The LSU game is about more than winning...

     Good vs. Evil. Is that possible in sports? Remember the winter Olympics and the 1980 game between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Communists had built an unbeatable ice hockey team. The United States team of real amateurs would be their next sacrificial lambs. Lake Placid, New York, seems like forever ago. To many readers, this post will make little sense whatsoever. For those who are older, we will turn back the hands of time and remember when good beat bad, when virtue defeated the Soviet block. The Miracle on Ice is still remembered for everything is right. It was indeed right vs. wrong.

     What does this have to do with the Southeastern Conference? LSU is a rotten basketball program coached by a man who has no idea of what morality means. The only thing that Will Wade believes in is winning. It doesn't matter what he does to reach his goal. I won't bother to repeat Wade's contribution to the FBI's tape recording of a telephone call admitting he bribed a player to come to LSU. That player is Javonte Smart. Smart is still on the LSU team, averaging 15.3 ppg, and plays more minutes than any other LSU player. That FBI tape came to light in a 2017 probe regarding cheating in College Basketball. Nothing has happened since regarding Will Wade and LSU. In a country where we espouse righteousness and honesty, it seems almost laughable that the NCAA continues to sit by on the four schools involved and take little action. It is about head coaches. The whole mess stinks to high heaven. 

    The whole situation brings me back to the right vs. wrong or the good vs. evil argument. When Alabama takes the court to play LSU on Tuesday night, it goes beyond just a game. It is something more than that. It is whether a conference and a governing body will allow cheaters to continue their actions. We live in a divided nation, but I'd like to think that everyone would side with those who play honestly and not with those who don't. I'm not preaching, but I am standing on a soapbox. None of this is about Alabama. It is about a school that everyone knows is cheating and all the schools that don't. The same argument will play out with each team LSU plays.

     Is being on the side of what's right going to help Alabama win? No, after all, we see that morality is beaten by immorality far too often. The world is complicated. This issue regarding LSU, Kansas, Auburn, and Arizona is clear cut, however.  It is about four coaches who don't believe the rules apply to them and four schools who won't fire them. It is about sports programs out of control. If you use a player who cheated you never really win. If LSU cheats on one player they will cheat on more 

     Tuesday night, I'm pulling for the good guys.

Update: Tide is now projected as a three seed by Lunardi.

Kenpom has Bama a one-point dog

CBSsports has Bama as five-seed

My dream 1st round match-up: UAB 

I will repost with updates throughout the day.