… an end to the season for Alabama basketball fans, but for those that love college hoops this is the season we all look forward to. It sucks that we haven’t been in the NCAA in 4 years now (damn), but the tournament will make me forget that come Thursday.

At some point I’ll fill out a bracket and with pinpoint accuracy tell you who the Final Four teams will be. It’s wide open if you ask me… as only Kansas seems to be a legit #1 seed IMO.

For those that never been, the first week of March Madness should be spent in Las Vegas if you’re not attending a game. I’m missing out on it this year (it was either this or the BCSNC), but I HIGHLY suggest you go if you have the chance to. Watching the games in a sportbook with thousands of people on pins and needles on EVERY possession (money is on it) makes for an entertaining first few days.

Baseball season is around the corner and I’m catching a Spring Training game for the first time since I was a teenager in Orlando. I’m looking forward to it.

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1
Kansas
Kentucky
Syracuse
West Virginia

2
Duke
Ohio State
Kansas State
Purdue

Last 4 in
Va Tech
Illinois
Minnesota
Florida

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As I was walking out of the arena, a Kentucky fan approached me and said, “We should have lost that game. You guys outplayed us, outhustled us, and out coached us. The only reason we won is because we outtalented you.” That’s pretty much dead on, although I’m not sure if “outtalented” is an actual word. Kentucky is a legit top 5 team, they may have the top 2 picks in the NBA draft, it is a special level of athleticism and depth on that roster that does not come along very often.

Despite being outmanned, our guys played very hard. I liked the game plan. We attacked the basket early and often. It would be tempting to just throw up a bunch of 3’s against a team like Kentucky and hope for the best, but by going right at them it sent a message to our team that we have confidence in them. It also sent a message to Kentucky that we were not going to be intimidated by them. We played about as well defensively as could be hoped for. We did a good job of slowing down the pace of the game and switching defenses, although I thought we pressed a little too often. UK is just too athletic to hope to have a lot of success against in a full court press.

The officiating was inconsistent at best. I felt they missed several obvious fouls in the post and we got called on a number of plays with minimal contact. It definitely had the feel of an away game, with UK having close to 85% of the fans, as you can see in the pic below that I took 9 minutes before tipoff.

Once Chris Hines fouled up, we had little chance of slowing down Wall. Despite the foul trouble, our post players played very well. It was good to see Jamychal Green bounce back and have a nice game, although he did miss some badly needed free throws. Torrance showed great leadership today and made the plays in the second half to keep us in the game.

UK made a lot of unforced turnovers in the first half and we were able to take advantage and stretch the lead to 11. Even when we took the 11 point lead in the first half, everybody knew Kentucky would take the lead at some point. The question is how would we handle it. We were able to withstand a couple of runs before they finally built a 10 point lead in the second half, but we answered with a run of our own and had a chance with only a 3 point defecit in the last 2 minutes. If we only made a few more free throws and some of those easy shots we missed around the basket, who knows?

A few other miscellaneous thoughts:

-Kentucky may have the best fans in the nation. You have to admire the way they pack out an arena and travel to support their team. Also, they are first class. We had a row of UA fans amongst the sea of blue, and numerous Cats fans wished us luck before and after the game, and were generally very complimentary of our team and Coach Grant. I am genuinely pulling for them to win it all.

-Contrast that with mi$$ $tate fans who had a fair contingent there for today’s game. I had the misfortunate of standing next to a couple of them while waiting in line to get into the arena. We were surrounded by UK fans, and one of the $tate fans asks me, in an obnoxiously loud manner so all the UK people could hear: “What do you call a well dressed Kentucky fan”….”An anomally” and then yucked as if was the most hilarious joke ever. I just shrugged and said, “Please don’t throw anything at their players, I don’t want the media assuming the debris came from Bama fans.” To which, the $tate fan responds, “we only did that ONE time, and we weren’t throwing stuff at their players, we were throwing stuff at the referees!” I said sarcastically, “oh yeah, that makes it so much better.” Being dead serious and somewhat irritated, the $tate fan answers, “Yes it does! It really does! Those refs sucked!” Now, you are probably assuming this was some young punk right? Nope, 60 year old lady (and I’m being very generous with my choice of the word “lady”). The comment about the UK fans’ attire was even more laughable a few moments later when I overheard a $tate fan say, “I wish we would wear those camouflage jerseys like South Carolina did that time, that was sweet.” I’m sure there is a $tate fan out there somewhere who is a decent human being, but I have yet to encounter one.

-Major Thanks to the kind Alabama fans who gave me a great lower level seat (again, see pics) for only 80 bucks when everyone else was asking $300-$400, and actually getting AT LEAST $250. That was very cool, and I enjoyed watching the game with you guys.

-Nashville is 100 times better of a venue for this tournament than Atlanta. There’s really not a bad seat in the house, and there is a lot to do right outside the arena. My friend and I had a great time partying with all the Kentucky fans and listening to bands until 2 am or so Friday night. The only drawback is the size won’t really accomodate a strong Kentucky and Tennessee in the same session.

-I don’t think I saw a single Vandy fan anywhere the entire time I was there. Which surprised me since they are pretty good and it’s in their town. Of course, Tennessee was very well represented.

This was my view for the South Carolina game from the club level:

Here was the view from my seat for the Kentucky game:

Up next, we anxiously await the NIT selection show. Sadly, I do not think we are in. Too many conference champions have lost in their respective tournaments thus getting automatic bids. I hope we would accept a CBI bid, but I doubt if we will. This season is probably over. It was disappointing and even heartbreaking at times, but we improved. We played hard every night and was competitive in every game. Our worst loss was only 13 points to K-State. The future is bright. Now, Coach Grant..GO RECRUIT!

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… good effort by the guys in Crimson, but in the end talent won out. Wall had his way in the 2nd half penetrating the soft center of our defense. We still managed to keep it close, and didn’t give up when the Wildcats extended their lead to 10 (promptly ran a 6-0 run back at them).

Next up… MAYBE the NIT. I say maybe as a lot of mid majors regular season champs are falling in their conference tourneys. We’ll see.

If this is the last game this season, I think we should thank Torrance for suffering through 4 years here. He got the payoff this year and shined. We’ll miss him on the roster next season.

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I forgot to set my DVR to record the game and do not have a radio here in the office. I have been very busy for the past two weeks and had forgotten about the game until about 12:45. When I finally found a live ticker, the second half was about to end and we were behind by about 14 points. Alabama pulled to within 11 points at the half but missed an opportunity to close to within a single digit deficit.

I turned back to the ticker with about 7 minutes left in the game. I think we were down by about ten. With about three minutes left we were down by about three. Bama had the lead when I checked back with 1:44 left. USC tied the game with a shot but we took it back and held on by hitting a layup.

Here is a Boxscore. Here is a play-by-play recap so you can see just how bad my memory is becoming in my old age.

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Stats

I’m not going into the stats as everyone knows what Kentucky is all about…. Cousins, Wall, Patterson, and Bledsoe. Obviously there’s a talent difference between the 2 clubs, but one of these teams has something to play for (NIT and beyond) while the other has a #1 seed in the NCAA sewn up.

If you read my SEC predictions below, you know I’m 3-1 so far. You also know that I picked us to beat Kentucky today. I might’ve smoked something funny when making that prediction, but by god I’m sticking to it. Knox comes up huge and Davis is our unlikely hero as Alabama beats Kentucky by 4.

Game time is noon today. I’ll be drinking a brew or 12 as I’ll be able to watch it beginning to end.

