Simmons is King James - Magic Jonhson

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Magic Johnson believes Australian teenage sensation Ben Simmons is the best young player he has seen since LeBron James.

Melbourne-born Simmons has been on fire for Louisiana State University averaging 20.5 points and a league-high 13.1 rebounds to confirm his place as the expected No1 NBA draft pick in June.

“LSU’s Ben Simmons is the best all around player I’ve seen since LeBron James came out of high school straight to the NBA!” Johnson tweeted.

“Whatever team selects Ben Simmons, will be getting a player that will have an immediate impact on their squad!”

The NBA Draft rewards the teams with the worst records with the best chance of scoring the top pick and the Lakers are having a woeful year.

The backing from Johnson came just hours before Simmons’ LSU team inflicted a major upset victory over the University of Kentucky.

LSU won 85-67 in Baton Rouge on Tuesday, with Australian 19-year-old Simmons having a relatively quiet game for his high standards with 14 points, 10 rebounds and three assists.

Tim Quarterman and forward Craig Victor stepped up after Simmons was hit with two early fouls and sat out 11 minutes of the first half against ninth-ranked Kentucky.

Kentucky coach John Calipari had warned his team the highly skilled, athletic 208cm tall Simmons was a handful.

“He is a 6-9 point guard-ish guy that will go inside, score next to the basket, makes free throws so you can’t foul him and, in transition, when he brings it up, he’s a great playmaker, Calipari said.”

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Miles to Remain LSU Coach - ESPN

Les Miles will remain as coach at LSU, athletic director Joe Alleva said Saturday night, ending a week of intense speculation that he would not return.

A source involved in the talks told ESPN's Joe Schad that the decision to retain Miles was not made until the third quarter of Saturday night's 19-7 victory over Texas A&M.

The silence from LSU's administration this week about Miles' job status spoke volumes, but not as loudly as the support Tigers fans showed on Saturday. It's been a strange week in Baton Rouge.

"Obviously there's been quite a bit of speculation in the past few days about the future of our football coach and our football program," Alleva said. "I made it very clear that my policy is to wait till the end of the season, and obviously it's the end of the regular season.

"The season's complete, and I want to make it very clear and positive that Les Miles is our football coach and he will continue to be our football coach. I'm looking forward to working with Coach Miles as he leads this team to a bowl game and another great recruiting class."

After the victory over the Aggies, Tigers players lifted Miles on their shoulders and carried him down the field toward the student section as the crowd chanted "Keep Les Miles! Keep Les Miles!''

The coach said he was initially told he would remain at LSU following the game, first by school president F. King Alexander, and then by Alleva.

Decision-makers at the school, the source told Schad, felt that the media had swayed the public and that a decision to remove Miles would have been perceived as mean-spirited because he had become a sympathetic figure.

In addition, the source said the university felt it would have been difficult to ask for funds from the state in the future since a buyout of Miles' contract would have been paid by private donations.

"I am proud to be associated with a great institution, my colleagues, my coaches, my players and the president and athletic director," Miles said. "It's a joy. It's nice for them to come say to me, 'Hey, the job you've been doing, you can still do it.' I like that."

Miles' job status had been in question for more than a week, and speculation had intensified after the program's first three-game losing streak since 1999.

A source told Schad on Friday that LSU leadership was "heavily in favor" of a change but that a final decision had not been made and that Miles had not been formally informed he would not return. Another source said Miles was "very likely" to be let go soon.

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