Tide Completes First Full Week of Basketball Practice
10/22/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TUSCALOOSA – After seven days of working toward creating a national contender, Mark Gottfried will give his University of Alabama basketball players a rest this weekend.
The Crimson Tide finished its seventh practice of the 2004-05 season, opening last Saturday morning at 6 a.m. and concluding its first week with a 45 minute scrimmage on Friday afternoon.
"I think the team has done well for it being the first week of practice," said returning starter and junior forward Chuck Davis of Selma who was named 2nd Team All-Southeastern Conference by the league's coaches in a preseason vote Thursday. "The new guys are learning a lot and they're catching on quick. We're throwing a lot at them at one time, and I think they're doing pretty well in taking it all in. We still have a lot of work to do with the guys learning the offense and being able to play with each other and learn each other's game, but I think overall we had a great first week."
In Friday afternoon's scrimmage, Alabama's coaches mixed up the teams, playing three 15-minute segments. Davis had the best afternoon, scoring 32 points for the day, making 11 of 15 field goals (.733%) and a perfect 10 of 10 free throws. He also had a total of 11 rebounds. Junior forward and returning starter Kennedy Winston checked in with 19 points but was 8 of 21 for only .381% from the field. Junior forward Evan Brock had 16 points and was 7 of 17 from the field. And senior starting guard Earnest Shelton had 15 points, making 6 of 14 field goals. Freshman Ron Steele had the most assists for the day with nine.
"We got a lot done this week," said Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried who will give fans a free peek at the 2004-05 version of the Crimson Tide on October 30 at 6 p.m. when Alabama holds its annual Crimson and White intra squad game and fan night. "We had seven practices and we lifted four times so we accomplished a lot. But I don't think we're very good at all. I know people think I'm spinning it, but we've got a ways to go, a long way to go. Our young guys have so much to learn. Outside of the couple of guys who have played, the rest of the players are having to learn a lot and it shows. So we're just going to keep working hard and we'll try to get better every day."
