EVENTS
 Sportsman of the Year
 Heisman Trophy
 Swimsuit 2001

CENTERS
 Fantasy Central
 Inside Game
 Video Plus
 Statitudes
 Your Turn
 Message Boards
 Email Newsletters
 Golf Guide
 Cities
 

CNNSI.com GROUP
 Sports Illustrated
 Life of Reilly
 SI Women
 SI for Kids
 Press Room
 TBS/TNT Sports
 CNN Languages

COMMERCE
 SI Customer Service
 SI Media Kits
 Get into College
 Sports Memorabilia
 TeamStore

Alabama Crimson Tide (2001: 25-11)

The following team preview is provided by Blue Ribbon. For the nation's most comprehensive look at this and all Division I teams, be sure to order the 2001-02 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, on sale now at 1-800-775-2518.

Program overview

Alabama coach Mark Gottfried doesn't even want to think about what kind of team he could have put on the floor this season. It's too painful.

Not that the Crimson Tide won't be good. With All-SEC players Rod Grizzard and Erwin Dudley and a stable of quality guards, Alabama will be hard to handle. But Alabama could have trotted out a potential Final Four team. Academics and defections have cut into the Tide's numbers, to the point where depth-or a lack thereof-could become a real problem.

That's particularly true in the frontcourt. Gerald Wallace, last year's heralded freshman, decided he needed only one year of college seasoning before jumping to the NBA. And junior college forwards Kei Madison and Rodney Bias, both 6-9, didn't qualify academically. Even 6-8 senior Sam Haginas, who barely played last year but could have helped bang inside this season, decided in July to quit the team.

"We've got to find a way to play with very little options around the basket," Gottfried said.

Either that, or Gottfried has to hope Dudley and 6-9 Kenny Walker are tireless, don't get injured and stay out of foul trouble. After the 6-8 Grizzard, who's a wing player, Alabama has a lot of guards. No player besides the 6-7 Reggie Rambo is taller than 6-3.

Gottfried will need some firepower to face a schedule that he vastly improved from a year ago. Alabama took a lot of heat for playing a weak non-conference schedule (the Tide's final strength of schedule ranked 231 out of 319 Division I teams, even taking into account the NIT run). When it came time to handing out NCAA Tournament bids, the selection committee agreed with the critics, leaving out Alabama despite a 21-win season.

This time around, Gottfried has loaded up. Alabama will play-along with Missouri, Iowa, Memphis and 12 others teams-in the inaugural Guardians Classic. There's also a home-and-home arrangement with Utah, a match-up with UCLA in the John Wooden Classic, a game against Temple in the Jimmy V Classic and another against Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl Classic.

Gottfried thinks his team can handle those games, even taking into consideration Alabama's dismal road record the last three years. During that time the Tide won just two SEC road games. A year ago, the Tide was 17-1 at home, but 2-7 on the road.

Projected starters

PG - Maurice Williams (6-1, 183 lbs., FR, #25, 26.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 8.6 apg, 3.4 spg, Murrah HS/Jackson, Miss.)

Some long-time observers of Mississippi high school basketball are calling Williams the most polished guard to come from the state since Chris Jackson. Murrah coach Bob Frith says Williams is the best player to come from the school that has also produced James Robinson, Ronnie Henderson, Othella Harrington and Jesse Pate. That's high praise, but Williams is worthy of it.

We're listing Williams as the probable starter at point guard, but that's hardly a reach. Chances are good he'll be the best guard on the floor from Alabama's first practice. Yes, he's a freshman, but Williams is no ordinary freshman.

Williams is one of those rare players who has the gift of being a blender. He does so by getting everyone involved. Or by becoming a scoring machine and attracting so much defensive attention some of his teammates are wide open. Whatever he has to do, Williams does it.

Williams, a Parade and McDonald's All-American, had a storied career at Murrah, where he scored 2,433 career points, fifth on the school's all-time list.

SG - Terrance Meade (6-2, 180 lbs., JR, #14, 10.8 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.2 apg, 1.9 tpg, 0.8 spg, 28.2 minutes, .408 FG, .345 3PT .758 FT, Scottsboro HS/Scottsboro, Ala.)

It's a tribute to Meade's talent that in a year where he didn't shoot the ball as well as he had as a freshman, he still reached double figures 22 times and finished as Alabama's third-leading scorer.

Meade struggled with his shot at times, perhaps frustrated by the high standard he'd set for himself the year before (43 percent from three-point range). But undaunted, Meade kept plugging away. Alabama is dangerous when Meade's three-point shot is falling. Meade can do a lot to open the inside for Dudley and Walker, and he can take pressure off Grizzard, who is more of a slasher than a shooter.

Alabama will need Meade to be more consistent this season. And with five scorers on the floor at all times, he's likely to sneak free more often for open jump shots. If he can get his three-point average back into the low 40s, the Tide will be tough to stop.

SF - Rod Grizzard (6-8, 210 lbs., JR, #21, 17.0 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.0 apg, 2.5 tpg, 1.1 spg, 1.0 bpg, 31.8 minutes, .398 FG, .327 3PT, .812 FT, Central Park Christian/Birmingham, Ala.)

