I’m sorry I’m not more profound than that, but that was exactly what I was saying to myself after that epic thriller at Memorial Gym in Nashville last night. It was a game for the ages and, to me, goes down as one of the most classic regular season games in SEC history, at least in the last 10 years. So many big plays, so many big shots. Two teams that wanted it badly. One team, Vandy (17-6, 5-4 SEC),had to have it. Alabama (15-8, 7-2) is a tournament team, there is no doubt in my mind. Their performances over the last two weeks and particularly last night on ESPN2 proved it. They’ve got some work left, but if they keep this up, they’ll win the majority of their games the rest of the season. Vandy grew up before Vandy fans’ eyes last night. They were a team that was struggling in late games earlier in the season. They had lost big leads at South Carolina and at Tennessee in January. There was probably some self doubt on the team that they could hold a lead last. But they dug deep this time and showed that a Vandy team with three four star players, one five star and one high three star in the starting lineup for the first time ever at Vandy, are for real and have come into their own.
I just want to say that Anthony Grant is one of the top 20 coaches in the country. I gave Kevin Stallings the slight edge going into last night’s game, but that game wasn’t decided by coaching. Those two coaches are both tremendous.They are equal in ability. Both are phenomenal and passionate. There is no difference. Stallings is more of an offensive-minded coach, but he believes in good defense like all coaches do. Grant has made this Alabama team a stellar defensive team, but they showed last night they can score. Grant’s coaching reminds me a lot of Mike Anderson, and before him, Nolan Richardson. He just puts his great athletes on the floor and let’s them get after it on the defensive end and create offensive opportunities off their defensive pressure. He has instilled a passion in his players. A guy like JaMychal Green, who was stellar last night and has been stellar for the past two weeks, has come into his own. Green seemed to be a bit of a head case under Mark Gottfried, a good guy and a good recruiter who had lost his team in the last few years. He has been a head case under Grant until recently. Grant has set him straight though. Green hadn’t been challenged to be the best he could be. But Grant has straightened Green out. He’s playing like the All American he was expected to be when he signed as a five star player out of Montgomery three years ago. Guys like Senario Hillman are passionate, highly athletic players. Hillman made some huge plays last night for his team. He’s got NBA athleticism and I hope he gets a shot at the next level. He at least deserves a shot at an NCAA run this year and maybe a career in Europe that could ultimately lead to the NBA.
There were just so many stellar players in this game. Green had 23 and 10 and was 10 of 11 from the free throw line. His free throw shooting has been tremendous. When you have a big guy who can knock down free throws it’s such a weapon. Festus Ezeli of Vandy has done that recently. More on him later. Green even hit a huge three with 2:17 left that tied the game at 71. Tony Mitchell added 22 on 10-of-16 shooting from the field, but he seemed to disappear a little bit at the end. Vandy’s defense on him was pretty good in the last eight minutes. Trevor Releford is going to be a star in this league for the next couple of years. The freshman point guard scored 11 points but it seemed like he was all over the floor. Chris Hines played a good game with nine points and five boards. And Hillman and Andrew Steele hit some key baskets. They scored only six with three boards apiece, but both made some big plays when it counted. Hillman really turned up the defense throughout the game.
For VU, there were a lot of heroes as well. Tinsley made the Jordanesque shot with 17 seconds left. It was a tense time with Vandy down 77-76 and looking like they might not pull this one out. But Tinsley jumped and showed great body control, keeping his balance in the air and launching the 15 footer that went through. He was fouled by Releford, his fifth which was pretty big since Alabama had another possession coming up, and made the free throw to put Vandy up 79-77. Tinsley finished the night with 15 points, six assists and was seven of seven from the free throw line. The amazing Jeff Taylor played like the player everyone thought he’d be. He’s had performances like that this year, one against Mississippi State that stands out. But this may have been his biggest stage and he took advantage of it before fouling out with 1:30 left. He was seven-of-11 from the field, four-of-five from trifecta and added eight rebounds in scoring 19 points on the night. Talk about some huge three pointers. Taylor was dynamite from trifecta. If he keeps that up and starts really driving to the hole, there will be no question he’ll be an impact player at the next level maybe next year though Vandy fans hope it’s not for two years. John Jenkins, Vandy’s stellar sophomore, had 20 points on five-of-11 from the field, only one-of-four from trifecta and nine-of-11 from the free throw line. If you know Jenkins, nine-of-11 from the line is almost unacceptable to him as he is a 90% free throw shooter.
Alabama had a shot to tie it in the last 17 seconds. Green got the ball on the baseline and was moving towards the basket and looked to be pushed by Ezeli. There was no whistle, but then the whistle blew and Green was called for having his foot out of bounds. The replay shows Ezeli pushing him and Green’s foot clearly not out of bounds, but ‘Bama didn’t get the call. That’s going to happen late in games at the other team’s place. Vandy got robbed at Florida on a three pointer by Jenkins late in the game where Jenkins was fouled but there was a no call. That happens in big games in the SEC, really any where in the country in the big conference games. There were quite a few calls that could have gone either way throughout the game.
One guy I didn’t mention was Ezeli of Vandy. Ezeli had 11 points and six boards, not spectacular numbers, but he was five-of-six from the free throw line with two huge ones with 1:2o left that put the ‘Dores up 76-75. If you’ve watched Ezeli the past two years, you’ve seen him really struggle from the stripe. He was at best a 50 percent free throw shooter last year. Every time he toed the stripe last year, you knew he was going to miss it. But he committed himself to free throws in the offseason and this year and it has paid off big time. He’s just a 63 percent free throw shooter now, but the past five or six games he’s got to be shooting 70-75 percent. It’s just been an amazing improvement and a testament to how hard the junior has worked.
Bottom line, both of these teams are NCAA tourney teams in my opinion. Vandy’s been considered pretty much a lock since the SEC season started. Alabama is now making their way into the minds of the Selection Committee. After last night, both teams should have cemented bids if they can keep playing well. Alabama has more pressure on them because they have ground to make up from their non conference struggles. Their RPI is only 96 so there is work left to be done. Same for Vandy. The season is far from over. Both teams have big games Saturday. ‘Bama hosts West rival Ole Miss at 3 p.m. on the SEC Network and Vandy plays host to Kentucky at noon on CBS.
I know that was just one game, but its sure was special and one that will be remembered as a season changer for Vandy and one in which Alabama improved their tournament resume. It was a tremendous college basketball game. I know there was a winner and a loser on the scoreboard, but there were no losers in this game. Both are marquee teams and headed for March with high hopes.
(JaMychal Green, left, and Brad Tinsley played like All-Americans last night.)