Crimson Red Sports

Alabama beat Stillman 102-65 last night in the first round of the Preseason NIT. We advance to play Georgia State. Georgia State advanced to the second round by beating McNeese State 96-70. The game is at 7:00 CT on ESPN3.

Georgia State is 2-1 on the year. They have beaten Southern Poly and McNeese State. Their loss was to Vanderbilt in Nashville 86-80. They are a pretty good team.

Georgia State's point guard is a Kentucky transfer. The # 2 guard is a NBA prospect. ESPN says they have the best back court of any mid-major.

We better bring our best effort tonight.

I want to see the TIDE roll. I thought this would be the year we would be a lot better. Why are we in a tourney with a little brother sort of to say? Please advise. RTR!

This is a major tournament. The winner tonight advances to play at Madison Square Garden in New York. The opponent in New York will most likely be Duke. Our second game in New York would most likely be against either Arizona or Rutgers.

Thanks you pmull. I was way off base, thinking this was a little tourney. I just saw the schools we play and gathered the wrong idea. I do appreciate your help. God Bless. RTR!

This bracket is small and hard to read but it will show you all the teams in the Tournament. We are the third seed. We need to win tonight and stay in the winners bracket to play the other big name teams.

(http://nbccollegebasketballtalk.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/2013nitseasontip-offbracket.jpg?w=1024&h=790)

The two guards are Harrow 6'2" & 27 points against Vandy and Hunter 6'5" with 21 points on Vandy. This may sound silly, but this a big challenge for Bama and Coach Grant and could be an indicator for how our season will go. We better have some outside shooting tonight.


 :popcorn2:

They had a lead against Vandy with 4 minutes to go and they were tied with 2 minutes to go. Vegas has us a 7 point favorite. They are a good team. One writer said they could be this years Florida Gulf Coast.

17-15 Ga. St with Tide on a cold streak running at 4 minutes right now. 10 minutes left in first half. 17-17 on FT's by Hale and we score again. 19-17 Tide

Tide leading 22-19 with timeout. Algie Key & Engstrom in game. Someone may be in foul trouble.

Cooper is 2-3 3 pointers. We have already attempted 10 3 pointers. Hale in game with Engstrom, Cooper, Obasohan, & Releford. 25-19 Tide.

Tide leading 27-19 with 6:18 left in first half. Timeout by GSU.
Obasohan steals ball and then gets layup, 29-19.
Engstrom hits hook shot. 31-19



 :clap:

Current lineup Jacobs, Releford, Obasohan, Engstrom, Randolph.

Obasohan playing like an All American. Scores on another steal, scores and is fouled.

Tide 34-23 @ tmeout.

Bama 38-30 at the half.

38-30 Tide halftime

Obasohan, Releford, Hale, & Engstrom have looked good. Never heard Jimmy Taylor's name mentioned.

Thanks for the updates.   Roll Tide!

Butler beat Vandy 85-77.

Butler is going to be good again this year.

Bama up 47-32. GS time out. 16:31 to go.

Releford has 17 pts.

Bama up 49-32 at the under 16:00 time out.

Randolph just had a nice slam dunk.

Releford scores, 47-32 with timeout by GSU. Jimmy Taylor is playing so I am guessing he was in foul trouble. Releford is 3-6 from 3 point line and has 17 points. Randolph slams it down. Releford called for 2nd foul. Tide 6-13 from 3 point line.

50-33 Tide. Engstrom replaces Taylor in game after he misses point blank basket. Hale in game, too. We miss another layup and GSU gets ball. Cooper, Obashan, Key, Engstrom, & Hale in game. 52-38 Tide after GSU 3 pointer. Engstrom hits hook shot.  Tide 54-38 @ timeout

Bama up 54-38 at the under 12:00 time out.

11:00 left in game. Obasohan fouled shooting. 57-38 Tide & Obasohan has 11 points. Hale takes charge for foul against GSU. Engstrom blocks shot and Obasohan takes ball and slams it. 61-38 Tide.



 :clap: :clap: :clap:

Bama 61-38. GS called time out. Obasohan is putting on a show. He has 14 pts.

Obasohan picks up 4th foul and is replaced by Releford. Not a bad replacement.

63-41 Tide. Releford gets 3rd foul but has 19 points. Obasohan has 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 assists along with 14 points. 65-48 Tide but has been reckless with ball and GSU has scored last 5 points.

Bama up 65-48 at the under 8:00 time out. Bama is getting sloppy with the big lead.