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For the first 35 minutes or so yesterday we played as badly as we have all year. I have no idea what Coach Grant said during the timeout when we were down 18 in the second half, but we played the rest of the game like we were a wounded animal fighting for our life. In many ways, we were.

Torrance came up huge down the stretch. Knox had a good game in the paint. When we cut the lead to single digits with about 6:30 to play, South Carolina took the air out of the ball, going 4 corners and running down the shot clock every possession. I understand the thinking behind that, especially with Downey’s ability to hit those shots one on one with the shot clock winding down, but I still think it was a bad move on their part. I think that is sending a message to your players that you don’t have confidence in them to win the game straight up. Credit Coach Grant for making the adjustment of double teaming Downey when the shot clock got down to about 5 or so, making him give the ball up. This resulted in a couple of turnovers and shot clock violations.

It didn’t matter in the end, but I’m pretty sure we got screwed out of a point. Torrance was at the line in the first half and the scoreboard read USC 25 UA 23…He made both free throws, and the scoreboard read USC 25 UA 24, and it was never corrected. Nobody seemed to raise a fuss about it, so maybe I was hallucinating, but I don’t think so. If anybody can explain exactly what the hell happened there, I would sure like to know.

Today’s game will be like a road game. Kentucky fans have taken over this city, but they have been extremely courteous and complimentary of our team as usual. They believe Coach Grant will have us among the elite in the conference in due time. I still don’t have a ticket for today’s game, and with Tennessee and Kentucky both being in our session, it’s looking like a very tough ticket. Checking ebay and craigslist, lower levels are going for $400 each and uppers for $300. That’s just crazy. If I can’t find one for under $200, I will watch it on TV at a bar across the street.

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Part 1 Link……         There are many ways to degrade the success of one team or the other.  Most of the negative things I have run into regarding this matter are done by people who are simply jealous of the…

Didn’t we just play them last week (g)?

Gamecocks

After losing to us at home, South Carolina went on the road and beat Vanderbilt to complete their up and down SEC season and claim the 5th seed in the East… which I’m glad for as I’d rather play them than UGA.

Prediction- Stop Downey from going off and I think we win going away. Defend the 3 ball and make them attempt to play inside with us. As small as we are, we are giants compared to the Gamecocks. Establish Hines and Knox (did I just say that?) inside, let Torrance penetrate and hope that Davis and Brock can help us out from the outside. I say most of those things happen and we play again on Friday. Bama by 8.

Game time is noon CST (1PM EST). I’ll have to sneak away from my day job to catch it on the innernets.

Since I was sooo good at predicting the SECT last year I’ll go ahead and predict again. Gamblers, write this down and do the opposite.

Thursday
Bama over SC Lite
Tennessee over LSwho
Barn upsets Gators
UGA over Ar-Kansas

Friday
Bama over Kentucky
Ole Miss over Tennessee
$tate over the Barn
Vandy over UGA

Saturday
Ole Miss over Bama
Vandy over $tate

Sunday
Ole Miss over Vandy to win the SECT

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Congratulation to Mikhail Torrance for being selected to second team ALL-SEC, and Tony Mitchell for earing SEC All-Freshman honors. You can read the rest of the conference awards here.

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Any college football national championship, by its format alone, can easily be debated. We saw a number in the ’90s, such as the exclusion of Penn State in ‘94 from the news services polls and the awarding of a national…

For a college basketball junkie like myself March is the most exciting month of the year. It’s also bittersweet since the season is so close to wrapping up. I do not share my fellow contributors love for the game of baseball, so it is a long six month wait until college football arrives to temporarily hold my interest until the next basketball season.

For Alabama basketball fans the season has not been a surprise from the standpoint of a win/loss record, but from how those wins and losses were compiled. The season began with a tough loss to a Cornell team that may be responsible for many busted brackets in the coming weeks, but was followed up with several solid wins over Providence, Baylor (a win that looks much better now) and Michigan. The team also had a near miss against Purdue that would foreshadow the second half struggles that would become commonplace for the team during conference play.

While Anthony Grant’s first year was certainly up and down, one can’t help but feel the future is bright if the talent level is increased. The team finished 16-14 overall and 6-10 in conference, but could have just as easily finished somewhere around 24-6/12-4 when you factor in the closes losses and second half collapses. Taking into account this team had little overall talent and even less depth, the season has to be considered a success. Perhaps more importantly the team played hard, and was competitive in nearly every game it lost. There was a togetherness to this team that I haven’t seen in quite some time. You got the feeling there was good chemistry despite the struggles. When one thinks of the defensive struggles this team has had over the last few years, the fact they finished near or at the top of most defensive categories in the league is quite astonishing. That is a sure sign of coaching and players buying into the staff. I thought Torrance made a telling statement during his postgame radio interview this past Saturday when he said Anthony Grant was the best coach he had ever played for. I think most of the team, if not all of them, would echo that sentiment.

It wasn’t all peaches and cream though. The team has lost fourteen games this season, and still had a tendency to play out of control. There were also three players suspended this season as the coaching staff was forced to impose discipline over a group of guys who seemingly had been given a green light on and off the court during the last few years of the Gottfried tenure. While I believe the jury is still out on Jamychal Green, it appears the suspensions of Brock and Hillman benefited them greatly. Brock, a player I’ve long considered a defensive liability, became a consistent perimeter defender. And while Hillman’s offensive numbers dropped from a year ago, his decision making with the ball has improved to a degree. He’s also become a better passer, and he was easily the best perimeter defender for this team. I think he will be a key player for Grant in year two, barring injury.

So now it is on to the SEC tournament. As much as I loved the win over Auburn on Saturday, I was upset to see that Alabama drew South Carolina in the first round of the tournament. While Alabama did post an emotional win over South Carolina last week it’s tough to immediately turn around and have to play and beat the same team again. Especially when that team has one of the best players in the conference. I have serious reservations about this game. I hope I’m wrong. Along with the Georgia-Arkansas game, this one should be the best of the first round. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if every West division team lost on Thursday.

As for the rest of the conference: It hasn’t been the rebound year I expected. I thought coming into the season six teams could be potential NCAA tournament teams. As of right now the SEC could only send three teams to the tournament again. Florida has really put itself in a tough position along with Mississippi State and Ole Miss. Florida probably needs to win at least two games in the conference while State and Ole Miss might have to win the whole thing to go dancing. I do think of the bubble teams Ole Miss is the most interesting right now and a potential dark horse to win this tournament. After going through a rough stretch, the team has played better by showing some real mental toughness in staging several second half comebacks in games down the stretch. If their guards get hot, watch out for Ole Miss.

Should the team not make a magical run through the tournament I do hope that the athletic department will strongly consider allowing this team to play in a tournament such as the CBI if they are given the opportunity and the players and coaches would like to continue playing. I think seniors like Torrance and Brock deserve a few more games. Not to mention the extra practice time would benefit the players coming back. Should the team go out and win the thing, it would only provide positive momentum for next season. If there’s a way to petition the AD to make this happen, consider me in.

One more thing: I was happy to see former Tide player Justin Tubbs lead his East Tennessee State team back to the NCAA tournament. He led the team with 18 points in their win over Mercer in the Atlantic Sun championship game. I was a big fan of his when he wore Crimson, completely supporting his decision to transfer since our buffoon of a coach kept him firmly planted to the bench. If Yamene Coleman and Troy win the Sun Belt conference, that will make three former Bama players in the NCAA tournament with Tubbs and Avery Jukes at Butler. Good luck to them all.

