Hoops game that never ends

WEDNESDAY’S FloridaSouth Carolina game on ESPN’s SEC Network — won, 57-53, by the Gamecocks — was another of those patiencetesters to gauge whether you are patient or soon will become one.

For starters, the last 1:57 of a tight game — the kind we used to hope for — became the latest in a series of drudgeries, lasting a ridiculous 14:05. At game’s end, the network picked up LSU-Auburn halfway through the first half.

Next, Florida, ranked 19th, shot 15-for-28 — good for 3pointers, except that was the Gators’ free throws. They went 0-for-17 from 3-point range. Though analyst Daymeon Fishback complimented South Carolina star Sindarius

Thornwell for, ugh, “playing with swagger,” he didn’t say if it was the kind of swagger that led to Thornwell’s six-game suspension after his arrest for, among other things, driving with a suspended license.

Finally, in that night’s SEC Network studio show, host Laura Rutledge asked the panelists this about Thornwell good play: “How important is it for him to continue to do that?”