LSU's Jones: Last year wasn't a waste

LSU coach Johnny Jones says it is fair to criticize him for the Tigers' inability to earn an NCAA Tournament bid last season with the No. 1 overall NBA draft pick Ben Simmons on the roster.

"I'll be that guy who will stand up and say anything that was lacking in last year's team, you can certainly point it at me," Jones said Wednesday. "I'm the head basketball coach. At the end of the day, all that falls on my shoulder and we continue to get better. But at the end of the day, if you're in the top three in a conference of this magnitude, you'd think you'd get in the NCAA Tournament, but you just didn't have any control over that."

Jones stopped short of saying the entire season was a disappointment, pointing to LSU's accomplishments. The Tigers went 19-14 overall and 11-7 in conference play to finish in a three-way tie for third place in the league.

"I think at the end of the day, not making the tournament was a disappointment, but we did not declare that as a disappointing year for us," Jones said. "We were 8-1 at home (in conference play). We had a tremendous fan base. We averaged over 11,000 fans a game, the third-largest increase in the country last year. So a lot of positive things happened for our team last year."