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More info here. Good luck to him, I always thought he had NBA potential but our previous coaching staff misused him. Hopefully he can impress the right people and stick.

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I evidently missed the memo asking for our pre-season predictions. That’s okay. I probably would have said something like, “How can anyone have the faintest idea what we will do” and then predicted either that we would make the final four or that we would not win ten games all season, depending on whether the coin came up heads or tails. I’ve also tried to be honest here about the fact that other demands have kept me from watching much of anything other than Alabama’s games for at least two years now.

Fortunately for our favorite readers your other contributors predictions were much more on target. At least we finally got a win over api. I don’t think we lost a single game to them during my seven years in Tuscaloosa. Then again, I was drinking a lot at the time.

The only point I really want to make is that in spite of the roller coaster season we seem to have wound up pretty much were all of us had expected before the first exhibition game. I have said several times during the year that the only reason I felt so dejected after a number of those games is that our team had played well enough to have won almost all of them and actually could have come away with a few more wins. I believe that bodes well for the future of Bama Basketball and look forward to our future under Coach Grant.

Greg Cage’s basket as the clock ran down reminded me of my favorite senior final appearance. I never will forget the 50 point loss api put on us during Hobbs’ final season. I was hoping to equal that four years ago. It didn’t happen, but this moment made up for it. I love seeing a kid get some recognition from the fans, and especially from his fellow students, for all the hard work he puts in.

Now it’s tournament time.

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Greg Cage got to start on senior day, and Coach Grant even left him in the game for a couple of minutes. He got burned on defense a couple of times, but he also scored a basket. With the game well in hand, he got back on the court in the final minute and scored again after chasing down his blocked shot. I was happy for him to get to score on senior day and get to play at the end, but honestly, I’m not a huge fan of starting all the seniors on senior day. Winning the game should be first and foremost, and I would like to see our best players on the court when the game is in jeopardy.

Early in the game I thought we were a little out of control. auburn made a couple of 3 pointers to get an early lead. We were very careless with the basketball and had a number of unforced turnovers.

As the game went along, we settled down and ended up taking a 1 point lead into halftime. I wrote last week that Tony Mitchell had not been on his game lately, but he came back with authority against auburn. Even though he didn’t shoot well from the free throw line or the perimeter, he was the key to our victory. He had 7 rebounds and 16 points including an amazing reverse dunk on an alley-oop in the first half that really got the crowd into the game and gave us momentum.

I really expected our post players to have a big game against Lebo’s band of midgets. Justin Knox was solid, and he seems to play better when in the starting lineup than he does coming off the bench. Chris Hines was a beast. I’ve said all year that he is an offensive liability, but he was practically unstoppable on the low block yesterday, even driving the lane for a layup on one possession. I have no idea where that came from, but I hope we see more of it.

The one negative to this game, besides all the unforced turnovers, was Jamychal Green. I was very disappointed in him, and I was hoping he would bounce back from his suspension in much the same way Senario did against South Carolina. Instead, he scored 1 point with 2 fouls and 3 turnovers, and appeared to me to be pouting at times while on the court. Jamychal Green, I’m calling you out. There is no excuse for a man of your size and ability to have such a poor game against such a smaller, lesser team like auburn. Whatever is going on with your suspension, it’s time to put that behind you, man up, and start playing to your capabilities. We need you in Nashville.

Speaking of suspended players bouncing back, I’ve heard a lot of people complaining about Senario Hillman’s play. Yes, he had a bad offensive game. He threw the ball away a couple of times, took some ill advised shots, and his shot was way off. Still, I think he deserves a lot of credit for our defensive success. auburn shoots a lot of 3’s, and I thought Hillman’s defense on the perimeter was a big reason why they shot so poorly.

Overall, I was pleased with our guard play. It was good to see Torrance and Brock leave Coleman on a high note. Torrance was automatic at the free throw line and put the game away down the stretch, something we have really struggled with this year. I also thought Torrance did a good job, particularly in the second half, of getting us into good position within the halfcourt offense and recognizing auburn’s switches between the trap and the 2-3 zone. Anthony Brock made some key baskets but more importantly was his work on defense, as he forced a number of steals that led to easy baskets.

Our full court press was effective not only in forcing turnovers but throwing auburn off of their rythem. As the game went on, I think auburn’s guards lost their legs a little bit and their shots were coming up short. Also, we were fortunate in that they badly missed some fairly easy shots.

I agree with Alias regarding the officiating, it was horrible on both sides. We got to retain possession on a couple of plays where we were clearly the last to touch the ball before it went out of bounds. auburn got away with a foul that should have been called intentional by any definition of the word. Lee Cassell, the Tebow ref as Alias calls him, once gave Anthony Grant a coach’s box warning while Coach Grant was standing clearly within the coach’s box. Coach Grant extended his arms, looked down at his feet, and looked back at Cassell from across the court as if to say, “um, where do you think I am?”

The crowd was very good, and I understand it was a sell out, although it was not filled to capacity. I was disappointed that student section did not fill up. Still, I would say there was probably close to 14,000 there, albeit most were probably there to see the trophy presentation at halftime. The trophy presentation was good, kudos to auburn’s SGA president for actually being a good sport and singing along to Yea Alabama. I especially enjoyed Coach Saban’s comments that he “has a lot of respect for the University of auburn.”

As for the gray uniforms, everyone has an opinion, so here is mine. I thought they looked good, although a little Ohio State-ish. In fact, I would even go so far as to say I think they look better than our whites. That being said, I’m not a big fan of the alternate uniform gimmick. It’s hard to envision the elite schools doing such, it reminds me of UGA football and $tate basketball wearing the black against Kentucky. But, I think they had fun with it and we backed it up with a win, so that’s all that really matters.

The regular season is now over, and the new season begins. Up next, we are the very first game of the SEC tournament at Bridgestone arena in Nashville where we will take on the South Carolina Gamecocks at noon Thursday. This game worries me, as USC is coming off a big upset win over Vanderbilt and we all know Downey can be unstoppable when he gets on. South Carolina is usually good for 1 or 2 wins in the tournament, so we will have to be ready. Let’s go make some noise and see if we can keep this 2 game winning streak rolling.

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Today I pulled out my newspapers I’d saved from the Alabama Crimson Tide SEC win in Atlanta and the National Championship in Pasadena, to decide which ones to frame. My wife and I settled on the Dec. 6 Tuscaloosa News front…

We took control midway through the 2nd half and never looked back. 73-61 is your final.

Balanced scoring, led by Mitchell with Hines being a force down low helped us pull away from the University of Auburn. Torrance made some key FTs late (and also pulled down 12 boards), Davis made some dagger 3s, Knox showed some of his post up moves from last year, and Hillman played with intensity (even though his shot wasn’t falling).

We defended the 3 well, outrebounded them 41-29, forced 14 turnovers, and held them to 35.5% from the field. The only gripe I have is we turned the ball over way too much in the 1st half.

Alias and DJC were there so they’ll have a better perspective on the game… I’m happy so see this team win their last 2 games. Next up, the SECT on Thursday vs South Carolina.

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If you read DJC’s seeding scenarios (you should) you’d know that this game MIGHT be for the 4th seed in the West. Regardless, most of those in attendance are going to be there for the state of Alabama trophy (I’m not calling it the Iron Bowl) ceremony at halftime. It is what it is.

Stats

Auburn is 1-6 on the road in the SEC this year, but with the exception of the Tennessee game they’ve been in every road game so expect a close game. We need to watch out for their 3 point bombers (Waller, Sullivan, and Reed) and keep Hargrove off the offensive boards. On the offensive end we need to pound it inside to the returning Green, Knox, and Hines and wear down their smallish lineup. A nice shooting day by Davis and Brock would be sweet… with Torrance dominating off the dribble.

