Alabama's biggest regular season game in 9 years ended with Florida breaking open a 39-38 game with 15 minutes left, and turning it into a 27 point rout. Florida out scored the Tide 39-13 during that torrid stretch, in sealing atleast a tie for the regular season SEC Title.
Alabama could still share a championship by beating Georiga and watching Florida lose to Vandy, but niethr of those are certain to happen. Besides, could anybody rightfully not crown the Gators King of the SEC Hardwood after last night's dismantling?
Anthony Grant's overachieving squad suffered what was undoubtly the largest margin of defeat in an SEC game during the coach's short tenure in Tuscaloosa. Alabama had a deer in the headlights look all night. Despite being tied at 30-30 at the half, it felt like Florida was up 10 or so. One would have thought Alabama could not play any worst in the 2nd half then it did in the first, but it did.
But give credit to Billy Donovan as his team did the same exact turnaround to Georgia one week earlier. The Gators outworked and outplayed the Tide last night.
Now for Alabama, the Tide's bubble probably bursted at the O-Dome, but thats alright too. As stated in this column earlier in the year, this is a flawed team that has no outside shooting (outscored 24-3 beyond the arc last night), essentially a starting 5 and three ofensively challenged players coming off the bench. Despite those limitations, the Tide has overachieved and can finish with an impressive 12-4 record in the SEC play. But it won't be easy as Mark Fox brings in a talented UGA team on Saturday.
Time to see if the Tide can rebound and persevere this week after 3 bad games. Many doubted this bunch before the season, then before SEC play and I'm sure many more are doubting them about coming back and winning this weekend. Should be another sell out in Coleman and its senior day, so we'll see how Grant's bunch responds. I wouldn't bet against them just yet....
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