dcroz

Perhaps Oats should change his coaching strategy in the postseason from what it is in the regular season. He had three timeouts when ‘Bama went up nine with about eleven minutes to play…and with ‘Bama down by nine after a 23-5 SDS run, he still had three timeouts. And then when the Tide managed to pull within two with 45 seconds left meaning Alabama could get a stop and have at least 15 seconds to set up the tying or winning play and didn’t need to foul, he not only ejected to foul an 80% free throw shooter but do it with the one guy on the court with four fouls. Oats is now 0-2 in the S16 as an Elite Eight seed; if he doesn’t figure it out soon, he’ll become the Bobby Cox of college basketball coaches (though at least Cox did win one World Series).

Would that include the spring game?

1-9 in the Sweet Sixteen, 0-3 as an Elite Eight seed. Being a ‘Bama men’s basketball fan is a level of masochism even the Marquis de Sade would consider excessive.

Still making it all about Georgia football. Congratulations, you’ve done what none thought possible in being even more obnoxious and hated than Alabama fans.

Yup, afraid this would happen. Our institutional memory is to choke in the Sweet Sixteen. 1-9 in the S16, 0-3 as an Elite Eight seed. Can we now declare that Alabama will NEVER reach a Final Four even if there were only five teams playing?

Slow and methodical Alabama can handle; it's the great defense that forces the Tide into turnovers that has been the Tide's Achilles heel. Alabama at times can get downright sloppy with the ball and be so busy looking for the next pass that it ignores the guy coming from behind to do some pickpocketing. When Alabama turns it over 18, 20, or more times a game is when it tends to lose. If the Tide can keep the turnovers down to around 12 for the game, then it should win handily. If it gets to that number by halftime, then things will get dicey fast.

I can only hope so. Young 'Bama fans get upset at those of us who have followed Tide basketball for 40 years or so when we get so pessimistic about the team, but we've seen plenty of promising seasons go down the tubes midway through or great teams make an earlier-than-expected exit in the tournament. We're 1-8 in Sweet Sixteen games and the one win (2004) was the one with the worst record to get that far (17-12 going in but with the #1 SOS; survived a close one against Southern Illinois in the first round, beat #1-seed and AP #1-ranked Stanford in the second round, then defending champ Syracuse in the S16 before losing to eventual champ UConn in the E8). We have the ability to make it all the way, but I still remember us losing twice as a 2-seed to double-digit seeds in the S16 (Providence in 1987, UCLA two years ago) so I'm definitely holding my breath on this one. Let's hope history doesn't repeat itself.

Yes, and that has been the Tide’s Achilles heel all season. While our style of play may tend towards more turnovers than average, the games we have lost have been those where we have gotten downright careless with the ball, either throwing it away or getting our pockets picked. If we are going to have a chance to win it all, then we have to be better at not giving up the ball and the points at each end that go with it.

Your Final Four is wrong. Alabama would not play Houston until the final as it’s South-East and West-Midwest in the semis.

@Growl none of what you said is correct. Miller did not “deliver” the gun as Miles left it in the back seat of Miller’s car and Miller returned to where he had dropped off Miles earlier. Miles retrieved his own gun from the backseat of Miller’s car and there is nothing in the text messages indicating Miller had any idea what was happening or about to happen. And the video evidence clearly shows Miller did not block in the Jeep; he was parked on Grace Street well before the Jeep pulled in and parked behind him.

Most of them likely can’t; it’s more of a marketing thing where someone sees those numbers on the speedometer and think that it must be powerful (and a nice ego boost) so that helps with the decision to buy it.

So completely wrong. The shooting was done by a friend (Davis) of the player (Miles) who was the owner of the gun. Miller did not provide the gun as Miles left it in the back of Miller’s car and Miles retrieved it when Miller returned from a restaurant down the street. Miller did not have any contact with the weapon nor is there any proof that he knew what was about to happen. But keep getting your news off Twitter.

Missed on #1, hit on #3 so far.

That’s funny; a friend of mine last night thought that’s what the “CC” stood for, too. But reporters should know better, and there have been too many ridiculous errors on SDS lately.

If they had been sent anywhere else opening weekend, that might be the case. But I have to think being given a gift from the basketball gods by getting to play in Birmingham (not every day you see a 9-seed getting a geographic advantage) is going to pay dividends for Auburn. I think Pearl coaches these guys up, points out how disappointing this season has been but now they have a real chance to salvage something from it, and uses what will amount to a home-court advantage to make some serious noise. Would not surprise me to see Auburn make it past Houston, especially with the Cougars' best player out from injury.

You've got your Tigers mixed up. It was Missouri that beat Tennessee in the quarterfinals while Auburn lost to Arkansas in the second round.

