How Did We Get So Bad?

# 25 Alabama Suffers Huge Loss to Auburn

Alabama's tournament dreams suffered a possible fatal blow Saturday night as Alabama lost a must win game to the Auburn Tigers 86-77. Alabama still has an outside chance of making the NCAA tournament, but will need to win at least a few more games, counting some in the SEC Tournament to receive a bid.

The most disappointing part of this squad is not that they lose, but how they lose. The lack of intensity, effort, and all around lack of leadership is obvious to the common fan. Auburn is certainly not as talented, and really has nothing to play for right now, but outhustled and outplayed Alabama the entire game. The lack of intensity was nothing new for this team and it mirrors its head coach's intensity level. While I am not one to bash Alabama players or coaches on a regular basis, this team has been a huge disappointment. Preseason talk of the University's first final four team is laughable as we sit here on February 24.

Auburn's Quan Powell and Korvotney Barber scored 17 points each as the Tigers improved to 16-13 on the year and won for just the second time in 23 years in Tuscaloosa.

Alabama was led in the game by sophomore Richard Hendrix's double double performance of 17 points and 13 rebounds. Freshman guard Mikhail Torrance added 14 points and 3 assist for Mark Gottfried's club.

Alabama stays at home this Wednesday night against the Ole Miss Rebels.

Mens Basketball Preview: Auburn Tigers

Rival Auburn Comes to T-Town for Iron Bowl of Hoops


The second "Iron Bowl of the Hardwood" of 2007 will take place tomorrow evening at 5pm in Coleman Coliseum. Alabama enters the game in a must win situation currently sitting at 19-8, 6-7 and needs to win at least 20 games to have a realistic shot at making the tournament. The Crimson Tide needs to win at least 2 out of their next 3 to feel good about their chances both with the NCAA selection committee, and if it hopes for a first round bye in the SEC Tournament.

Auburn enters the game after snapping a four game losing streak Wednesday night with a 67-59 win over Arkansas in Auburn, AL. Auburn is currently 15-13 overall and 5-8 in the SEC. The Tigers are led by forward Frank Tolbert's 11.9 points a game, with Rasheem Barrett chipping in 11.5 a game for Jeff Lebo's squad.

Hopefully, Alabama realizes the importance of this game, not only because of the rivalry, but because of its importance when dealing with the NCAA selection committee. Alabama let a golden opportunity slip through its hands Wednesday night losing to Tennessee in overtime. If Alabama can win this game and at home against Ole Miss, the following Wednesday, they will have 21 wins on the year and that should be good enough for a tournament bid. But that is putting the cart before the horse.

If Alabama comes to play tomorrow they should avenge the early season loss at Auburn. I think Coach Gottfried's troops understand the situation and Alabama wins comfortably.


Nicks Prediction: # 25 Alabama 76 Auburn 61

Baseball Series Preview: Villanova Wildcats

#19 Crimson Tide host Villanova for 3 game set

TUSCALOOSA, AL| When the SEC and the Big East agreed to play each other in the "Big East/SEC Basketball Challenge", the Crimson Tide baseball team thought they would get into the act and schedule a Big East team for the 2007 season. They got their wish, as they play host to the Villanova Wildcats in a three game set this weekend at "The Joe".

#19 Alabama (6-1) is coming off a three game sweep of Canisisus last weekend and is favored to win this series as well. The Crimson Tide has had a very potent offensive attack early in the season, but will be without one its big bats this weekend as freshman Jake Smith will miss the series with a knee injury. Reigning SEC Player of the Week Kent Matthes, will look to continue his offensive onslaught as he is hitting .414 on the season with 4 home runs and 14 RBIs. Alabama is hitting .349 as a team, with 11 home runs, and 61 RBI's.

Villanova (2-1) is coming off a series win last weekend against Norfolk State. This weekend is one of the highlights of the season for the Wildcats and Villanova head coach Joe Gordi has plenty of respect for the Crimson Tide. "Year in and year out, Alabama is one of the top programs in the country," said Gordi . "They won the Southeastern Conference last year and are tough offensively, even with some new players in there this year. They have strong pitching and play like champions. It will be our job to match their energy level and level of confidence in all three games."

