Losers of the last three games, the Crimson Tide desperately need a victory Saturday night on the road against Georgia. The Bulldogs are in a similar position as Alabama, as they have lost five out of their last six games. Both with losing records in SEC play, a win would possibly kick start their seasons.
Defense has been the issue for Alabama ever since forward Herb Jones went out with a wrist injury sustained against LSU. Allowing an average of 75.5 points in the two games he has missed, the Crimson Tide are going to need to find a way to contain future NBA lottery pick Anthony Edwards.
In the Bulldogs’ loss to Florida on Wednesday, Edwards had 32 points on 58.8% shooting. He was also deadly from behind the arc, making six out of his nine three-point attempts, more than the rest of the Georgia team. Overall on the season, Edwards is averaging 19.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists.
Much like Alabama’s loss to Tennessee, Georgia blew a first-half lead against the Gators. Both teams were up by 15 at one point in the second half and ended up losing.
“It was a tale of two halves,” said Alabama Head Coach Nate Oats about Georgia’s loss.
The key for Saturday’s game will be keeping the pace in both halves. Alabama played well in the first half against Tennessee, but the offense went stale in the second half. Guards John Petty and Kira Lewis are both going to need to have big nights, as they have been struggling the past few games.
The Crimson Tide have proven in previous games that when they shoot the three-ball well, they find a way to win games. When shots are not going through the hoop, they tend to struggle to find any other kind of offense.
Another big part of the offense has been guard James Bolden. Limited in practice this week, Oats say he has “looked good.” Dealing with a stomach problem, he thinks they have it “figured out.”
Only playing 23 minutes Wednesday night against the Volunteers, if Bolden is good to go, he should see a minutes increase. Not only will that help the Alabama offense flow better than it has been the past couple of games, but it will provide a huge boost on the defensive end of the court.
The bigger question of the season for the Crimson Tide looms with Selection Sunday inching closer and closer. As of now, Alabama has not done enough to earn an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. Losing to the Bulldogs would not help their case, nearly sealing the door shut on their chances to make it into the big dance.
Getting back in rhythm will be the theme of Saturday night’s game for both Alabama and Georgia. If Alabama can win, their season will be back on track with the winning ways they performed earlier in the SEC season.
With a big set of games coming up next week with Auburn and LSU, tomorrow night’s game is nearly a must-win in Athens.
The team celebrates with Andrew Beres after a home run against Pitt State (Photo via Liz Goodwin)
Year in and year out, the University of Missouri fields a baseball team to compete at the highest level of collegiate baseball. The team is a member of the Southeastern Conference and has been since 2012. Before the coronavirus shutdown, the Tigers were 11-5 and were about to begin conference play with a road series with Alabama.
What many do not know, is there is another baseball team that represents Missouri, just at a different level. Every year, there is a club level baseball team which is treated the same as any other type of club on campus. While they may just be another club on the surface, their system is more in-depth than most.
Each year, there is a fee to join the team. Money helps pay for travel, hotel, and any other accommodations the team may need throughout the season. After paying the fee, everything else is up to the player. Attendance to each game is the only event(s) that are mandatory, as practices are technically optional but heavily encouraged.
Another big difference is how they are viewed from a university standpoint. The University of Missouri will pump money into the official baseball team each year, providing bats, ball, helmets, and jerseys. The club team has to pay for all of those things themselves as they are not an officially recognized school sport.
While they do represent Missouri, the club team is not allowed to use official logos. The school requires payment from licenses in order to use them. Instead, the team just wears black jerseys that spell “Missouri” in yellow letters across the font.
Past that, the team tries to take their practices, games, and entire season as seriously as the baseball team which competes in the SEC. In a competitive conference with big-name schools such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the Kansas Jayhawks, and the Saint Louis Billikens, if Missouri took their season lightly, their goals would not be achieved each year.
As it has with other sports across the world, the season was cut short due to the coronavirus. The club teams already had started their season and had games on the schedule through the beginning of May. Mix in a team trip to Tampa Bay over Spring Break and possible postseason implications and the virus has shut down a busy season.
Here is how the season was rolling alone, what the rest of their year would have looked like, and what next season will look like for the Missouri club baseball team.
Staring down the pitcher against Pitt State (Photo via @ Mizclubbaseball on Instagram)
How the season was going
Before the shutdown, Missouri was able to play three games against the Pitt State Gorillas, recently off a Division II club baseball national championship.
Described as the favorite to win the conference that season, Pitt State came to Columbia after taking two out of three games from seventh-ranked Iowa the weekend before. According to pitcher Joseph Gilden, Missouri was “heavy underdogs” going into the series and “knew we had a difficult series upcoming.”
