Austin Peay sucks. No, that’s not some frat bro I’m mad at for making advances on the sister I don’t have at Bogie’s Bar — it’s an actual college basketball team that’s already secured an NCAA Tournament bid.
The Governors had no chance of making the tournament based on their resume, just like the LSU basketball team. But Austin Peay secured its bid when it defeated the odds with an improbable run in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, just like the Tigers can do in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, starting with a victory against Tennessee today.
At this point we all know LSU needs to win just three games to capture the SEC Tournament championship and punch its ticket to the big dance. Seems simple enough, right?
The problem is LSU hasn’t won three games in a row since December when it reeled off a three-game win streak against Gardner-Webb, Oral Roberts and American before regaining consciousness, remembering it’s LSU and losing to Wake Forest.
The odds are the Tigers will end up having to beat Tennessee, Texas A&M and then Kentucky, unless one of those latter two teams gets knocked off by an inferior opponent, making LSU’s path easier.
But even still, sources tell me whichever SEC opponents LSU faces will be better than the mid-major teams it won against in its last three-game win streak.
As much as I’ve been a critic of freshman forward Ben Simmons, though, the guy is going to be the top pick in the draft for a reason. Averaging 19.6 points and 11.9 rebounds per game, he has the chops to put the team on his back to muscle out a few tough games.
And with all the extra time the SEC Freshman of the Year has on his hands — here’s the obligatory “he doesn’t go to class” joke — I’d like to think he’s in the gym grinding in preparation for the upcoming slate of conference tournament games.
I’d feel much more confident about LSU’s chances if it had senior guard Keith Hornsby, who’s by far my favorite player on the team, but he is out for the season. However, freshman guard Antonio Blakeney stepped in his place and is proving he isn’t too shabby himself.
After going through a serious rough patch, struggling to reach double digit scoring and not recording more than 15 points in a game since November, he’s surpassed that number in seven of his last nine games, and he averages 22.2 with a 50 percent
shooting clip in the last five games.
That’s the kind of consistent scoring LSU needed in the backcourt all year to complement Simmons’ contributions down low. Since apparently junior guard Tim Quarterman doesn’t want to be the guy providing that, Blakeney very well can be the catalyst in the tourney.
Before the game, someone please beg sophomore forward Craig Victor II to go just a few games without picking up those stupid tick-tack fouls he loves so much. In that case, we’re talking about a team that can make some noise, as we saw when LSU beat then-No. 9 Kentucky and nearly knocked off then-No. 1 Oklahoma.
Plus, LSU has already beat every team in the SEC except South Carolina and Tennessee.
The Tigers have already lost to Tennessee, but that came after a debilitating loss against Alabama at home and was the game Hornsby got hurt.
Other than that, LSU has beat every other team in the SEC except South Carolina, but it’s unlikely the Tigers will play the Gamecocks. It’s not like they’ll have to line up against anyone they haven’t already bested.
All this boils down to two questions: Can LSU do it? Yes. But will it? I’m fairly confident the Tigers will exact their revenge against Tennessee. But after that, I’m not putting my money on an LSUvictory, because LSU.
But hey, they don’t call it March Madness for no reason. Let the lunacy begin. And, LSU, may the odds be ever in your favor.
Jacob Hamilton is a 21-year-old political science junior from Slidell, Louisiana.