Happy Thursday, everyone. Alabama men’s basketball destroyed Mississippi State last night with a three-point onslaught. The Tide shot 44% from deep and made a whopping 22 shots from behind the arc despite missing star point guard Labaron Philon. Nate Oats seemed to have a message for Philon after the game.
“We looked pretty good without him (Philon),” Oats said. “The ball moved really well.”
Twenty-three assists marked the most that Alabama has had in SEC play, just six shy of a season-high 29.
Five
of those dishes came from Latrell Wrightsell Jr., who opened the season still recovering from an Achilles tendon that he ruptured last season before suffering from a handful of other minor injuries up until just a couple weeks ago. He also had 18 points, highlighted by four treys.
Labaron has carried the offense at times this season, but does tend to be a black hole on occasion. Hopefully watching last night’s game will benefit him and the rest of the team going forward.
The women play tonight at 5th-ranked Vanderbilt. Alabama is easily locked in to the NCAA Tournament, but has two chances to notch a top 5 win to close the season and improve seeding. The game tips off at 6:30pm CT and will be available streaming on SECN+.
The NFL Combine kicks off today. Deontae Lawson is there, and was asked about up and comers on the Alabama defense he left behind.
“QB Reese,” Lawson told reporters at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, where the former Tide captain looking to improve his draft stock. “Honestly I’d just say QB, because just watching him develop from a freshman to a sophomore, man. He wasn’t even traveling to the games but he’s showing up to every meeting and just being present, no matter what the situation was.
“His role couldn’t grow that much last year, but he still took advantage, man, and I’m definitely excited for him and for the rest of the inside backers.”
Reese will get a chance to seize a role as the quarterback of the defense this season.
Colin Gay examines the rebuilt defensive line.
Alabama lost all three starters on its defensive line in 2025.
The Crimson Tide has answers, an amalgamation of rotation pieces from the interior of last season like Simmons, Edric Hill and the now-healthy Jeremiah Beaman, and transfer portal pieces like Umeozulu, Thompkins, Terrance Green and Kedrick Bingley-Jones.
But depth is minimal, especially on the outside at a bandit defensive end position that lacked production even with Overton in his final season. A combination of two portal pieces each of whom head into the final season of collegiate eligibility is hardly a long-term answer for a position of need.
Michael Casagrande notes the playoff committee’s role in the demise of high profile regular season matchups.
Alabama already nixed its home-and-home with West Virginia after the SEC announced the move to nine conference games. Instead of going to Morgantown this fall, Alabama gets to play East Carolina at home.
Sad.
The College Football Playoff selection committee hasn’t helped this effort to bring fun/unique games to our calendars. They’ve offered little incentive for building a challenging schedule, so why should schools risk it?
One draft analyst is impressed with Ty Simpson’s tape.
“I went back through this morning and was watching more on him, and looked at all of his 3rd-and-7 throws that he made,” Jeremiah said. “And it was not an Alabama supporting cast that you’re accustomed to seeing. I mean, there is a lot of pressure on him. There’s not a lot of guys uncovering down the field, so you can excuse away maybe some of the drop-off in performance late.
“You can’t run away from the fact that the limited number of starts, the track record there has not been good. But you can find really good tape on him. So there’s an intrigue with him.”
The NCAA is preemptively trying to dissuade teams from pursuing free agents this summer, when there is no portal window.
Miami safety Xavier Lucas infamously exposed the portal as meaningless last year when he defected from Wisconsin to Miami by simply disenrolling and then enrolling in Coral Gables. There will undoubtedly be lawsuits around this issue over the summer.
Last, speaking of lawsuits, Cincinnati is suing Brendan Sorsby for breach.
In the complaint, Cincinnati’s attorneys said the quarterback’s representative “advised that Sorsby refuses to pay the University anything.”
Sorsby reportedly signed an NIL agreement with the Red Raiders that will pay him between $4 million and $6 million this season.
“In his lucrative NIL agreement with Cincinnati Athletics, Brendan Sorsby committed to stay and play for two seasons as a proud Bearcat representative,” the university said in a statement Wednesday. “He also agreed that if he left the university before that time, he would pay the university a specific amount for the substantial harm that his breach would cause.
“Cincinnati Athletics intends to enforce that contractual commitment. As stewards of the university’s resources, the Athletics Department has a duty to do so. We thank Brendan for his time at Cincinnati and wish him success in the future.”
This is becoming a trend. NIL agreements are the best possible deterrent to unfettered free agency.
That’s about it for now. Have a great day.
Roll Tide.
