It says everything about Charles Barkley’s on-screen brilliance that, despite the fact he (probably) doesn’t watch that much college basketball, he still makes the NCAA Tournament pregame and halftime shows watchable. And at tourney time, he doesn’t even have Shaq there to be his punching bag, or vice versa.
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Case in point, this hilarious rant from Sunday night’s postgame show after the Alabama vs. Grand Canyon Round of 32 game. In case you missed it, the 12-seeded Antelopes of GCU had the mighty Crimson Tide on the ropes with under four minutes to play in the game. Trailing 62-61, an upset appeared imminent, and it was desperately needed on a Sunday that featured blowout after blowout.Â
But then the Lopes simply forgot how to play team basketball, chucking up poor shot after poor shot and failing to score a SINGLE point for the remaining three minutes and 48 seconds of the game. Alabama finished on a 10-0 run, winning the game by 11 and covering the spread in the process. Judging by Barkley’s A+ rant immediately afterward, you have to wonder if the Chuckster had GCU +5.5.Â
“That was the dumbest game of basketball I’ve ever seen,” said Barkley, adding “Everybody went 1-on-1, they missed … how many free throws? I’m not sure what they were doing offensively. I don’t think they ran a play the entire second half.
“Some of the dumbest basketball I’ve ever seen from grown college men.”
About 40 seconds in, Barkley finally managed to congratulate his hated rival, Alabama, on the victory. Not without getting a shot in at his buddy Justin Thomas, though:
"Grand Canyon, that was the dumbest game of basketball I think I may have ever seen… I don't think they ran a play the entire 2nd half…. They just went 1-on-1 every single time… 5 whole assists? We've got a crack staff if they found 5 passes." – Charles Barkley pic.twitter.com/G35tPIaxeD
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 25, 2024
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Somebody’s very salty about Auburn getting bounced by Yale in the first round while the Tide are rolling onto the Sweet 16. Not helping matters was that same Yale squad getting ran out of the gym by San Diego State in the game right after Bama-GCU.Â
Now we await JT’s response, though you’d think he would have sat up immediately in his chair, Rick Dalton-style, and pointed at the TV when he heard this. Perhaps he’s still in wound-licking mode after a brutal weekend at the Valspar Championship, but at least his Tide are onto the second weekend of March Madness.Â
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
