Bama Basketball dealt another big blow....

Richard Hendrix has decided to leave Tuscaloosa early and try his hand at the NBA draft. The All - SEC big man from Athens, Alabama says that he doesn't plan on signing with an agent, which would allow him to return to school if he doesn't like his draft options. This is definitely bad news for Gottfried considering Riley is lost to graduation and Steele is coming back after sitting out a whole season due to knee surgery. Hendrix seemed to be the most solid returning player. If Hendrix returns Alabama has a good shot at contending in the West next year. With Ronald Steele returning and his younger brother also joining the team.

I see Hendrix as being a late second rounder which isn't the right kind of money to leave college early for in my opinion. I think he will come back and improve his draft stock with a great senior year and possibly turn into a first round draft pick.

Man, we dodged a bullet with this guy....

I don't know if any of you remember the name Fred Rouse. He was a highly sought after recruit by us back a couple of years ago. He had it down to us and FSU. We wanted him pretty bad he was one of the top receivers in the country. Well long story short he picked FSU over us then shortly thereafter was booted off the team for what coach Bobby Bowden called "conduct detrimental to the welfare of the football team." And we all know you can get away with a lot at FSU, so this guy must of been a nuiscance. This past football season he tried to bring back his career at Ol UTEP well things didn't work out there either. SI.com has an article about him here.

Raises all around

Thursday, the University announced the raises of all assistant coaches and approval of contract for all new assistant coaches. "Last year, Saban's nine on-field assistants earned a combined $2.245 million. Including the Dolphins' contribution to Williams' salary, the staff will earn $2.505 this season. The terms remained the same, as did the 20 percent buyouts, though Williams' will be waived if he takes a coordinators or head coaching job." Read more.

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Tonight, Alabama will celebrate the 60th anniversary of Sewell-Thomas Stadium in the series opener against the Vanderbilt. The first of a three day three game series will start tonight at 6:30 PM CST. Currently, Alabama is fourth in the Western Division sitting "0 for" in the SEC and 9 - 10 overall. Below are the SEC standings.

Season comes to end

The '07-'08 Men's basketball season came to an end Sunday after not getting a bid to the NCAA tournament or the NIT, while also declining a bid to the CBI. Should the Tide have accepted the CBI bid?

Spring is here!

Well, spring practice starts tomorrow for the football team. I'm sure there is going to be a lot of hype about this spring practice all the way up till April 12th. Everyone is going to be looking for what the new offense will be bringing. The Rap Sheet says hello to Jim McElwain and what Saban & Co. have to say. With that, RBR has a good grasp on who will be participating in the offense.

Also tomorrow, the men's basketball team will be opening the SEC tournament at 6:30 CST with Florida.

We are not forgetting about the baseball team. Currently they are 8-5 sitting on a five game winning streak. Their next game will be tonight hosting Samford at 6:30 PM CST. They'll start conference play Friday, visiting Kentucky for the weekend.

The dandelions are here and the the ball parks are crowded.

SEC Tourny Misc.

Not sure how we got away with the win Saturday. But with that, we are 16-15 and 5-11 heading into the tournament this week. First round starts Thursday. We will be playing Florida 6:30 PM CST.

Here's the Men's Tourny Bracket.

Here's Alabama's season statistics for '07-'08.

Road Struggles continue.....

After last nights 80 - 74 loss to LSU Alabama finished with an embarrassing SEC road schedule of 0 - 8 and an overall SEC schedule of 4 - 11 heading into Saturday's match up with Vanderbilt. This has been a terrible season of basketball at Alabama. I think it may be time for Gottfried to go. Here is a few of his quotes after the game last night : "I'm encouraged," he said. "I'm not disappointed one bit with our team." Well Mark you should be. A 15 - 15 overall record is out right unbelievable. Until he stops his terrible high post offense we will continue to struggle playing half court games. We have one of the best post players in the SEC if not THE best. But he is always catching the ball at the high post and looking to pass. Mark that offense may of worked in the old days at UCLA but it will not work here. I know he will get another year because it isn't economical to fire him. And basically there just isn't enough of an uproar to cause Mal to do anything. Give us some of your thoughts ...

Five Grand!

Today Tipsy Tiders celebrates our 5,000 visitor. Tipsy Tiders has been published since November of 2007. We want to thank everyone that has come to visit. It's been fun and we hope we can continue giving you all good Alabama Football news and current events.

To give a quick overview of some fun facts about our 5000 visitors:

Single day most visits:

• Nov 20 - Post 1, Post 2
• Feb 13 - First mentioned by RBR
• Feb 24 - RBR link to Bama Hoops Drinking Game

Top referring sites:

• RollBamaRoll
• Facebook
• Google

Most interesting keyword search:

• "what do you call carbohydrates with free ketone group" - Pulled the SEC Half Case Post

Top visits by state:

• Alabama
• Georgia
• Texas

Top visits by Alabama city:

• Northport
• Birmingham
• Mobile

Thanks again and keep stopping by!

An ear full isn't enough...

The officiating crew from Saturday's Alabama-Ole Miss game is expected to face disciplinary measures for its handling of the game's final seconds. Read more here.

Alabama goes to baton Rouge tomorrow night to play the Tigers at 7:00 PM CST. The Tides last regular season game will be this Saturday hosting Vanderbilt. Tip off is 1:00 PM CST.

The 2008 Men's SEC Tournament is a little over a week away. Here is an empty bracket. Here's the tv listing and times. And if you are really thinking about heading to Atlanta, here are some tickets still available.