'Nova's starting pitchers for series will be Mike Loree (1-0, 0.00 ERA) on Friday night, Josh Eidell(0-0, 13.50 ERA) on Saturday, and Bill Hoffman (0-1, 5.40 ERA) in the Sunday finale. Alabama has not named its starters for the weekend but senior pitcher Bernard Robert is scheduled to make his 2007 debut this weekend. Tommy Hunter, Brandon Belcher, Kasey Kebadueax, and Miers Quigley will also see action on the mound for Alabama this weekend.

This is the first ever meeting between the two schools on the diamond and since Villanova has only played 3 games on the year, not much is known about the Wildcats this season. That said, Villanova should provide more competition for Alabama than Canisius did last weekend, but if Alabama plays well they should have no problem with the Wildcats.

The series begins Friday night with the first pitch scheduled for 6:30pm CT. Game two will be played Saturday at 4pm CT. The series will conclude with the third game scheduled for Sunday at 2pm CT.


Nicks Prediction: Alabama sweeps the series 3-0.

# 25 Alabama Falls in OT at Tennessee

Tide drops OT heart breaker against the Vols

27 turnovers, the SEC record this season, was just to much to overcome as the # 25 Alabama basketball team lost on Wednesday to Tennessee, 69-66, in overtime. Alabama (19-8, 6-7) falls to second in the SEC West behind Ole Miss and Mississippi State, both winners Wednesday night. Alabama led in overtime but shot poorly from the free throw line in OT, which doomed the Tide in the end.

Tennessee(19-9, 7-6), which shot poorly all night, was led by Chris Lofton and his 20 points. Although Lofton only hit 3 of his 15 from behind the arc, he hit several clutch 3 pointers when the Vols needed them. JaJuan Smith chipped in 16 for the Volunteers.

Alabama, which had a seven game winning streak over Tennessee going into the game, was led by Mykal Riley's 15 points, Jermareo Davidson's 10, and freshman Mikhail Torrance's 8 points. Alabama used five reserves on the floor together for long stretches in the game and the group seemed to play with more intensity and better overall than 'Bama's starting five. Hopefully, Alabama can finish the season strong as they have three games remaining in the regular season.

Alabama returns home on Saturday to take on their cross state rival, the Auburn Tigers at 5pm CT.

#1 Ranked Bama Golf Wins At Sawgrass

PONTE VEDRA, FL| # 1 ranked Alabama shot a one under par Tuesday to win the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational by 10 shots best the field of 15 teams. The tournament consisted of 54 holes and lasted 3 days at Sawgrass Country Club.

The win gives Alabama 4 team tournament titles this year and helped solidify its top ranking in the country. Coach Jay Seawell was pleased with his team's performance. “I’m very proud, first, to win,” said Alabama golf coach Jay Seawell who has had a history making season at Alabama, coaching the Crimson Tide it its first No. 1 national ranking in October, a spot it continues to hold in the golf coaches poll. “Anytime you win, you have to play great, especially when you play against a field like we did. And to do it today with the lead, shooting one under par, the low round of the day, that’s awesome. We talked about it last night as a team, that we needed to play great to win because other teams were going to play good. So we did it, played great. That’s what I’m most proud of. We came out with the lead and played great.”

Gator Todd led Alabama, finishing fourth at one over par for the tournament but shooting three under par, 69, in Tuesday’s final round. Todd, a Florence native who is the son of former Tide and NFL quarterback Richard Todd, shot 75-73-69/217, finishing just three strokes back from the tournament’s medalist, UCLA’s Kevin Chappell who finished two under par, 72-73-69/214, to win.

Alabama will have little time to celebrate its latest victory, returning home for two days then leaving again to play in the February 25-27 Puerto Rico Classic.

# 19 Bama Baseball's Matthes Named SEC Player of the Week

Sophomore Has Monster Week for # 19 Crimson Tide

BIRMINGHAM, AL| Alabama sophomore right fielder Kent Matthes was named the SEC Player of the Week on Monday, the league office reports.

Matthes hit .412 with 4 home runs and 10 RBI's in four games last week for Alabama. "Matthes is playing well right now. He has shown the ability to hit the long ball and has made some nice plays on defense. He is the guy we need to hit in the middle of the lineup for this team to be successful", Alabama coach Jim Wells said about his right fielder.

Matthes is hitting .414 on the season with 4 home runs and 14 RBI's through 7 games. Alabama is currently 6-1 and ranked as high as 19th in the nation. Last week Alabama pitcher Brandon Belcher was named SEC Pitcher of the Week.

Alabama returns to action on Friday when they host the Villanova Wildcats for a three game series. First pitch on Friday is at 6:30 from Sewell-Thomas Stadium in Tuscaloosa.