Jacobs replaces Engstrom. Jacobs commits 3rd foul. 7 minutes in game left. 65-50 Tide. We are getting sloppy but Key hits layup. Tide rebounds GSU shot and Tide misses shot. Tide has ball again and Cooper misses 3. GSU scores and score is 67-52. Hale, Engstrom, Releford, Obasohan, & Key on court. Tide 68-52 at timeout with 4 minutes left.

Bama up 68-52 with under 4:00 to play.

Obasohan steals ball but is fouled. Obasohan 2-2 on FTs and 16 total points. Tie gets ball back on traveling call on GSU. Engstrom fouled on attempted dunk. Hale has 8 points & 6 rebounds good show for true freshman, 71-52 Tide. We have shut down the two high scoring guards of GSU.

Bama wins 75-68.

73-56 Tide with a timeout and 1:49 left in game. Releford 19 points, Obasohan 16, & Levi 10. Obasohan scores for 18 points on layup. Tide 75-58 winner. Look out Duke.

                    WE WANT DUKE



                    WE WANT DUKE




 #+

This is CAG best offensive team at Alabama. We are more aggressive than in past years. Obasohan is playing great. Releford looks healthy. Freshman Shannon Hale had a good night scoring and rebounding. On a night when Jacobs did not we still had plenty of scoring.

Name              PT     REB

Releford, Trevor   19   6   
Obasohan, Retin   18   4   
Randolph, Levi   10   6   
Hale, Shannon   8   6   
Key, Algie   7   2   1   
Cooper, Rodney   6   3   
Engstrom, Carl   5   3   
Taylor, Jimmie   2   5   
Jacobs, Nick   0   1

I think the new rules about using your hands on a defender is helping, too. Obasohan's improvement is very important.

Duke played really well tonight.  They may be tough to beat...

Well, they do want Bama.   #@Duke

:lol:

This team is coming together. It will be a very interesting game against Duke. I hope we bring the swag and hustle to MSG. This game will tell a lot about us.

Wow, another fun night at Coleman. I'm trying to be careful and not get too hyped up over what I've seen these past two games but heck, it has been fun to watch.

I can tell all of you one thing for sure, I know why Trevor Lacy transfered, he knew he couldn't beat out Obasohan this year. This guy is the real deal and if Key can get going, Bama's backcourt is going to be hard to handle.

Kudos to CAG and his staff for getting this team to playing the way it is right now. The real test comes next Wednesday night though against Duke. There is one thing that is certain about that game and it is Bama will come away with a pretty good idea of where they stand compared to the big guns in college basketball. Even if they were to lose, they will still know how they compare to the elite programs in the NCAA with a whole season left to play and time to improve before the NCAA tournament.

Hopefully they will play well in New York and maybe win the tournament and that's not a bad place to win a tournament. Those folks up there love their basketball like we love our football down here, so there's a lot to gain by doing something good up there.

Duke has two cupcake games before next Wed.  Bama is off for a week.  Hopefully Bama comes out hot, not cold, and we give them our best shot.  I think Bama has a chance to win this one if the refs let them play.

Georgia State has a good team. They had three players that transferred from major programs. One each from Kentucky, USCw and Va Tech. ESPN said they have the best Mid-Major back court. This was supposed to be our best home non-conference game other than Wichita State and Xavier. I was concerned this game could end like home losses last year to Dayton, Mercer and Tulane. We played well and beat them in every phase of the game.

I can not say enough good things about Obasohan. He is exceeding the high expectations I had for him this year. He is quick, handles the ball well, penetrates, plays defense and is a scorer. He is playing an awful lot like Releford and I mean that as a complement.

Releford has improved his outside shot. Randolph looks healthy and is playing well. Cooper is steady and is getting a lot of rebounds. CAG is still looking for the right combination at the post spot. Taylor is starting and has been playing well for a freshman. Last night 6'-8" forward Shannon Hale played 26 minutes and scored 8 points and had 7 rebounds. Engstrom and Jacobs are in the mix too. Algie Key is a good player off the bench. He played 17 minutes and had 7 points last night. I like the way CAG is mixing and matching our line up. So far we have been difficult to defend. We are also shooting free throws well as a team at 76%.

Since the Opener against Oklahoma we are holding opponents to 65 points or less. I was concerned the new rules would hurt our defense but so far it has not. However, I think the new rules has helped our offense, especially the drives to the basket.

I think the new S&C coach is already paying dividends. We look in better shape than I can remember and it shows in the way we are playing.

We have two big games in New York next week. I am looking forward to it.

I want to see how our team does against Duke. If we win it all, then we can say we are built to win. I still look forward to the rest of the season. RTR!

It is a long season ahead Ricky.  A bit of tempered optimism is appropriate right now...