Ben Simmons Has Played (Probably) His Last Game of College Basketball

The next LeBron? We'll find out soon

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Complex Original

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LSU, after missing out on nabbing an NCAA Tournament bid, has declined to take part in any other postseason tournament, NIT or otherwise. This means Ben Simmons, the man widely expected to be taken with the no. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, has more than likely played his very last game of college basketball, assuming he forfeits his sophomore year, which he is expected to do.

Unfortunately, that last game was a 71-38 blowout loss to Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament, one in which Simmons scored just 10 points (though he did grab 12 rebounds), earning him some Twitter slander and driving at least a few national reporters to question if his lack of aggressiveness will serve him poorly at the next level. 

Regardless of his final performance, Simmons averaged a double-double of 19 points and almost 12 rebounds for the season on an LSU team completely bereft of any other talent to surround him with (see video above). He's been compared to LeBron James, and while that seemingly happens to every highly rated college freshman making the jump to the next level these days (Andrew Wiggins, most recently), Simmons has earned it with his combination of size, athleticism, rebounding and passing ability.

It's disappointing that we won't see Simmons play a single tournament game, but for a player that all anyone could talk about while he was in college is how he'd do at the NBA level, it seems fitting.

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