Alabama Crimson Tide Basketball

After firing Anthony Grant this offseason, Alabama was forced to find a new head coach to lead the basketball team. Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall had been rumored to be the top candidate for the job, but decided to stay with the Shockers after agreeing to a new contract. Another rumored candidate, Richard Pitino, also spurned the Crimson Tide to remain at Minnesota.

On Monday, Alabama announced they had agreed to terms with Avery Johnson. 

Continue for updates.

Alabama Announces Signing of Johnson

Monday, April 6

Just as the national championship game was tipping off, Alabama officially introduced Johnson as its next head coach:

Michael Casagrande of AL.com reported the deal is worth "six years and close to $18 million."

Marshall to Stay at Wichita State, Pitino Remaining at Minnesota

Friday, April 3

Alabama is looking to make a major splash in its coaching search, and it had pegged Marshall as its primary candidate.

However, Bleacher Report's Jason King first reported late Wednesday that Marshall will be staying at Wichita State. He added:

'Bama Athletic Director Bill Battle released a statement acknowledging Marshall was staying in the Midwest: 

Matt Norlander of CBS Sports reported the financials of the deal: "Clarifying Marshall's contract terms: first year will be for $3 million, deal is rollover. The 7-year terms will come to $3.3 million/year."

Paul Suellentrop of Kansas.com reported Alabama's offer to Marshall was much higher: "Sources at Wichita State and close to the program say the offer is $4.2 million, perhaps as high as $4.9, for six years."

So where could Alabama turn to next? ESPN's Andy Katz speculates on a few candidates the school may go after: 

However, on April 3, Scout.com's Evan Daniels reported that Pitino will remain at Minnesota. Pitino released a statement, via Minnesota's twitter feed, saying:

Alabama has appeared in the tournament just once since 2006. While the program regularly had strong teams in the 1980s and '90s and reached the Elite Eight in 2004, the Crimson Tide aren't considered one of the elite basketball programs in the SEC.

Alabama went 6-11 in its final 17 games, which ultimately cost it a chance at the 2015 NCAA tournament. The school responded by firing coach Anthony Grant.      

Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News reported Sunday that the Crimson Tide fired Grant after his sixth season with the team. Alabama finished 18-14 on the season and 8-10 during SEC play. 

Sports producer B.J. Millican passed along the full statement on the firing from Alabama:

Alabama announced that John Brannen will serve at the team's interim head coach.

Grant coached at VCU for three seasons before joining Alabama and never really established a consistent winner in the SEC. While football will always be king at Alabama, the athletic department was looking for more wins on the hardwood given this quote, via Jeff Borzello of ESPN:

Former player Andrew Steele reacted to the news:

Grant’s 2011-12 Alabama squad cracked the Associated Press Top 25, and he won more than 20 games three seasons in a row from 2010-13. However, the Crimson Tide were a disappointing 13-19 last season and crumbled down the stretch this season when they had a chance at the Big Dance.

It ultimately cost Grant his job. The team will now look to turn the page and move forward in hopes of more success.

Grant's future, meanwhile, remains to be seen.

On Friday night Villanova and Alabama will square off in the 2K Sports Classic championship game. Both teams enter into the matchup with 3-0 records, and both will be looking for a big win to help boost their non-conference resumes.

Each team narrowly escaped in the semifinals, with Alabama defeating Oregon State 65-62 and Villanova defeating Purdue in overtime 89-81.

Now we are left with what should be a very good game between two teams who could very likely be in the picture when March comes around, and this game will be huge in deciding if they are in or out.

Here is a preview of each team, five players to watch, and of course a prediction for the game.

Villanova Breakdown

The Wildcats are looking to bounce back from a season that saw them go 5-13 in the Big East and 13-19 overall.

It was the worst year under head coach Jay Wright's 11 year tenure, and broke a seven year streak in which the Wildcats had gone to the NCAA Tournament.

The Wildcats do have some hope on the horizon though. Freshman Ryan Arcidiacono has been a great contributor to the team so far.

The guard leads the Wildcats in scoring currently with 18 points per game. The Wildcats will also need scoring help from JayVaughn Pinkston, James Bell and Darrun Hilliard.

All three of these players scored in double figures in the semifinal win over Purdue.

Villanova is hoping that a win against the Crimson Tide on Friday night, can boost their non-conference resume, and help them continue to build momentum heading into Big East play in January.

Alabama Breakdown

The Crimson Tide returned to the NCAA Tournament last year, but quickly saw their run end in their opening game, which they lost to Creighton 58-57.

The Tide finished the season with a 21-12 mark, and believe that they could improve on that this year.

Many people are nearly ready to put the Tide up their with Kentucky, Missouri, and Florida as contenders in the SEC, but it might take another year before they are entirely ready to contend for a conference championship.

