Alabama wins the SEC Championship...

   

      Alabama won the SEC Championship on Saturday, and we can thank the defense. Once again, the offense was missing in action. The final score was  The Tide 64-59. So much for the "Tide can't win unless they score 70 points" belief. Alabama's defense cinched it up and refused to lose late in the second half when the Bulldogs had cut the Tide lead to three. The Bulldogs had gone on a 10-2 run. James Rojas buried one from the corner in front of the Tide bench. That pushed the Tide lead up to six again, and Alabama won the Regular Season Championship. Alabama assured itself of the number one seed in the upcoming SEC Tournament. Bama won game 19 and now focuses on winning 21.  Auburn comes to Tuscaloosa on Tuesday night, and then Alabama travels to Georgia. 

     It's been a long time since Alabama won an SEC Basketball Championship. In 2001 the Tide won the SEC with a 12-4 record and finished the season with a 27-8 record. How long ago? Athletes in Action still played basketball. Mark  Gottfried was in his fourth season at Alabama. Most students at the Capstone hadn't even been born. Rod Grizzard, Terrance Meade, Erwin Dudley were sophomore starters. Gerald Wallace was a freshman, along with a little-known point guard named Antoine Pettway. 

     The first half of the season was Alabama's offense. The second half has been about the defense. Can Alabama put together the two in the remaining games? I don't know. I think Alabama's offense might be better against teams in the NCAA Tournament. Those teams have seen anything quite like the Crimson Tide. I'm betting a bunch of them haven't seen a defense that plays as hard as Alabama. I think Alabama is tired. It's been a long season, and the way Alabama plays on both ends of the floor has got to be tiring. I think part of the shooting problems might be caused by fatigue. Other teams will be tired as well. 

    Congratulations to the Crimson Tide.