Two big things going on in Tuscaloosa:
1. Cyrus Kouandijo signed an LOI with the University on Saturday. That was huge. Cyrus was the number one offensive lineman in the country by all three services (ESPN, Rivals and Scout) and is a beast at 6″7″, 335. What a get for Alabama after Auburn had secured a commit from him on Wednesday. Cyrus attributed his signing to having his brother down at Tuscaloosa. Blood is thicker than anything else for most people and Cyrus now joins his brother, the diminutive Arie (6’5″, 335). Can you imagine two brothers as book ends of an offensive line at both tackle positions? Both seem to be the real deal with great size. Could be an incredible next four or five years for the offense with these two, the other linemen on the roster and all the playmakers the Tide has recruited in the last three years. Now the Tide will probably win the national championship in recruiting if Jadeveon Clowney signs with Alabama on February 14. They already have with Rivals. The 6’6″, 247 pound defensive end from Rock Hill, South Carolina  will announce at 9:15 CST.. It’s between Alabama, South Carolina and Clemson for Clowney. He likes all three a lot. Jamie Newberg of ESPN Recruiting gave South Carolina a slight edge, but he never rules Nick Saban out of anything. Alabama has a good shot. With Cyrus coming on board, that could help with Clowney’s decision. Clowney is one of those difference making players. Looks like a Jevon Kearse type, who dominated at Florida and has been a stellar pro. Clowney is the number one ranked player by ESPN and Rivals.

2. The basketball team is making a run at the NCAA Tournament. With one of the top defenses in the country (in the top 6), this team can beat anybody in the league. Knocked off Tennessee 65-60 on Saturday in Knoxville in a huge victory. Bruce Pearl and star Scottie Hopson (injured) weren’t involved in the game, but Tennessee has a lot of talent, and ‘Bama sank 10-of-10 free throws in overtime to secure the victory. ‘Bama also had three players who were not at 100 percent. Green was sick and Mitchell had something wrong with him. Can’t remember who the third one was but he was a key player, so it was an awesome victory. ‘Bama held Tenn to 34 percent shooting from the field and 20% (4-for-20) from trifecta. This team plays terrific defense. If ‘Bama can improve their three point shooting some and keep pounding it inside to JaMychal Green and let Tony Mitchell–who scored 24 on Saturday–just keep being the excellent athlete and basketball player he is, this could be a special season. Trevor Releford needs to keep being the playmaker he is. The freshman point guard has an unlimited future and he’s pretty darn good right now. He’s a key. Andrew Steele, Charvez Davis and Senario Hillman also need to play big roles. I like Senario Hillman. He’s been through the coaching change and the tough years under Mark Gottfried and hung in there. He deserves success.

Tide is now 15-7 and 7-1 in conference. The RPI is 96 up 10 spots from last week, so the team needs to keep winning. At Vandy Thursday Night at 8 on ESPN2. Should be a classic. Vandy a very talented team, but has been up and down at times in conference. Interesting matchup between Mitchell and Jeffrey Taylor of Vandy. Mitchell and Taylor are the best two athletes in the SEC. Whoever wins that battle may win the game. Tide’s pressure defense could cause ‘Dores some problems. They had trouble Saturday against South Carolina’s press. Alabama then plays at home Saturday vs Ole Miss at 3 p.m. on the SEC Network. Big week for the Tide.

3. Auburn is trying their best. They gave it a good go at Georgia only to lose in overtime, 81-72. Tony Barbee has his team playing hard, they just don’t have enough horses. Sophomore Earnest Ross is a good player and freshman Chris Denson looks like he’ll be a good player, too. I love Josh Wallace’s story. He is a walk-on who got into Auburn on an engineering scholarship. He plays so hard at point guard. He’s a guy you really pull for. I don’t know what Rob Chubb is thinking. The guy goes out and scores 18 in an upset at South Carolina a little over a week ago and then gets suspended indefinitely. Must be a serious head case. I think better days are ahead for the Tigers. They’ll get a good recruiting class in next year and Frankie Sullivan, the best player on the team, will be back next year from injury. But they’re still playing hard and that’s a testament to Barbee and the players for not giving up. They could knock off a couple of pretty good teams before the season is over and maybe upset somebody in the tourney. AU plays at home against State Saturday at 6 p.m. on Fox Sports South. Could be a win.