Mens Basketball Preview: Tennessee

# 25 Alabama Heads To Knoxville to Take on the Vols


The Alabama Crimson Tide(19-7,6-6) travel north to Knoxville, TN Wednesday night, trying to secure their spot in the NCAA Tournament with a win over Bruce Pearl and his Volunteers in Thompson-Boling Arena. The bad news for Alabama fans is that nobody has accomplished that feat all season. Tennessee (18-9, 6-6) is 14-0 at home this season and has won four out of its last five games. Their last two home games the Vols defeated two ranked teams, Vanderbilt and Kentucky. The good news is that Alabama has won 7 in a row over the Volunteers.

While unranked, the Volunteers have an RPI of 15 in most indexes and a road win there for Alabama would almost secure a NCAA Tournament berth, with Ole Miss and Auburn at home next on the schedule. While a win would be nice, Alabama is going to need to play one of its best games to get it done. The Tide only has one SEC road victory this year, at LSU, and usually struggles against teams with great 3 point shooters. Tennessee has one of the best in Chris Lofton.

Lofton needs four 3 pointers to become 4th all time on the SEC 3-pointers made list. He leads the SEC in scoring at 20.9 points a game, and also leads in 3-pointers made in the SEC with 3.39 a game. JaJuan Smith is second on the team in scoring chipping in 15.0 points per game. They are the highest scoring duo in the Southeastern Conference.

Alabama is led by sophomore Richard Hendrix's 15 points and 9 rebounds a game. Jermareo Davidson (14.5) and Alonzo Gee (13.0) also average in double figures for Alabama. For the Tide to win this game they must feed the ball inside to its bigs all night long. The weakness for this Tennessee team is defense and particularly with its big men. The Volunteers start 3 guards and 2 forwards and play an up and down fast pace style of basketball. While it frustrates teams while the Vols have the ball, their lack of size on the inside is something that can be exploited by Alabama, whose strength is its two great big men.

Tennessee's 14-0 home record can be looked at two ways. Either they are just not going to be beat at home and the Tide has no shot or they are due for a home loss. If the Tide can play stellar defense, particularly on the perimeter, and feed the ball inside offensively, they can win this game. That might call for more playing time for freshman Justin Tubbs whose main job would be to blanket Lofton all night long. If the Tide can control Lofton, I think they win this game. If they can't, its going to be a long night. I am going with option one, and a close to healthy Ron Steele, in this one to give the Vols their first home loss.

On a side note, my respect for Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl went through the roof, when he showed up shirtless (pictured right) to a Lady Vols games earlier this season. Nice job coach.


Nicks Prediction:
#25 Alabama 75 Tennessee 71

Breaking Down the Bracket: Will Tide Make NCAA Tourney?

Alabama Looks to Go Dancin' for 6th Straight Year

Selecting the 65 teams that make the NCAA Tournament is a job that most would not like to have. Every year there are certain "bubble" teams that do not get into the tournament and the NCAA Selection Committee gets blasted by Dick Vitale, Jay Bilas, and all the rest of the College Hoops talking heads about who got hosed this year. We thought we would take a deeper look at this year's projections to see if Alabama might be one of those teams.

Alabama is currently 19-8 overall and 6-6 in the SEC. It is ranked #25 in one poll and unranked in the other. More important than rankings,however, is a team's Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), which has been used by the NCAA since 1981 to supplement the selection of at-large teams and the seeding of all teams for the NCAA basketball tournament. A RPI rating is made up of 3 factors. Div. I winning percentage (FI, 25%), schedule strength (FII, 50%); and opponent's schedule strength (FIII, 25%). Different weights are given to the location of the game for both the winner and loser of the game.

Alabama currently has a RPI rating in the low to mid 20's, which should be good enough to get them and at large bid, so the question again is...Will Alabama make the tournament? If Alabama wins the SEC Tournament in the a couple weeks then yes, they will receive the automatic bid into the tournament and this is a moot point. If they do not, that is where things get interesting. If the season ended today I would say they are in, but I am only a punk graduate student who is looking for a job in Nasvhille, TN (If your hiring please call me). Speaking of Nashville, Vanderbilt's win over Florida this past Saturday locked up a spot for them. The SEC is looking to get anywhere from 5-8 teams in the tournament, with Florida, Vandy, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee looking good at the moment. Ole Miss and Arkansas need to finish strong to get a bid. Let's not take my word for it however and look at what the "experts" are saying.

