Men's Basketball: The Word from Hawaii 3
11/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2008
MAUI, Hawaii - Aloha!
It rained most of the day Saturday in Maui, an appropriate setting for a day in which the Alabama basketball team and its staff quickly got back to the task at hand. Now two days from the start of the EA Sports Maui Invitational and Alabama's first round clash with Oregon, Saturday was the day that the Crimson Tide got back to business.
The day began with a team breakfast followed by a team meeting at the hotel in which the coaching staff focused on its plan of attack for Monday's game and had a video session for game strategy with the entire team. That set the stage for Alabama's first practice since landing in Maui, a two-hour; 20-minute session at the Lahaina Civic Center on the main court on which Monday's game will be played.
The small arena is dressed up for this event. Despite the fact that it seats only 2,000 at capacity, the Civic Center's court has housed many games involving college basketball's best. The Civic Center rises out of nowhere on Maui's slope just off the coastline. Located next to a small middle class neighborhood, the arena is similar in size to most large recreational centers on the mainland. For a frame of reference, Coleman Coliseum could probably house at least two buildings of its size.
It will certainly be an intimate setting for college basketball played at its highest level. Almost akin to playing the Alabama-Florida SEC Championship football game at a Class 2A high school stadium, but a nicely maintained and well-equipped one.
Alabama's practice session came immediately after the Indiana Hoosiers and head coach Tom Crean finished their workout on the court. The Crimson Tide had a crisp, sharp practice on Saturday. It was fast-paced and the team seemed focused after spending Friday decompressing from a challenging week. The team is healthy throughout, and should be at full strength for Monday.
Earlier in the day, head coach Mark Gottfried and senior guard Ronald Steele taped interviews with ESPN that will run during the tournament as part of the network's game coverage. Later, the Tide practiced with ESPN's announcing crew of Bill Raftery, Jay Bilas, Jimmie Dykes and Sean McDonough in attendance. McDonough will be the play-by-play man during the tournament while Raftery and Bilas rotate on analysis with Dykes chipping in as the sideline reporter.
At the conclusion of practice, the foursome visited for a few moments with Gottfried. They were curious about the team's style of play and were anxious to renew acquaintances with the coach, all of whom had an obvious positive rapport with.
The team returned to the hotel after practice for a couple of hours before boarding the buses to the nearby Sheraton hotel for the Xbox Meet and Greet Players party, an event built around a 16-man Xbox Tournament. The 16 players (two from each team) squared off against each other on four televisions playing EA Sports' new college basketball game. The first-round pairings featured players facing opponents who play on the team they will face in Monday's first round games on the court.
Alabama's reps were Mikhail Torrance and Demetrius Jemison. Torrance defeated Oregon's Joevan Catron while Jemison was bested by Oregon's Teondre Williams. Torrance advanced to the second round where he was beaten by eventual champion Mike Copeland of North Carolina. Copeland eventually faced teammate Ty Lawson in the final.
The event was a blast for the players, who really got into the competition. It was a chance for the athletes to meet each other in a fun environment, something that doesn't happen too often these days in college basketball.