Stats:
- 44.7% FG
- 33.8% 3pt FG
- 65.4% FT
- -.4 rebound margin
- 8.1 steals per game

Prediction: It’s senior day and WE HAVE TO SEND OFF Torrance and Brock on the right note. I expect both to have great days so Bama rolls late by double digits… 11.

Game time is 1:30PM EST (12:30PM CST) on the SEC Network.

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Bama goes on the road after suspending our best post player, and spoils South Carolina’s senior night. South Carolina is not a very good team, they are a one man show now riding a 6 game losing streak. That being said, this was still a very good win for us on the road. Hopefully it will give us some confidence and momentum going into our own senior night against arch rival auburn.

It wasn’t always pretty. South Carolina came out on fire and played with a lot of emotion to build an 11-0 lead. We were playing very sloppy in the first half. A lot of turnovers and missed open shots on offense, and we were easily getting faked out of position on defense. As they have done all year, this team found a way to scrap and stay competitive. They did it by rebounding, which is remarkable considering Green was out. Congrats to our post players for stepping up. Both Knox and Hines played a great game, but more importantly they did not try to do too much. They played within themselves and helped us get the win by dominating the glass.

Hillman also had a very good game in his first game back from suspension. He made plays on both ends of the court and seemed to come up with a number of loose balls. Despite the turnovers, Torrance also showed why we will miss him next year. He attacked the basket and created scoring opportunities for us in the second half. Charvez Davis continued his hot shooting.

It was refreshing to see the team play with some poise on the road. They didn’t panic after the awful first 5 minutes and managed to cut the lead to 2. The South Carolina lead went from 3 to 7 or so for much of the game, but everytime Downey made a circus shot and it felt like things were slipping away, we would answer. When we finally got the lead, we didn’t play timid and actually finished the job, although we still missed too many free throws down the stretch. Overall, we had way too many turnovers and missed too many free throws, but we made up for it with great rebounding and out hustling them to nearly ever loose ball.

Up next, Senior Day at Coleman Coliseum as the auburn tigers come in for the last regular season game. Tipoff is set for Saturday at 12:30. I understand there is some sort of trophy presentation going on at halftime, and the game is sold out. As this team proved tonight, they are going to continue to play hard for us, so let’s do our part and be loud, and hopefully we can send them off winners. A win Saturday would also assure us of having a winning season.

Looking ahead to the SEC tournament next week, we will either be the #4 sede from the West and likely play Georgia at noon Thursday, or we’ll be the #5 sede and likely play Florida that evening. If $tate beats auburn tonight, and they trail by 5 with 7 minutes remaining right now, then we will clinch the 4th sede. If auburn wins tonight, then the winner of our game Saturday will get the 4 sede. Obviously, UGA would probably be a more favorable 1st round matchup than the Gators, but Kentucky likely looms in the 2nd round if we get the 4 sede (unless UK loses to UGA or Florida Saturday, obviously not likely).

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The first five minutes of this game reminded me of the last season Mike Shula coached our football team. I would have gone to sleep if it had not been 6:15 at night and I would have gone for a long walk if I had not already exercised pretty hard at lunch time. Mrs. Alias and I watched another recorded program instead while I listened to Chris Stewart calling the game through my earphones. As soon as I saw the bump and slap fest the officials were allowing I was sure our guys would wilt under the pressure like they have in every other one of these games this year. I was wr- wrrrrr- wrrrrrr- . . . I was not correct.

Okay, so USC is not a very good team. Tonight they did not shoot very well outside the arc and even worse from the free throw line. Those misses gave Bama a chance and they rebounded better than we have pretty much all season. Tonight Alabama withstood the defensive pressure and the offensive runs that have doomed them throughout conference play. They could have quit but they never did. Kudos to Coach Grant for teaching our young people how to do the right things because they are the right things to do. Even bigger kudos to our players for behaving like responsible adults and doing the right things when it would have been so much easier to have called it in for the balance of the season.

I still do not understand whatever it is that passes for SEC officiating. Both teams got away with hacks, shoves, pulls and grabs up and down the court and underneath the basket. Both teams were whistled at odd times for behavior that was ignored throughout the game. The mystery to me tonight was location of that perpetually moving line of demarcation between acceptable and unacceptable contact. The fact that Alabama attempted more free throws than USC suggests that we enjoyed a bigger benefit, but 8 of those extra attempts probably came while the Cocks were intentionally fouling us as the clock ran down. Most of the game the players had to be asking “What’s a guy gotta do to get a foul called on him,” and many of the whistled fouls involved much less egregious contact that the hacks and shoves that were not called. One of the plays actually whistled as a foul was against Hines when he got his hand on a rebounded ball that was jerked away by a Carolina player. Hines never touched the guy but he got whistled for a foul when his body jerked toward the moving ball just to avoid being dismembered.

While it’s always sad for the home team to lose on senior night, it was good to see our young men finally be rewarded for all their hard work and for trusting in their coaches. This has been a disappointing season for Bama Basketball fans, but the things we have seen on the court spark optimism in all of us who have followed the program for any appreciable period.

I’ll see you all in Coleman Coliseum Saturday afternoon.

Roll Tide!

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Ignore what I said below about the auburn game being for the W4 sede, it’s actually a lot more complicated than that. Obviously, if auburn beats us then they are the 4 sede and we are the 5, but obviously we don’t want to lose to auburn. If we win Saturday, then we are tied with auburn for 4th. Here are the SEC tie-breakers:

For a two-team tie:
1. head-to-head; 2. division record (10 games); 3. record vs. No. 1 team in division proceeding through the No. 6 team if necessary; 4. non-division record (6 games); 5. record vs. No. 1 team in the opposite division proceeding through the No. 6 team if necessary; 6. coin flip by the Commissioner.

If we beat auburn Saturday, we will still be deadlocked through the first 4 tiebreakers, so that brings us to number 5: record vs No.1 team in the East. Their one win came against UGA, whereas our one win came against South Carolina. South Carolina and UGA are currently tied for 5th in the East. So, if South Carolina finished ahead of UGA, then we would be the 4th sede, whereas auburn would be the 4th sede if UGA takes the 5th spot.

Georgia plays @LSU this weekend while South Carolina is at Vanderbilt. Obviously one would expect UGA to win and SC to lose, thus giving UGA the E5 sede and us the W5 sede, which frankly would be my preference both from a travelling to Nashville perspective and an avoiding Kentucky in the 2nd round perspective. Of course, we would have a much tougher opponent in Florida in the first round.

For the sake of argument, lets assume that USC and UGA either both win or both lose this weekend. They split the head to head, so we go to division record. If both teams win Saturday, then they will both be 4-6 against the East, but South Carolina would get the #5 sede due to their win over Kentucky, putting us in the 4 spot. If both teams lose, UGA will have a better record against the East giving auburn the 4 sede and putting us at the 5th sede. So, if I have figured this correctly, if we win and South Carolina wins, then we are the 4 sede, but any other scenario and we will be the 5. Clear as mud?

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… for a long ass time.

Renardo Sidney’s suspension will last into 30 percent of next season — likely nine games — and require that he repay $11,800, the NCAA said today.

State can appeal the decision. Mississippi State said in a news release moments ago that it will appeal the decision.

