39 replies to this topic

[BSLChrisStoner]

Game time is 7:30 on ESPN. Alabama beat Stanford yesterday 66-54.

The Crimson Tide are 23-12, and finished 12-6 in the regular season in the SEC.

During the year, they beat Oregon State, Villanova, Texas Tech, South Dakota State, and Charleston Southern in Out of Conference games.

They lost OOC games to Cincinnati, Dayton, VCU, Mercer, and Tulane.

In yesterday's win, Tide coach Anthony Grant called it ''As complete a game as we've had.''

''From start to finish, our defense was outstanding,'' Grant said. ''We were really concerned with their ability from the 3-point line. We knew we had to be locked in defensively. ''We made it difficult for them. It allowed us to get out in transition, get a little bit of a lead and then in the second half it continued.''

Alabama had 26 FT's, won on the boards 38-32, had 8 steals, and limited Stanford to 18 of 58 (31%) from the floor.

During the year, Alabama ranked:

275th ppg
258th rebounds per
308th assists per
194th fg %
22nd scoring defense
64th turnover margin

Note-worthy Players:

Trevor Releford, 6'0, 195 lbs, Jr Guard: 15.1ppg, 41% from 3, 4.6 3 point attempts per game (1st Team All-SEC)
Trevor Lacey, 6'3, 215 lbs, Sophomore Guard: 11.5 ppg, 38% from 3, 2.8 3 point apg
Rodney Cooper, 6'6, 215 lbs, Sophomore Wing: 10.1 ppg, 30% from 3, 3.7 3 point apg, 4.5 boards
Nick Jacobs, 6'8, 265 lb, Sophomore PF: 7.6 ppg, 4.1 boards.
Levi Randolph, and Retin Obasohan had 16 and 14 points respectfully vs. Stanford.

Alabama is 54th in the Ken Pom Rankings (http://kenpom.com/), and when they lost in the SEC Tournament, their RPI was 60th.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Testudo Times is reporting that Allen has fractured his hand and likely is done for the season.

[SportsGuy]

Testudo Times is reporting that Allen has fractured his hand and likely is done for the season.

Injury in practice?

[BSLChrisStoner]

Injury in practice?

Yep, left hand, yesterday in practice.

[CrimsonTribe]

Roll Tide

[Mike in STL]

Thats a pretty huge blow. It probably means more playing time for Howard, which is not good.

[Oriole85]

Good thing this isn't on the gridiron.

[BSLZackKiesel]

Luckily Pe'Shon has been playing a lot better of late. He and Len will be the keys to this game. Also, look for Chuck and Shaq to get a lot of playing time. If they can battle hard with Alabama's bigs, they could help keep the Terps in the game.

[BSLMattJergensen]

Pace will be a huge key for tonight. Bama has a similar makeup to Virginia as they will want to slow the tempo and possessions while the Terps will want to run and trap.

MD has a big advantage inside and Len needs to come and play tonight and not allow himself to be taken out of the half court offense. Len needs to identify double teams and pass out of them effectively unless Bama plays him straight up which is a mistake IMO.

Pee has been better as of late and in order for the Terps to win tonight he'll have to run the offense, defend, and give them 25-30 minutes of floor time. He may be up to it.

[Mackus]

Terps started off really well but some sloppy play has led to an 8-0 Alabama run and a 13-10 deficit.

[Icterus galbula]

Ugly game so far. I guess that's what you get in the NIT.

[Mackus]

Ugly game so far. I guess that's what you get in the NIT.

Yeah, got a feeling we're gonna get lots of 2-3 minute burst where you say "how the hell did this team not play well enough to get into the NCAA" followed by 5-6 minute stretches where you say "how the hell did this team win their first two NIT games". That goes for both the Terps and Alabama.

MD fortunately in the middle of one of the former, pulling ahead 19-17 with Layman heading to the line after a steal and breakaway attempt. He also had a really nifty fake behind-the-back pass play for a lay-in. I say nifty because it worked. If it sucked like Pe'shon's a couple games ago, I'd be livid.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Terps up 19-17 with 6:46 left in the 1st.

[Oriole85]

Did I hear that correctly about Jimmy Dykes projecting Alex Len in the top 5-10? Not that it's a surprise, just want to get my facts in order.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Did I hear that correctly about Jimmy Dykes projecting Alex Len in the top 5-10? Not that it's a surprise, just want to get my facts in order.

I thought he said Top 10, but the the point was/is the same. Dykes also said he used to be an NBA Scout. Talked about Len's ability as a pick-and-pop player at the next level.

Terps up 27-21 with 4:20 left in the 1st.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Jake Layman! Sweet....

[Mackus]

Seriously...single worst team I've ever seen at last-second shot situations. They don't even get a shot off about 30-40% of the time.

[JeremyStrain]

I thought he said Top 10, but the the point was/is the same. Dykes also said he used to be an NBA Scout. Talked about Len's ability as a pick-and-pop player at the next level.

Terps up 27-21 with 4:20 left in the 1st.

Yeah but another player who has the POTENTIAL to be that player at the next level, with work to go still. (How much work was exploited this season, he has ZERO ball control skills and if he has to put it on the floor is a 50% turnover risk)

I think that players with his skill set need more time to develop than other skill sets for whatever reason. The ultimate archetype is Dirk and he played 4 years of Euro-pro ball before getting drafted as a 20 year old. Seems like there are 3-4 Darko's, Jan Vessly or Oliesky Pecherov's drafted every year that are out of the league in a year or two.

Len needs to get stronger near the paint, and learn how to dribble a couple steps. One more year in NCAA would help him a ton.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Yeah but another player who has the POTENTIAL to be that player at the next level, with work to go still. (How much work was exploited this season, he has ZERO ball control skills and if he has to put it on the floor is a 50% turnover risk)

I think that players with his skill set need more time to develop than other skill sets for whatever reason. The ultimate archetype is Dirk and he played 4 years of Euro-pro ball before getting drafted as a 20 year old. Seems like there are 3-4 Darko's, Jan Vessly or Oliesky Pecherov's drafted every year that are out of the league in a year or two.

Len needs to get stronger near the paint, and learn how to dribble a couple steps. One more year in NCAA would help him a ton.

Preaching to the choir Jer.

[Mackus]

Yeah but another player who has the POTENTIAL to be that player at the next level, with work to go still. (How much work was exploited this season, he has ZERO ball control skills and if he has to put it on the floor is a 50% turnover risk)

I think that players with his skill set need more time to develop than other skill sets for whatever reason. The ultimate archetype is Dirk and he played 4 years of Euro-pro ball before getting drafted as a 20 year old. Seems like there are 3-4 Darko's, Jan Vessly or Oliesky Pecherov's drafted every year that are out of the league in a year or two.

Len needs to get stronger near the paint, and learn how to dribble a couple steps. One more year in NCAA would help him a ton.

I don't think another year in the ACC helps him appreciably more than the D-league or daily coaching with no time restrictions at the end of an NBA roster would help him. And it definitely doesn't pay as well.

He's certainly not ready to be an impact player in the NBA right now, but that's not the question that the NBA draft is asking.