Alabama's offensive attack is led by guards Trevor Lacey and Trevor Releford. Lacey a sophomore and Releford a junior, have helped build a young Alabama attack that could be potent over the next few seasons.

The Crimson Tide have only one senior on their roster, guard Andrew Steele, so this could indeed be a team to be reckoned with in the future.

Alabama is hoping that a win over the Wildcats would help justify that they are indeed ready to compete with the powers of the SEC.

We will not know for sure if they are ready though, until they travel to Missouri for their SEC opener on Jan. 8.

Five Players to Watch

Ryan Arcidiacono- The Wildcats freshman guard is the team's leading scorer, but his shooting percentage is nothing to be proud of.

He is shooting 37 percent from the floor and went 3-14 shooting in the game against Purdue on Thursday night.

The freshman is going to have to get his shooting percentage up and be more efficient if he wants to become a true threat for the Wildcats.

Darrun Hilliard- The Wildcats sophomore guard led the scoring attack for Villanova on Thursday night against Purdue by scoring 22 points.

Unlike Arcidiacono though, Hilliard was very efficient from the floor. He went 7-10 shooting and made 2-3 three pointers in the game.

Trevor Lacey- Alabama's sophomore guard has proved he can be the leader of the offense, scoring 20 points are more in each of the last two games.

The Crimson Tide will once again need a strong game from Lacey if they are to win against Villanova.

Rodney Cooper- The Alabama guard hit the game winning three against Oregon State to help Alabama win their semifinal game. They will once again need his production against Villanova.

Moussa Gueye- Alabama ranks 316th in the NCAA in rebounds per game. Sure, it is very early in the season, but so far the Tide have really struggled rebounding the basketball.

They need to pull down more boards and not allow the other team to get lots of second chance opportunities. At seven feet tall, much of the rebounding responsibilities will fall on the shoulders of Gueye.

Prediction

There simply is just too much scoring on the Crimson Tide side. Their guards are extremely talented and they scoring at much more efficient rate then the guards for Villanova do.

Regardless of this, it should be a very entertaining basketball game.

Alabama wins 69-64

Almost a full month after the soft deadline to sign letters of intent, five-star recruit Devonta Pollard has made his college decision. He will be playing basketball for the Alabama Crimson Tide, according to Don Kausler Jr, of The Birmingham News.

 

McDonald's All-American Devonta Pollard announces that he will play college basketball at Alabama.

— Don Kausler Jr. (@Tide_Source) June 1, 2012

 

Pollard made the announcement early Friday evening in a press conference at his high school gym. Pollard had three hats and two shirts laid out in front of him: Georgetown, Missouri, LSU, Texas and Alabama, but ultimately Mississippi’s Mr. Basketball decided that Alabama was the right fit for him.

Pollard is the No. 28 ranked player in the class of 2012 and the seventh ranked small forward. Pollard is an explosive athlete and attacks the rim with ease, using his length and incredible hops. At 6’7, 200 pounds Pollard has prototypical small forward size, and has room to grow on his frame that would allow him to add more muscle.

Despite his height, Pollard is also an above-average ball handler and excels in transition where his size, speed and ability to handle the rock allow him to attack the basket on the fast break.

Pollard does have some room to improve in his outside game. His mid-range shooting is good, but could still use some polish there, and his touch from three could really use some work.

In spite of that, the addition of Pollard makes a terrible Alabama recruiting class great—as it had no previous commitments from the class of 2012. Pollard will join an already young and upcoming group in Tuscaloosa, and he will look to help push the team further in the tournament than their first-round exit in 2012.

Alabama has an excellent chance of doing so with Pollard, and could conceivably challenge Kentucky for the SEC crown if the young team gels quickly.

Devonta Pollard College Announcement Details:

When: Friday, June 1st, 5:00pm CT

Where: Porterville High School (Kemper County, Mississippi)

Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/davetelep

Background

Few recruits can hold the attention of coaches beyond signing day. Attention has not been a problem for Devonta Pollard, a 6'7", 190 pound forward out of Porterville High School in Mississippi. As a Rivals 5-star recruit, he is rated as the 22nd best player in the country. Similarly, ESPN considers Pollard to be the highest ranked recruit out Mississippi in the Class of 2012 and the seventh best small forward in the nation. The McDonald's All-American recently wrapped up a phenomenal senior season in which he averaged 23.8 points per game and 15.7 rebounds per game.

Currently, Alabama, Georgetown, Missouri, and Texas are jockeying for his services. Fortunately for fans, Pollard will name his announcement this Friday.

Prediction: Alabama

Following Devonta Pollard's final official visit (which was to Georgetown), many had assumed that Pollard would settle down in Washington, D.C. That was until Robert Kirby, who recruited the Porterville High star to G-Town, resigned his position on John Thompson III's staff to join LSU. Similarly, most experts count Missouri out due to the fact that the Tigers have exhausted their available scholarships by accepting transfers. Though Texas has a proven history of developing forwards (see Kevin Durant), Anthony Grant and Alabama offer Pollard an opportunity to star at a rising program close to his home state of Mississippi. 

