Box score

Kansas State led all the way, jumping out to a 20-6 lead six minutes in the game, and though Alabama kept fighting, they were never really back in it, trailing by as much as 21 points.  As usual, the Tide was led by JaMychal Green (with 17) and Mikhail Torrance (with 20).

Bama was killed on the boards, outrebounded 33-18.  The Tide is undersized by major conference standards, but has usually done a better job of holding its own.  No Alabama player had more than Senario Hillman's four rebounds.

Kansas State is #22 in the country and first in RPI, so the loss (on a "neutral" court in Mobile) isn't surprising, but the inability to keep it close is.  They tried, and were able to get a little run to close the lead to eight with seven minutes to go, but tonight were just outclassed.

Since Samford isn't UAB, we'll play them, in basketball anyway, and won as we should, fairly easily.  After playing a number of teams from top conferences in a row, it was a bit of a relief to dip into the Southern Conference.

As usual, the Tide was led by Mikhail Torrance, with fifteen points and seven assists, and JaMychal Green, with fourteen points and four rebounds.  Samford (or "Sarmrod" as the Rolltide.com game story has it) kept it close to the second media timeout, but the Tide pulled away to a double-digit lead by late in the first half, led 35-24 at the break, and held on from there.  The Bulldogs never got it within single digits in the second half.

The officials, apparently sensing the inevitable, swallowed their whistles for this one.  Alabama shot only five free throws, which was four more than Samford.  I'm not sure I approve, but it was a break for the shallow Crimson Tide.

[N.B.:  I wrote this for a non-fan audience, but I figured I'd repost it here.  Seriously, they couldn't have started in 1934? -- MT]

1. Timing. Alabama has had two great eras. Everyone knows about the Bryant era, but the first was under Wallace Wade (1923-1930) and Frank Thomas (1931-1946). The Heisman wasn’t given out until 1935, halfway through the period. Wade and Thomas had several great players from 1923-1934. If the first Heisman had been given out one year earlier, there is every chance that the first winner would have been Don Hutson, who pretty clearly was the best player in college football in 1934.

2. Defense. Most of Alabama’s best players have been defensive players. Only one defensive player has ever won the Heisman, and he was a defensive back who played some offense and returned kicks. Players like Lee Roy Jordan and Derrick Thomas could easily have been the “most outstanding college football player”.

3. Team mentality. Coach Bryant in particular played a lot of players, and very rarely rode one quarterback even before he installed the wishbone. If you watch footage of some of his sixties teams, he’s playing three or four quarterbacks when his starter is someone like Joe Namath or Ken Stabler. It’s weird, actually. But it worked.

4. The wishbone. Coach Bryant’s best teams, the dominant seventies era squads, ran the wishbone. The way that system works, no running back is going to get more than at most forty percent of the team’s carries. If a wishbone player is going to win the Heisman, it’s probably going to be a quarterback, but as noted, he was using three or four quarterbacks and none put up huge running totals.

5. Namath. Joe would have won the Heisman his senior year, in my opinion, except that he had knee problems which hurt his mobility and brain problems that caused Bryant to keep him in a rotation system rather than riding a once-in-a-lifetime talent. Bama won the national championship that year, but Namath only attempted 100 passes.

6. Dumb luck. Just one of those things.

Box score

Now a win would have been a major upset, as Purdue is fifth in the country.  (Thought personally, I never take any Big Ten team but Michigan State seriously unless they've done something really impressive to prove themselves.)  But this is disappointing.  Alabama led 46-30 early in the second half, and 53-41 with twelve minutes to go.  From that point on, they were outscored 30-12.

Purdue jumped out to a 9-1 lead, but that was followed by a 28-9 run by Alabama to pull into a sizeable lead that held for much of the game, as Purdue seemed unable to handle the Tide's quickness.  But from that twelve-minute mark, Alabama couldn't get anything going on offense, took some bad (and quick and stupid) shots, and kept giving up offensive rebounds.

Mikhail Torrance had his usual fine game with 18 points, but was shut down late by Purdue defensive specialist Chris Cramer, and none of the other perimeter players stepped up, especially after Senario Hillman fouled out with eight minutes left.  JaMychal Green had 16 and eight rebounds, and Justin Knox scored 14 off the bench.