Tide Opens Basketball Practice Friday Night
10/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
There will be no "Midnight Madness" type event, just business as usual for Mark Gottfried and his Crimson Tide team. Friday night's practice is open to the public, as is Saturday morning's 11 a.m. ?? 2 p.m. practice session.
"I think, like everybody, we're excited about starting practice," said Gottfried who returns four of his starting five from last year's NCAA tournament team that finished 18-13, falling to Final Four bound UCLA in the second round of postseason play. "When you get to the middle of October, there's some anticipation in the air. Players are ready. The fans are getting ready. Our players have done a good job in the preseason with the weightlifting program and all the conditioning, and now it's time to get to that next step. We'll crank it up this weekend and get things started."
Back to lead the Tide is junior point guard Ronald Steele, touted as the nation's top point guard by CBSSportsLine.com earlier this month as well as a Street & Smith's All-American, Bob Cousey Award candidate and an Athlon's pick as the nation's top "floor leader."
"Ron is the epitome of what you want in a leader. He has the purest agenda of any player I've ever seen," said Gottfried of his floor leader who averaged 14.3 points and 4.3 assists per game for
Steele and 6-foot-10 senior center co-led Alabama in scoring in 2006 and were both voted All-Southeastern Conference for the second time in their careers. Also back from last season's starting lineup is sophomore forward Richard Hendrix, Freshman All-SEC in 2006, and sophomore guard Brandon Hollinger. The only other returning veteran with playing experience is Alonzo Gee whose play last season off the bench earned him Freshman All-SEC honors in a vote by the league's coaches.
Three players who were redshirts in their first seasons last year will get their first chances at playing time, including redshirt freshman center Yamene Coleman, and walkon forwards Greg Cage and John Dill. There are seven newcomers, including JUCO transfer Mykal Riley, a 6-foot-6 forward from Panola JC and freshmen point guard Mikhail Torrance, guards Justin Tubbs and Verice Cloyd, and forwards Avery Jukes and Demetrius Jemison.
On October 30 at 7 p.m.
