Time Out for July 3, 2009

• By GARY LANEY
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jul 3, 2009 - Page: 1C

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Trent Johnson spent a day in Omaha, Neb., during the College World Series, taking in Rosenblatt Stadium’s atmosphere as LSU’s baseball team toiled toward a national championship.

In his own sport, Johnson would like to be where Paul Mainieri’s baseball team was that week. One thing is clear though. He’ll be patient as he tries to move his team in that direction.

At mid-summer, LSU has 10 scholarship players for next season, including Malcolm White, an Ole Miss transfer who will have to sit out next season by NCAA transfer rules.

That means there will probably be nine scholarship players on the roster next season. Point guard Bo Spencer, guard Alex Farrer, center Garrett Green and freshman recruit Aaron Dotson all have had offseason surgeries. That’s almost half the scholarship players.

It’s not unusual to have injuries. It’s also not unusual to have attrition, as LSU did this season when it lost five seniors and another player who was dismissed from the team.

What is unusual is a coach who doesn’t panic and look for a quick fix at the expense of long-term goals.

Johnson hasn’t tried to fill gaps with junior college transfers he might otherwise not sign. He hasn’t gone after questionable character players still available during the summer because they are, well, questionable characters.

Outside of an unsuccessful attempt to lure top prospect Noel Johnson after he backed out of a letter of intent to troubled Southern California, LSU has been quiet in its efforts to add players to next season’s roster.

It is a frightening thought. With the way injuries can take a toll on a basketball team and with the injury histories on the LSU roster — don’t forget the knee injury that forced Tasmin Mitchell take a medical redshirt in 2007-08 — it’s not hard to imagine a few recurring injuries wreaking havoc on an already thin roster.

At the same time, this stance is admirable. If Americans spent money with the discipline Johnson builds a program, our country wouldn’t be in a financial crisis.

One stop-gap signing today costs you a prospect signing in the future. One risky-character signing today comes with a high risk of future APR hits. Johnson has chosen not to mortgage the program’s future to buy one of those quick fixes.

Instead, he’s saving and waiting for what he thinks is the wise investment. He didn’t sell out to the easy local investments — that a couple of local prospects committed so early to out-of-state programs tells you that — and has stayed focused on what he wants for 2010 and beyond.

In-state recruiting is still part of the plan, but it’s not a security blanket any more. Like a roster with nine scholarship players, that’s a scary prospect for a program that has relied on its local base in its recent history. But how things were done before hasn’t distracted Johnson.