LSU fans everywhere owe Dick Vitale an apology.

For years now, Vitale – the voice of college basketball on ESPN since the 1980s – has been saying the NCAA was going to hammer LSU basketball coach Will Wade for multiple major violations. And for years now, many – not all – LSU fans have hammered Vitale, including some of the LSU fans in the media.

Wade, of all people, even called Vitale a liar last year at about this time.

Vitale was right all along. Because he knew all along. Vitale is as connected as anyone in college basketball. How fitting was it that on Saturday at the SEC Tournament near his home in Tampa, Florida, that Vitale, who has taken time off because of cancer, was honored by the SEC for his contributions to the game and for his fight against cancer. On the same day, LSU fired Wade for basically being a liar and a cheater.

LSU fans and some media members also ripped Pat Forde, Pete Thamel and Dan Wetzel for their Yahoo.com story on March 7, 2019, about Wade’s “strong-ass offer” to top recruit Javonte Smart in 2017 on FBI wiretap. That was the beginning of the end of Wade. They were right all along. They deserve apologies, too.

The “strong-ass offer” is all over the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations (NOA) that LSU released to the media on Saturday, as required by state law, after LSU fired Will Wade for what’s in that NOA.

LSU fans called the litany of stories about Wade’s questionable recruiting practices stretching back as far as 2018 “fake news,” which is often a synonym for news that is too true for comfort. And LSU fans have strangely tried to make Wade out to be a hero ever since he was suspended on March 8, 2019, for not cooperating when the NCAA and LSU wanted to ask him about that Yahoo.com story.

Remember that ridiculous LSU-Vanderbilt game on March 9, 2019, that turned into a Will Wade rally? Then LSU-athletic director Joe Alleva helped make the right decision then to suspend Wade, and he was…