An excerpt from the NCAA’s news release:

“The university declared the student-athlete ineligible for violations of NCAA ethical conduct and preferential treatment rules. The university found that the student-athlete violated NCAA ethical conduct rules when he provided false or misleading information throughout the eligibility process.

He and his family benefited by using funds from a non-profit organization for personal gain, according to the facts presented by the university. These funds would not have been available were it not for the student-athlete’s athletic skills and reputation. Preferential treatment in this case also included hotel accommodations and other travel expenses, as well as free athletic gear and training.”

Read the rest here.

As others have said, even USC backed away from this guy… things that make you go mmmmm.

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… something is really fishy about all of this. I’m sure the story will come out down the road… somewhere.

Green reinstated

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Down 14… no problem as we storm back in the 2nd half to win it. I missed most of the last 5 minutes due to the bar changing the channel on me. Caught the very end.

Box score

Give it up to our players for never giving up. Hines owned the boards, Mitchell had a double-double, Torrance and Davis hit some big shots late, and Knox was an actual inside presence. Man… I named 5 players on the team that played their asses off… with Hillman showing great energy and Brock also playing well. Wow.

We had a +20 rebounding edge. A PLUS 20 REBOUNDING EDGE. That is unheard of. Hines simply wanted the ball more than any Gamecock. I’ve always said that’s 70% of rebounding… will. We simply wanted it more tonight… even when we were getting run out of the building early in the game.

The starting lineup tonight should be the one we go with the rest of the season.

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First the bad news… Green is suspended for the season.

University of Alabama forward JaMychal Green will not be available for Wednesday’s game at South Carolina, sources close to the U A basketball program have confirmed.

The University of Alabama sports information office is expected to have an official announcement on Green’s status tonight.

There has been no timetable set for Green’s return to the team, the sources said.

I am aware what the article says, but from everything being said he’s done for the year.

Knox has a real opportunity to show what he’s got the last 3 games of the year. I say 3 as we’ll be one and done in the SECT.

Cocks stats pack… a battle of 2 .500 teams. Should be a memorable game. Ok, not really… both teams are playing out the string.

Since upsetting Kentucky, the Cocks are 2-6 and are coming into this game on a 5 game losing streak. That’s okay, ’cause we’re riding a nice streak of our own… lost the last 3 and 7 of 8.

Like us, injuries have decimated the Cocks. Downey seems to be their own offensive threat.

Stats:
- 72 PPG
- 32% 3pt FG
- 41.7% FG
- -4.9 rebound margin
- 8.6 steals

Prediction: This should be a slapfest… we really have no inside option now with Green done, but we match up nicely with the equally depleted Gamecocks. It’s a road game though… and in the end someone’s streak has got to end. I predict it’s their 5 game losing streak. Cocks by 6.

Game is 7PM EST (6PM CST) on ESPNU.

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File this first story in the “No Shit” folder. Jamychal Green, according to the Mobile Press-Register, will return for his junior year. If this surprises anyone, please make your way to the line on the left for your daily medication. Don’t get me wrong, I love Jamychal and I think he has the potential to develop into a great player, but the key word is “develop”. Green needs to get stronger, his mid-range jumper still needs work and he’s got to become a more aggressive player on both ends of the court, in my opinion, before he can look ahead to the next level.

Due to the way the season has gone, many of us Bama basketball fans have already been looking towards next season. One of the big questions has been who will be the starting point guard with Mikhail Torrance and Anthony Brock finishing their senior seasons. Incoming recruit, Trevor Releford, has to be considered the front runner for the job. Should he not make a smooth transition to the college game though there has been some concern over who could run the team. Ladies and gentlemen, the answer could be Charles Hankerson.

Until now there has been little information about him. I haven’t read much other than he was improving as a player and, as a result, his ranking was increasing. Early evidence is pointing to the fact that Coach Grant and his staff may have landed a diamond in the rough. Video on the guy has been as hard to come by as quality footage of Area 51….until now.

Here is the first video I’ve seen of Hankerson. The kid has a nice looking jump shot, but what stood out the most to me is he’s pretty good at penetrating the defense and making good decisions with the ball. Now, obviously the competition will be drastically different in the SEC than what he’s facing here; nevertheless, from what I’ve seen in this footage, Hankerson could at least be a possible option to turn to should Releford not make an immediate impact.

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I think we’ve seen this plot before. Senario Hillman was suspended for the game. Coach Grant said he made a “bad decision,” and that it “was a basketball issue, not an off the court issue.” Your guess is as good as mine as to what that means. Hillman dressed out and sat next to the coaching staff on the bench, sporting his new mohawk, and cheering on the team throughout the game. Tony Mitchell took his place in the starting lineup.

Justin Knox stepped up and had a good first half but disappeared in the second half. We really missed Hillman’s defense as the Rebels lit us up from beyond the arc. We had an 8 point lead in the first half but allowed Ole Miss to cut it to 2 by halftime.

We forced some turnovers with the press and Charvez Davis caught fire from 3 point land in the second half to build an 11 point lead. Torrance had a great game at point. I think a lot of people don’t realize how much we are going to miss him next year. As bad as this season has been, next year could be worse when I think about our guard situation. Ben Eblen is simply not an SEC caliber player, and we will miss the diversity of Torrance’s game.

After building an 11 point lead, we promptly gave up a 10-0 run. Once again we had chances, but did not make the plays down the stretch. Green had a chance to tie the game at the free throw line but made only one of two. I did not like the idea of using our last timeout with 8 seconds left, down 2, with Ole Miss at the line to shoot one more free throw. Had he missed that free throw, we would have had to use precious seconds getting the ball up the court without the luxury of setting up a play. He made it, and Ole Miss played tight defense, switching on every screen to make sure neither Torrance or Davis could get a good look. Tony Mitchell had an open shot but missed it, and we drop to 4-10 in the SEC. Speaking of Tony Mitchell, he has not seemed like the same player we saw earlier in the season. I don’t know if it’s lingering effects from his illness, being worn down from all the bumps, cuts, and bruises he’s suffered over the season, or if the league has somewhat figured him out now that there is more film out there to review. At any rate, we need him to get going again, Senario to learn from whatever mistake caused him to get suspended, and Anthony Brock to find his shot again. The big positive from this game was Davis, he had been gun shy in many games so maybe this will give him the confidence to take the shots when he has them, as he proved today he is more than capable of making them.

The crowd was rather small and not very loud or energetic. There was not much of a student turnout, and I would guess there was probably only 7,000 or so there. I would imagine that will not be the case with auburn and the football trophy presentation crowd coming in for Senior Day next weekend.

Up next, we go to Columbia, SC to take on the Cocks Wednesday night at 6pm. Of course, I would never root against us in a game, but I won’t be too upset if this one doesn’t go our way. If we lose to South Carolina and auburn can beat Mi$$ $tate, we would “clinch” 5th place in the SEC West, which is a much better draw in the SEC tournament than the 4th spot. The record is very disappointing and this has been a frustrating year, but this team has been fun to watch. They play good defense, play hard, and every game is exciting, even if ultimately disappointing. They haven’t given up yet, so let’s not give up on them.

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Ole Miss overcomes a 11 point deficit to upend the good guys in Tuscaloosa 76-73

The good:
- Torrance scoring, dishing and penetrating
- Davis with a HUGE 2nd half
- Knox with a nice 1st half inside

The bad:
- Ole Miss’ guards penetrated at will against us in the 2nd half.
- Missed finger-roll by Torrance late followed by Green missing one of 2 FT under 10 to tie it.
- Team went into a shell again when Ole Miss made a run.

I just want this season to be over… how we are still so inept inside at this point in the season bothers the hell out of me.

