Tide alone in 2nd place in SEC...
Red hot start propels Tide to win
Alabama jumped to a 32-9 lead in the first half, and never looked back in a more than solid 10 point win over South Carolina. The Alabama win, couple with Tennessee beating Kentucky left Alabama alone in the second place in the SEC. The Tide knew that they could secure second place watching Tennessee blast Kentucky into oblivion earlier in the day 88-58. Bama came out focused and fully energized. For 15 minutes the Tide looked like a #1 team. Give credit to South Carolina for refusing to quit. The fought back with a late run in the first half, and played the Tide even in the second half. But by that time the matter was well decided.
Alabama got 17 points from Trevor Lacey. Levi Randolph pulled down 9 rebounds, and Trevor Releford dished out 5 assists. Jacobs and Releford scored 10 each. Although 68 isn't a ton of points, the Tide appeared close to breaking out of a scoring slump. I bet Grant would like to see his team score that number every remaining game and take his chances. Alabama moves to 17-8 and 9-3 in the conference. The Tide has Mississippi State at home this week before heading to Baton Rouge over the weekend. Those will be two huge game for a Tide trying to win 20 games this season. The the rematch with Auburn. Alabama would have one remaining home game with Georgia. But the Tide's 3 biggest games, and the one's which will probably decide whether the NCAA is reached will be in Baton Rouge, Oxford, and at Florida. By winning 5 of the last 6 I think the Tide will be a 10 or 11 seed in the NCAA. They might be invited with 21 wins and 1 or perhaps 2 more wins in the SEC. The team is playing better. If the point total could be close to 70 a game the Tide will be one tough team down toward the end.
Of major concern is the free throw shooting. Alabama made 18 free throws. They missed 15. Unless the Crimson can get that percentage up around 70 percent it will come back to bite them.The Tide was out-rebounded by 5. The Tide shot a decent 47% from the floor, and was only 32% from behind the arc. The Tide was a great 6-14 in the first half.
It seems almost that the second place team in a major conference would not receive an invitation in the Big Dance. But dealing with the NCAA is always dicey and rarely fair. For Alabama it remains "win baby win" to quote Al Davis. We control our own destiny.
Final observation: If you watched the Ole Miss/Georgia game you saw the worst example of officiating the SEC has to offer. A flagrant foul that didn't occur and then a foul on a 3 point shot that could best be described as imaginary. Then the final play in regulation where the Georgia player was body slammed. It's a shame that acting, such as Marshall Henderson puts on, is more important than actual play. Now, I know that an Ole Miss victory probably helps the Tide as far as the NCAA is concerned, but it is a crying shame that Georgia got cheated the way they did. Feel free to flame.
Red hot start propels Tide to win
Alabama got 17 points from Trevor Lacey. Levi Randolph pulled down 9 rebounds, and Trevor Releford dished out 5 assists. Jacobs and Releford scored 10 each. Although 68 isn't a ton of points, the Tide appeared close to breaking out of a scoring slump. I bet Grant would like to see his team score that number every remaining game and take his chances. Alabama moves to 17-8 and 9-3 in the conference. The Tide has Mississippi State at home this week before heading to Baton Rouge over the weekend. Those will be two huge game for a Tide trying to win 20 games this season. The the rematch with Auburn. Alabama would have one remaining home game with Georgia. But the Tide's 3 biggest games, and the one's which will probably decide whether the NCAA is reached will be in Baton Rouge, Oxford, and at Florida. By winning 5 of the last 6 I think the Tide will be a 10 or 11 seed in the NCAA. They might be invited with 21 wins and 1 or perhaps 2 more wins in the SEC. The team is playing better. If the point total could be close to 70 a game the Tide will be one tough team down toward the end.
It seems almost that the second place team in a major conference would not receive an invitation in the Big Dance. But dealing with the NCAA is always dicey and rarely fair. For Alabama it remains "win baby win" to quote Al Davis. We control our own destiny.
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