THE WILL WADE PROBLEM AND THE SEC TOURNAMENT...

      Now that LSU has suspended Will Wade the SEC faces some interesting decisions in the SEC Tournament. No one is going to tell LSU they shouldn't play for the league's automatic berth, but the entire situation smells like a three day old dead fish. If the allegations about Wade and Javonte Smith are true it is very possible that every LSU win will be forfeited. If Wade bought Smith, a natural question arises. Did Wade buy other players as well? That is only logical. If a coach will steal little he will steal big, won't he? LSU and the SEC are in a bad spot. The havoc that will fall on LSU and the rippling effect on the other SEC teams will need to be addressed. 

      Wade isn't going to admit to any complicity in the matter regardless if it gets LSU put on probation.  My sense from reading the transcript of the conversation between Wade and the alleged bag man is pretty damning in my opinion. Wade has asked the public to withhold judgment about the matter until "all the facts" are disclosed. That sounds reasonable and even has a ring of legal fairness to the request. The problem is that LSU and Wade are not in a court of law. The SEC and the NCAA will not rock the boat prior to the conclusion of the NCAA Tournament.

     I know that LSU fans are upset, but not at Wade. They are upset at the LSU AD and the SEC Commissioner for even suggesting that something is wrong with the Tiger program. When a coach is winning fans can justify anything. That appears to be what LSU fans are doing. It has been a decade since the Tigers have had a share of an SEC Crown. If they get one in Nashville it will have questions of cheating and player buying surrounding it. The Tournament had a dynamic that a past Tournaments didn't have. Several teams have an excellent chance of taking home the crown.  Now it just smells like a cesspool. That's bad for the SEC. Right now it is hard to believe LSU is entitled to the title. Say what you will about Avery Johnson, but he hasn't put 'Bama in that position. Maybe his problem is that he won't cheat.