If LSU gets in, look out!

I have a secret that I’d like to unveil to the world. It’s a secret that just might find me pent up in a detention room at Golden Meadow Junior High School as punishment for my misdeeds.

It’s a misdeed so rotten and dirty that I haven’t told a soul about it until now.

It’s something that I wouldn’t condone from my own future children, nor would I condone it from any of the children that I coach in youth sports.

Here goes. Brace yourselves: I played hooky when I was in school.

I admit it. I’m guilty as charged. I played hooky when I was in school.

I showed up, went through the motions for a few periods, then clutched my stomach in fake agony so that I could get off the school’s campus. Once I got home, I immediately was fine and enjoyed the rest of my day.

My great aunt was the secretary of the school at the time, and I’m pretty sure she suspected that some of my mysterious illnesses weren’t legitimate, but being the 4.0 student that I was, I always found a way to get a free pass.

Here’s the thing: I loved school – truly, I did. I always made good grades, and I always enjoyed the camaraderie of friendships that I was able to enjoy throughout the more advanced stages of my education. But I loved something going on during these days a little bit more.

My bellyaches and faux mysterious illnesses always seemed to occur around the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Simply put -1 was cutting class to watch March Madness.

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is always my favorite event of the year. The drama is unrivaled – the entire event is epic theater at its finest. There are stories of goliaths like Kentucky and Duke, the powerful wildebeests who leave nothing but destruction in their paths to dominance. But there are also underdog Cinderella stories that take the sporting world by storm.

These are the teams that no one expects to have a chance to do much, but they end up shocking the world and making a big-time run in the Big Dance. Usually seeded somewhere around 8-13, these teams bust everyone’s brackets to smithereens, but make for compelling television along the way.

Want a little bit of a tip on who that Cinderella story might be for the 2015 version of the NCAA Tournament?

Look about 60-70 miles up the road in Baton Rouge at LSU.

The Tigers aren’t yet a lock to reach the NCAA Tournament. They are firmly on the bubble at

press-time with most projections placing LSU in the field as somewhere around a 9-11-seed.

The Tigers have a bunch of strong wins on their resume, which aids the team’s cause. But for every great win LSU has, it has an equal number of terrible losses. A road defeat at Missouri comes to mind, as does a home setback against Auburn.

But with a 20-win season already under its belts, we are going to assume that the Tigers will find a way to batten the hatches and close out 2015 strong to punch a ticket into the Field of 68.

If they do, look out. There aren’t very many teams in America that are decisively better than LSU when the Tigers are at their best.

LSU is a team that absolutely no one will want to see in their pod once the NCAA Tournament rolls around. They possess such rare size and athleticism for a Bubble team. On paper, they are a team that should be a 2-4-seed, but inexperience and inability to win close games has dropped the team much further.

But in neutral-site, win-or-go-home games, this team will be a bear to deal with in a single elimination tournament.

Let’s assume that LSU is an 11-seed. What 6-seed in the country (teams ranked approximately 24-28) will have the interior defense to handle athletic big men like Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin? Likewise, who will have the length on the perimeter to deal with 6-foot, 6-inch guard Tim Quarter man or 6-foot, 4-inch Keith Hornsby? The answer to that question just may be no one.

So assume for a second that the Tigers would pull off that first upset and would move to the Round of 32 (I refuse to call it the Third Round). Could they then beat a 3-seed? Absolutely.

Just look at what LSU did when it played Kentucky. For the first 37 or so minutes of that game, the Tigers stood toe-to-toe with the best team in America and took every punch the Wildcats had to offer. At the end of the day, LSU fell one play short and lost a close, hard-fought game. But their effort severely threatened Kentucky’s perfect season.

To me, if you can do that to the Wildcats, you’ve proven that you’re capable of beating anyone in the country.

Of course, as we’ve stated above, LSU is consistently inconsistent, so there is still yet a chance that the team combusts down the stretch and misses the NCAA Tournament altogether.

Goodness, I hope not. I absolutely, positively cannot stand to watch another second of the NIT Tournament in my lifetime.

But IF they get in, be on the lookout for the team to make a run.

The talent, athleticism and size are there.

They will be the most gifted low-seeded team in the past decade of the NCAA Tournament. Look around. It’s not a stretch to say that. They are that good.

And all of those things are usually what wins games in March.

One way or another, I’ll be watching closely to see how it all unfolds.

I sort-of feel my stomach bubbling right now, actually

Boss, I think I can feel a sick day in my future.

Boss, I think I got a case of that March Madness fever.

CASEY GISCLAIR

The Times Sports Editor

The LSU men’s basketball team won again on Saturday afternoon, strengthening its argument that it should be an NCAA Tournament team when the Big Dance starts in two weeks. If they are one of the 68 teams selected, they could be trouble, according to Sports Editor Casey Gisclair.

COURTESY PHOTO