CBS.sportsline.com Gary Parrish believes Alabama is in with a 10 seed and has them playing National Player of the Year candidate Kevin Durant and the 7th seeded Texas Longhorns. While Durant is great, I think the Tide can win that game and it would set up a probable second round matchup with 2 seed Washington St. in his bracket. Click this to see his bracket.

ESPN.com's Bracketologist, Joe Lunardi, thinks a little higher of the Tide and has them as a 9 seed playing 8 seed Creighton in the first round. A win in that game would have Alabama playing 1 seed Wisconsin in the second round,if the Badgers can get by their 16th seeded opponent. Click this to see his bracket.

Foxsports.com's Michael Lazerus does not think as highly of Alabama and does not have them in his latest projection that was published three days ago. With Alabama's win over Kentucky on Saturday, who has a great RPI, the Tide got the "big win" it needed to impress the selection committee. Not counting that game, Lazerus does not have us in his latest bracket, which you can see here.

That is three experts with three different opinions. If Alabama wins at Tennessee on Wednesday it would do wonders for their chances. It would give them a quality win over a team with a high RPI, on the road, and set up Alabama to be either first or second in the SEC West, which would give them a first round bye in the SEC Tournament. After Tennessee, Alabama has Ole Miss and Auburn at home (both should be wins) and travels to Mississippi State to finish the regular season (could go either way). While Alabama's chances of making the Tournament look a lot better with the win over UK, they can not afford to stumble in these last two weeks if they want to go dancing.

# 20 Bama Baseball Sweeps Canisius

TUSCALOOSA, AL| Sophomore right fielder Kent Matthes belted two home runs and drove in four runs and sophomore left-hander Miers Quigley threw five scoreless innings with a career-high eight strikeouts as the No. 20 University of Alabama baseball completed a three-game sweep of Canisius College with an 8-5 win Sunday afternoon at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

Alabama improves to 6-1 on the season with the sweep and outscored the Golden Griffins 33-8 on the weekend. Coach Jim Wells is very pleased with Matthes production so far this season. "Matthes is doing a nice job. He is hitting the long ball and making the great defensive plays. He is the guy we need to hit in the middle of the lineup for us to be successful." Wells said following Sunday's game.

In Friday nights opener, Alabama scored three runs in each of the first two innings and then erupted for eight runs in the seventh inning en route to an easy 18-2 win over Canisius College at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The 18 runs scored were the most by Alabama since beating McNeese State 23-1 on March 6, 2005. Starter Kasey Kebodeuax allowed one unearned run and four hits in 4 2/3 innings, with two walks and six strikeouts. He was not involved in the decision. Sophomore right-hander Austin Hyatt (1-0) earned his first career win in relief of Kebodeaux. The Marietta, Ga, native threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings and added two strikeouts. He has not allowed a run in three outings this season out of the pen.

On Saturday, Tide ace Tommy Hunter pitched 5 scoreless innings giving up only two hits earning his second victory of the season. Matthes again led the Alabama offense going 2 for 4, with a home run, and three RBIs. Catcher Ryan Rhoden and first baseman Matt Bentley also added 2 hits apiece to led the potent Crimson Tide offense over Canisius (0-3).

Alabama does not have a mid week game this week and stays at home for a three game weekend series against the Villanova Wildcats starting Friday night at 6:30pm CT.

Tide Football Gets First Commit for 2008

TUSCALOOSA, AL| There is nothing wrong with getting off to an early start. Head football coach Nick Saban had just about a month to put his 2007 recruiting class together and finished with a team raking of 10th in the country by Rivals. com. Imagine what he can do with a full year.

Saban got his first commitment on Friday as Pickens County, AL TE/DE Michael Williams committed to play football for Alabama. The Pickens Co. star is suppose to be one of the best players in the south next year. Williams was quoted as saying "Alabama offered me either last Thursday or Friday. I was real excited about the offer. I grew up favoring Alabama. I has been a dream of mine ever since I was young to play at Alabama."

Williams is a massive 6'6, 240 lbs. and is being recruited to play both offense and defense. He was named First Team All State as a tight end and honorable mention as a defensive end as a junior. He totaled 68 tackles and 11 sacks during his junior season.

Alabama now has three players on its 2008 commit list as Williams joins William Vlachos and Patrick Crump, who both accepted gray shirt offers from the Tide this year.