April Fools! The top 5 tricksters of the college basketball season
March Madness in April? That, itself, sounds like an April Fools' Day joke. In honor of the national day of tricks, here's who made people look silly during this college basketball season:
Wisconsin
Every time you thought you had Wisconsin figured out, the Badgers turned the tables. High expectations in the first half of the season were met with disappointment. Low expectations in the second half were blown away by a turnaround. Wisconsin saved its best trick for last: The Badgers blew a lead late in the Sweet 16 to Notre Dame, abruptly ending their season just when the country had finished stocking up on red Kool-Aid.
Monmouth's bench
From ultra-strange dances to re-enacting scenes from "Star Wars" and the Creation of Adam, Monmouth's bench provided some of the wackiest and most entertaining celebrations ever seen on a basketball sideline this year. The Hawks' most effective prank came Jan. 15 in a game against Iona, and an irritated Gaels squad tried to fight Monmouth immediately afterward.
Skal Labissiere
Few freshmen came into the season with as much hype as Kentucky forward Skal Labissiere, but the Season of Skal quickly turned into a season of jokes. Labissiere struggled mightily on both ends of the floor, and a frustrated fan base soon began pinning blame on him for all the team's shortcomings. The former five-star recruit was benched at points throughout the season, and his inability to live up to expectations led to the Wildcats falling short of their own.
LSU
LSU was supposed to be playing basketball, but it made wasting talent look like the sport in which it was competing. The team's utilization of superstar forward Ben Simmons was laughable all year, but that pales in comparison to the hysterical assertion by head coach Johnny Jones that the team's effort was satisfactory in its season-ending demolition to Texas A&M.
Syracuse
Syracuse laughed its way from Upstate New York to the Final Four by turning a controversial NCAA tournament invite into one of the most improbable runs in college basketball history. Jim Boeheim's team is one of four still dancing in April, while the endless supply of Orange critics have been left to play the role of fools.