Ladies and Gentleman of the jury, Saturday night proved once and for all that you can do things the right way to be successful.
As evidence, we present to you the 2012 Alabama Crimson Tide Basketball team. Through hardwork, discipline and unselfish play, the Crimson Tide ran its biggest rival in basketball off the hardwood last night in Mississippi State.
In accomplishing this, Alabama all but clinched an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time since 2006 and in the process, may have taught the Bulldogs how to behave all the way to the NIT.
All of the high school basketball coaches in the state of Alabama owe Anthony Grant a big thank you for his blueprint to a successful team. You can force your players to buy in to your program, by doing things the right way, putting the team ahead of me attitude and throwing it in the trash, while in the process still having success and fun.
No one play exhibited the drive, desire and determination in the Alabama Basketball program then when Mississippi State threw another lazy pass into the backcourt. The ball was rolling harmlessly in what would be Alabama's possession as soon as the talented, but lazy Dee Bost touched the ball. Instead of waiting for that to happen, Levi Randolph chased it down, dove on the floor, retrieved the ball, flipped it to Trevor Releford who then passed it ahead leading to another easy Alabama basket and in the process, finishing off the Bulldogs.
There is no denying this is a different Alabama team, one that for the first time in my life, actually has a bench and can play 10 players, something that never happened when Mark Gottfried was coach (how is that working out NC State???). They can play the uptempo pressure defense, creating havoc and when its good shooters are hitting shots, they will be a tough team to beat in the next few weeks, much like the 2004 edition of the Tide that beat #1 Stanford and defending national champ Syracuse on the way to the Elite 8.
As for Miss. State, Rich Stansbury has always had a bunch of thugs playing in Starkvegas and that undsiciplined bunch has become unraveled in the past weeks. The three most talented players on the floor last night were probably Dee Bost, Renaldo Sydney and Arnett Moutltrie, but they were also the three most uncoachable players too. At least the MSU squad didn't get in any fights last night. Maybe they'll save that for an NIT game against NC State. The only reason the game was as close as 17 points was thanks to Doug Shows and Ted Valentine coming up with every concievable questionalble call to stop momentum and trying to keep MSU in the game. Also thought it was coaching genius by Stansbury not to use any of his time outs in the 2nd half while Alabama was putting on 14-1 and 10-1 runs to break the gmae open. Hope he takes those time outs with him all they way to the NIT.
As for 'Bama, the sky is the limit at this point. They are playing their best ball of the season and jelling at the right time. The team is having fun, the freshman four of Levi Randolph, Nick Jacobs, Rodney Cooper and Trevor Lacey have grown up before our eyes. Trevor Releford is unstoppable in the open court. Andrew Steele always plays a smart, under control game. Jamychal Green is back on board and looked great last night. The two seven footers in Gueye and Engstrom are playing sound, defense, knowing their role and providing critical minutes. This is a poised team that is peaking which should make the next few weeks should be a fun ride.
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