Peers’ criticism stung Wade, but hasn’t deterred LSU’s controversial recruiting plan
By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – Will Wade was surprised.
And that’s unexpected by someone who has spent the majority of his previous 12 seasons as an NCAA Division 1 head men’s basketball coach unafraid to backstroke through controversial cesspools.
Wade, named LSU’s new head coach for a second time in his career on March 26, said he didn’t expect the largely negative criticism he has received for filling half of his 2026-27 roster with 20-something-year-old players with professional experience.
“Usually, I know if I say or do something that there may be some backlash,” Wade said Tuesday after his appearance at the annual Louisiana High School Coaches Association clinic in Baton Rouge.
“This time, I was pretty shocked at the reaction.”
Not only did Michigan State’s Tom Izzo (identified by college basketball reporter Jon Rothstein) allegedly refer to Wade as an “an idiot a-hole for the sake of being an idiot a-hole —– it up for everyone else,” but fellow SEC coach Todd Golden of Florida weighed in.
“When you’re bringing in 25-, 26-year-olds that have first of all been drafted and have played professionally for an extended period of time — that’s not what college athletics is supposed to be,” Golden said.
“I know a lot of it has changed. The financial pieces are as important and influential as ever, but this is not what college basketball is supposed to be. This is not what it’s about. We’re going to have to see if guys like this can get cleared or not. I don’t think they have a great chance, but you never know. Maybe Will knows more than us.”
The one thing the extremely analytical Wade knows is numbers. Whether it’s strength of schedule or which of his players shoot three-points more accurately from certain spots on the floor than others, he has usually done his research.
Wade, with no returning players from previous LSU coach Matt McMahon’s roster, had a pointed response to those critical of his pro-heavy roster.
“There’s 21 pro players in the SEC right now that are paid more than our guys,” Wade said.
Wade’s six pro signees (five international, one from the United States) are:
• G Yam Madar, 6-3, 181, Fr., Hapoel pro team in Tel Aviv, Israel, native of Beit Dugan, Israel.
• C Michael Ruzic, 7-0, 160, Fr., Joventut club pro team in Catalonia, Spain, native of Besancon, France.
• C Marcio Santos, Center, 6-8, 250, Fr. Maccabi Rapyd pro team in Tel Aviv, Israel, native of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
• C Brice Dessert, 6-11, 247, Fr., Andalou Efes pro team in Istanbul, Turkey, native of Pontoise, France.
• F Saliou Niang, Forward, 6-6, 190, Fr., Virtus pro team in Bologna, Italy, native of Dakar, Senegal, West Africa.
• G-F RJ Luis Jr., Guard/Forward, 6-7, 215, Sr., NBA G-League, native of Miami.
College transfers include Kansas State senior guard Abdi Bashir, Michigan State junior guard Divine Ugochukwu, Kentucky senior forward Mouhamaed Dioubate and Texas-San Antonio guard Austin Nunez.
The only player redflagged so far is Ruiz, the 6-7 former St. John’s star who was named the 2025 Big East Player of the Year.
Under NCAA rules, he’s currently ineligible to play college basketball because he signed NBA and two-way contracts. The NCAA strictly enforces a bylaw dictating that any prospective or returning student-athlete who signs an NBA contract permanently loses their collegiate amateur status and eligibility.
Ruiz was not selected in the 2025 NBA Draft, and signed a two-way (to play in the G-League and NBA) contract with the Utah Jazz before joining the Boston Celtics organization on a 10-day two-way deal. Although he never officially logged regular-season NBA minutes, the NCAA classifies the signing of an NBA contract — including two-way deals, as the line of demarcation separating college and pro basketball.
Eight of LSU signees are 21 years or older. Madar, a former second-round draft pick of the Celtics in 2020 who will turn 26 in December, reportedly signed a 1-year, $5 million deal with the Tigers.
LSU expanded its men’s basketball NIL budget to $12.5 million, one of the enticements that led Wade to leave North Carolina State after one season.
Had he stayed with the Wolfpack, Wade said he had planned to pursue signing foreign players.
“We’ve been looking at it there, and studying a lot of the guys,” Wade said. “It just made natural sense to bring that over here (to LSU).
“International players are a little bit older, a little bit more mature. They’ve played in some high-leverage situations, some high-level games. They’re a little bit more prepared here starting out for success.”
Wade felt he needed to acquire such experience to be competitive in his first year back in the SEC since the end of the 2021-22 season when LSU fired him for NCAA recruiting rules violations. He was 105-51 with an SEC regular season championship and three NCAA Tournament appearances in five seasons
from 2017 to 2022.
As far as future recruiting of overseas talent, Wade said his signing numbers may not be as high.
“We think in the in the future, we can still get some younger, talented internationals,” he said. “But it won’t be as many.”
Wade said all of his signees should be on campus soon.
“We’ve doing more individual work right now,” he said. “We’ve still got kids flying in. We’re not going to be up and running until (fall) practice starts Aug. 23.
“I feel good about our roster. We wanted long, athletic guys that can compete in the SEC and needed some skill and shooting at the guard spot. We feel like we’ve accomplished a lot.”
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com