Crimson Red Sports

This is a giant game for the Tide BB program and Coach Grant. If we win or even keep it close, say 8 points or less, it means the Tide is greatly improved. If we look horrible and get blown out by 25 or more, look out.



 :popcorn2:

I look at this game as the opposite of Duke playing us in football.  Their football team is greatly improved this year, but we're Bama. 

I was thinking the same thing. Coach K would be Saban.


 :worship:

I think we can win this game. This Duke does not look like one of Coach K's better teams.

Bama's team last year wasn't Saban's best either.   :lol2:

I'm with you on this pmull. I watched the Duke and Vermont game and Vermont should have won that game. I hope Duke plays us man to man but I have a feeling they'll play a zone against us. They played Vermont man to man and Vermont drove to the basket all night and was very successful.

An "average" Duke team finishes ranked #8 in the country at the end of the year.


 :D

(http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slides/photos/000/519/960/alabama-crimson-tide-cheerleader_display_image.jpg?1290471993)  

(http://www.thesportsbank.net/core/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Bama-Cheerleader.jpg)

(http://www.thesportsbank.net/core/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/alabama-cheerleaders.jpg)

YA'LL READY?!


(http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.117340!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/alg-alabama-grant-jpg.jpg)

I like your positive attitude.


 #+

Bama's D looks good.  Duke still scoreless.  Bama's O has a couple of turnover fouls, and 2 points.  Bama leads 2-0

Bama 5 DUke 0

3 points by cooper

Bama 5 Duke 2

TV timeout

Obasohan going to the FT line for two shots

I'm calling it early.

Bama 12 Duke 5

Duke has their first lead.  Duke 17 Bama 15

Tide was playing good but then Releford got his 2nd foul and left game. Turnovers are killing us, again.
17-15 Duke & timeout. Cooper & taylor playing good. We have had at least 8 turnovers so far.


 :wall:

Offensive foul on Bama & we lose the basket. We have missed 2 point blank shots under the basket. We are rebounding good, whig is a good sign. Duke 20-15



 :wall: :wall: :wall:

NINE turnovers already for Bama, but still hanging in there. Third missed shot near the basket.
Duke 26-20. Releford picks up third foul, our 2nd charging foul.



 :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall:

Frustrating to see Bama get a fast break with numbers but then pull up and wait to shoot.



 :facepalm:

Releford at 3 fouls.  Still more turnovers.  Duke up by 6


(http://blu.stb.s-msn.com/i/CA/CC9A8E6637F378E898AEB315AAB2E.jpg)

Tide playing with lots of energy & good rebounding. Without the 9 turnovers & numerous fouls, we would be winning by at least 6 or 8. We are still in a good position to win the game.



 :clap:

Tide 2/6 on FT's. Duke 29-20. Tide has to make some shots. No points for Releford.

Tide looking totally out-of-sync. We are missing lay-ups and put backs on rebounds, at least 4 or 5 times. Another turnover then Tide intercepts and Randolph slams it home. Duke 33-22, timeout.

Duke 33-22 Half Releford played out-of-control with ricky ticky fouls and got in trouble. No one is really taking the lead for our team.


 :dunno:

Tide has 11 turnovers at half.


 :facepalm:

Tide shot 35% in first half. Releford back on the court. Duke 33-24 after Releford hit 2 FT's. Levi commits foul.

Duke killing us with wide-open 3's. 39-24 Duke. Bobby Knight very critical of our 3 point D. Duke 41-24.



 :wall:

We just can not hit a 3. Good offense by Tide with lay-up and good ball movement. ANOTHER WIDE OPEN UNCONTESTED 3 BY DUKE! Duke 44-28



 :wall: :wall: :wall:

It's getting ugly.   :facepalm:

Bama on an 8-0 run, now down by 10

Is it just me or does Bama never look like they are going to catch and shoot?   This seems to be recognized by Duke and they just wait for the attempt to drive.

Bama on an 12-0 run, now down by 6

Bingo! We seem hesitant in that area and are always pulling up like we are afraid to shoot. this is a hallmark of the Grant-coached team. We are playing great D right now but Parker scores. Duke 48-40, timeout.

Jacobs has played solid. Good energy, rebounding, and scoring 16.


 :clap:

Jacobs looking good tonight.  8-12, 16 points so far

Better rebounding, Jacobs 5, Levi 4, & Taylor 4. Parker is killing us. We need to be double teaming him.

Levi 7 points
Cooper 7 points
Key 5 points
Jacobs 16

Parker (freshman) 26

Duke 56 Tide 44 7:40 left. I agree with Bobby knight, we need to be pushing the ball inside to get better shot and get some fouls on Duke. Our 3 point shooting is awful (again).

16 turnovers by Duke. Duke 56-47 Tide closing the gap. Tide D looking great. Duke 56-49. Tide pressing is causing Duke problems. Duke timeout, 5:40 left in game. Traveling by Duke, Tide has ball. Keyslams it home. Duke 58-51.

Awful, awful, awful pass by Key after we steal ball & Duke scores. Duke 68-59


 :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall:

Well, same old problems going into the 5th year. Too many turnovers, too many fouls, poor outside shooting, & too much dribbling. The positives were better rebounding & more energy by team. Jacobs played good.



 :wall:

Duke 74-64 FINAL

Jacobs  18 points 6 rebounds
Key      11
Releford 11
Cooper 7 pts 7 rebounds
Randolph 7 pts  5 rebounds

Tough and disappointing loss.  In one sense Bama played well enough to win but foul trouble, some missed easy shots near the bucket, and a few costly turnovers were too much to overcome against a team like Duke.

I am encouraged to see that Bama can hang with Duke on a neutral court.  If the team can improve over the course of the season I think we have a sweet 16 caliber team that could go farther with an upset or two in the tourney.

This was a winnable game. We played a bad first half. Duke turned up the "D" and we had trouble with it. CAG made good halftime adjustments and we played well in the second half but we could not dig out of the hole we put ourselves in with the poor offensive first half. Duke is better than I thought.

The difference in the game was their three point shooting. They shot 40%. They also shot 83% from the FT line. Rebounds were even. We had 34 to their 35. We had more offensive rebounds. We turned the ball over 16 (11 in 1st half) times to Duke's 19. We both shot about 40% from the field.

This is not a bad loss as long as we learn from it. It makes the game against Drexel very important. We do not need to leave NYC with 2 losses.

One more thought:  Jabari Parker of Duke is an outstanding player and only a freshman.

Jabari Parker currently is projected to go number 3 in the 2014 NBA Draft.  http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2014/story/_/id/10042319/2014-nba-draft-jabari-parker-noah-vonleh-risers-chad-ford-big-board

And he definitely was the difference maker in this game.

Still, I think Bama had a chance if Releford played a better game, kept out of foul trouble, didn't try those inopportune, long 3-point shots.  Even without Releford on his A-game, Bama outplayed Duke in the second half.

This game was a measuring stick for Bama and I think they left this game knowing there a lot of things are possible for this team. For Bama to win this game they had to play at their best and that didn't happen but they did play hard for 60 minutes. Bama has had two big games so far this season and in both of them Releford was on the bench for a big portion of the game in foul trouble and I think it was a difference in the game last night.

This team will get better as the season progresses.

Well I didn't get to see the game but from what you all describe, we played a lot better than most thought. You are probably looking at a contender for the National Title and we played with in 10 points. This is not a win per se but it is a giant step in the right direction. We should be ready for the SEC schedule we have this year. RTR!