The Tigers welcomed the Gorillas into their home park and starting pitcher Andrew Beres said they, “whooped their butts” throughout the three games. The final scores were 8-4, 6-1, and 15-0.
“It was a battle honestly, we thought it would be the toughest series of our season,” said Beres.
“The wins set us up to be the new conference favorites,” said Gilden.
Defeating the reigning national champions not only gave the team motivation, but it gave them hope that they were worthy of not only going on to win a conference championship but possibly a national championship.
Catching a pitch against Pitt State (Photo via @ Mizclubbaseball on Instagram)
“There is no way of telling how the season would have ended, but I have a feeling we would have handily taken down Nebraska and even had a great shot at making it to the NCBA World Series in Holly Springs, North Carolina,” said Gilden.
Before making it there, the rest of their conference was still in their way. Mainly, the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
The two schools were set to meet up in Columbia to end the regular season on May 1-3. The Cornhuskers themselves were also undefeated but had managed to get six total games in. They had three wins against Louisville, Mississippi State, and UCF, while sweeping Kansas to open their conference season.
“If we played on par with how we played in our first three games, I don’t think there would have been any excuse for us to lose,” said pitcher Joe Rossetti.
Missouri still had more than Nebraska on their schedule however, with other conference opponents to play as well. Road series against Kansas, Saint Louis, and Truman State were to come become before the Nebraska series, giving the Tigers another good amount of tests before their heavyweight series.
Beres said there was a “lot of hope and promise for what our season could have been.” “It’s a shame that it happened this year but I am just glad it was not my senior year.”
“This was my fourth year on the team, and I can honestly say that we have never had the depth and strength in the pitching rotation that we had this year,” said Rossetti. This season we had 4 pitchers who were capable of earning a starting role. We had 2-3 arms who could serve as middle relievers and eat up innings, and we had guys who could come in and close.”
“This was the most talented and dedicated team that I have ever seen on Mizzou Club Baseball,” said Gilden. “I wish it had turned out a different way but I am happy we got to play those games against Pitt State.”
With the season canceled, all they can do now is move on to next season, hoping to improve as much as they possibly can.
How are they preparing for next season
Beres is one of six returning juniors next season, as four seniors will be graduating from school this semester. While they expect to go through a normal process of the offseason, it could be rather different thanks to COVID-19.
“At the moment we are not doing too much to prepare for next season,” said Beres.
The usual process of selecting a new executive board is underway, with the president, vice president, and treasurer all graduating this semester. Each will be replaced by new upperclassmen, ones that have been with the team since their freshman year.
The unusual of their offseason will be getting players refunded for the past season. Since the team did not have to travel anywhere, players should be able to get most of their money back.
Our first order of business was to figure out how the guys would be refunded for the season, which we should be refunded almost fully since most of that goes towards away trips,” said Beres.
As for what the team will look like next season, Beres expects the same level of competitiveness and expectations to carry over into next season.
“With the core of the team coming back and us not having too many seniors leaving, I have similar expectations for next season.”
The coronavirus may have ruined Missouri’s chances of not only a conference championship but a national championship this season, but next season, the Tigers will be ready to run it back for the 2020-2021 season. As for now, all they can do is let the virus pass and hope they get their opportunity.
The calendar has finally turned to March and unsurprising to many, the Alabama Crimson Tide Men’s Basketball team is once again on the edge of making the NCAA Tournament. Most of the time looking from the outside in, the Crimson Tide find themselves in a similar position: needing to find a way to pick up victories that will propel their squad into the big dance.
Coming off a critical four-game stretch where they went a disappointing 2-2, Alabama wrapped up the final games of February with a win against South Carolina.
“I told our guys this was a game that would reveal a lot about our character,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said.
That character will now be judged for the final couple weeks of the season and be determined if it is good enough to make the NCAA Tournament. Off the court, the effort from an injury-riddled Alabama team has been one of the best in the country. On the court, games have been disappointing and left you scratching your head and wondering as to what is going on.
With two games remaining against the Vanderbilt Commodores and the Missouri Tigers, the Crimson Tide are still not worthy of making the NCAA Tournament this season.
Yet.
Positives About Alabama’s Resume
Alabama’s two biggest wins of the season have both come from SEC play and both at Coleman Coliseum. The Auburn Tigers and the LSU Tigers came to Tuscaloosa ranked fourth and 25th at the time respectively and the Crimson Tide were able to take care of business against them both. As of ESPN’s Bracketology on February 28, those two games are the two wins Alabama has against tournament teams from the SEC.
