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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The panoramic view inside SEC tournament in New Orleans

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The New Orleans Arena is far from full for Day 1 of the SEC basketball tournament. Kentucky fans already outnumber the field even though the No. 1 Wildcats don’t play until tomorrow.

Alabama and South Carolina tip in about an hour and LSU is currently beating Arkansas 49-39 midway through the second half.

Much more to come in a bit. Stay tuned.

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‘Intense’ practices lead Tide into SEC tournament opener

It’s still basketball season, remember? The NFL draft hoopla yields the floor back to hoops. Here’s a look at today’s Alabama-South Carolina match up in the SEC first round …

TUSCALOOSA — Walking down a hallway below Coleman Coliseum, a group of Alabama basketball players shared a joke and a smile Tuesday afternoon.

AP photo

The atmosphere was light — a complete departure from the gloomy corridor outside the visitors’ locker room Saturday evening following an uninspired — and losing — effort at Ole Miss.

Alabama (20-10) was riding high on a four-game winning streak before Saturday’s demoralizing 60-51 loss. It was far from the momentum-builder the team had envisioned heading into the SEC tournament.

Ultimately, Tennessee’s win over Vanderbilt made the Crimson Tide’s loss irrelevant in the seeding process. Alabama’s No. 5 seed and today’s meeting with 12th-seeded South Carolina in New Orleans Arena still gives coach Anthony Grant’s team a shot at redemption on multiple fronts.

And the early week practices in Tuscaloosa included an extra message outside the game plan for South Carolina.

“It was probably the most intense practices we’ve had all year,” senior forward JaMychal Green said.

South Carolina earned one of its two league wins over Alabama on Jan. 25. It was the Tide’s fourth straight loss and one of the low points of the Crimson Tide’s season.

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Alabama losses game, SEC bye

Let’s just say Alabama coach Anthony Grant was interested in small talk after the Crimson Tide lost its regular season finale 60-51 at Ole Miss. Read more about that tomorrow.

The loss and Tennessee’s win over Vanderbilt assured Alabama the 5-seed in the SEC basketball tournament starting Thursday in New Orleans. There was a chance at the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye, but Saturday’s results ended that chance.

Alabama gets a shot at avenging its worst loss of the season in the first round. The Tide gets last-place South Carolina at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in the New Orleans Arena.

Ole Miss ended the Tide’s four-game winning streak by limiting turnovers and taking advantage of Alabama’s. The hosts outscored the visitors 16-0 on points off giveaways and 22-3 in bench scoring.

Effort was the main issue, Grant said. Read more about that in Sunday’s newspaper.

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A little video fun: Best of time lapse photography

It’s a lazy Saturday afternoon, so why not mess around with video. Here’s what I came up with: the best of the time lapse videos from the last year. Enjoy.

 

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Alabama falls to Florida in SEC baseball tourney

Alabama fell flat in the SEC baseball tournament second round losing 6-0 to Florida on Thursday afternoon. The Tide lineup managed just five hits and had 12 straight batters retired at one point.

Alabama plays Arkansas at 3 p.m. Friday in an elimination game. The Tide beat the Hogs 7-4 in Wednesday’s opener.

Buy a newspaper and read more tomorrow.

Live updates from Alabama’s second-round SEC game

Hello there. Welcome back to Regions Park in Hoover. It’s time for SEC baseball yet again.

Alabama is getting set to play Florida for a spot in the semifinals of the tournament. We’ll be here to update you all the way.

Just click here to follow the updates on the official Twitter page of The Daily Bama Blog.

A panoramic view of SEC baseball tournament

What we see from the press box at Regions Park.

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Tide leads SEC opener 6-3 after five

Alabama jumped on Arkansas quickly this morning in the opening game of the SEC baseball tournament. A 5-run first inning chased starting pitcher Russell Fant after 2/3 of an inning.

The Tide then added another in the third to take a 6-0 lead.

Arkansas cut that in half in the fifth with three unearned runs after an error. Tide pitcher Nathan Kilcrease has seven strikeouts through five innings after sitting down the order in the third.

Live updates are found on the Twitter feed on the left.

Live updates from SEC baseball tournament

We’re here for you and ready to provide updates as you work the day away. As we’ve done in the past, the best way to deliver these updates is on the Twitter feed.

Just click here to find the official twitter page of The Daily Bama Blog. You can also reload this page since the live feed is on the left-hand side.

Your printable SEC baseball tournament bracket

Get the office pool fired up tomorrow. It’s SEC tournament time. Here’s the official SEC baseball bracket:

Click to enlarge.

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SEC tournament bracket released

Here’s the schedule of events for Day 1 of the SEC baseball tournament in Hoover

Wednesday, May 25
Game 1 9:30 a.m. #7 Alabama vs. #2 Arkansas [CSS]
Game 2 TBD #6 Mississippi State vs.#3 Florida [CSS]
Game 3 4:30 p.m. #8 Auburn vs. #1 South Carolina [CSS]
Game 4 TBD #5 Georgia vs. #4 Vanderbilt [CSS]

Tide baseball wraps up SEC tourney bid

No matter how the math is done, Alabama has a spot in the SEC baseball tournament on ice. It’s 2-1 win over No. 3 South Carolina assured, at the very least, the Tide was going to Hoover.

The seed and first-round opponent is far from decided, but the ticket is Alabama’s. Don’t ask me to break down the tie-breakers and all that. It’s far too confusing for my tiny brain to comprehend, much less repeat.

There was some intrigue entering today’s three-game series opener with South Carolina. The Gamecocks are, after all, ranked third nationally and the defending national champions.

Nathan Kilcrease pitched a complete-game six-hitter in Tuscaloosa to send Alabama back to Hoover.

Read more in print Friday.

Where the baseball SEC West stands after the weekend

A wild weekend means a mad dash is on this coming weekend for those fighting for spots in the SEC tournament. Alabama’s 7-6 win over Auburn on Sunday creates (apologies to Jackie Treehorn) a logjam atop the West Division.

Alabama 13-14, 31-22 overall
Auburn 13-14, 28-24 overall
Arkansas 13-14, 33-17 overall
Mississippi State 13-14, 32-19 overall

According to my calculations, all four would have a spot in the SEC tournament if it were to start tomorrow. Of course it doesn’t. The top eight league winning percentages make it to Hoover.

Then there’s Ole Miss (12-15) and LSU (10-16) who, according to my figuring, still have a mathematical chance to overtake any of the four divisional leaders.

So where does that leave Alabama? It has a tough assignment in the final weekend series. South Carolina is ranked third in the nation with a 41-11 record including a 20-7 mark in SEC play.

The other assignments for next weekend:

LSU at Mississippi State
Ole Miss at Arkansas
Auburn at Tennessee
Florida at Kentucky
Vanderbilt at Georgia

UK pounds Bama into NCAA waiting room

Trevor Releford watches final moments from bench. (AP photo by John Bazemore)

Salvaging some degree of respectability, Alabama cut a 26-point hole down to a 72-58 final margin in a SEC semifinal loss to Kentucky.

Now, it must wait.

With the NCAA selection show set for Sunday evening, the postseason hopes are up in the air for Alabama (21-11).

Read more tomorrow about what players and coaches said about the tournament possibilities.