4. UAB struggled to get by Tulane on Saturday, 47-39,  after a heartbreaking loss to Southern Miss last Wednesday Night, 75-71. They’ve got a 42 RPI so they’re not out of it. They’re going to have to pull off some upsets if they want to make the tourney. Their remaining road games are at Marshall (Wed), @ Memphis (2/16), @ Houston (2/26) and @ Southern Miss (3/2). They probably need to win all four and win all games remaining at home. If they can get three on the road at least and win all their remaining  home games and at least make it to the finals of CUSA tourney, they have a shot. If not, Mike Davis will miss yet another tourney. It’s time Davis steps up and gets his team in the tourney. He’s got some pretty good young players so the future could be bright. Junior Cam Moore had a big game with a double-double (14 points, 16 boards)  on Saturday at Tulane and he looks stellar. There are some others like  sophomore guard Dexter Fields, freshman guard Preston Purifoy, redshirt frosh forward Anthony Criswell, soph forward Ovie Soko and frosh guard Quincy Taylor who are all talented, but if they want to make the tourney this year, seniors Aaron Johnson and Jamarr Sanders will have to lead them there. They have their work cut out for them.

4. Lastly, what a year by the Packers. They barely got in the playoffs, had lost their starting running back, Ryan Grant, a great player, before the season. Also lost Nick Barnett, a starting linebacker and starting tight JerMichael Finley during the season. All three were critical to the team’s success and all three went down. There was a rash of injuries on this team. I looked at their injured reserve just a minute ago and they had 15 guys on there. Mike McCarthy deserved the coach of the year award over Bill Belichick. I know they vote on it for the regular season, but they shouldn’t. What this guy did with the injuries he had was truly amazing. And how about Donald Driver, Charles Woodson and Sam Shields getting hurt during the game? Both Driver and Woodson were out in the first half for the rest of the game and Shields wasn’t playing at 100 percent. Aaron Rodgers may help people misremember (as Roger Clemons said) Brett Favre. Favre ‘s legacy in Green Bay is a great one and he won’t be forgotten and shouldn’t be, but Aaron Rodgers has created  his own lasting legacy. He just took his team on his back yesterday and won the Super Bowl (final, 31-26 Packers). The offensive line did a pretty good job of blocking the physical Steelers defense. The receivers were hurting the Pack during the game. There must have been six or seven drops. James Jones dropped a ball where he had a clear shot at making it to the end zone early in the third quarter. But he redeemed himself later with a couple of good catches. Jordy Nelson had a couple of key drops but made some good plays later in the game. Rodgers was 24-for-39 for 304 yards and three tds. He was terrific in the game. Outplayed Ben Rothlisberger, who, really, deserved to lose. It’s  kind of justice he didn’t win it in my opinion. With what he did in Georgia–I know he wasn’t convicted of anything but he seemed guilty of raping a girl–he didn’t deserve this. And the Packers defense stepped up intercepting two balls and forcing and recovering a fumble–a key play in the game that led to a touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter. Clay Matthews made the strip and Desmond Bishop picked it up at the Green Bay 45 which led to a Rodgers to Greg Jennings td pass to put Pack up 28-17. The Steelers showed the championship mettle that they’re made of as Rothlisberger was terrific in leading his team down to a score and two point conversion to cut the deficit to 28-25, but Rodgers and Jennings connected again for the key play of the game, a 31 yard completion on 3rd and 10 with six minutes left in which Rodgers found Jennings over the middle on a seam route and Jennings took it another 15 yards to Steelers’ 44. Green Bay later kicked a field goal and held the Steelers in the last two minutes to secure the victory. A tremendous victory by a storied franchise that now has won four Super Bowls. Pittsburgh was going for their seventh and are now 6-2 in Super Bowls. It was a great Super Bowl to cap off an incredible year in the NFL. Now they just need to hash out a labor agreement. The NFL is so good right now, the owners and players don’t need to mess it up.

Great weekend. Got some great bball and  golf coming up. Some great golf tournaments ahead with World Accenture Match Play in February and some others before that in California. AT&T this weekend at Pebble Beach.  Arnold Palmer Invitational and Doral in March and Masters in April. Great start to the season. Can Tiger Woods recapture the glory and win a major or two this year? Not as sure any more. A lot of great players out there. Some guys potentially elite like Bubba Watson, J.B. Holmes, Martin Kaymar, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy. Ricky Fowler an excellent player, Geoff Ogilvy playing well and Phil still playing well. Ernie Els hasn’t done anything so far, but should be a factor in March and April. Clowney’s announcement should be exciting as well.

(Cyrus makes his decision for Alabama; Rodgers reaches the pinnacle.)