While the afterglow of the superb effort by the Crimson Tide football team may still be burning pretty bright, it's time to give the Capstone's other student athletes their due. You might not be aware that the UA women's gymnastics squad bested Auburn on Friday for the 99th time in a row. Awesome.
And the mens basketball isn't just looking solid, they are starting to put together one hell of an inaugural season under head coach Anthony Grant. Last night they opened their SEC conference schedule with a 66-49 win over LSU on the road at the Maravich Center in Baton Rouge, La.
Here at RBR we tend to devote our efforts to the gridiron but the guys over at Alabama Basketball Blog have been dutifully following the team all year and deserve your page views. (They also know what the hell they are talking about when it comes to basketball and we don't.)
ABB called it "a complete tail kicking from beginning to end." They said the Tide defense set the tone of the game - holding the Tigers to 37% (17-of-46) from the field and forced 15 turnovers. In addition "the half court offense was as efficient and effective as it has been in years."
Currently, Alabama hoops now have a solid 11-4 record and folks have begun to notice. No less than A Sea of Blue, the Kentucky blog that is the ruling maven of all things SEC basketball related on SB Nation, had this to say recently:
If you aren't impressed with what first-year coach Anthony Grant has done so far, you should be. Alabama has excellent neutral-court victories against the Baylor Bears and Michigan Wolverines, both of whom will get better as the year goes on. Alabama also gave the #4 Purdue Boilermakers a very stern test, leading for most of the game and losing in the last four minutes. I think Alabama will contend for the West, and the game against Vanderbilt in Tuscaloosa on the 13th will tell us a lot about both teams.
ABB agrees noting that Vandy has been a thorn in our side for several years now. The contest against the Commodores will be at 8 p.m Wednesday at Coleman Coliseum.
Alias at ABB says you owe it to yourself to show up: "This is your chance to get on the bandwagon just like the football fans did before Coach Saban's team started competing for (and winning) championships."