re: Bubble Watch: LSU Gets the Boot

"It's not just LSU's losses. It's how the losses happened. It's letting Retin Obasohan put 35 on you in your own building. It's managing just 0.87 points per possession against Tennessee, the SEC's 12th-best defense. It's repeating that exact figure against Arkansas -- the league's 10th-ranked per-possession defense -- three nights later. It's how utterly the team collapsed in the second half of those two losses, when UT scored 50 points, the Razorbacks 51, how both games devolved into blowouts. It's the postgame interviews with Keith Hornsby and Craig Victor II and Ben Simmons all essentially agreeing that the Tigers were not playing hard. It's coach Johnny Jones, in a brave attempt to remain positive, disagreeing with that premise despite all evidence to the contrary. It's a team that is clearly talented in ways that go beyond the future No. 1 draft pick. A team that has added stagnant, predictable offense to its pre-existing defensive woes -- a team that needed a strong SEC season and an even stronger finish to overcome its disastrous nonconference portion of the season. That's what's most disappointing about LSU. It's not that the Tigers won't make the NCAA tournament. It's that most of the time, it's impossible to tell if they even care."