| MBB/WBB 🏀 No. 4/4 Alabama Dominates Second Half in 84-69 Victory at No. 15/16 Arkansas

[50+yeartidefan]

Some great points....
....turnovers......have cut back on silly TOs...still some unecessary but........
....free throws....did better in second half...but first half.... got to shoot better
....rim was unkind a couple times....ball in and just came out?????
....fouls by big man.....stay on ground big guy...
.....friggin officials and their touch fouls...let the boysplay

Gave big lead up with 5-6 minutes of really sloppy play...and shots just wouldnt fall...

Announcers said the crowd was most energetic he has seen....Bama mostly kept them quiet best i could tell on tv....

Great to go on road and win in SEC

 

[Bammerboy321]

I have never seen an Alabama team this mentally tough in my life. This team is just full of dogs. Sears, Clowney, Miller, Bradley, Bediako, Pringle, etc.. There isn't a team in CBB that has better wins than Alabama @ Houston and @ Bud Walton.

Onto a huge game vs LSU. No rest days.

 

[Bammerboy321]

This is HILARIOUS. Musselman is such a bitch.

 

[Bammerboy321]

I say it pretty much every game thread, but Jaden Bradley's ability to get downhill is setting this offense up to be unstoppable. Seems like very few defenders can stay in front of him now. And with him being a pass-first guard, when he gets a blow by, it really sets up the offense for an alley oop, a layup, or a kick out for 3. He's only getting better every game too.

For as big of a star as Miller, he is patient and has a "team first" mentality. He doesn't care if he's scoring or not. All he wants to do is win. Regardless of what happens on the other end of the court, he brings it defensively.

 

[TerryP]

I have never seen an Alabama team this mentally tough in my life. This team is just full of dogs. Sears, Clowney, Miller, Bradley, Bediako, Pringle, etc.. There isn't a team in CBB that has better wins than Alabama @ Houston and @ Bud Walton.

Onto a huge game vs LSU. No rest days.

I can only compare it to the '87 team, and that's not a fair comparison in a few ways. First and foremost, that team in the '80's was six deep. This one is a solid 10, maybe 11 deep. (When Burnett comes back, who loses minutes?)

What's crazy in my world ... when that '87 team was playing great basketball it was compared to one in the mid-'70's. I want to say it was the '76 team but I'd have to look it up.

If you've followed Bama basketball you've heard of the Rocket Eight ('55-'56) Sports Illustrated did a piece on them (linked below) in 2020. It's said that is the best Bama basketball team in history.

I know I'm getting ahead of the game here. But what I see right now tells me this 2023 team is on the same level, historically, as the 1987 team. That also means we're seeing one of the best squads Alabama has had in its history.

Remembering the Rocket 8

Now that everyone's attention is turning to basketball, a note about a legendary group of Crimson Tide athletes

www.si.com

 

[alabama mike]

I thought we came away with a nice ROAD win after the big game last Saturday against UK. Free throws was an issue early, a few bad shot attempts and some silly turnovers hurt but overall, the young men showed a lot of character winning big.

 

[TerryP]

Since y'all like talking about turnovers ...

358 teams, Arkansas comes in at #25 in defensive turnovers. It's a good defense; turnovers should be expected. On that note, Houston comes in at #17, Mississippi State at #8. I mention that because...

UT (#7) and Missouri (#4) are just around the corner. A&M is in the top 50, LSU at #90.

In my view that spells a couple of conference losses.

 

[Bammerboy321]

I can only compare it to the '87 team, and that's not a fair comparison in a few ways. First and foremost, that team in the '80's was six deep. This one is a solid 10, maybe 11 deep. (When Burnett comes back, who loses minutes?)

What's crazy in my world ... when that '87 team was playing great basketball it was compared to one in the mid-'70's. I want to say it was the '76 team but I'd have to look it up.

If you've followed Bama basketball you've heard of the Rocket Eight ('55-'56) Sports Illustrated did a piece on them (linked below) in 2020. It's said that is the best Bama basketball team in history.

I know I'm getting ahead of the game here. But what I see right now tells me this 2023 team is on the same level, historically, as the 1987 team. That also means we're seeing one of the best squads Alabama has had in its history.

Remembering the Rocket 8

Now that everyone's attention is turning to basketball, a note about a legendary group of Crimson Tide athletes

www.si.com

That '87 team is my dad's favorite team ever at Alabama. That was when he was in school and he was stoked to see them. Freaking Providence.

Alabama tournament history is full of "what ifs". That '76 team absolutely should have made the Final Four, but was matched up one of the best teams in CBB history. Then there's the year where Kentucky beat Alabama four times in a season, with the final one knocking them out of the Sweet 16.

This team has it all to make it though. Depth, talent, and coaching. But as we all know, March Madness is unpredictable. A one seed wouldn't hurt our chances though.

