Crimson Red Sports

The University of Alabama men's basketball team begins postseason play Thursday afternoon when it opens up Southeastern Conference Tournament play against South Carolina. The fifth-seeded Crimson Tide and 12th-seeded Gamecocks are scheduled to tipoff at 2:30 p.m. CST at the New Orleans Arena.

"We're excited to be here in the city of New Orleans and looking forward to this year's SEC Tournament," UA head coach Anthony Grant said. "I think for our team, having a chance to compete for a championship is something that we've talked a great deal about and are looking forward to the challenge that this year's tournament will bring."

The Crimson Tide comes into Thursday's game as the winner of seven of its last 10 games and four of their last five to finish the regular season with a 20-10 overall record and 9-7 in conference games.

http://www.rolltide.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/030712aaa.html

(http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/alab/sports/m-baskbl/auto_mainphoto/7537520.jpeg)

The first game, LSU vs Arky is tied 28-28 at the half.

Our game is next.

LSU is beating Arky 67-54 with about 1:00 to go.

Bama is up 21-13 with 6:20 to go in 1st half.

Bama is up 37-26 at the half.

37-26 at half.  Wish I could watch...

Bama leading 42-38 with 14-11 to go. USCe is keeping it too close for comfort.

Bama is up 50-40 with 10:20 to play.

Why are we struggling against the WORST team in the SEC? Poor rebounding & NO outside shooting, in fact, we aren't even trying to shoot from the outside.



 :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall:

50-45 with 7:50 to play.

USCe just hit two 3 pt shot to tie the game at 51-51. Bama now up 53-51. We need to finish this game strong. We should be up by 15.

We should be cruising in this game instead of having to fight so hard. I place total blame for our poor offensive performance on Coach Grant. Our offense consists of trying to get the ball inside to Greene or drive to the basket and hope to get fouled. That's not an offense, it's like running off tackle on every play in football. How hard is that to defense?


 >:(

Well, we scrape by 63-57. Much closer than it should have been, but its a win.

Bama wins 63-57. Bama never trailed in the 2nd half but this was not an easy win. We play Florida tomorrow. We will need to play much better than today.

 :deadhorse: :deadhorse: :deadhorse: :deadhorse: :deadhorse:

Bama's not known to get many style points but I'll take the win and I'll take another one just like it against the Gators too. They had better get ready for a barrage of 3's tomorrow because Fla will be slinging them.

Against Florida, we HAVE to shoot more from the outside and hopefully hit some shots. We really need someone like Lacey, Steele, Releford, or Cooper to hit some shots. We can beat Florida.


 :popcorn2:

I didn't get to watch or listen to the game, but just looking at the stats, They should have continually fed Lacey. He was 4-5 with 15 points. Was he at 100% today? He needs a performance like that against UF, and so do some of his teammates.

TL only played 17 minutes. Ran into typical Bama droughts, the first when USCe brought the game back to 9-9  around the 10 minute mark (1st half). Then again to cut a 14 point lead back to 4 around the 15 minute mark in the second. Not much a team can do but keep shooting, except, to keep rebounding hard on both ends. USCe turnovers made this win easier than it might have been. RTR   

The only asset for this team that is consistent is the defense. We found something against UT with the pressure causing turnovers and steals. That carried over to the Arky game on the road. The team needs to focus on that aspect of the game with UF. That can carry them a long way if the perimeter shooting isn't there. We have a lot of smaller players with quick feet and quick hands and I hope CAG can get them to hustle to the ball as they've shown they can do. That can be the difference in tomorrow's game as compared to UF's blowout of us a few weeks ago.

This thread was lucky yesterday-- I say keep it going for the in game. RTR

Florida was out rebounding the Tide, getting 2,3,4 shots per possession. Tide evens it back, and gets a couple scores. 7-5 UF


2 offensive fouls against the Tide. >:(

Tide down 10-7

"You know what" with the white guy!

15-9 UF--- TO Tide.

15-11 9:07

15-15  6:30

UF 20-17 5:00

20-19 4:23

UF up 4 2:00

Crimson Tide staying within striking distance through the first 20. Randolph buries a long 3 to make the score 26-24 at the half. Tide down by 2.

28-26  2nd half underway.

Tide down 8 -- 16:03

UF getting 3s to drop 7-18 and 7-9 at the stripe.

UF on free throw line after 2 offensive rebounds >:(

Bama down 12

JG getting doubled up. He has been caught camping in lane, tied up twice, and a couple other turnovers this half. 45-36 UF

Bama only down 5- 9-2 run

9:19 down to 3--- #+

7:59 Bama down one.

6:30 51-49 UF

Florida shooting 3 because of JG foul >:(.

Gators by 6. 4:22

Bama down only 4 which is amazing. Still in striking distance but UF at the line. JG had a run of about 6,7, or 8 fouls, turnovers, infractions that gave UF the ball back or 3 shots at the foul line.

2:30

JG with 21 now. He has hit 7 in a row at the line. Big 3 by lacey--Bama within 2.

Florida now in a zone. Green gets fouled. Bama down 1 -- 10 secs--UF at line.

Bama down 3 ---9.8secs. :(

Bama loses 66-63.

I'd like to thank all that made this in-game thread possible--Me!

I'll thank you too. I just got home and read your account of the game. Sounds like there was ample opportunity for Bama to take this game, but couldn't pull through in the clutch.

Randolph made a big 3 pointer just before the half to get us within 2. We came out slow in the 2nd half and Florida took a 12 point lead. We made a run and got the game close with 8-10 minutes to go. We played toe to toe with them the rest of the way. What killed us was a foul on a 3 point shoot who made all 3 free throws. The next trip down FL hit a 3 pointer and was fouled. He missed the free throw but that was 6 quick points. We came back and made a very good game of it. We had a chance to tie the game with less than 20 seconds to go but  J Green only made 1 of 2 free throws. We had to foul and they hit both. Lacey got a good look at a 3 to tie but it hit the front of the rim.

J Green came to play today. It looked like he is not ready for his college days to end. We only hit 3 three's. Florida hit 10. I think we carry something with us from this game into the NCAA tournament.

They came up short but I'm proud of the fact that they didn't quit. Twice they were down by 12 points and fought their way back.  :clap:

 :(
But not a surprise.  At least the team played well and competed throughout the game!

It is time to get past the JG era and get on to the CAG era. Look at the game stats for UF. That is what I expect next year with 3 or more guys in double digits each game. Spreading the scoring around so that  a one man slump never kills us. Things are moving in the right direction,-- have patience. No one anticipated the extent of turmoil this season, but this was never the year for making a national statement.

FI

That foul was on JG.  Surprised me that an experienced senior player would make that kind of mistake late in the game.  Time for the JG era to end and CAG era to begin, indeed.