For LSU basketball, what's next following season-ending loss in SEC Tournament?

What's next for LSU basketball?

The answer to that question won't be easy to find after the season ended for the 14th-seeded Tigers in a 77-68 defeat to sixth-seeded Vanderbilt in the second round of the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday.

This season, coach Matt McMahon's first in Baton Rouge, was undoubtedly one to forget, even following the Tigers upset over 11th-seeded Georgia in the first round of the SEC Tournament.

The Tigers may have started the season at 12-1 and with a win over then-No. 9 Arkansas. But from then on, almost everything else went downhill. LSU's 16 SEC losses during the regular season were tied for the second-most defeats the program has had in conference play.

LSU (14-19, 3-16 SEC) also finished one loss away from tying the program record for consecutive losses and didn't win its first game of 2023 until Feb. 22.

"Yeah, I'd love to sit here and tell you that the foundation is in place. That was the goal going in, to have the culture established, a winning culture, to move the program forward," McMahon said following the Vanderbilt loss. "But the reality of it is when you finish January and February the way we did, oftentimes you learn what not to do. You learn what corrections need to be made, whether that's in roster construction, culture, offensive, defensive schemes, preparation, whatever it might be."

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The good news is the only direction LSU is likely to go from here is up.

The Tigers are losing their best player, KJ Williams, and project to bring back a roster that lacks talent across the board. But those circumstances are exceedingly more comfortable than what McMahon inherited when he had zero freshman signees and every scholarship player he inherited entered the transfer portal or NBA Draft shortly after his arrival.

"My goal is the same every year: I want to help our players and team max out and become the best we're capable of being. Whether that's 15 wins, 18 wins, 31 wins ...," McMahon said. "I don't think we were able to get that accomplished this year. That's clearly my responsibility. But there's the reality, also, I'm well aware. I'm not an excuse-maker. I don't blame anybody or complain. The reality is we didn't take over the 22-win LSU team that went to the NCAA Tournament."

At least this offseason McMahon has a baseline of success, or lack thereof, to work with and young players he's had the chance to develop over a season.

Freshmen Tyrell Ward and Shawn Phillips were far from perfect, but both showed flashes during the second half of the season as potential key contributors. Freshman Jalen Reed struggled, but still has the physical tools to be a building block moving forward.

Assuming the trio doesn't enter the transfer portal, they'll be back along with freshman Corneilous Williams, who sat out as a medical redshirt after injuring his shoulder in a car accident.

As for the rest of the Tigers' roster, their futures with the program are less clear.

Justice Hill, Trae Hannibal, Derek Fountain, Mwani Wilkinson, Justice Williams, Kendal Coleman, Cam Hayes and Adam Miller are all eligible to return. Some of them will return. But after such a poor campaign, it's hard to imagine McMahon and his staff being willing to run it back with most of that core heading into next season.

There's a lot of uncertainty surrounding what's next for LSU. However, the one certainty this offseason is that changes will be made.

"At the end of the day, (we) didn't get the job done at the level I would have liked to have gotten it done," McMahon said. "We'll learn from it, and look forward to moving into the future."

Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser and the USA TODAY Sports South Region. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU basketball: What's next after season-ending loss in SEC Tournament?