It is best known for being the lowest seeded team (11th) in the NCAA tournament to reach the Final Four (later matched by George Mason in 2006, VCU in 2011, Loyola–Chicago in 2018, UCLA in 2021, and NC State in 2024).
Star forward Jerry Reynolds had left LSU early for the NBA draft.
The Tigers originally had two seven-footers and a third player near that height on their roster, but only one was available by the start of the season—6–11 Damon Vance was declared academically ineligible, and 7-1 freshman and future NBA player Tito Horford either left the team or was dismissed, depending on the source.
[2][3] The other seven-footer, Zoran Jovanovich, suffered a season-ending knee injury during the team's Christmas break.
[3] Two other players were declared academically ineligible—Dennis Brown, reportedly a solid engineering student, took too few courses in his major and was ruled out for the entire season, and star forward Nikita Wilson failed two courses in the fall semester, ruling him out for the spring semester.