Herbert Jones and Alex Reese celebrate in the Alabama student section after defeating fourth-ranked Auburn at home (Photograph from Imagn.com)
Looking past those two wins, there is not much that stands out as eye-popping victories. A win against the Richmond Spiders out of the Atlantic 10 is a nice one, but Chris Mooney’s squad is not projected to make the field, currently listed as ‘First Four Out’.
What is keeping Alabama afloat is their current ranking in the NET. Ranked 40th in the country according to the metric, theoretically, the Crimson Tide are one of the best 68 teams in the country. However, factor in smaller conferences and teams from other power conferences, and it is not good enough.
Negatives About Alabama’s Resume
Usually, when you are looking at a team’s NCAA Tournament resume, the non-conference schedule is where teams make serious noise. Whether the noise is positive or negative, team’s schedule before their conference season begins determines if they are fit to make the NCAA Tournament.
In the case of Alabama, their non-conference games really hurt them, as there are not enough quality wins to put them over the edge of other bubble teams.
It all began in the first game of the season at home against the Penn Quakers. Even though star player Herb Jones left the game in the second half with an injury, the Quakers are the worst loss of the season for the Crimson Tide. Currently 14-11 overall, Penn is nowhere near an NCAA Tournament team, barring the Ivy League Tournament. Ranked No. 145 in the NET, a quadrant three loss at home can ruin a team’s season.
The Crimson Tide’s non-conference tournament this season was the Battle of Atlantis, where they faced the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Iowa State Cyclones, and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. Going 1-2 in those three games, Alabama was only able to beat Southern Miss, picking up two losses against a North Carolina team currently dead last in the ACC and an Iowa State team second to last in the Big 12. Not seen as bad losses at the time have turned out to be catastrophic losses for Nate Oats’ team.
Head Coach Nate Oats and Forward Alex Reese on the sideline during the Battle for Atlantis matchup against Southern Miss. (Photograph from Imagn.com)
Going on the road to Happy Valley was the toughest test of the season for the non-conference and Alabama lost to the Penn State Ninty Lions after leading by as much as nine in the second half. The only other road non-conference game against an NCAA Tournament team was the Rhode Island Rams, where they embarrassed the Crimson Tide, 93-79.
Other Bubble Team’s Resume
As of the ESPN Bracketology posted on Feb 28, the ‘Last Four In’ teams are the Oklahoma Sooners, the Providence Friars, the University of Southern California Trojans, and the North Carolina State Wolfpack.
When looking at their resume’s compared to Alabama’s, it is fairly obvious why they are projected in the field and not the Crimson Tide.
Even though USC is the only of those four teams currently ranked ahead of Alabama in the NET rankings, what all three teams have that the Crimson Tide do not are quality wins away from home.
For USC it was a neutral site victories against LSU and on the road to the TCU Horned Frogs. Those two games are against solid teams from major conferences, good enough to push them into the NCAA Tournament.
The Wolfpack defeated reigning national champions, the Virginia Cavaliers, on the road. Only three teams have managed to do that this season, being one of the hardest places to play in the country.
Oklahoma defeated the Minnesota Gophers, the Oregon State Beavers, and the Missouri Tigers away from home to strengthen their resume. Despite those teams being from major conferences, the most impressive win road win for the Sooners has to be in Denton, TX against the North Texas Mean Green. Winning the Conference USA regular-season title, any win against a conference champion is a good one.
Finally, Providence was not considered to be a tournament team at the beginning of February, but have rattled off an impressive month in the Big East. Going 6-2 throughout the month, five of those wins were against ranked opponents. Widely considered the second-best conference in all of college basketball, the Friars are one of the hottest teams in the country.
Should Alabama Get In?
After the momentous win against LSU on Feb 15, Head Coach Nate Oats said: “I think we do (have a tournament team), to be honest with you.”
To some extent, Oats is right. Alabama is one of the scariest teams in the country with their lightning pace offense and their ability to drop 90 points on any given night.
However, when looking at the overall body of work, the Crimson Tide still have some work to do before being worthy of a postseason bid.
The Crimson Tide have the chance to pick up wins beginning in the final week of the regular season at home to Vanderbilt and on the road to Missouri. Both are seen as must-win games, especially Tuesday’s game against the Commodores. Another quadrant three loss would end the Crimson Tide’s season unless they were to win the SEC tournament.
Assuming a 2-0 record from those two games, a win or two in Nashville in the conference tournament will more than likely be needed. If the SEC season ended today and the standings remained the same, Alabama would be slated to play against Arkansas in the first round of the SEC Tournament. After that, it would be a quarterfinal matchup against in-state rival Auburn for a rubber match.
At the moment, Nate Oats and his team will be arguing as to why they are capable of competing in this season’s edition of March Madness.
If they are able to get three or four wins to end the season, the Crimson Tide will be worthy of playing in the NCAA Tournament.
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