Auburn being given a geographic advantage as a 9-seed by playing opening weekend in Birmingham is the biggest head-scratcher of this field. Imagine that you're Houston, the overall #2 seed and the top seed in the Midwest, and now you face the very real possibility of playing your second-round matchup in what will amount to a road game against Auburn should they get past Iowa as Legacy Arena will be packed with Tigers fans. You have to wonder if the Committee looked at Houston basically playing the Final Four at home if they make it there as a reason to give them this potential matchup to try to balance things out. Though I have to say, this now has me thinking Auburn could make a run to the Elite Eight (I have Texas picked to win the region). This is one of the most underachieving teams in college basketball, and I have to think Bruce Pearl is going to coach them up to try to salvage something out of what has been a highly disappointing season. And with Houston's top guy out with an injury, you have to think Auburn (with again what would amount to a home crowd) would have an excellent chance to pull off the upset if they get past Iowa.

They beat you on your floor; don’t think I’d be so dismissive of Mizzou’s chances.

23 is a lot.

Not even close on that last one.

That should say sewn up.

The worrisome thing for Alabama is that it’s still battling for the #1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament as well as still hasn’t seen up the SEC regular season title going into the final week. That means that instead of having a couple games where things are not so intense and not being worried about a meaningless loss or two, the Tide it still having to play like it’s on the bubble. There’s a reason the overall #1 seed rarely wins it all; it’s a nice thing to say that you’ve been but it usually results in a shorter tournament run than you expected because the stress of getting it wears you out. Hope that’s not the case here.

The person who took possession of the gun from Miller's car was the owner of the gun. He had left it in Miller's car in the backseat. Miller's attorney states that Miller did not know the gun was back there until Miles informed him of it, either with a text asking him to bring him his gun (which, again, was already in Miller's car so there was no special effort to go get it and Miller was Miles' ride regardless) or with Miles' getting it after requestion Miles come back to the Strip. So at no time was Miller in physical possession of the gun himself aside from Miles placing it in his backseat, Miller did not give the gun to Miles but Miles removed it from the car himself, and Miles is the one who handed it to Davis who would go on to commit the murder. Unless the DA can somehow prove that Miller knew about the argument beforehand and at least reasonably knew that the gun was about to be used, then what crime had he committed? And as far as guns on campus go: they weren't on campus. The Strip adjoins the campus to the west on University Boulevard, but it is not on campus itself. The report says he parked on Grace Street which is about a block from campus; I know, I lived in an apartment there while I was a student at UA. Regardless of any campus policy regarding firearms, it is a moot point because this did not happen on campus.

Why does Miller have to prove it wasn't his gun? Sounds like the police already know that Miles was the owner of the gun.

Let’s just say it: this isn’t about player safety, it’s about squeezing out more time for commercials. The games will still take 3 1/2 hours to play, except now another 20-30 minutes of it will be ads. You don’t really think they’re going to trim down their revenue streams with legitimately shorter games, do you?

3 1/2 hours of college football is great…as long 30-45 minutes of it isn’t sitting around awaiting interminable replays to take place at least ten times a game.

This coming from a guy whose favorite school hired its current basketball coach while under a show-cause for lying to the NCAA about recruiting violations, and whose new football coach was fired from Ole Miss for soliciting prostitutes.

To adults such as ourselves, asking why someone would make such a request is obvious. But we’re talking about a teenager who doesn’t possess the experience/common sense to do so or at that age just implicitly assumed his friend has a legit reason for asking for it. But I admit to being torn on this. On one hand, he definitely had a role in this tragedy even if it were an unwitting one. On the other, without proof that he knew what was going to happen and with no laws broken that the TPD could charge him for, what would he be suspended or removed from the team for? Even with what others have mentioned about no guns allowed on campus, it wasn’t his gun. Without knowing what was going through his head at the time, it’s really hard to say just how complicit he was in what happened.

So Auburn playing ‘Bama and Georgia each year is too brutal, but ‘Bama playing Auburn and LSU each year isn’t? Sounds like someone is disguising an Auburn insult as being nice. As for ‘Bama, we’re going to lose a rivalry game between Auburn, Tennessee, LSU, and Mississippi State (yeah, I know the last one isn’t much of a rivalry but we’re the closest schools geographically in the league and have played over 100 times). AU and UT aren’t going anywhere, so it’s going to come down to LSU and MSU. It will likely be LSU that goes away as I see their permanent rivals being Ole Miss, Arkansas, and one of the Texas teams.

They definitely must win against Vanderbilt and Ole Miss (losing to the Rebs would be a disaster) and likely need to get a win against Kentucky (an edge over another bubble team) or against Bama or Tennessee (a Q1 win) to solidify their tournament spot. If they fail to get a win against those last three, then they would need a win or two in the SEC Tournament to make Selection Sunday less anxious.