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A must win for both teams… one holding out hope for a NCAA at large bid and the other holding out hope the NIT comes calling.

Ole Miss

Strange thing stuck out looking at Ole Miss’ schedule… even though they’re 6-7 in the SEC, none of their losses have been by more than 10 points. Obviously they are in it, but lack closing ability (sounds familiar). Heck, if I stretch that to non-conference games the only loss they had by more than 10 was to Villanova (by 12).

You know the scoring threats and how well we seem to guard the opposing guards so we’ll need a defensive effort of the 1st half in Oxford to win this (and a non total collapse of the 2nd half).

Stats:
- 45.7% FG
- 35.8% 3pt FG
- +1.7 rebound margin
- 79.1 PPG
- 67.7% FT

Prediction: It’s a battle of 2 teams that have struggled to close out games and since there are no ties in CBB someone’s got to win. When in doubt I usually go with the home team, but I’m thinking Ole Miss finds a way to win. Rebels by 4.

Game time is 2PM EST (1PM CST) on the ESPN2. If you can’t get in front of a TV you probably can watch it on ESPN360.com.

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A number of little mistakes add up to another loss. Torrance was back in the starting lineup over Tony Mitchell after coming off the bench the last couple of weeks. He responded by scoring 8 of our first 10 points and carrying the team offensively through much of the first half. $tate has some talent, Varnardo now holds the all time record for blocks in his career and Bost is a quick guard who can shoot the lights out and carry a team. They have weapons both inside and out, but they are not a very well coached team. JaMychal Green picked up 2 early fouls and sat on the bench for most of the first half. One would think $tansbury would try to establish their inside presence with him out of the game, but their shot selection was awful. They seemed content to chuck NBA range 3’s while we mostly played a matchup 2-3 zone. This allowed us to go into the half only down 2.

According to the box score, we outrebounded them, but I have no idea how. At one point in the first half M$U got 9, NINE! shots in 2 trips. They got 3 shots on their last possession of the half which lasted well over a minute. We’ve got to do a better job of rebounding out of the zone. We put Coach Grant in the position of having to make a very tough decision: If we stay in zone we can’t get a rebound, but if we switch to man they likely get better first shots as the matchups generally favored them. For the most part, we stayed in the zone. I liked the defensive call out of the timeout at the end of the half. $tate had the ball for the last shot, and we showed a 2-3 zone but switched to man with about 10-15 seconds left. $tate had already called their play to attack the zone, and appeared to be surprised by the switch. It worked as they had to take a contested shot and missed. That was good coaching.

We made too many little mistakes to win this game. Brock got the ball stolen from him 2 or 3 times with ease. Once again free throw shooting was subpar, with the usually reliable Torrance missing a couple of badly needed ones in the second half. Tony Mitchell immediately jumped into the air after a rebound in the back court and had no idea where he was going with it, and ended up throwing it right back to $tate. I’ve said many times this year that I think Knox should get more playing time over Hines, but every time I think that a game like this happens. We really needed Knox to step up with Green on the bench, and he looked every bit as inept as Hines on offense but without the solid defense and rebounding. We continued to try to go inside after it became painfully obvious that 1) we weren’t going to be able to shoot over Varnardo and 2) the refs were not going to call a foul on him regardless of whether we drew contact. We shot nearly 50% from 3 ponit range, and some point we should have just started letting them fly from downtown.

Despite all of this and falling down 10, we were able to create some turnovers and easy baskets off the press, along with some big shots from Hillman and Torrance, we were able to cut $tate’s 10 point lead down to 2 with less than 3 minutes to play. We played good enough defense to get stops, but $tate made three 3’s, 2 of which were from 30 feet or so. At some point our luck has got to change.

As much as I gripe about ESPN, CSS’s coverage was awful. We missed the first minute or so because they would not switch over from the Florida-Vandy women’s game which had already been decided, and then they had to show about 30 seconds or so of highlights, plus commercials, after the conclusion of that snoozefest before flipping over. Also, I feel like I missed half of the second half because the cameras were too busy focusing on camouflage wearing rednecks and the fat, hideous creatures that pass for women over there with their various “clever” Varnardo block party signs rather than showing the actual action on the court. The announcers did a fairly good job though, with the exception of not knowing the rule on the time limit to replace a disqualified player. They criticized Coach Grant for immediately replacing Green when he fouled out saying, “he could have used his 60 seconds there to ice the free throw shooter.” Actually, you only get 20 seconds to replace a disqualified player, and I didn’t have a problem with keeping the game moving there, sometimes I think “icing” a shooter actually helps him. Anyway, I generally enjoyed listening to Will Perdue.

At 4-9 in the conference, we now probably need to win out to make the NIT or make a deep run in Nashville. With Ole Miss’ win over auburn, it’s going to be difficult for us to climb out of that 4th spot or drop down to 5th in the West, which means Kentucky in the 2nd round if we win on Thursday. In other words, you can pretty much forget a deep run in Nashville, so we need to win out. Up next, once again we face the leaders of the SEC West, this time in the form of the Ole Miss Rebels. Tip-off is set for 1pm Saturday in Tuscaloosa. This team has proven they will continue to compete and play hard, so let’s not give up on them yet.

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I can only post the box score as I did not see one minute of the game. Looks like we hung close with them throughout which is nice.

I’m wondering why Tony Mitchell’s PT has been decreasing… with our lack of scorers shouldn’t he be out there more? I like that Hines seems to be the only big man we have that actively crashes the boards, but he’s an offensive liability.

It is what it is I guess.

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They are playing for their NCAA tournament lives. Every game from here on out is a must win for them. Their SOS sucks and outside of the SEC they don’t have a win to boast about.

Season stats

State isn’t a particularly good shooting team, they don’t rebound as well as they should, but they’ll chuck up a bunch of 3s and hope it works. They have a balanced scoring attack.

Stats:
- 43.2% FG
- 36% 3pt FG
- 68.4% FT
- +3.7 rebound margin
- 8 blocks a game

Prediction: I’ve given up on this team winning on the road so maybe by typing that it conjures up some reverse psychology and we pull the upset. I doubt it… if Thompkins can pull 17 boards on us, expect Vanardo to dominate inside against our Charmin soft big men. They won’t blow us out, but they’ll win… by 13.

Game time is 9PM EST (8PM CST) on CSS.

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… as UGA pulls out a close one 76-70

Trey Thompkins pulled down 17 boards to go with his 21 points. He was a force late in the second half… one that we had no answer for. I remember looking up at the scoreboard seeing us with a 52-40 lead with around 10 minutes to go… and then the offense went in it’s normal shell for a 5 minute stretch giving UGA the chance to rally. They did so by dominating the paint and with some timely shots by Leslie and McPhee from the outside.

We have the softest big men in the SEC. It seems that on the offensive end they’re fading away from the basket or when they do ‘attempt’ to go strong it ends up rejected or turns into a circus shot. It’s like they’re afraid to bang inside. On the defensive end they give up too much space which leads to easier shots on that end.

Another note… if you looked at the stats with about 10 minutes left everything pointed to UGA dominating except for the FT difference. I believe we had 24 attempts to their 9 at one point, but they made up for that later on. They were shooting 50%, had more shots, outrebounded us, had more assists, and less turnovers. Like I noted above we were up by 12.

Like I said in the comments, there was a nice showing of Bama fans. I would guess several hundred (400 or more) in a place that was 2/3rd full (which was surprising to me).

