It was fairly clear from early on that the superstar freshman Ben Simmons was not going to be playing in the N.C.A.A. tournament in his one season of college basketball. His Louisiana State University Tigers were ranked 21st in the preseason Associated Press poll, but struggled from the start, and were not quite good enough for a berth.
But as it turns out, Simmons will not be playing in the postseason at all. L.S.U. declined to play in the traditional second-tier tournament, the N.I.T., and also passed on the other scheduled postseason events, the College Basketball Invitational, the Collegeinsider.