Tide Opens Basketball Season Against Western Carolina
11/18/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TUSCALOOSA – The No. 18 ranked Crimson Tide men's basketball team officially opens its season on Friday, November 19 at 5:30 p.m. when it hosts Western Carolina in Coleman Coliseum.
Alabama returns to play in quick succession after that game, playing host to former LSU star and 2001 Tide assistant coach Johnny Jones and North Texas on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Then it's on to Anchorage, Alaska where Alabama opens its play in the Great Alaska Shootout, one of the nation's premier tournaments, against Alaska-Anchorage on Wednesday, November 24 at 10:30 p.m. CT. That game will be televised on ESPN2. Alabama will play the winner/loser of a match up between Minnesota and Furman on Friday, November 26th at 8:30 p.m. CT if it's in the winner's bracket or at 3 p.m. CT if it is in the consolation bracket. Neither of those second round games will be televised. The championship final is Saturday at 9 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN. The final two teams in the consolation bracket play at 3 p.m. CT on Saturday. That game is not televised.
The field in Alaska includes Alabama, Washington, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Utah, Alaska-Anchorage, Furman and High Point.
"We're ready to get started," said Tide senior starting guard Earnest Shelton. "We've been anticipating this and we're just ready to finally get out on the court and play and use what we've been working hard on this whole preseason."
Forward Kennedy Winston begins his junior season as an official candidate for college basketball's biggest awards, the Naismith Award and the John R. Wooden National Player of the Year.
"We're excited about getting started this year. We want to get off to a good start. We play a lot of big games this year, so we are going to have to take them one at a time," said Winston who is a returning first team All-Southeastern Conference player. "It's going to be a good test for our endurance and stamina and what kind of shape we are in these next couple of weeks because we've got a lot of travel, got a lot of games ahead of us. We are going to have to be mentally and physically ready."
Following play in Alaska, Alabama returns home to host East Tennessee State on Wednesday, December 1.
