Tide hosts Ole Miss in Western Division showdown

Have to hand it to the Alabama players and Anthony Grant – they took the Vandy crime in stride and said all the right things. “Let’s get ready for Ole Miss” was the theme.

Ole Miss is a very good team and the good guys are short on preparation and rest. We will find out just how much Grant’s off season stamina program helps out. I know that the headman would like to play Releford less to save his legs. Even the energizer bunny slows down some. So what do you think?



Grant showed rare emotion in
the Vanderbilt Game...



Can Davis recapture the magic



Bama is a -6.5 point favorite. The Tide fell to 7-2 in the SEC which still leads the SEC West. Florida is 8-2 having played on additional game.  Ole Miss is a surprising and frankly disappointing 16-8.  Many basketball sports writers and experts had picked the to win the West.  Johnny Reb is an unexpected 4-5 in the Conference but comes into Coleman with a solid three game win streak.

A lot of Ole Miss fans think the Tide is ebbing and Ole Miss is rising again. Hey, we got robbed at Vandy. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. However, I noticed they gave us a loss in the newspaper so my household will have to deal with it. Such is the life of a die hard SEC basketball fan. I wish I knew what Kentucky or Vandy felt like before a game knowing you were going to shoot more free throws than are humanly possible.

All things considered the Tide had better be ready on Saturday afternoon at 3. Ole Miss has two days of extra preparation and Andy Kennedy knows what to do with spare time on and off the court. He’ll have the Rebels ready.  At 6:30 a mere 500 hundred tickets were left for the game. That’s good news. The Tide will need the adrenalin a loud crowd brings.

For Alabama the defense will be the launching point for a Tide win. I expect Scenario Hillman to uttimately draw the bead on Ole Miss super guard Chris Warren is averaging almost 23 points a game during the win streak. To set the record straight on that three game streak the Rebels beat Kentucky, Arkansas, and LSU. Warren hit for 26 which is a season high for the Dr. Phillips graduate. That school turns out some pretty good players don’t they.

If you have seen the Rebels this season they are like an expensive European sports car that needs a tuneup. You know the horsepower is under the hood but they just aren’t hitting on all cylinders. Let’s hope that the “Defense of Doom” that Bama employs keeps that going.

Hillma will draw Warren
in key match up...

The BAD:  Alabama gave up 81 to Vandy which is almost 20 more than

Normal.

The GOOD: Despite not having a good defensive night the Tide scored 77 and could have won. (Vandy shot 50% from the arc. Many of those shots were not highly contested).

Releford needs to bring his
A game on Saturday

The UNEXPECTED:  Anthony Grant’s little dance down the baseline when Green was clearly fouled and no call was forthcoming. I’m no lip reader but I don’t think he complimented Higgins when the two met late in the game.

The TOMORROW:  I look for Bama to come out focused and ready. Same for Ole Miss. If the Tide can shake the fatigue to two big games in three days they should win.  I like Bama 68-65.


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