Will Bama win the SEC Tournament Championship?                                                                                              

    Alabama must play better than its last four games to win the SEC Tournament. Here's a quick reminder to understand what's been happening with Tide. The offense needs help behind the three-point arc. After a nice road win over Auburn, the Tide lost two of their next six games. Alabama struggled to score in the Tennessee game. After pounding Georgia 108-59, the Tide struggled against South Carolina, Arkansas, and the second Auburn game. Those close wins were enough to win the SEC regular season championship. Something was wrong, and it showed up in the first half of each of those late-season wins. Bama was allowing teams to secure double-digit leads. Bama beat South Carolina, Arkansas, and Auburn with second-half comebacks. Texas A&M built a 17-point lead, and the Tide managed to erase that lead late in the second half but lost 67-61. Alabama ended the regular season with a 26-5 record and the number-one seed in the SEC Tournament. 

     Despite that phenomenal record, the team will need help on the offensive end. The Tide needed to make more three-pointers, turnovers were piling up again, and the Darius Miles situation was hurting the Tide. Some time away from practice may help Alabama. The bright side of the last two weeks is that Bama found a way to win despite the poor shooting and mounting turnovers. 

      Bama will play the winner of the Mississippi State and Florida game. Most people believe State will beat the Gators. State can land a spot in the NCAA Tournament with a win over Bama. Alabama is playing to win the Tournament and keep a one-seed in the Big Dance. That is a different kind of pressure than State might have.   Alabama will have to play better than it did in College Station. Tolu Smith lives in the lane. Charles Bediako will have his hands full if State wins the play-in game. It always helps a team with playing their second game in a tournament. 

Tonight's games:  

12-seed South Carolina vs. 13-seed Ole Miss - Ole Miss is favored in this game, and it won't surprise me if the Rebels knock off USC. The battle of the bottom feeders is always fun to watch. Each team can use this game to propel them to better results next year. Stay tuned - Chris Beard will be the next Rebel head coach.

11-seed Georgia vs. 14-seed LSU - The birth child of Will Wade will take on the Georgia Bulldogs in the second game tonight. LSU allowed the Wade saga to go on far too long, and look what happened. Georgia will improve with Mike White at the helm. He will cut into AU's pipeline in the Atlanta Metro area. Georgia should win tonight.

My take: If Alabama wins the SEC, they can win the NCAA.

More Bama good news: 

Quick hitters - 

     Jim Boeheim is out at Syracuse University. He's been at SU for 47 seasons. The Orange lost to Wake Forest 77-74 in the ACC Tournament today. 

     Brandon Miller spoke to the press today for the first time. He was eloquent and went straight to points he wanted to make about the Miles situation. When asked another question about the same subject he declined to comment.  

     Reports from the Capstone say that Bama spent a lot of time behind the arc. Alabama needs to make more threes in the postseason. I also learned that Bama worked on ball security to cut down turnovers.

     Will Bama cut down on the player rotation? I've heard some "experts" saying they will. Not in my opinion. 

Jadon Bradley will be more effective against MSU than other teams. He has the physicality to help the Tide against MSU. The freshman will try to get a couple of quick fouls on Tolu Smith fouls. Expect Quinerly to get minutes to speed up the game.

     Will Wade is now the frontrunner for the McNeese State job.