Georgia B'ball Grades

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From Our Correspondent at FM 90.7

After the Florida game, I said that how Alabama responded to the humble pie they were served in Gainesville would go a long way in determining this team’s legacy. It would be up to second-year head coach Anthony Grant to make sure this team could put the loss in the rear view mirror and get ready for the final game of the regular season. It was clear even before the game started that the players had done just that. Here’s an example:

About an hour and a half before tip-off, as fans were starting to trickle into Coleman Coliseum, a few of the Crimson Tide players were out on the court for their usual shoot around. The atmosphere was very laid back. Players were joking with each other, talking to the fans, and there were smiles all around. A student yelled, “Tony!” put his hands up, and Tony Mitchell passed him a basketball. Mitchell started running toward the basket and the student threw the ball up. Mitchell caught the ball in mid-air, slammed it home, and the students gave him a rousing applause.

You would never have known that this was a team people were beginning to doubt. You would never have known that all around the country, people were crossing out the Crimson Tide from their NCAA tournament brackets. And you certainly wouldn’t have known that this team was coming off of their worst loss of the season. It was clear from the outset that Alabama had put Florida out of their collective minds and were focused on the task at hand: beating the Bulldogs.

Georgia jumped out to a 13-5 lead early in the game. But Alabama went on an 18-4 run and never looked back. Twice, the ‘Dogs cut the lead to one, but the Crimson Tide was simply too much. Alabama got back to shooting the ball effectively and playing the suffocating defense responsible for much of the Tide’s success this season. "We were out of rhythm as a team for the last two or three games. We needed to get that back,” Grant said after the game. “The focus needed to go from the offensive end to the defensive end. Today, our guys understood the game would be won on the defensive end.”

The sold-out crowd at Coleman Coliseum stuck around after the game as coach Grant thanked Tide fans for their support of Alabama basketball this season. Alabama went 16-0 at home this season and the fans were a big reason why. With five sell-outs, including four in a row to end the season, Coleman Coliseum became a place that opponents did not want to visit. And on a rainy Saturday afternoon, Georgia was the latest team to find this out, as the Crimson Tide taught the Bulldogs to behave.

Here are my grades for Saturday’s game:

Offense: B

Alabama’s offense did enough to win, and with the severe lack of talent on this end of the floor, that’s all you can ask for in big games.

On senior day, Charvez Davis gave the Crimson Tide something they aren’t used to having: a threat from the three-point line. The senior hit 5 of 10 shots from the arc, including 4/6 in the second half, putting up 17 points in the win.

JaMychal Green led all scorers with 19 points on 7/13 shooting in only 23 minutes of play. Tony Mitchell added 13 points and Trevor Releford had 8.

As a team, Alabama had the advantage in offensive rebounds, 8-3.

Defense: A

The Crimson Tide got back to flexing their defensive muscles on Saturday, forcing 16 Georgia turnovers, allowing only 8 assists, and 19 made field goals. They also held Georgia’s leading scorer, Trey Thompkins, to 15 points.

Trevor Releford once again showed why he is not only valuable on the offensive end of the court. The freshman phenom led the team with 3 steals, including an absolute gem on a Georgia fast break where he ran the length of the floor to knock the ball out of the hands of the Georgia player. This team goes as Releford goes, and he certainly put in an inspirational performance today.

Tony Mitchell had 3 steals and a blocked shot. JaMychal Green added two blocks, and Andrew Steele contributed with a block.

Coaching: A

Finishing the season undefeated at home is undeniably an incredible accomplishment, one that this team deserves to be proud of. But it all starts at the top. Anthony Grant is certainly ahead of schedule in his second year as the head coach of the Crimson Tide. In two years, he has taken this team from mediocrity, to division champions, and the win against Georgia was his latest accomplishment. Grant got this team refocused from a hard loss, and they finished the job at home.

Where do we go from here?

Beating Georgia vaulted Alabama back into the NCAA tournament discussion, as they now have another precious win over a top-100 RPI team. As of Saturday night, Joe Lunardi has Alabama as his last team out. However, Alabama has a final chance to improve its resume in the SEC tournament in Atlanta.

As of this writing, the middle 4 spots in the East are still up for grabs. Tennessee plays Kentucky on Sunday, which will sort everything out. Alabama’s first game in the SEC tournament will be against the winner of East #4 and West #5 (Auburn). Barring a monumental upset by the Tigers, Alabama will play Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, or Vanderbilt. The Tide unquestionably need to win this game if they want to have a chance at the tournament, while winning a second game and getting to the tournament finals would all but punch their ticket to the big dance. If they drop the first game, however, the NIT can go ahead and book rooms at the Hotel Capstone.

A quick note about the blog: Due to games being played in consecutive days, I will do one cumulative blog post after the weekend about Alabama’s SEC tournament performance. Thank you again to The Commissioner for allowing me to contribute to the blog, and to all of the readers for taking the time to read my analysis on this Crimson Tide team. If you thought this season has been crazy, it’s only just begun. We’re in for a wild week as the SEC postseason gets underway.

Marc Torrence, from Franklin, TN, is a freshman at The Capstone majoring in Telecommunication and Film. He is co-host of the sports-talk show "The Student Section" on Wednesday nights from 8-10 on 90.7 in Tuscaloosa, or online at thecapstone.ua.edu. He can be reached at mdtorrence@crimson.ua.edu.