Streeter Lecka / Getty Images file

Things are only looking up for LSU's Tyrus Thomas, who has secured himself a spot high in the NBA draft with his play in the NCAA Tournament, NBCSports.com contributor Ray Glier writes.

It is difficult for teams to cope with the defensive pressure of LSU’s guards, Garrett Temple and Darrel Mitchell, but the last two feet to the rim are pure labor because of Thomas.

It’s ironic, but two of the three SEC players in the Final Four with immediate pro potential — LSU’s Thomas and Florida’s Noah — were unknowns last season; Thomas because he was a red-shirt (neck injury) and Noah because he rode the bench. Both players are fierce competitors whose intensity vibrates to teammates on the court.

Thomas is averaging 12 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks per game. He has made extraordinary gains since his senior season at McKinley High School in Baton Rouge.

“I barely made second-team All-State,” Thomas said.

LSU did not even have a scholarship for Thomas in September 2003 as he started his senior season, but Thomas had gotten got out of town for an AAU Tournament in Florida and recruiting hounds got a glimpse of his athleticism, savvy for the game and desire. The Tigers had to move.

They knew how good he was, and they offered the 6-foot-6 inch high school center just about the time he started to grow. Miami and Virginia Tech were on him hard, but LSU had him because they had Glen Davis, Thomas’ childhood friend. When a junior college recruit, Spencer Ford, was kicked off his JC team in January 2004, LSU rescinded the scholarship and gave it to Thomas.

He was still a ways off. When he got to campus in 2004 and had to red-shirt because of his neck, which he hurt the first week of practice, Thomas went to work with LSU assistant coach John Treloar. He and Temple, another red-shirt freshman, would work out before games with Treloar honing individual skills.

They would even work out on the road 90 minutes before games and had to endure some verbal abuse from early arriving fans in Lexington, Starkville, Oxford, among other places.

“They knew everything about you at Kentucky, your mother’s name, where you went to school,” Thomas said. “We shut up just about everybody by making shots and looking good out there.”

Still, it was true-freshman forward Tasmin Mitchell, a McDonald’s All-American, who was expected to be the SEC’s newcomer to watch when this season started.

Then came the Jan. 7 game with UConn in Hartford, a one-point LSU loss to the No. 2 team in the country. Thomas had 15 points, 13 rebounds, and seven blocks against Josh Boone and Hilton Armstrong. He was a secret no more.

In a 2006 NBA draft that will not include the usual high school stars who are drafted on upside, Thomas probably will be a lottery pick.

Davis, his roommate and best friend, said in February they both would be back in 2007 to get a national championship, but they are in the hunt for the title now because Thomas’ overall game has soared.

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Jae C. Hong / AP

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