LSU vs. Louisiana is the college basketball rivalry you never knew you needed

Here’s the annual in-state rivalry series college basketball never knew it needed until this week: LSU vs. Louisiana.

What started out as a war of words evolved Wednesday night into a petty timeout, one head coach being held back from going after the other, that head coach refusing to shake hands after the game, a minor on-court fracas, and then one of the most savage postgame press conferences you’re ever going to see.

The whole thing got started on Monday.

Louisiana coach Bob Marlin was miffed that his Ragin’ Cajuns had been assigned a six seed in the NIT and were going to have to play their first game of the tournament at LSU. Marlin pointed out during his pregame press conference that his team had not only a better record (27-6) than the Tigers, but a better RPI.

“LSU is going to be excited to play,” Marlin began his deadpan. “A lot of times you get into the NIT, and the SEC teams that finished tied for ninth – whatever they did – are not very interested in playing at this stage of the year. But they’ll be interested, because it’s a big step for them. They’ve not been very good. We’ve had a better RPI and team than them the last couple of years in the state.”

The shade continued.

“We would like to play this game at home. Our athletic director reached out to the commissioner and to a couple others to get a read on the seeding and how that happened. Our RPI is much better, our record is much better, we feel like our gym’s better, there are a lot of things that say we should be a higher seed than we were. We’ve got the second-best record in the entire tournament out of 32 teams, but it is what it is.”

Marlin went on to say that Louisiana would love to play an annual series with LSU, but insinuated that the Tigers were afraid of such a deal.

LSU coach Will Wade didn’t take the bait. At least not yet. He played down Marlin’s comments during his own pre-NIT press conference, and said his team was simply focused on trying to advance and keep its season alive.

So that set the stage for Wednesday night.

LSU led Louisiana for nearly the entirety of the 40 minute game on its way to a 84-76 victory. With 12 seconds remaining and the win well in hand, Wade opted to take a timeout because, in his own words: “They don’t get to play us very often, so I thought they should enjoy it.”

He shared this sentiment with Marlin, which sent the Ragin’ Cajun ragin’.

Marlin opted not to shake Wade’s hand after the game which briefly sent the LSU coach into his own fit of rage. He rounded out the handshake line, however, and went back to the locker room. That’s when things between the players who remained on the court got a bit testy.

Calmer heads ultimately prevailed, and both sides went their separate ways.

This leads us to the postgame press conferences, where Wade showed as little restraint as you’re ever going to see from a head coach after a contentious win.

The man was prepared for the moment.

Marlin, for his part, stuck to his guns.

I don’t know who we need to petition, but someone, please, for the love of God, make these two teams play one another every year. We will pay attention, I promise.