Unlike some of his peers in the SEC (Georgia's D.A. Layne comes quickly to mind), Grizzard wasn't about to make a mistake and declare too early for the NBA.

Smart move, for as talented as Grizzard is, he does have to improve a few things. His jump shot could use some work, and he could stand to get bigger and stronger. That in turn might improve Grizzard's stamina. Last season he hit a wall while having to play 32 minutes a game. While Alabama was squandering its chances for an NCAA Tournament bid with a late-season four-game losing streak, Grizzard's shot went AWOL. In one two-game stretch, he was 5-for-24 from the field.

Just as he'd hoped, Grizzard made some strides during the summer. He spent a lot of time in the weight room and pushed his weight up to 210. That hardly qualifies him for Mr. Universe competition. "But you've got to remember, when he came here, he was like 175," Gottfried said.

Theoretically, the added weight will make Grizzard a little tougher to slow down on his forays to the basket. The truth is, Grizzard needs to take it to the rack more often. He tossed up 214 three-pointers last year, making 70. Considering 33 percent is acceptable, Grizzard's shooting percentage from behind the arc wasn't bad. But he'd improve his overall field-goal percentage (which was ninth among Tide regulars) by exploiting his athleticism and jumping ability and getting to the rim.

PF - Erwin Dudley (6-8, 258 lbs., JR, #35, 14.4 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 0.7 apg, 0.6 spg, 1.5 tpg, 0.4 bpg, 30.6 minutes, .529 FG, .606 FT, AC Hatch HS/Uniontown, Ala.)

After a solid debut as a freshman, when he showed he was perhaps the best rebounder in the SEC, Dudley became a star last season. He was the only player in the league to average a double-double. He led the SEC in rebounding by a large margin, was 10th in scoring and third in field-goal percentage. Dudley was 12th in Division I in rebounding and piled up 15 double doubles, tops in the SEC.

Dudley was consistent all season, but he saved his best for last. He was chosen to the NIT All-Tournament team after averaging 17.8 points and 13.8 rebounds in Alabama's five games. He started the tournament in fine fashion with 22 points and a career-high 19 boards against Seton Hall. He followed that with 10 and seven against Toledo, 20 and 16 against Purdue, 20 and 16 against Detroit and 17 and 11 against Tulsa in the championship game.

C - Kenny Walker (6-9, 214 lbs., JR, #42, 6.7 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 0.4 spg, 0.6 bpg, 18.2 minutes, .486 FG, .739 FT, Wolfson HS/Jacksonville, Fla.)

Walker's injury-plagued freshman year was a letdown, and his sophomore year was becoming a disappointment, too, before Gottfried sat him down in early February and asked him to become more aggressive. Walker had tended to sit back and let some of his teammates do the scoring. Gottfried convinced Walker he had to shoulder his share of the scoring load.

The pep talk worked wonders. After a long dry spell during which he didn't reach double figures in 14 straight games, Walker responded with 12 points and seven boards against Mississippi State. Over a seven-game span, he averaged 11.1 points and 7.2 rebounds.

Walker's contributions tapered off a bit after that, but he came alive again in the NIT. He led Alabama with a career-high 24 points in a big road victory at Purdue. He came up with 13 points and seven rebounds in an NIT semifinal victory over Detroit.

Key reserve

G - Earnest Shelton (6-3, 190 lbs., FR, #5, 27.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 4.0 apg, White Station HS/Memphis, Tenn.)

Alabama might not have many post players, but with Shelton, Williams, Stinnett, Smith and Meade, the Tide has the best-shooting group of guards in the SEC, and maybe the country.

Shelton was a two-time player of the year (as chosen by the Commerical-Appeal newspaper) in talent-rich Memphis, no small accomplishment in itself. He was offered a scholarship by the hometown school and new coach John Calipari, who actually turned down eventual Kentucky signee Rashaad Carruth to wait on Shelton. But when Calipari tired of waiting and went another direction, the player trimmed his choices to Wake Forest, Tennessee and Alabama.

Gottfried is glad Shelton picked the Tide. In Gottfried's mind, he can never have too many shooters.

Bottom line

Had Gottfried been able to get 6-9 junior college recruits Madison and Bias in school, Alabama would have been a clear-cut favorite to win the SEC's Western Division championship. But neither player qualified academically, and to make matters worse, 6-8 senior Haginas called Gottfried in July to tell him he was quitting.

By that time, it was far too late to find any replacements, which means Dudley and Walker, the Tide's only true post players, are going to have to shoulder a huge load this season.

If Dudley and Walker prove durable and they don't get into foul trouble, Alabama will still be hard to handle, given the presence of All-SEC forward Grizzard and a stable of quality guards. Gottfried might have to put a smaller, quicker lineup on the floor and offset any defensive size mismatches with quickness mismatches on the other end.

We still think Alabama is a quality, postseason team, given the maturity of the Tide's strong junior class and the addition of guards Williams and Shelton. Alabama won't be as dominant without the size and bulk of Madison and Bias, but the Tide, if it holds up against a greatly improved schedule, should be able to earn enough brownie points with the NCAA Tournament selection committee to receive a long-awaited Big Dance ticket.