What now for Alabama hoops? Vote here

Now that Alabama officially can’t earn the SEC’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the waiting begins. The Crimson Tide should be a lock to make the field of 68, but that’s just the first issue at hand.

With a strong schedule and a few quality wins, Alabama (21-11) could receive any number of seeds. What do you think? Vote here.

 

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Last shot misses, Alabama eliminated

Trevor Lacey’s 3-pointer just before the final buzzer fell just short and Alabama’s run in the SEC tournament ended Friday afternoon.

AP photo

Florida held on for the 66-63 win in New Orleans Arena and will face Kentucky on Saturday.

Alabama (21-11) will have to wait for Sunday’s NCAA tournament selection show to learn its postseason fate.

Lacey, a freshman from Huntsville, had a chance to send it to overtime in the closing seconds. Coming off a screen, he had a 3-point shot that found the front of the rim.

JaMychal Green scored a team-high 22 points for Alabama.

He had a free throw to tie the game with 20.3 seconds left, but it missed just long.

Read more in tomorrow’s newspaper.

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Panoramic view of southern tip of Kentucky called New Orleans

Click to enlarge.

It’s hard to say New Orleans Arena is any less than 85 or 90 percent pro-Kentucky this afternoon. That’s hardly news since this is the SEC tournament.

Alabama is a little over an hour from its scheduled tip time with Florida and there’s a small pocket of crimson in one corner.

Keep it here for updates. The Wildcats just took a 28-24 lead very early in the second half.

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A look at Alabama’s shot in SEC basketball tournament

This was my game story/advance look at this afternoon’s Alabama-Florida SEC quarterfinal in Kentucky New Orleans.

NEW ORLEANS — Staring down a wall of empty, checkered seats, Trevor Lacey took the pass as the shot clock wound down. Just a minute remained and Alabama was close to trouble.

AP photo

Alabama hadn’t made a 3 all day when instincts took over. The Crimson Tide’s prized recruit finished off South Carolina with a smooth stroke from the top of the key. It capped the freshman-powered 63-57 win, pushing Alabama into the SEC tournament quarterfinals. The game typified the final few weeks of an unsightly yet effective run.

Lacey’s last-minute 3 put Alabama up by five in a mostly-vacant, hushed New Orleans Arena.

“Andrew Steele took on a double team and found me at the top of the key,” Lacey said. “And I just had to make them pay for leaving me open.”

The long-range jumper was a second-half anomaly for Alabama, now 21-10 this season. It was just the fifth of the half, though 15-for-19 free-throw shooting kept South Carolina from breaking a late-game tie.

Still, the Gamecocks (10-21) managed to muddy the waters once again. After trailing by as many as 14 in the first half, South Carolina had an occasional hot shooting hand. Reserve Brenton Williams made each of his three 3-point shots — two in a 25-second span — to tie the game at 53 with 6:39 left.

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Football season starts today

It’s already here. Spring football starts today in Tuscaloosa, and while March madness rules the rest of the country …

TUSCALOOSA — There’s a science to spring football.

Forget retooling the depth chart and replacing departed seniors, just fitting 15 dates on the calendar can be a struggle. Throw in Easter on April 8, and Alabama coach Nick Saban faced a decision.

The verdict: Start practice today, take a week off for spring break, and then hit it hard on the other side. Workouts resume March 19 and conclude with the April 14 A-Day game in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

“When Easter falls in spring ball, we usually don’t practice on Saturday,” Saban said. “So we end up having an extra practice. So we have three options. We can have a practice before, we can have a practice after A-Day or we can practice three days in a row somewhere.

“We’ve done it all three ways, but the way that seems to work the best is when you have one practice before.”

Alabama used a similar schedule for the 2010 spring routine. Saban said it helps ease younger players into the schedule.

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A little video from the scene at SEC tournament

Take a look inside the New Orleans Arena before Alabama beat South Carolina 63-57 in the first round of the SEC basketball tournament.

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