Happy Gump Day: ‘Bama Basketball treated us to a March win in November

We have plenty to say on the Arn Bow later, but first we have to bask in the refracted glory of the team that was actually supposed to be a Natty contender this year, and after last night in Vegas, finally looks the part. #BOG

There are going to be a lot of takeaways from the game last night in Vegas, but you simply cannot overstate how important Derrion Reid was down the stretch. Last week, I called for him to get the start after Jarin’s continuing struggles on the wing, particularly on defense (and they were again present last night, but the effort was a bit better). And it seems that Nate Oats realized what everyone else has: Good things just happen with the dynamic freshman on the floor. He keyed a pivotal turnaround that was arguably the play of the game. But that’s not all; Reid drew LJ Cryer down the stretch, and was able to switch to Tugler in the post, as well as play some strong minutes going against Emanuel Sharp — the nation’s best perimeter player, on the country’s best three-point shooting team. The aptly named-Sharp hit just 2-of-6 deep.

So, yes, Reid needs to be starting. We are 20% through the season; that’s more than enough of a sample size. #Reid4Starter.

Key moment

With 24 seconds left in overtime and the Tide leading 84-80, Houston’s Joseph Tugler drove the lane but had his shot blocked by Alabama’s Derrion Reid. Roberts then fouled Reid, who made one of two free throws to extend the lead to five and essentially seal the win.

Reid is going to take his lumps, sure. But you can’t coach hustle or floor smarts.

While Reid had a great game, blossoming star Labaron Philon looked very much like a freshman against all of those physical seniors the Cougars roll out. That’s to be expected. It still wasn’t enough to detract from his overall play the last week, where he was named a CBS FOTW:

Alabama coach Nate Oats has done a fantastic job developing NBA talent since taking over the program in 2019. Oats has produced current NBA players such as Brandon Miller, Noah Clowney, Kira Lewis, Josh Primo, Herb Jones, Keon Ellis, J.D. Davison and more since arriving in Tuscaloosa.

Freshman guard Labaron Philon could be the next player on the radar of NBA teams. While Alabama’s roster features CBS Sports’ preseason Player of the Year Mark Sears, Philon has been arguably Oats’ most impressive player thus far. Philon is Alabama’s leader in assists (5.2) and steals (1.4) per game.

Gutty, gutty win for ‘Bama. And while Sears and Trelly were the familiar faces in the scoring column, it was Little Mo and Reid who made the far greatest impact.

Little Mo didn’t even make it off the floor before they put the Hard Hat on him.

I have seen quite a bit of contrarianism about Grant being in the game, even when he struggles at times. But that seems to be the point — Oats is almost always going to give guys a chance to play their way out of their funk. And it worked for Grant too, who had a double-double, played some tough defense off the dribble, and even finished second in plus-minus.

That was a March win, folks. Two Final Four-calibre teams playing their ass off and not sleeping through a single possession. It was a game that, win or lose, is only going to make Alabama postseason-tough. There’s a reason Nate Oats loves playing Houston. It makes ‘Bama tougher, and he noted the Tide’s toughness has come a long, long way since the defense-optional outing in West Lafayette.

“The Purdue game, we got manhandled a little bit. I didn’t think our physicality was where it needed to be, and we turned the ball over too much. The ball didn’t move. I thought if we’d have brought the intensity we brought tonight to that game, it might have been a little bit different. But that’s we play them. We like to schedule good programs. Purdue is one of the best programs in the country over the last five years or so. And they exposed some stuff we needed to work on, and I think what they exposed, we’ve gotten better at. The ball’s been moving a lot better. Our post D has been a lot better. Our rebounding, our toughness has been better.

“We were better against Illinois. Illinois is a really skilled, great offensive team, and I thought we were solid on defense for a lot of that game and our offense was significantly better than Purdue. Now, we go back to a game against Houston where it’s just gritty, tough, physical, great defensive rebounding team, and we matched their physicality for most of the game.

Yep. Bama out-Houston’d Houston.

No time to sleep, though. ‘Bama has another game today, against up and coming Rutgers. We’ll have a bit of a truncated preview up later.

Let’s just say that the road doesn’t get appreciably easier, as the Scarlet Knights have two lottery players on their bench.

EVERYONE AROUND THE Rutgers program talks about Bailey’s infectious energy, and it’s on full display as he bounces into practice the day before Rutgers is set to host Merrimack, shaking hands with everyone on the coaching staff and singing Kurtis Blow’s 1984 classic, “Basketball.”

“… I like the pick-and-roll, I like the give-and-go …”

While Harper isn’t as spirited as Bailey, he’s not far behind his classmate as what Pikiell calls an “energy giver.” The two freshman stars are aggressive in a 2-on-1 drill. They’re engaged while running the Scarlet Knights’ zone offense. They finish first and second in a post-drill full-court sprint.

They might be projected to be the second and third picks in ESPN’s mock draft, but there’s a clear motivation to leave a legacy at Rutgers before they go pro.

“Me and Ace and the rest of the team, we can do something very big that people haven’t seen in New Jersey in a long time,” Harper said. “We can make this a school [where] people, not just from Jersey but out of Jersey, want to come here and do what we did … changing the culture and just making Rutgers cool, I guess. Why can’t another recruit come and do the same thing we’re doing?”

Good feature here on Rutgers, who took the same sort of mentality did: Why not us?

This is a little nugget that always blows my mind: Bear and GOAT both lost to Auburn their first times out.