Hillman and Green had a nice 1st half, but disappeared in the 2nd… flip that with Torrance. Brock also had a decent game, but also disappeared in the 2nd half. 9 of the 14 turnovers were by our big men, but we only had 8 assists so we weren’t moving the ball all that well.

Another game where we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory (or something like that… too lazy to reference). The blame for this one is everywhere… the players and coaches.

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… as UGA pulls out a close one 76-70

Trey Thompkins pulled down 17 boards to go with his 21 points. He was a force late in the second half… one that we had no answer for. I remember looking up at the scoreboard seeing us with a 52-40 lead with around 10 minutes to go… and then the offense went in it’s normal shell for a 5 minute stretch giving UGA the chance to rally. They did so by dominating the paint and with some timely shots by Leslie and McPhee from the outside.

We have the softest big men in the SEC. It seems that on the offensive end they’re fading away from the basket or when they do ‘attempt’ to go strong it ends up rejected or turns into a circus shot. It’s like they’re afraid to bang inside. On the defensive end they give up too much space which leads to easier shots on that end.

Another note… if you looked at the stats with about 10 minutes left everything pointed to UGA dominating except for the FT difference. I believe we had 24 attempts to their 9 at one point, but they made up for that later on. They were shooting 50%, had more shots, outrebounded us, had more assists, and less turnovers. Like I noted above we were up by 12.

Like I said in the comments, there was a nice showing of Bama fans. I would guess several hundred (400 or more) in a place that was 2/3rd full (which was surprising to me).

Hillman and Green had a nice 1st half, but disappeared in the 2nd… flip that with Torrance. Brock also had a decent game, but also disappeared in the 2nd half. 9 of the 14 turnovers were by our big men, but we only had 8 assists so we weren’t moving the ball all that well.

Another game where we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory (or something like that… too lazy to reference). The blame for this one is everywhere… the players and coaches.

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2 bad teams enter… only one comes out the victor.
Season stats

To be honest I don’t think I’ve seen more than 15 total minutes of UGA basketball. I know they play hard, have a win over Vandy, and played Kentucky tough at Rupp.

Here’s the write up from the Dawgs site.

Stats:
- 67.9 PPG
- 45.6% FG
- 36.4% 3pt FG
- 72.7% FT
- +3.8 rebound margin

Got to watch Trey Thompkins inside as I suspect we’ll have problems with him. Ricky McPhee will chuck up the majority of 3s so someone needs to keep an eye on him. Other than him, defend inside and make them beat you from the perimeter.

Prediction: It’s going to be an ugly game… really ugly. In the end UGA has too much size and we don’t have a perimeter threat to counter that. Dawgs by 7.

Game time is 4PM EST (3PM CST) on the SEC Network. I’ll be there with a crowd of other spectators enjoying the darkness of Stegeman Coliseum.

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With no midweek game this week, here are a couple of items that may be of interest:

Ron Steele seems to be doing well in Israel. Below is a cut and paste from an email being circulated by the Birmingham Jewish Federation:

Former Alabama star Ronald Steele now plays professional basketball in Israel.

Former University of Alabama basketball star Ronald Steele is now playing professional basketball in Israel. Ronald played for the Crimson Tide from 2004-2009.

Birmingham Jewish community member Layne Held, who has known Ronald since seventh grade, reconnected with him recently (see below link) and encouraged Ronald to send some impressions of Israel to Update. Here is what Ronald wrote:

By Ronald Steele

Hi everybody. I’m currently in Israel playing professional basketball for Bnei Hasharon. It’s a team right outside of Tel Aviv in a town called Herzliya. Two of my former college teammates, Erwin Dudley and Rod Grizzard, played in Israel a few years ago. (Many at the Levite Jewish Community Center know Erwin from time he spent at the LJCC.)

A few things that immediately stand out about this country are how family-oriented Israelis are, what a major role family plays in their culture, and how dedicated everyone is to their religion. The love and passion people have for their country and their culture is very inspiring and is foreign to me.

Before arriving here, I didn’t know much about Judaism. After being in Jerusalem, I was quickly able to see the history, passion, and love people have for their religion, and it is remarkable.

Even though I’m a Christian, to see how welcoming and open people are gives me strength in my own faith. Also, much of Christian history comes from the Jewish beliefs, and it gives you insight on where it all started. Learning many of the traditions and customs has given me an opportunity to grow much more as a person.

NO DANGER AT ALL

With all you see on television and being from America, you get a distorted image of a place. Although I’m aware of the hostilities that surround living here, you honestly would never know they are currently going on. Since I’ve been here, I have felt no danger at all. As a matter of fact, I feel much safer walking down the street at night here than I would at home. You really have to watch television in order to be reminded of the conflict while living here.

I have had an opportunity to travel to Jerusalem where I visited many different places. Words can’t do my feelings justice, but to say it was POWERFUL would be an understatement! For me, I could feel the spirit of God there with us, and it was just an unbelievable experience.

I would say the thing that bothers me the most is the traffic and driving. People here drive very, very aggressively and coming from the American South, you don’t see that as much. So, that can definitely get annoying.

The advice I would give about Israel would be just to have an open mind about trying new things and embrace the culture. Many things are different, but I would say we are more similar than different. Israel is a beautiful place, and I’m very blessed to have an opportunity to be here.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Good for Ron, he is a class act. Speaking of class, or rather a lack thereof, Miss $tate fans showed the rest of the country last night what those of us who have been regular visitors to Starkville have known for years: They are by far least civilized fans in the country.

First, they somehow got Demarcus Cousins’ cell phone number and proceeded to post it on fliers around campus. Next, several students left him voicemails and text messages with racial slurs. $tate blew a 7 point lead late to lose in overtime, and there were some questionable calls down the stretch. With 2 seconds to play, the game already decided and UK on their way to the free throw line, full water bottles and cokes came raining down onto the court from the rafters, narrowly missing an official and a UK player. The game was delayed for a couple of minutes to clean up the mess. The announcers even said they were having to duck at the scorer’s table. Calipari had to leave his post game interview yelling “Whoa Whoa!” and ushering his players off the court. When asked about it, he said, “I don’t know what’s going on here, we’ve got bottles flying all around,” and you could hear someone close by yell “look out!” indicating that they were still having to dodge objects. After the interview, the cameras followed Calipari out the tunnel where you could clearly see grown adults, not students, cursing the UK players and coaches.

It should be noted that at no point did $lick Rick $tansbury ever go to the mic to tell his white trash following to behave, nor has the m$u athletic Dept. issued any sort of apology. Pat Forde best described the scene…”And then their fans – some of whom are the nastiest and most vulgar I’ve heard in 19 years of covering SEC basketball – embarrassed the school by throwing bottles on the
floor..”

Classless M$U fans

That low rent operation, everything from their sleazeball coach down to their trashy, racist fan base is an embarrassment to the SEC. I hope Commissioner Slive hits them a fine sufficient to put a dent in their payroll, er, recruiting budget for next season.

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Thanks to ‘Rocky Mountain High Tide’ for the link. It sounds very much like that football coach we have…

BIRMINGHAM – First-year coach Anthony Grant will know that he has Alabama where he wants it by judging the length of pregame and postgame handshakes at Southeastern Conference basketball games.

Grant spoke today to the Birmingham Tip Off Club. He noted the fact that he might be new at Alabama, but he isn’t new in the SEC. He flashed back to his first of 10 years on the Florida staff after Billy Donovan was named the head coach there in 1996.

