Earlier today Alabama hoops knocked off number 16 Vanderbilt in overtime. Yes, the same Vanderbilt team that beat then number 1 Tennessee just a few days ago. It was senior day in Coleman Coliseum and the only senior that plays made his presence felt. Mykal Riley left a stamp on his last game in Coleman by dropping 26 points on 8-16 shooting and 10 rebounds. Alonzo Gee added 16 of his own, and Richard Hendrix had another double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Alabama guaranteed themselves at least a .500 season by improving to 16-15 overall and 5-11 in the conference. (Wow, it’s March already, sheesh.)
After looking over the highlights I saw a motivated team. It’s beyond me why Alabama played harder and wanted it more than Vandy. Vanderbilt had a first round bye in the SEC Tourney on the line and were out played by a struggling Tide team. Could this be the momentum used to maybe make a run at the SEC Tourney Championship? I highly, highly doubt it, but it does give hope for the future because the talent is obviously there. With this win, head coach Mark Gottfried pretty much kept his job, but he has got to learn how to coach. More importantly, he has got to learn how to coach in a game under difficult situations. Some of his decisions are not good ones and the bad ones outweigh the good quite often.
Looking ahead, Alabama will obviously play in the first round of the SEC Tourney. I’m not sure who that opponent will be, but it will likely be a rematch of today’s game against Vanderbilt. Holding Shan Foster to only 21 points is impressive considering he’s a freak, but doing it in back to back games is almost impossible. If Alabama wants to make any kind of run, they will need an effort similar to today’s, if not better. That may just be too tall of a task.
**In no way am I implying that Alabama will win the SEC Tourney. Frankly, I was shocked at the result of today’s game, but confidence is a huge part in all sports, and having it this late in the season is a very good thing. A strong performance in the SEC Tourney can only lead to high expectations in the future and team that is willing to fight because they know they can, not because they have to.
I want to be that guy who believes this will be the rocketship to success in the SEC tournament, but unfortunately, the SEC tournament consists of those two little words that work like Kryptonite on Gottfried teams: “road game.” One and done, just like the last two years.
Agreed. Road or neutral, it doesn’t matter. The fact of the matter is…When Alabama plays away from Coleman they are just plain terrible.
Congrats to you and your team! With any luck, there’ll be a Bama / Vol game in the SEC tourney that everybody here can go nuts over.
I know Alabama won, but man, the last two possessions in regulation just summed up Gottfried’s coaching ability for me. We had the fourth and fifth offensive options taking shots on the two most important possessions of the game. And one of them was after a timeout to set up a play.
But Riley had a great game, and it was a hoot watching his mom in the bleachers.
You’re insane. Surely, you’re not that dumb.
EVERYBODY knows Vandy is a different team at Memorial. We beat them by 20 at home. But congrats to the Tide.