re: Joe Lunardi just now said...

quote:

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Anyone who watched LSU Friday night and wonders how in tarnation this team managed to spend most of the past two months on the right side of the bubble -- well, you're not alone. Credit Auburn. Johnny Jones surely will. Bruce Pearl's Tigers are playing loose, unrestrained, pressure-free basketball, and are riding guard K.T. Harrell -- the former Virginia transfer, currently the hottest shooter south of the Mason-Dixon Line not named Kyle Korver -- to a raucous little SEC tourney run. But still -- come on, LSU. You really don't know how much time is left on the shot clock? With 22 seconds left in regulation, up by one, with a tight clock on a sideline out-of-bounds, you're just going to casually reset your offense? You're really that oblivious? That faux pas was only LSU's most glaring. There were plenty more. It was the kind of performance -- against a team that won just four SEC games all season, and whose RPI just broke the 150 mark -- that should at least put what seemed like a relatively secure bid into question. Thing is, LSU is probably OK. For as bad as Jones' team (and let's be real, Jones himself) was Friday night, it also entered the SEC tournament having won at Arkansas. LSU is still carrying a big nonconference road win at West Virginia, and it's still boasting a 13-5 record against the RPI top 100. That's a lot more than most bubble teams have to offer, bad losses notwithstanding. And considering how many of those bubble teams (including Ole Miss) have melted during conference tournament play this week, Friday night's eye-test fiasco almost certainly won't be enough to cost LSU its ticket. (But still, LSU. Really?)

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