I've been contributing to this Rivals site for over 10 years now, and I can't tell you how many times I wished I could type that threat title and never thought I'd be able to... WOW.
I've covered some bad basketball teams in that 10 years and some elite ones, but never would I have guessed this would have been the team to put Alabama over the hump. I've taken a lot of flack defending this team and how Nate Oats has coached them, but this has been the best "team" he has had. Not the most talented, not the best defensive (by a long shot), but you can tell these guys genuinely love each other and love seeing each other succeed. Just speechless.
This game was an insanely fun game to watch. The first 10-12 minuets was all Clemson, jumping out to a 26-13 lead 12 minutes in. Then Alabama goes on a 22-4 run led by Jarin Stevenson scoring 12 at half. I mentioned before the game that Clemson's 3 point defense is not that great and got lucky in the tournament. Law of averages always win. Alabama started off slow, but hit 16 threes in the game to build up to a 9 point lead with 4 minutes left. Mark Sears and Nick Pringle were TERRIFIC in the 2nd half. Sears finished with 23 on 7/14 from 3 and Pringle finished with a 16/11 double double. The clutch FT's late in the game were huge to keep the lead out of reach. Jarin Stevenson finished with 19 on 5-8 from 3 and he was the catalyst that kept it close while other guys heated up.
Now, lets talk about the defense. The defense held Clemson to 33 points in the first half, which was HUGE since Alabama could not hit anything. You knew it would ramp up offensively in the second half, but the defense I thought was tremendous tonight. PJ Hall was held in check the whole second half and ended up fouling out in a crucial time of the game.
This for Bama fans of all ages. You can finally say you witnessed Alabama make the Final Four...
I've covered some bad basketball teams in that 10 years and some elite ones, but never would I have guessed this would have been the team to put Alabama over the hump. I've taken a lot of flack defending this team and how Nate Oats has coached them, but this has been the best "team" he has had. Not the most talented, not the best defensive (by a long shot), but you can tell these guys genuinely love each other and love seeing each other succeed. Just speechless.
This game was an insanely fun game to watch. The first 10-12 minuets was all Clemson, jumping out to a 26-13 lead 12 minutes in. Then Alabama goes on a 22-4 run led by Jarin Stevenson scoring 12 at half. I mentioned before the game that Clemson's 3 point defense is not that great and got lucky in the tournament. Law of averages always win. Alabama started off slow, but hit 16 threes in the game to build up to a 9 point lead with 4 minutes left. Mark Sears and Nick Pringle were TERRIFIC in the 2nd half. Sears finished with 23 on 7/14 from 3 and Pringle finished with a 16/11 double double. The clutch FT's late in the game were huge to keep the lead out of reach. Jarin Stevenson finished with 19 on 5-8 from 3 and he was the catalyst that kept it close while other guys heated up.
Now, lets talk about the defense. The defense held Clemson to 33 points in the first half, which was HUGE since Alabama could not hit anything. You knew it would ramp up offensively in the second half, but the defense I thought was tremendous tonight. PJ Hall was held in check the whole second half and ended up fouling out in a crucial time of the game.
This for Bama fans of all ages. You can finally say you witnessed Alabama make the Final Four...