Here with just minutes to tip-off, Alabama has announced its starting lineup for tonight's game against Mississippi State and it does not include the recently reinstated senior forward JaMychal Green. 

Instead of giving the Green the start, Alabama elected to go with Moussa Gueye in the big man department, along with freshman guard Levi Randolph, freshman guard Rodney Cooper, redshirt junior guard Andrew Steele and freshman guard Trevor Lacey.

Lacey is quite the surprise in the starting lineup because he was described as doubtful just one day before the game. Green will likely get sizable minutes tonight despite not getting the start, thanks to some depth issues in the frontcourt. Sophomore center is still developing his game and freshman forward Nick Jacobs may not be at 100 percent yet after getting a mouth infection from a blow in practice.

Mississippi State has the opportunity to exploit the absence of Green in the starting lineup with big men Renardo Sidney and Arnett Moultrie, two of the best in the Southeastern Conference. Mississippi State's Dee Bost is also a great penetrating guard and could get more opportunities at the basket without Green plugging the lane.

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For more Alabama coverage from Brett, follow his in-depth Alabama athletics blog at brettatbama.wordpress.com. His newspaper work is displayed at cw.ua.edu. Up-to-the-second breaking news can be found on his Twitter account, @Brett_Hudson.

We live in a celebrity-based society.

Everyone wants their proverbial 15 minutes, and when we get them we want to drag them out as long as possible. From reality TV to Hulk Hogan endorsing everything that will shell out a check payable to cash, we have a love of the spotlight.

I think, however, in the world of sports fandom we may have to say that we are in the midst of the creepiest 15 minutes ever. Jack Blankenship, an Alabama Crimson Tide fan, has taken the world of sports by storm with his "contorted big-face" poster of himself.

It started innocently enough at a few Crimson Tide games; a few freaked out free-throw shooters. Good times.

Now the Alabama freshman has taken his show on the road.

Blankenship and his "freaky face" have shown up in the stands of a New York Knicks games. Jeremy Lin and company may have been excited to see the "Photo Bomb Guy" show up at a game, but don't expect Broadway to soon embrace the man who curiously looks a bit like Mr. Bean's deformed offspring.  

We have to wonder how far this can go? Will there be spin-offs? "Photo Bomb Girl" or contorted faces of Fluffy the cat and Pongo the dog?

Maybe even a sitcom involving Charlie Sheen, as a sports agent who sends "Photo Bomb Guy" to events that his clients are playing in, called "Winning." We do seem to have a tendency to beat a current trend to death. 

All of the attempted humor aside, I like this guy.

He is using his own twist on the big-head fad to make his mark. Blankenship has found a way not only to, in some small way, help his team win, but has also found a way, with his deeply disturbing rubber face, to win our hearts. 

Kudos, "Photo Bomb Guy." May your scary face one day adorn a t-shirt with the slogan "Fear This."

Sophomore point guard Trevor Releford, senior forward JaMychal Green and redshirt junior guard Andrew Steele, all starters, have been suspended from Alabama's basketball team for violating team rules. The three were sent home from Baton Rouge and joined junior forward Tony Mitchell, who is also suspended for conduct detrimental to the team.

"We are extremely disappointed in the choices and decisions made by these young men that has led to this suspension,” head coach Anthony Grant said in statement. “Talent is a gift, but character is a choice. The consequences of their choices have negatively impacted them as individuals and the people that love and support them. Our hope is that they will be mature enough to accept responsibility for their actions and place a higher value on their character."

The combo of Releford, Green, Steele and Mitchell account for 59.8 percent of Alabama's scoring. With the new suspensions, Alabama loses its team leader in assists, steals, minutes played and the conference leader in free-throw percentage (Releford); the team leader in offensive rebounds and free throw attempts, as well as the only senior (Green); and the  second-best free throw shooter as well as the player with the most knowledge of the system, after being an assistant coach during his battle with concussions and ankle injuries (Steele).

Alabama will take the court tonight with only two players averaging over 20 minutes per game: freshmen guards Levi Randolph and Trevor Lacey. None of the remaining players in Baton Rouge average double-digit points or have more than four rebounds per game.

After tonight's game against LSU, Alabama has to return home for the toughest home stretch of the season, playing Florida on Feb. 14 and Tennessee on Feb 20. Since all four suspensions are indefinite with no set timetable for a return, it is unclear if any of the players will be back for either game.

For more Alabama athletics coverage from Brett, look at the following mediums:

brettatbama.wordpress.com, Brett's in-depth blog on all things Alabama athletics, and cw.ua.edu, the website of the newspaper Brett writes for.