Florida B'Ball Grades

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From Our Correspondent at FM 90.7

            There are good teams and there are great teams. As brilliant of a job that Anthony Grant has done, and as fun as this season has been, Alabama is still just a good team. And they ran into a great team Tuesday night.

            The Tide entered the game with a chance to clinch at least a share the SEC regular season championship, something they haven’t done since 2002. But more importantly, it was a chance to show how they matched up against tough competition. Sure, they could win in the SEC West, one of the weakest divisions in all of college basketball, but what could they do against a top-20 team in a hostile environment? Well, we got our answer.

Florida struggled mightily in the first half, missing their first ten three-point shots, and the Tide were lucky that the score was only 30-30 at half time. But the Gators hit their stride in the second half, going 26 of 37 from the field and ending the game on a 39-14 run. And how fitting that on senior night, it was Chandler Parsons leading the Gators to victory, scoring 19 points and 11 rebounds.

A win almost certainly would have put Alabama in the NCAA tournament, no matter what happened against Georgia. But instead, the Crimson Tide have left themselves no room for error.

Here are my grades for Tuesday night’s game:

            Offense: C

            Three-point shooting, once again, continued to haunt the Tide in Gainesville. The team went 1/8 from the arc with freshman Trevor Releford making the only three in the waning minutes of the game. Alabama’s best three-point shooter, Charvez Davis, went 0/4 in 28 minutes of action.

            As a team, Alabama shot 38.9%, going 21/54. JaMychal Green struggled shooting the ball, going 5/19 from the field, good for only 10 points, well below his season average of nearly 16. Tony Mitchell added 14 points and 8 rebounds.

            Three days after I had praised the improvement and maturity of senior Chris Hines, Hines had one of his worst games of the season. In 22 minutes of action, Hines scored 4 points, had two rebounds, and turned the ball over 3 times. Early in the first half, however, Hines committed a technical foul for jawing at another player that gave Florida two extra points. He fouled out with 1:23 remaining.

            One bright spot was freshman Trevor Releford. Releford played significantly better than the last two games scoring 17 points and adding 4 assists.

            Defense: D

            The second half was a complete annihilation and all Alabama could do is sit and watch as the Gators knocked down shot after shot. And it wasn’t just one player. Alex Tyus, 4/7, 12 points. Kenny Boynton, 4/9 (4/8 from three), 14 points. Chandler Parsons, 7/14, 19 points. Vernon Macklin, 9/12, 19 points. Whenever Alabama got one under control, another took over.

            This wasn’t a case of one guy getting hot and beating them, or the officials not giving them the right calls. This was a case of a superior offensive team handling the Crimson Tide defense and scoring at will. The scary thing is that if Alabama somehow makes the NCAA tournament, these are the type of offenses they will be facing in every game. Sure, the Crimson Tide’s defensive numbers are pretty, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

            Coaching: B-

            Some might say this grade is too high, but I think Grant did as much as he could with the talent he had on Tuesday night. In the middle of getting blown out like Alabama was, it would be easy for the team, or their coach to lose their cool, but Alabama stayed under control, and took the loss in stride.

            Perhaps we won’t really be able to adequately grade Anthony Grant and the job he did in this game until the Tide takes the court against Georgia. How this team responds after such a devastating loss remains to be seen, but it will go a long way to determining how this Crimson Tide team will be remembered, and even if they will be remembered.

            Where do we go from here?

            Alabama’s RPI actually rose with the loss to Florida, as they currently sit at 87. The strength of schedule boost that comes with playing Florida coupled with Kentucky beating Vanderbilt and they sit two spots higher than after the Ole Miss loss. Nevertheless, Alabama certainly faces a must-win against Georgia on Saturday afternoon in Coleman Coliseum if they want to have a shot at an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Assuming the Tide take down Georgia, most analysts believe that they must win at least two games in the SEC tournament, getting to the finals, to keep their dance hopes alive. Right now it looks like Alabama will play Kentucky, Vanderbilt, or Georgia, assuming they beat LSU or Auburn, in the first round of the tournament. A loss to the Bulldogs, however, makes this all a moot point, as Bama would have to win it all in Atlanta to make the tournament.

            The game in Coleman on Saturday should be an exciting one with two teams playing for their bubble lives, and I urge all of the readers near Tuscaloosa to make it out if you can. It will also be senior night, so it should be as loud as it has been all season.

            On another note, senior guard Charvez Davis was named to the SEC’s community service team for his work volunteering at three different local schools. Davis visited every Thursday of this semester working with the students. Great to see these guys make a difference on and off the basketball court.

            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