Written by Mike Rutherford at SBNation.com
If the last week is any indication, LSU is just as tired as the rest of us.
Tired of the excess attention being heaped upon their star freshman, and the resulting excess attention that has been heaped upon that coverage. Tired of the debating and the joking about Johnny Jones’ coaching ability. Tired of the “overrated” chants. Tired of being treated like everything other than what they actually are: a very average college basketball team.
LSU is coming off its worst defeat of the season, a lackluster 85-65 road loss to an Arkansas team that entered Tuesday night with a 13-14 overall record and a 6-8 league mark. The 20-point defeat is the third straight embarrassing loss for the Tigers, who lost on the road by 16 to Tennessee over the weekend and fell at home to Alabama by seven last Wednesday.
Suddenly, the NCAA Tournament feels like a fool’s dream for this group that started the season ranked No. 21 in the Associated Press Top 25 and which sat atop the SEC standings by themselves just two weeks ago. Not that they really seem to care.
For the past week and a half, LSU has played with a “let’s get this over with” demeanor reminiscent of a three-win high school team ineligible to participate in the postseason. The Tigers make little effort to challenge shots around the basket, they don’t appear to be running any sort of offense on the other end of the floor, there’s no enthusiasm on the bench; basically, the guys wearing purple and gold appear desperate to be doing anything other than playing major college basketball in late February.
This issue, as with most everything pertaining to LSU, begins and ends with Ben Simmons.
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