“We started two walk-ons,” Grant said. “We weren’t very good. I remember going around the league, and you know how you do the pregame handshakes and postgame handshakes? There were several times across the league we would go, and I tell you, Billy Donovan really made a great impression on a lot of coaches those first couple of years. It seemed like everywhere we went, people told him what a great job he did, how happy they were for the opportunity he had gotten and what a great situation it was.

“Then I remember the last couple of years there, the handshakes were a lot quicker, a lot briefer, and guys would move on.”
Read the rest here

For those that like stats… here’s the first link this year to ours.

If you looked purely at the stats you’d think we’d be in the top half of the SEC.
- 70% FT
- 45% FG
- 35% 3pt FG (which surprised me… thought it was much worse)
- 63.2 PPG allowed

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The first half was brutal. We made poor decisions and lazy passes resulting in turnovers. We ran a full court man to man press for much of the first half, and Fortson was able to easily dribble around and past Brock creating fast break opportunities for the Razorbacks. Defensively, Arkansas completely took away Torrance’s left side, forcing him to go right exclusively. It seemed to take him a while to adjust. We finally started making some shots and catching a few breaks to cut the 13 point lead down to 7, and had the ball with a chance to hold for the last shot of the 1st half. Once again, Torrance turned the ball over at a very bad time. Coach Grant should have used a timeout when he saw Torrance in trouble. In situations where you have the ball with less than 35 seconds remaining in the first half, or in a tie game at the end of a game, there is no excuse for being outscored over the remainder of the half, but it has now happened to us at least 3 times this year. So, we go into the half down 9, and Arkansas starts the 2nd half on a 4-0 to get the lead right back to 13.

Given the way this year has gone, it would have been easy to throw in the towel against the Western Division front runners. Instead, the team kept scrapping and found a way to get back into the game. It helped that the Hogs were resting Fortson and his 4 fouls. While he can be somewhat of a ballhog, they are an infinitely better team when he is on the court. We were able to make a run with him out of the game, thanks in large part to Hillman getting things started with a 3 and Torrance creating some opportunities off the dribble. The press was much more effective with Fortson on the bench, and we were able to force some turnovers which created offense. Charvez Davis knocked down a 3 to finally tie the game, and JaMychael Green kept us going down the stretch, making big play after big play in the post. After going 1 for 5 at the FT line during a stretch in the first half, we made every one in clutch situations down the stretch. Green and Torrance were 16 of 17 combined from the free throw line. That is how you win close games!

Hopefully this game will give us confidence down the stretch. We did a much better job of communicating on defense in the second half, and Hillman kept Clarke pretty much shut down. Our bigs did a good job of containing their post players. Hines pulled down 7 rebounds, played great defense, and plays as hard as anybody on the court. Still, he looks awkward and ineffective offensively, and I would like to see Justin Knox get a little bit more playing time, as I think he gives us another scoring option when he’s in the game.

It was a late arriving crowd of probably 9,000 or so. Not bad considering the previous day’s snow probably made it difficult for some to travel from certain parts of the state. I was somewhat disappointed in the student turnout, but again, with classes cancelled on Friday, I would imagine many left town for the 3 day weekend and/or Mardi Gras festivities down in the French Quarter. Up Next, we get a week of rest before travelling to Athens, GA to take on the UGA Bulldogs at Stegeman Coliseum next Saturday, Feb. 20, at 3pm Central time. While UGA’s record is not very impressive, much like us they have been very competitive and have some high quality wins under first year coach Mark Fox. Bobbyjack and I will be there representin’.

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It was a tale of two halves again… except this time our 2nd half bailed out our 1st half misery. Torrance scored all 12 in the 2nd half, Green was taking charge inside, and Hillman had an overall nice game.

Box score

I’ll leave the recap to someone else… all I’ll say is it’s about time we won a close one.

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It was a tale of two halves again… except this time our 2nd half bailed out our 1st half misery. Torrance scored all 12 in the 2nd half, Green was taking charge inside, and Hillman had an overall nice game.

Box score

I’ll leave the recap to someone else… all I’ll say is it’s about time we won a close one.

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The leaders of the West… might be the most surprising thing in the SEC this year especially considering their non-conference start. They’re currently on a 5 game winning streak.

Season stats

Fortson, Clarke, and Powell combine for 51 of the 75PPG the Razorbacks average. If you looked at the stats, you’d think the return of Fortson would’ve made them worse, but he’s been the sparkplug behind their resurgence in the 2nd half of the season. We don’t have a guard that can adequately cover him so man to man is not going to cut it tomorrow if we want to win. We got to watch Clarke from beyond the arc as in years past the slow white guy was our kryptonite. Clarke is actually a decent player, but the point remains. We’re better this year against this and overall defending the 3, but the ghosts of Gottfried past still haunt me.

It’s good to see that Michael Washington is a senior as it seems like he played with Todd Day, Lee Mayberry, and Oliver Miller.

Stats
- 45.2% FG
- 36% 3pt FG
- 68.7% FT
- 13 turnovers per game

Prediction: 2 teams going in different directions. One has lost 7 of 9 and the other is on a 5 game winning streak with road wins at Ole Miss and UGA. I’ll take us anyways… Bama by 4.

I was planning on going to the game, but this snow turning to ice thing might change my plans. I’ll know tomorrow morning if the roads from West GA to Tuscaloosa are driveable. I was told Birmingham to Tuscaloosa is alright… just that 90 minutes east of there that I’m sweating.

Game time is 4PM EST (3PM CST) on the SEC network.

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Everyone has heard the saying where were you when a “significant event” had happened. The first such event in the Crimson Tide’s 2009 football season was Don’ta Hightower going down to injury.  The second event in the season happened on October…

It’s Sunday afternoon and I have finally come down from the hysterical high of Alabama’s win over Tennessee. I’ve watched Terrence Cody’s block close to a 100 times on my DVR, but now it’s time to take a look…

Shocking that 2 of the dirtiest coaches in all of college basketball have their fingerprints on this…

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Kentucky’s John Calipari raved about the development of highly touted freshman guard John Wall Thursday morning during media day for the Southeastern Conference. Hours later, a report surfaced that his prized recruit might not be eligible to play.

SEC commissioner Mike Slive told ESPN.com that he believes the NCAA’s agents and amateurism group — not enforcement officials — are looking into the eligibility of both Wall and Mississippi State freshman Renardo Sidney.

“Those are amateur issues that arose prior to their coming to our schools,” Slive said. “Those are strictly amateurism issues. As we told our people, somebody needs to determine if they are eligible. It’s not relative to you, it’s relative to them.”

An SEC spokesman Charles Bloom said he could not confirm the eligibility issues to The Associated Press, and Slive was not available for comment.

From SI

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Al.com has posted video of Coach Grant and Mikhail Torrance speaking at SEC Media Days.

Two other items from Al.com: Don Kausler of the Birmingham News posted an article after speaking with Mikhail Torrance about the team’s initial practices.

Also, everyone’s favorite loudmouth, Bruce Pearl, has picked the Tennessee football team to upset Alabama on Saturday. I hope Bruce keeps a plate of crow handy.

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Is it time for the Crimson Tide to strike a pose? All of a sudden Alabama has what some believe is the number 1 Heisman candidate. Mark Ingram’s superb sophomore season has sent him to the top of most…

From Cecil Hurt

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Before I start my weekly game forecast, I have to make a couple of comments and a question. When did Steve Spurrier become such a whiner? I had just started to forget how much I disliked his attitude from the…

Time for me and the family to head west to the great state of Alabama.  This should be an especially fun drive through S. Carolina and Georgia. So, if you see a red Lincoln Navigator L heading West on I20…