 

[BamaFan334]

I say it pretty much every game thread, but Jaden Bradley's ability to get downhill is setting this offense up to be unstoppable. Seems like very few defenders can stay in front of him now. And with him being a pass-first guard, when he gets a blow by, it really sets up the offense for an alley oop, a layup, or a kick out for 3. He's only getting better every game too.

For as big of a star as Miller, he is patient and has a "team first" mentality. He doesn't care if he's scoring or not. All he wants to do is win. Regardless of what happens on the other end of the court, he brings it defensively.

I felt if Bediako just throws a few of those lobs down instead of coming back to the ground and going back up we would have blown this game wide open much earlier than we did. You're right, those lobs and underneath passes are there for sure.

 

[BamaFan334]

Since y'all like talking about turnovers ...

358 teams, Arkansas comes in at #25 in defensive turnovers. It's a good defense; turnovers should be expected. On that note, Houston comes in at #17, Mississippi State at #8. I mention that because...

UT (#7) and Missouri (#4) are just around the corner. A&M is in the top 50, LSU at #90.

In my view that spells a couple of conference losses.

I felt Arkansas played VERY good defense. I mean, they kept our best player shotless and scoreless in the first half. Gotta be doing something right to achieve that. I love the way we kept fighting and eventually our offense and pressure got us around our average where it did not look like we'd hit it in the first half. Great job by this team to overcome that tough defense and keep fighting. Like you stated above, not just 5 or 6 deep, but 10 deep. We're seeing that difference it can make.

 

[bamafan9201]

Since y'all like talking about turnovers ...

358 teams, Arkansas comes in at #25 in defensive turnovers. It's a good defense; turnovers should be expected. On that note, Houston comes in at #17, Mississippi State at #8. I mention that because...

UT (#7) and Missouri (#4) are just around the corner. A&M is in the top 50, LSU at #90.

In my view that spells a couple of conference losses.

I'd be surprised after getting past the early part of the schedule we'd be slipping up a bunch in conference play. Especially since not every team is going to be able to Shut down Miller for an entire half. Arkansas played a hell of a defensive game and we still scored 84. I'm pretty sure we will have a bad shooting night eventually but I don't know if I see us losing any of those teams outside of maybe on the road in Knoxville. Much like the show you posted said, hard for teams to get good uncontested shots against our defense inside the 3 point line, I think that will be big for us against the SEC this year.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

In related news: The Bama basketball ticket market has officially ticked up several notches....

 

[RTB X Bot]

 

[shipley00]

It was a far cry from the home cooking they used to get under the "40 min of hell". I was no-joke shocked that there were actually fouls called. From some of the F bombs, the Ark players were shocked too.

 

[UAgrad93]

45 total fouls makes 153 total points sound almost impossible to reach. It’s hard to get up and down the floor and run when it seems like the whistle is blowing constantly. When I played HS ball and when I coached, I liked it when the officials set the tone by either calling it right throughout or let ‘em play throughout. Never let them beat and bang on each other then turn it into a FT shooting contest late with ticky tack calls. BAMA just has way too much depth. I like how Miller wasn’t rushing things or worrying about trying to get “his shots” in the first half. Sears is a damn man with ice water running through his veins, Clowney just keeps getting better and better, and Bediako just stays steady.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

45 total fouls makes 153 total points sound almost impossible to reach. It’s hard to get up and down the floor and run when it seems like the whistle is blowing constantly. When I played HS ball and when I coached, I liked it when the officials set the tone by either calling it right throughout or let ‘em play throughout. Never let them beat and bang on each other then turn it into a FT shooting contest late with ticky tack calls. BAMA just has way too much depth. I like how Miller wasn’t rushing things or worrying about trying to get “his shots” in the first half. Sears is a damn man with ice water running through his veins, Clowney just keeps getting better and better, and Bediako just stays steady.

Yep. Just let em play....people arent out to watch the refs..
And home cooking in sec is/ was.......????????? So bad ....couldnt watch a bama away game....

Sears....the glue of the O....and keeping pretty good player on bench

 

[TerryP]

Sears....the glue of the O....and keeping pretty good player on bench

You've seen a number of people talk about the mentality of this team. I'd argue that comes from 'Jelly.' Oh, it's been fed by Oats, no doubt.

He (JQ) brought that attitude with him from Jersey. It was fostered, developed if you will, by Jay Wright and the culture he'd built at 'Nova.

 

[50+yeartidefan]

You've seen a number of people talk about the mentality of this team. I'd argue that comes from 'Jelly.' Oh, it's been fed by Oats, no doubt.

He (JQ) brought that attitude with him from Jersey. It was fostered, developed if you will, by Jay Wright and the culture he'd built at 'Nova.

See if they can maintain it for the season
Not how you start. Its how you finish

Hope so. Need to hit these FTs to be elite