU's RPI was 87, just ahead of Belmont and Albany. And Keith Hornsby, the second-leading scorer, just had a recurrence of a hernia that kept him out earlier in the season. He might not make it back.

Simmons, who was held out at the start of last Saturday's blowout loss at Tennessee because of what were termed academic issues, averages 19.5 points, 11.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists, numbers that should translate nicely to the NBA, especially when you consider he does not appear to be playing with a great cast and his coach Johnny Jones, a nice man, won't be confused with John Wooden or John Chaney as a teacher of fundamentals.

The most excruciating nine minutes of basketball I can remember watching came last March when LSU led North Carolina State, 62-48, in the NCAA game right after Villanova beat Lafayette in Pittsburgh. The Tigers scored just three more points and lost on a buzzer-beater.

I kept wondering why LSU would not get the ball to about-to-be-NBA-drafted big men Jarell Martin and Jordan Mickey. I was thinking, just throw the ball to the wing, let one big set a cross screen in the lane for the other, throw it in there and dunk it. Never happened.

Mickey (12 points, 14 rebounds, six blocks) and Martin (16 points, 11 rebounds), both sophomores, played their last college game. Martin went 25th to the Grizzlies, Mickey 33rd to the Celtics in the 2015 draft. And I still can't believe what I saw that night in Pittsburgh.

The legends are Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Valvano, the three men at the heart of John Feinstein's new book,

The Legends Club

.

Feinstein's great gift is the trust he has built with his subjects. They are willing to share their feelings with the author so Feinstein can relay their intimate insights and put readers in places they could never go.

I am halfway through the nearly 400 pages. Feinstein, whose seminal work, A Season on the Brink, is as relevant and as fascinating today as it was when it was written 30 years ago, explains when Coach K (Duke) and Valvano (NC State) arrived in North Carolina, Smith (North Carolina) was already a coaching legend.

Feinstein, using quotes and anecdotes from the 1980s when the rivalry took form, takes the readers back to that time all the way to this time with fresh quotes and perspective from Coach K.

If you grew up on ACC basketball as I did, this book is almost a must read. Even if you didn't, you will want to check it out and see how Valvano managed to win his national championship in 1983 the year after Smith won his first and how Coach K, managed to pass all the coaches in wins and all but John Wooden in championships.

Three teams share the country's best record. Villanova plays at Xavier Wednesday night. Arkansas-Little Rock is the third. If the Wildcats win, it almost assures them a No. 1 NCAA seed. Even if they lose, it really won't hurt them much, considering the caliber of the competition and the venue.

jerardd@phillynews.com

@DickJerardi