LAS VEGAS —- What are you going to do about it? Huh? Huh?
Do something; I dare you.
Punk.
After San Diego State’s diamond-squashing effort against BYU, Jimmer Fredette approached Kawhi Leonard at midcourt.
The two in-conference titans weren’t about to address each other with a “good game,” nor were they about to cup their hand for an old-fashioned, quasi-homoerotic butt tap. And they sure as hell weren’t looking to furnish each other’s egos with “respect,” as Leonard laughably claimed in his post-game press conference.
Ha!
No. What happened after the final buzzer in the conference tournament championship game was a stupendous release of highly carbonated emotions between the two best players in the Mountain West Conference.
“I’m not going to repeat anything that (Leonard) said,” Fredette told the media. “But he was excited that they won. He decided to say some things. I’m not going to back down. I said a couple things as well.”
As the scoreboard glistened with an SDSU victory and fans gushed onto the court, a derailed Fredette marched over to puff his snout in Leonard’s face. “Stop talking trash! Stop talking trash!” Fredette yelled.
In that moment, Fredette looked small. He looked broken … even human.
Fredette not only lost the game, but he lost his grip. He didn’t look anything like the baller who scored 52 points against New Mexico the day before. In that game, grown men with wives literally raised their arms and bowed in the stands to Fredette. The BYU fans were boisterous against the Lobos, chanting, “You got Jimmered!”
But it was a different scene against the Aztecs. The Cougar “faithful” began quietly tip-toeing out of the arena with three minutes still remaining in the game. They had no faith in a comeback, no faith in Fredette.
Blame that on Billy White’s defense.
Largely because of White, SDSU didn’t get “Jimmered.” Instead, BYU got Leonard, all 20 points and 8 rebounds of him. Leonard dominated the paint like da Vinci; so start calling him “Leonardo” instead.
Boom.
On the subject of name changes, White should attach “On Rice” to his, because that’s how he covered Fredette. “White On Rice” excelled on the offensive end, too, scoring 21 points and capitalizing on the absence of BYU’s Brandon Davies (honor code violation).
Good thing getting your butt kicked isn’t a violation of the Cougars’ honor code; otherwise, BYU wouldn’t have a team left.
Adíos Cougars, you’re leaving the Mountain West Conference. I would say don’t let the Aztecs kick your butt on the way out, but that just happened.
As for now, SDSU enters the Big Dance as a two seed.
Do you believe that they will win? Do you believe that they will win? Do you believe that they will win?