"I’ve said more than a million stupid things": Mike Greenberg backtracks on UConn NBA playoff comments after facing flak from fans

ESPN`s Mike Greenberg took back his claim that the current UConn Huskies are good enough to make the NBA Playoffs in the Eastern Conference, right after receiving immense backlash from fans.

The host made the backtrack on a recent episode of his ESPN Radio show titled "Greeny." In it, he mentioned that his absurd claim was one of many not-so-smart things he`s already said in the past (via Awful Announcing):

“I’m more than willing to admit that I’ve said more than a million stupid things. It just bothered me yesterday because I knew I was kidding."

He furthers:

"And maybe — look, I grant, if it wasn’t obvious enough that I was kidding, that’s on me, that’s not on anybody else… for what it was worth, if I need to say this out loud, I do not believe that UConn would make the playoffs in the NBA.”

This came after a video of him stating that the UConn Huskies, who are currently ranked the best college hoops team in the nation, could make the NBA Playoffs and perhaps even beat the current Detroit Pistons--a historically bad team by NBA standards. As one should remember, the Pistons had the longest losing skid in NBA history with 27 straight games.

As one could see in the video, even Mike Greenberg`s fellow announcers weren`t even taking him seriously in his take. But this is just one in a long list of controversial takes by the ESPN host, and one doesn`t need to dig deep to find his worst basketball takes.

Mike Greenberg`s other terrible hoops comments

There were two big takes from Mike Greenberg last year that have also been the subject of ridicule online.

One of these was a comment he made on Lakers star LeBron James shortly after game 4 of the second-round series between LA and Golden State. He mentioned how the Lakers should look into resting LeBron in game 5 because he apparently believed that rest is more important for the four-time MVP than closing a series as quickly as possible while being up 3-1 (via Sports Illustrated).

Fans rightfully roasted Greenberg for his take online, as they should. But technically, a big part of the ESPN host`s job is to get clicks, attention, and discussions going. That`s the bread-and-butter of analysts like him, as well as the sports networks that employ him.

Either way, it`s safe to assume that this wouldn`t be the last time that Mike Greenberg makes an inflammatory take.