Australian Stud Ben Simmons Chooses LSU Over Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, Others


Although Ben Simmons just moved to the United States earlier this year and only began playing high school ball for Montverde Academy (FL) in March, the Australian native has been on scouts’ radars for quite some time. Thus, the high-major college offers that followed were no surprise. Yet, his college decision might be, considering the list of suitors that were courting him. After considering the likes of Kentucky, Duke and Kansas, the 6-10 junior forward surprisingly chose LSU instead this morning. A legitimate question now is if this can ultimately help LSU’s chances of landing another highly-touted Australian recruit, Dante Exum, who the Tigers are also heavily pursuing. Taking into account the strong Aussie-connect LSU has on their coaching staff, the possibility is there. From ESPN: “LSU beat out Kentucky, Kansas and Duke to land one of the elite players in the Class of 2015 in Australian power forward Ben Simmons. “I know a lot of people will be struck by me deciding to go to LSU, but that’s where I felt most comfortable,” Simmons told ESPN.com on Monday. “I feel I can progress a lot there, and I feel blessed to have offers from all those schools.” Simmons, No. 4 in the ESPN 60, is a 6-foot-10, 230-pound skilled forward and the son of Dave Simmons — who spent more than a decade playing in Australia. The younger Simmons is currently at Montverde Academy in Florida. It’s a huge pickup for Tigers coach Johnny Jones and his program, which had several ties to Simmons, the most important one being that LSU assistant David Patrick is Simmons’ godfather and played with Dave Simmons in Australia.”