Solid week capped with a victory

(Tuscaloosa, AL) - A 1-1 record does not constitute a perfect week. Not at Alabama. Not anywhere.

But when your opponents are two of the best teams you've faced all season, and when you play as well as you've played all year, 1-1 ain't bad.

That's the case for Alabama's men's basketball team. Mark Gottfried's squad has played increasingly better in each of its last six ballgames. Unfortunately for the Tide, two of those games resulted in losses. However, last week Bama followed up a tough road loss to Florida with a rock-solid win at home over Kentucky.

While there is still work to be done, Saturday's win over the Wildcats was enormous. The reasons are many, although the order of importance may not be what you think.

Alabama had won three games in a row, but had shown only slight progress in that stretch. Then the Tide took a step up in its level of play - and in degree of difficulty in opposition. Bama got better in two road losses (Ole Miss and top-ranked Florida), but had nothing tangible to show for it.

The Tide again took a step forward, and into the win column, with a 72-61 victory over The Big Blue at Coleman Coliseum. It also gave Alabama its first victory against a top 10 RPI team, which will be awfully big when the NCAA selection committee considers the Tide's resume in about three weeks.

What was bigger, in my estimation, is that this team didn't slip backward after a tough loss in Gainesville.

The Tide was rewarded for its hard work with a "W" against the Cats. Richard Hendrix was again unstoppable at times in the post, Ron Steele was as close to being THAT Ron Steele as we have seen all season, and freshman Justin Tubbs is getting better each game - on both ends of the floor.

Alabama currently stands in a three-way tie for the division lead with the two Mississippi schools. The Tide's four remaining opponents are all capable of beating them. MississippiState had Bama beaten two week's ago, but couldn't finish off the Tide in the final minute. Ole Miss and Auburn have already knocked off Alabama, and Tennessee is as explosive as anybody in the league - despite its head-scratching loss at South Carolina Saturday.

If Alabama can maintain its intensity on defense, its poise on offense, and its momentum gathered over the last three weeks, then the Tide will likely walk away from Knoxville - and the rematch with Auburn - with two more important victories.

Chris Stewart writes a weekly column for bamafever.com. Stewart is the radio play-by-play announcer for University of Alabama men's basketball. He is also the pre and post game host for the Crimson Tide Sports Network's coverage of Alabama Football. In addition, he hosts a talk show each weekday morning from 7 until 9 on Tuscaloosa's Sports Radio 1420, The Tusk. Bama Fever is a company devoted to providing University of Alabama Crimson Tide merchandise. We have stores in Birmingham, Tuscaloosa  and Huntsville and have now created an online catalog for Crimson Tide fans all over the world searching for that hard to find merchandise. We carry over 7,000 items in our stores and have posted many of these items right here in our online catalog.

All University of Alabama merchandise is officially licensed and a portion of the proceeds go directly to the University.

Read all of Chris's Game Recaps