Colin Gay: Questions swirl for DeBoer heading into first Iron Bowl. But despite no big-picture motives to play for, Alabama football finds a way to let DeBoer do something Bear Bryant and Nick Saban never did: beat Auburn on his first try.

But Saban and Bryant weren’t alone in their career travails in this series. Bill Curry notoriously posted zeds against the Barn, and lost two of those by double-digits. Ray Perkins saw a good year one derailed by Bo Over The Top. Mike Shula…sigh. Mike gave us Tommy and his damn thumb. Mike Dubose was jobbed out of a win in his first Iron Bowl by an officiating crew that plainly made the wrong call in the back of the end zone — I was at that game, and I’m still pissed about it.

In fact, going back almost 70 years to the start of the modern era, Dennis Franchione is the only Tide coach to beat ‘Barn his first go ‘round, when Alabama kicked the stuffing out of Auburn at Legion Field.

The benighted clowns led by Chief Bozo Warde Emanuel twisted themselves in knots again last night trying to justify why IU is a Top 10 team, why Clemson vaulted three SEC teams, and many more buffoonish pronunciations.

Warde Manuel, one of 13 members of the College Football Playoff Committee, explained the reasoning behind Indiana’s ranking on ESPN’s CFP Rankings Show on Tuesday night.

“We view Indiana, they played well at times against Ohio State, and Ohio State pulled out a victory and really came on in the second half of that game,” Manuel said to host Rece Davis. “But we were impressed with some of the things Indiana did. They dropped five [spots], but we still felt that their body of work was strong enough to remain in the top 10.”

If moral victories are our measuring stick, the one being applied to Indiana and Penn State, then hell, Vandy needs to not only get in but have a bye.

The full indefensible monstrosity is here, and it’s even worse than I’ve intimated. The ACC is in-play for potentially three spots. That’s not a joke.

This is a very interesting interview with Ty Simpson (who so help me god, better be the starter next season), and why he’s glad he failed to attain his goals, and why he plans on winning QB1 next year.

I’m glad that happened. I’m glad I failed,” Simpson said. “I glad I didn’t play to where I wanted to play, so I can be able to grow and understand like, man, that’s water under the bridge. Look where you were then to where you are now.”

Simpson has only attempted 35 passes since that USF game, but feels he has grown and matured during his time as Milroe’s backup.

“I probably wasn’t ready as much as I wanted to be, I guess you could say,” Simpson said of his playing time at USF. “It kind of caught me off guard. I kind of grew from it. I was immature back then. I was more worried about how people saw me, and how the game should — how I wanted to play the game, instead of how I should play the game.

That is already showing a lot of leadership. And, to be honest, he probably should have been called into Norman to finish out the second half after Jalen Milroe didn’t even attempt a tackle on one of his two pick-six throws.

“It’s not fair to other guys like Tyler Booker or Malachi Moore or Deontae Lawson that give their all each and every day for this team for a guy who may not have the biggest role but has a role like myself, and just give up on the team,” Simpson said. “When my number was called — if it was the Ole Miss or after it, when I got the two-point conversion, if I was complaining or upset that I didn’t get to start that game, that may have been a big difference in the game. I look at those guys and I think, man, no matter what my role is, I want to play for people like that.”

I already like him.

I know there’s a lot of time before the 2027 NSD class, but ‘Bama already picked up its first commitment:

Alabama football is putting the finishing touches on its 2025 recruiting class, but in the meantime, it’s adding recruits to the 2027 class.

Alexander Ward, a wide receiver and defensive back from Marietta, Georgia, announced his commitment to the Crimson Tide on Tuesday to On3.

“Really as soon as I stepped into the stadium; just a great atmosphere,” he said for why he picekd . “Just how the coaches accepted me into the brotherhood. How they operate, how they develop their players.”

Ward picked Alabama over Auburn, Georgia, South Carolina and others. Ward said he wants to play on both sides of the ball at Alabama.

Keep an eye on the Carousel, and then the knock-on effects it will have. Most of the major programs with guys on the hot seat are locked in to long term deals with significant buyouts. So that leaves UNC, who did Mack Brown dirty, as the first domino to fall. We’ll see how far down this trickles, but somehow, someway, Alabama almost always loses staff once the silly season begins.

North Carolina may be doing so with less competition than it has ever faced—or may ever face—in the coaching carousel marketplace.

It has been suggested that many hot-seat situations cooled in recent weeks because of the upcoming House ruling and the uncertain financial future of revenue sharing. That may be the case, and if so, North Carolina is taking a calculated risk. If the school had let Brown’s tenure extend into 2025 only to make this same move next season, perhaps more clarity about the financials of college sports would have made schools less hesitant to fire their coaches. If North Carolina entered the marketplace in 2025, it could have been competing with multiple SEC programs for top candidates.

In fact, the hotter job market may come with coordinators. There are already several marquee gigs and choice P5 jobs open for the taking.

Personally, I think Nick Sheridan is ready for a call, Chapel Hill. It will hurt, but I will gladly depart with the Tide’s offensive coordinator.

Speaking of Sheridan, you can’t make this up:

Shouldn’t they watch the games before nominating people?

And, finally, we leave you with this bit of pre-Thanksgiving goodness instead of the usual Wednesday viral funny clip. Why? Because go hug your loved ones and be grateful for what you have, that’s why…after you click a few more links here on RBR.

Gettin’ dusty up in here.

We’ll be back later with some Hoops preview, maybe some Auburn unit previews (if Brent has finished them yet), and some Giving Away Money.

Have a great day, and Roll Tide.