7-1 and leading the SEC. That sounds pretty good to me. Honestly, I didn’t think we be doing that well. Then again, I didn’t know that Moses was bringing a gift to take us to the promised land named Releford. If you like the technical aspects of basketball watching Trevor play about as good as he gets. People always talk about turnovers and protecting the ball. I bet that turnovers to minutes played he leads the SEC in fewest turnovers. I know that for the amount of time he controls the rock he most certainly leads the SEC in fewest turnovers. So here we are at half way mark of the league schedule and I’m wondering where do we go from here? I’m not addressing the next few weeks. I’m addressing the next ten years. For the first time since Wimp Sanderson graced the court it seems like Alabama fans are starting to believe we can be an elite program. Why can’t we? We have been before. When C.M. was here we were elite. Mark even got us to the Elite Eight. Despite being fashion impaired Wimp Sanderson had Alabama on the edge of big time basketball.
The State of Alabama produces enough great players to compete with any team in America. Anthony Grant is excelling with talent that wasn’t as good as Wimp and C.M. Certainly, his team has nowhere near the talent of some of Mark’s teams. Anthony Grant is doing things the hard way. He’s taking the long way home. Toughness is their calling card. This team has taken the road less traveled as the poet once wrote. JayMichael Green has gone from a philly to a stud. As we like to say in Blount County, “he ain’t got no back down in him.”
Green is simply not big enough to play the way he does inside. He is always giving up pounds and inches. I wouldn’t get in his way when he decides to finish off a play around the basket. That is a good way to break an arm, or lose a hand. Add Hillman, Hines, and Mitchell to the rotation and we have become Sky Rammer Jammer. Yeah, I like that. It sounds blue collar. It sounds like a hard working bunch of stiffs that work hard and play harder. Bama lives each game buzzer to buzzer. They rarely have a cushion to relax. They can’t look past the next game. Heck, they can’t even look past the next two minutes of any game can they?
These guys win the 50-50 balls. They get the traffic rebounds. They take charges and they tear the very heart out everyone they play with effort. If I’m an opponent I don’t know whether I’d be more afraid in knowing how hard I’d have to play, or the final five minutes wondering if my lungs were going to explode. Alabama steps on the floor with their laces pulled tight. They have no shirt tails dragging. They even sit during time outs at full speed. I thought last season Anthony Grant got more out of his players than any team I’ve ever seen. This season is the same. I suspect that next year will be the same. I believe that one season Alabama will win a national title under Grant, and some pundit will write that the team was the hardest working team he’s ever seen. That writer would probably be correct.
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