Crimson Red Sports

The Alabama men's basketball team will travel to Gainesville, Fla., where it will take on the No. 8/6 Florida Gators on Saturday afternoon. The contest is set to tip off at noon ET (11 a.m. CT) and will be televised on ESPN.

"We are looking forward to the challenge of going on the road and playing a team the caliber of Florida," UA head coach Anthony Grant said. "I'm really impressed watching them on film and what they've been able to accomplish over the course of the season. Obviously, they are coming off a tough loss at Tennessee and they were not 100-percent healthy at the time. We understand they will have a full complement of players for our game. We're 15 games into the conference schedule and we find ourselves tied for second place. The things we've talked about, having the opportunity to control our destiny. It's in our hands and I think the guys are excited about it. We're looking forward to the challenge."

The match-up will pit the top two teams in the Southeastern Conference heading into the final three regular season games. The Tide (19-9, 11-4 SEC) comes into the contest trailing the Gators (22-5, 12-3) by one game in the league standings.

I think Anthony Grant went to the Les Miles school of clock management.

Eight seconds left, do you:


1. call a timeout, set up a play   #+

or

2. hold the ball for the entire 8 seconds without shooting    :-\


Otherwise, Bama is hanging tough and playing well.  Three point game at half.  

It is not CAG fault Randolph did not take a wide open three pointer. Instead he drove to the lane and ran out the clock. That is on Randolph. He may not be the best outside shooter but he is too basketball smart to not know he has to take that shot.

It is not CAG fault Randolph did not take a wide open three pointer. Instead he drove to the lane and ran out the clock. That is on Randolph. He may not be the best outside shooter but he is too basketball smart to not know he has to take that shot.

We played well today but we needed the win. The two bogus offensive charge calls hurt us bad. It would have stopped the Florida momentum and kept us in the game. Winning on the road is hard because the calls will not go your way.

We have to beat Ole Miss Tuesday in Oxford and Georgia at home next Saturday. That will get us a two round bye until Friday in Nashville. We will need one or maybe two wins to have any shot at a Tournament bid.

The NCAA Tournament is tons of fun when your team is in it. I don't want to go to the NIT.

 

You know things are not going your way when you are down by 6 and a little over a minute to play. You must get a defensive stop. You play great defense and force a bad shot. You have three men ready to get the rebound to Florida's none. Then the ball gets stuck between the goal and backboard and the arrow is pointing Florida's way. It was that kind of day.

Arkansas up by 15 on Kentucky 6:24

Tenn lost today and Ole Miss is struggling with Miss State right now. We are still in control of the No. 2 spot in the SEC.

There have been several games this season where Bama has run down the clock excessively and then taken a poor shot with the clock expiring.  You don't need to run the clock down to that last tick -- you want to preserve time for rebounding and tip ins.  Bama almost got it right against LSU in OT, Cooper just needed a fraction of a second more for the tip back.

If this were an isolated incident, it would be on Randolph (who does seem timid about shooting, and in crowds).  But because Bama consistently has missed these opportunities, I think coaching is involved.  If nothing else, devote more time in practice to those final seconds.

I agree completely with these observations by Prothro. We scored 3 points in the last 12 minutes of this game. This is a repeat of games against LSU, Tennessee, & Auburn. We should have won all 3 of those games. In almost every game, we will go long stretches (7 minutes or more) without scoring or scoring 1-4 points. This is what is killing us, along with too much fouling, & poor FT shooting on our part.I expect to see a new assistant coach added at the end of the year.


 :deadhorse: 

I agree completely with these observations by Prothro. We scored 3 points in the last 12 minutes of this game. This is a repeat of games against LSU, Tennessee, & Auburn. We should have won all 3 of those games. In almost every game, we will go long stretches (7 minutes or more) without scoring or scoring 1-4 points. This is what is killing us, along with too much fouling, & poor FT shooting on our part.I expect to see a new assistant coach added at the end of the year. 

You know things are not going your way when you are down by 6 and a little over a minute to play. You must get a defensive stop. You play great defense and force a bad shot. You have three men ready to get the rebound to Florida's none. Then the ball gets stuck between the goal and backboard and the arrow is pointing Florida's way. It was that kind of day.

Yep.  What I didn't understand was the shot clock reset to 35 seconds.  A couple of times earlier in the game, with a jump ball where Bama retained possession, the clock was not reset.  What's the rule?

So your solution is to simply score more points? Brilliant!

The shot hit the goal. Shot clock resets.

So your solution is to simply score more points? Brilliant!

The assistant needs to be 6'-10" with eligibilty remaining capible of putting up a double-double every game.

Bama by 8 12:30-- Releford shooting 1. RTR

They pointed out something in the broadcast that we are overlooking.  If we get 1 more win this year (surely we will) then we will have 3 20 win seasons in a row and we have not done that since 90, 91, 92.  I think that should put things into perspective as far as whether or not CAG has us going in the right direction.  I think we are getting there.  I also noticed during the broadcast that CBD started at UF in 96, but they did not win their first NC until 10 years later in 06.  Maybe we need to give CAG a little more breathing room and be patient for a few more years.  This isn't football.  There are well over 300 basketball teams, 3 times more than football.  With a fairly small roster (compared to football) even little schools that wouldn't have a prayer can compete in basketball (see Gonzaga).

They pointed out something in the broadcast that we are overlooking.  If we get 1 more win this year (surely we will) then we will have 3 20 win seasons in a row and we have not done that since 90, 91, 92.  I think that should put things into perspective as far as whether or not CAG has us going in the right direction.  I think we are getting there.  I also noticed during the broadcast that CBD started at UF in 96, but they did not win their first NC until 10 years later in 06.  Maybe we need to give CAG a little more breathing room and be patient for a few more years.  This isn't football.  There are well over 300 basketball teams, 3 times more than football.  With a fairly small roster (compared to football) even little schools that wouldn't have a prayer can compete in basketball (see Gonzaga).

The last 3 20 win season in a row were 90,91,92 under Wimp Sanderson. 92 was Wimp's last year. We had 20 win seasons and NCAA bids in 7 out of his last 8 years.

Getting 20 wins is not the automatic bid to the tournament like it used to be but it is still a milestone teams strive for.

Grant is not on the hot seat IMO. We are top 4 in the SEC and on the NCAA bubble. Things could be a lot worse. Grant's best days at Alabama are ahead of him. We lose one player (Steele) off this team. Everyone else will be back.

I am excited about the future of Alabama Basketball with Coach Grant.

No, he's not on the hot seat.  Next year has real potential, as long as Releford returns.

That is the HUGE key to next years team. If he leaves early, oh crap.


 :pullhair:

Releford is a good college player but I don't think he will get drafted or ever play in the NBA. I don't think he leaves early to go overseas to play. JMHO

I agree.