TUSCALOOSA ?? A television program that originally aired March 3 on ABC featuring the University of Alabama basketball team will re-air tomorrow, Thursday, March 22, at 1:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
“Free Ticket: Inside College Basketball” devoted one of its eight 30-minute episodes entirely to the Crimson Tide team. A camera crew spent six days in Tuscaloosa February 19-24 following Alabama players and staff as they went through their daily routines. The program features a touching interview with Tide senior Jermareo Davidson whose final season at Alabama found him dealing with double tragedies, first the death of his girlfriend in an automobile accident and then a few weeks later the death of his only brother. It also features lighter moments that give a glimpse of the men who make up the Alabama basketball program. Players Mykal Riley and Richard Hendrix display their piano playing talents. Hendrix took piano lessons as a child and has recently started to learn to play the guitar. Riley toured the Southeast as a child, starting at age nine, playing the piano for his grandmother’s professional singing group. The show also follows Hendrix and Davidson to a Tuscaloosa preschool where a four-year-old matter-of-factly tells them he does not like orange because it’s Auburn’s color and it follows Bama’s basketball players as they go to class and eat at Bryant Hall’s dining facility. The show also features interviews with head coach Mark Gottfried and several of the Tide players.
