FIND A WAY...



Keep it up and we find a way...

      Anthony Grant said it best, "we found a way".  In a game that gave new definition to ugly there were some good things to talk about. What about the comeback? Bama was dead in the water but found a way.  They couldn't make a basket. The home team scored 11 baskets. Two were 3 pointers and the other 9 were 2 pointers. 
     I couldn't help but remember what C.M. Newton told me one time. Sometimes it isn't the percentage of the free throws that count. It is the number  you make. Alabama shot only 67% but made 27 of their 40 attempts. The percentage isn't surprising when you consider how much physical effort Alabama expended on playing defense.  The same could be said for the Tigers.  Arch Rival or not, you have to recognize that the Tigers played hard and fast. They made a lot of mistakes. They were full speed mistakes. Barbee said his team didn't understand the difference between playing hard and fouling a lot. That is just a coach talk for go out there and if it is wearing white and crimson foul them. It came with a whisker of working.
     All things considered you have to be really proud of how Alabama refused to quit.  When they were down by 12 I told someone, "now we will really find out about this team".  We did. There is no quit in them. They may have shot well and for that matter even dribbled well, but those guys just got wild on defense. Hide the women and children. Alabama is gonna play some hard defense without fouling out. How many times have you seen 10 standing ovations for a defensive stand not involving football.  The game wasn't for the national championship but it was every bit as impressive as Bama's goal line stand against Penn State years ago.
    There is no way to explain how much energy it takes to play defense like Alabama and Auburn played last night. Basketball is a contact sport, not unlike football, bodies are colliding on a non-stop basis. Think of football without a huddle. Think football without pads and helmets. Think full speed 10 feet off the ground. Move as hard and fast as you can without stopping. Your arms weigh a ton and the legs made of jellly. Instead of crying out when you crap up you think, hey I'm getting a blow...

     I am old enough to remember John Wooden's diamond and one full court press. Not many teams pressed in Wooden's early days at UCLA. The effects of the press carried the Bruins to National Championship number one for Wooden. Flash forward to Arkansas and Nolan Richardson. His most memorable lines were, "fatigue makes cowards of us all, "and the refs won't call fouls everytime we fouled someone." The Arkansas press was remarkable. Alabama's full court defense takes all that to a new level of harrassment. If you are Auburn you are thinking, can I even get the ball in play?  If you do get the ball inbounds will I get trapped and have no passing lane. If you are lucky enough not to get trapped your minds keeps thinking where are they? And it never quits. It is just as aggresive at the end as it was at the beginning. Robert Redford said it best, "who are these guys". 

     By the end of the game you are relieved it is over. If you are an opponent and you win you are glad it is over. If you lose you are relieved it is over regardless of what you coach is yelling about. You are probably wondering who are those guys?

     So for the Tide Wednesday night was about perserverance. On that statistic they were perfect. It's about finding a way to win.

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