Until you’ve been in somebody’s shoes, you don’t know how they actually feel.

All the whining from Tennessee basketball fans about the then-No. 5 ranked Vols’ Saturday overtime loss at then-13th-ranked LSU is understandable. . .to a point.

If there is anybody who can relate to questionable officiating, it’s Louisiana sports fans.

Whether it’s LSU lovers buying billboards in Birmingham (home of the SEC office) protesting a targeting call that removed the Tigers’ best football player (linebacker Devin White) for the first half of last season’s Alabama game, or if it’s the Who Dat? nation of New Orleans Saints' faithful boycotting the Super Bowl after getting royally jobbed by a no-call pass interference in the NFC championship game, Louisiana understands not getting favorable whistles.

But the conspiracy theory the official calling a foul on Tennessee’s Grant Williams that awarded LSU’s Javonte Smart two game-winning free throws on Saturday is hilarious.

Someone digs up a 2014 overseas summer vacation Facebook picture of referee Anthony Jordan, who whistled the game-deciding foul and the majority of the fouls against the Vols. The picture shows Jordan holding up an LSU shirt. It is immediately deduced that Jordan, who has called SEC games for 19 years and never been questioned about any alleged allegiance with any SEC school, is an LSU homer.

Ah ha!

The Big Orange bellyachers are convinced they have irrefutable evidence on why on LSU was given 31 free throw attempts and the Vols had just 16.

Never mind that no Tennessee player, except for Williams, the undisputed SEC Player of the Year who was 8-for-10 from the free throw line, took the ball inside to consistently draw contact. The rest of Vols were content shooting a barrage of mid-range jumpers that served them well most of the game.

It’s not a surprise to anyone who has viewed LSU this season, including Tennessee coaches who supposedly watched film and delivered a scouting report, that the lifeblood of Tigers’ guards is beating defenders off the dribble and taking the ball aggressively to the basket.

In almost every game this year when LSU hasn’t shot well from the outside – and that has been the case in a long list of SEC matchups – guards Tremont Waters, Skylar Mays and Smart have broken down defenses, penetrated and either scored, drew a foul, got their shots blocked, missed shots that LSU’s offensive rebounders collected or passed back outside to open shooters.

That had to be on a Tennessee scouting report that its guards obviously didn’t read or believe.

Because even with the absence of Waters (and his 15.7 points per game), who didn’t dress out because of a virus, Mays and Smart combined to hit 19-of-22 free throws because Tennessee guards couldn’t defensively stay in front of them.

LSU’s comeback in the last six minutes of regulation included just 2-of-2 free throws, a pair of 3-pointers and a continuous Smart layup drill.

All we’ve heard since Saturday’s LSU win is excuses, first from Tennessee coach Rick Barnes and then from a fan base desperate for any of its sports to be nationally respected.

In his postgame press conference, Barnes complained about a rule that states only a player and not a coach is allowed to call a timeout, something Barnes wanted on Tennessee’s ill-fated possession that led to Williams’ game-deciding foul.

The player who jacked up the 3-pointer on the run, redshirt junior Lamonte Turner, was playing his 85th game with the Vols. He certainly had the experience to glance at the bench to see if Barnes wanted a timeout.

But Turner was too busy trying to get up a quick shot, and it was the right thing to do. Attack a defense in transition and even if the shot is missed you might win the offensive rebound battle and get fouled.

Tennessee came up empty on all counts. Smart ended up with the ball and Williams collided with him.

Unless you’re some of the delusional Vols’ fans who tweeted that Smart’s face ran into Williams’ shoulder, or that a foul never should have been called with 0.6 on the clock.

The bottom line is Tennessee, if it is truly a legit Final Four contender, should have never lost to an LSU team missing basically 30 points per game with Waters not dressed and starting freshman forward Naz Reid scoring one point after getting in early trouble.

Yet, it was overlooked by Vol Nation which loyally supports an underachieving athletic program that hasn’t been relevant in almost every sport (except for women’s softball) for more than a decade.

Tennessee football is on its fourth head coach since 2009, men’s basketball is one of seven SEC programs that has never played in the Final Four, baseball has finished under .500 in SEC play for 13 straight seasons and the once-proud and feared eight-time national championship Lady Vols’ basketball dynasty is now so bad it currently has a losing record in league play with double-digit losses (including getting hammered by 28 points by Mississippi State) in its last three SEC defeats.

All of this isn’t a surprise. Tennessee has had a revolving door of chancellors/presidents and is on its fourth athletics director since 2003, who ironically is former football coach Phillip Fulmer, someone fired by Mike Hamilton who started the string of Vols’ dubious AD hires.

Consider Tennessee's decade-long athletic failures and idiotic administrative leadership, and it explains why its fans and some of its media have whined long and loud since Saturday.

The 24-3 Vols, who dropped just two spots to No. 7 in the AP poll, are in a three-way tie for the SEC lead at 12-2 with Kentucky and LSU. They can still win the league regular championship and make a deep NCAA tournament run with a veteran team.

For Tennessee, it’s a simple fix of what went wrong Saturday. Look in the damned mirror, don’t listen to the excuses surrounding you in social media, take care of business Wednesday night at Ole Miss and get ready for Saturday's home showdown against Kentucky.

That’s what championship teams and their fans do.

Or they just keep trolling the Internet for excuses.