Tide states their case...
Tennessee can't keep up with Alabama speed and execution

      I have no idea if Alabama makes the NCAA Tournament or not.  It is easy to say if Tennessee goes dancing we should go as well. After all, we beat the 'Vols 2 out of 3 times this season. It might not happen. We beat Georgia twice a couple of years ago only to see the Dawgs receive a bid. We stayed home.  The number of teams left on the bubble is dwindling as the day grows old.   For right now all Alabama fans should simply rejoice in the best game the Tide has played this season.  

Excellent Coaching by Grant...

     For those who think Anthony Grant can't coach they should watch this game again. I was struck by the superior Tennessee talent level. How did Grant pull this one off?  He told his team to  walk the middle of the road. Alabama used the 5 position set screens all game long. All game long the Tide guards found their way to the basket. Grant knew if he could make this a guard game, he knew 'Bama had a chance to win. It worked. Bama's superior speed and execution on big day Friday was near perfect. Once the game was put in the hands of the Bama  guards you knew the  score was going to be low. McRae wasn't going to get the number of shots that Tennessee wanted. Tennessee needed to get the ball inside to Jarnell Stokes as plan B.  McRae couldn't shoot. Stokes responded with only 12 points. There is no stat line for what Moussa Gueye did with Stoke's game, and probably his head. Gueye and Nick Jacobs didn't own the paint. But they did make it a no man's land. If Tennessee was going inside they were going to find it tough. They were not going to just post up Stokes and beat Alabama. Jacobs had a career high 12 boards and officially became a player in my mind.

Tennessee struggles from the outside when the heat was on...  

  When Tennessee couldn't find anything inside they began to shoot threes. It was their only patterned offense. The other part of their game was getting offensive rebounds.  The 'Vol got a total of 15 offensive boards. Many were long bounces off missed three point shots. Despite the fact the Vols got 15 offensive rebounds they could not break the 50 barrier.

      The result was Tennessee scored only 48 points. McRae who had been averaging around 25 ppg in the last ten games scored only 9 points. He was 3-13. He was a non-factor. When McRae picked up foul number 4 around 7 minute mark the 'Vols were finished. You could see and you could sense it onr . facesYou could look into the eyes of the Tennessee players and sense the fear. Alabama didn't stop trying to score, they didn't even slow down the clock much in the last five minutes. Instead, the set their screens and flew into the lane. When Levi Randolph made a last moment adjustment to loft a shot over Stokes to score,  the last fire in the 'Vols was extinguished. The surging 'Vols, the darling of the bracket experts, were knocked to the mat and couldn't get up.

    Bama must beat Florida in my opinion to get in the field. It might help us Vandy beats Ole Miss. Missouri choked big time. No other word for their last 7 minutes. Credit Ole Miss for hanging in and coming back. If Ole Miss goes and we stay home then I have no problem with that. They beat us head to head. Let me say this - when a team loses and moves up into the field it is a joke. Something wrong there.

Other jokes:

• That people even mention UK in field. They are a bad team. Kudos to my good buddy Joe Dean. He picked it..
• UMass? 
• Boise State? Tennessee ahead of us? Is there no common sense in Selection Committee. And I say the Selection Committee because they lead information to Lunardi and wait to here the blow back in my opinion.

Regardless, I have never been prouder of a bunch of kids who have had so much adversity in the year. And yes, Levi called the bank. His mid-air adjustment to get some loft is something only a special few can do.