Bama Basketball

Yesterday the boys and I drove to Tuscaloosa to attend the Alabama versus Georgia basketball game. We got there in time for the boys to get the Jermareo Davidson growth chart that they were giving out free to the first 1,00o in attendence.

The game started off as bad as I've ever seen Alabama start in a basketball game. We were down 15-0 and after four minutes we were losing 18-2. I remember commenting to the boys that if Georgia kept up that pace they would beat us 180-20. Fortunately for us and 15,000 other Tide fans in attendance, that did not happen.

Things got worse before they got better, though. Alabama fell behind by 19 points later in the first half. It seemed like the 16 game home winning streak was over. The boys never lost faith though.

The main problem was defense. Alabama's shots finally began to fall later in the first half, but the defensive intensity just wasn't there. I made comments that there is no way to catch up without doing it defensively first.

Georgia was up 50-35 at the half. We just couldn't make a sustained run because of the poor defensive play.

At halftime a group of kids called (I think) the Hoover Dribblers kept us entertained. At that point I thought that might be the best part of the game for Alabama fans. I was wrong.

Down by 15 at the half, we still didn't make much of a run throughout most of the second half. We were still down by 11 points with four minutes remaining in the game.

(I must give some credit to David here. Late in the game he commented that it would be so cool if Alabama was losing or tied and scored the winning basket at the buzzer. Little did I know...)

Things began to change rapidly at that point. The team magicaly found an intensity level that could have helped them defeat any team in the country. The fans were also intense and loud as Alabama went on a 16-3 run to close the game.

Steele tied the game at 76 on a three pointer with 54 seconds to go. On Georgia's next posession, one of the officials blew a whistle against Georgia for a 35 second shot clock violation. After the play the referees debated amongst themselves whether Georgia truly violated the 35 second shot clock. The whole issue boiled down to whether the shot hit the rim or not.

It was finally decided that the whistle was blown in error because the ball did in fact hit the rim before the shot clock expired. It was explained after the game that at the time the whistle was blown the ball became "dead".

Since neither team had posession of the ball, Alabama gained posession because the alternating posession arrow pointed to them as Georgia had posession the last time Alabama forced a tie up.

That gave the ball to Alabama just seconds left to play. All-American guard Ronald Steele was closely guarded by the Georgia defender and was not able get an open shot. At the very last second he pivoted around the defender and took an off-balance shot that fell in literally at the buzzer to give Alabama its 17th consecutive home victory.

The crowd went wild. The boys and I were jumping around screaming and giving out high fives. David asked me on the way home if that was the most exciting basketball game I had ever seen in person. Well, I'm getting older and have probably forgotten way more than I remember, but that had to be at least the most exciting last minute I have seen. It would be very hard to top that last minute!

Roll Tide!

Tide Steele’s a Victory, Cecil Hurt, Tuscaloosa News

CECIL HURT: In the final minutes, we saw the real Steele Tuscaloosa News

Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMtiM89irpI

http://memphistider.blogspot.com/2007/01/steeles-buzzer-beater.html

Photo from the Tuscaloosa News of Steele preparing for the game winning shot: