Releford and Steele return

A glass half full or empty...


Will two of the four be enough for the Tide?




Can Cooper do it again? Which player will step up to make a difference for the Tide tonight? 

    Regardless of the viewpoint you take it won't be enough unless the team has the best offensive game of the year in my opinion. Releford and Steele will give the Tide some leadership an stability. I thought this was going to be a TV night for me. Well, I caught a break and my trial was continued. They had nothing on me anyway. This means BASKETBALL and a trip to Tuscaloosa. No better feeling than pulling up to Coleman Coliseum or Bryant-Denny on game day. ‘Bama is now a 6 1/2 point dog. That is a  number that is warranted, but I think ‘Bama might pull off the near impossible...


     Florida is a good team. They are probably the second best team in the SEC but they are living proof that a team that lives by  3 point shots, will die by them as well. If you watched Tennessee dismantle the Florida last weekend you understand what I mean. Florida gave a whole new definition to the term soft. Billy Donovan will have worked his team on collision type in the paint drills getting ready for ‘Bama. Donovan and  Grant are best friends as well as colleagues. They probably can anticipate what the other has planned. Florida now knows that going inside is the ticket for success against the Tide. That goes against the character of his team. They will give it their best shot thought. The three remaining big men, plus Levi Randolph better be prepared for a hard night.

     Whatever Donavan has ready for us on offense, I wonder what he will be offering up on defense. One things is for certain - he has one game to judge what the Tide may do, and now Releford and Steele are back. He has no fixed game plan on defense except to zone the Tide. If Alabama ever had a game where shooting lights out from downtown let it be this game. I don’t think that Releford and Steele will start but they’ll play shortly. One thing that helps the Tide is they defend the three point shot well. Florida has the most sophisticated sets I’ve ever seen to shoot the 3. They have about 8 players who can drill ‘em. The top two off the Gator bench may not play. Alabama will have a short bench again. Gueye and Engstrom need some really quality minutes to rest Jacobs. At LSU no one knew who Rodney Cooper really was and what he could do. Tonight everyone on the Florida team knows about him and have heard the 21 a thousand times. 

     So if you are ‘Bama you hope for a lights out night, and hope that Florida shoots as bad as they did against Tennessee. All of us (a.k.a - the crowd) needs to bring our A game tonight. I think we can win this game. It is possible. Will it happen? Probably not,but you see some strange things happen in Sports. Do you believe in miracles?