Will Wade is back in front of LSU fans today, and this time he’s finally set to answer questions about the roster he’s been building since March.
Wade will hold his first press conference since being introduced as LSU’s men’s basketball coach on March 30. The session is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Courtside Club in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, where he’ll discuss the team he’s piecing together for the 2026-27 season.
LSU’s website still lists only four players on the roster: Kansas State senior transfer guard Abdi Bashir Jr., Kentucky senior transfer forward Mouhamed Dioubate, Texas-San Antonio senior transfer guard Austin Nunez and Michigan State junior transfer guard Divine Ugochukwu. But Wade has also landed a group of signees over the summer that LSU has not announced yet, and the school may release the full roster before today’s press conference.
The Tigers had their first practice on Tuesday, so the clock is already ticking toward the next public checkpoint. LSU opens exhibition play Oct. 8 at McNeese State and starts the regular season Nov. 3 against LSU-New Orleans at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
When Wade was introduced in March, he made it clear he wasn’t selling a slow rebuild. “We’re coming back to make history,” Wade said on March 30 before a raucous crowd at the Assembly Center.
“We’re going to make history one way or the other. We’re coming back to try to hang a banner, win a national championship, or I’m going to be the first coach fired from the same school twice.
It’s going to be a fun ride one way or the other, ain’t no doubt about that.”
He added: “I want everybody to know with LSU basketball, our time is now,” he said on March 30. “I didn’t come here to reflect and talk about the past and any of that stuff.
I came here to win, and we’re going to win immediately. This not something that’s going to take long.
We’re going to get in that portal when it opens next Monday and we’re going to put together a winner because everybody in here deserves a winner.”
Wade coached LSU from 2017-22 and delivered the program’s first Southeastern Conference title in the 2018-19 season, when the Tigers went 25-5 and 15-2. His first run ended under the cloud of an NCAA investigation that followed him throughout his tenure. LSU suspended him before the NCAA issued its notice of allegations on March 8, 2022, and the school fired him on March 12, 2022 amid voluminous major violations.
After LSU, Wade coached McNeese State for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, then spent the 2025-26 season at North Carolina State before LSU brought him back after that season.
The roster picture has taken shape quickly, even if not all of it has been officially rolled out yet. Tiger Rag’s projected 12-man LSU roster includes Bashir Jr., Jordan Bender, Clark, Dent, Brice Dessert, Dioubate, RJ Luis, Saliou Niang, Nunez, Michael Ruzic, Marcio Santos and Ugochukwu.
Among the more complicated names is Luis, who received a temporary restraining order from a Baton Rouge judge against the NCAA on Aug. 24.
That ruling allowed him to practice and potentially play for LSU this season, even though he signed contracts with two NBA teams after going undrafted in 2025 following his junior season at St. John’s.
He still has to clear other legal hurdles.
LSU’s roster remains unfinished on paper, but the coach is finally ready to talk about where things stand. Today should tell the rest of the story.
In Other News...
LSU's Offense Just Raised A Bigger Sam Leavitt Concern
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Leavitt finished 16 of 27 for 158 yards with a touchdown and an interception, while adding 63 rushing yards and another score on the ground. Lane Kiffin pointed to missed chances through the air, said some of the issues were tied to Leavitt missing practice, and stressed that the offense has to protect better and execute cleaner moving forward, which makes the next step for the passing game an important one for LSU. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Turns LSU Loss Into Bigger SEC Scheduling Frustration
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For LSU, the complaint lands in a familiar place because Oxford has long been one of the leagues tougher road environments, and Kiffin noted the home-field edge and crowd noise as factors that hurt his team. The bigger frustration now is not just what happened in the game, but how the setup kept LSU in the same uncomfortable spot twice in a row, leaving the scheduling conversation hanging over an otherwise straightforward result. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Gets A Telling Warning From Mike Elko Before SEC Showdown
With LSU heading into another SEC test, Texas A&M coach Mike Elko offered a useful scouting lens on what his defense expects to see when the Tigers line up across from them. Elko pointed to LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt as a competitive, physical presence, the kind of player who can shape a game by staying tough through contact and keeping plays alive.
Elko also touched on how little direct exposure he has had to Lane Kiffins offense, even while making clear he respects what Kiffin has built over the years. For LSU, that combination matters because it frames this matchup as more than a simple talent check. It is also a chess match against a coach who likes what he sees from the Tigers quarterback and knows enough about Kiffin to understand how much discipline this game could demand. [Read more 🡒]