LSU men's basketball coach Will Wade opened a Wednesday press conference by joking his team had been practicing two-on-two, a reference to the fact that the program officially lists only four players.
Wade told reporters that 15 players have been practicing with the team this fall. LSU is not disclosing the identities of the additional players ahead of the first exhibition game against McNeese on Oct. 8.
Wade declined to list his full roster during the press conference. An LSU athletics spokesperson also declined to provide a list when requested.
LSU's official website lists only four players: Austin Nunez, Abdi Bashir Jr. Mouhamed Dioubate and Divine Ugochukwu. All are transfers.
Wade said that withholding the roster "is in the best interest of a couple of the players for some different reasons." He confirmed that all 15 players are signed, enrolled at LSU and actively practicing, though the program is still "working through eligibility" with three or four players.
The complete roster will be finalized by Nov. 3, when the regular season begins, Wade said.
"We're always gonna protect our kids," Wade said. "And there's a reason behind this. And I'm not going to sit here and explain our reasoning behind everything, but when we recruit kids, and when we go about things with our players we always are going to protect them."
Despite declining to release the full list, Wade offered to discuss individual players. He mentioned Donovan Dent and Skyy Clark, former UCLA players who secured the right to play a fifth year after successfully challenging the NCAA's age-based eligibility policy through a lawsuit.
Wade also discussed three international players practicing with the team: Michael Ruzic from Croatia, Saliou Niang from Senegal and Brice Dessert from France.
NCAA rules require players to be eligible to participate in official team practices. The NCAA allows a 45-day grace period for players to practice before eligibility is fully certified. Teams must submit their final rosters the day before the first regular-season game.
