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Is Alabama planning on honoring the 1975-1976 team this year?
Posted on 2/1/16 at 2:54 pm
Posted on 2/1/16 at 2:54 pm
40th anniversary. Truly superb team. Unfortunately for them seeding was a few years off. Probably the second best team that year to Indiana--which is considered one of the best ever.
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Posted on 2/1/16 at 2:56 pm to I-59 Tiger
Thought you were talking about football 
Those Alabama teams would've crushed a 1976 Indiana.
Those Alabama teams would've crushed a 1976 Indiana.
Posted on 2/1/16 at 2:56 pm to I-59 Tiger
quote:
Unfortunately for them seeding was a few years off. Probably the second best team that year to Indiana--which is considered one of the best
Yep, probably the greatest team in program history, just happened to have to play one of the 25 best teams in NCAA History before the Final Four.
I don't know if they are doing anything for them this year, though.
Posted on 2/1/16 at 2:59 pm to I-59 Tiger
That was THE best team in Bama history. Douglas, Mule King, TR Dunn. Loaded.
Beat UNC in the first round and played eventual 26-0 national champ Indiana to 74-69 loss and if I recall we had lead with about a minute remaining and had a questionable call that gave the ball to Indiana where they took and never relinquished the lead.
Even though it wasn't a title team, this is an underrated team in SEC history. NOBODY came close to Indiana except Bama that tourney or even that season.
Beat UNC in the first round and played eventual 26-0 national champ Indiana to 74-69 loss and if I recall we had lead with about a minute remaining and had a questionable call that gave the ball to Indiana where they took and never relinquished the lead.
Even though it wasn't a title team, this is an underrated team in SEC history. NOBODY came close to Indiana except Bama that tourney or even that season.
Posted on 2/1/16 at 3:04 pm to Roses of Crimson
quote:
NOBODY came close to Indiana except Bama that tourney or even that season.
Well,I wouldn't go that far. Kentucky and Michigan took them into overtime.
There was indeed a questionable charging call on Leon Douglas with about 5:00 left and Alabama up by one. But after falling behind and Douglas out, Alabama came back and took the lead again.
Oddly enough, a questionable call in Alabama's favor in Nashville put them in the Mideast instead of East. The tourney was true region driven then. Had Vanderbilt beaten Alabama in the season finale, Tennessee and Alabama would have tied for first.SEC Commissioner Boyd McWhorter was at the game as was Tennessee's Ray Mears.Had Alabama lost the game and then the coin toss,they would have gone to the East where they probably would have sailed through to the Final Four.
Posted on 2/1/16 at 3:07 pm to I-59 Tiger
quote:
Had Alabama lost the game and then the coin toss,they would have gone to the East where they probably would have sailed through to the Final Four.
That breaks my heart reading that.
Posted on 2/1/16 at 3:11 pm to I-59 Tiger
quote:I sure hope so. My buddies and I were at that game in Baton Rouge that night. As I remember, we could have won the game, but Leon Douglas (late in the game, and Ala. was up) waited to drop in a lay up to try to draw Kent Benson's 5th foul. Instead, Benson blocked the shot and IU got the rebound and scored. After that, the momentum swung to IU and they closed the game out. Coach Knight came to the Alabama locker room after the game and told Wimp that Alabama was the best team they'd played all year...go figure.
40th anniversary. Truly superb team. Unfortunately for them seeding was a few years off. Probably the second best team that year to Indiana--which is considered one of the best ever.
On the way out of the gym, getting ready for the drive back to Tuscaloosa, my buddies and I traded our tickets to the finals of that regional (in 2 days) for hot apple pie coupons from McDonalds.
Posted on 2/1/16 at 3:12 pm to Gary Busey
To make it more painful they probably would have beaten Michigan in the Final Four and met Indiana in the title game.
Posted on 2/1/16 at 3:12 pm to coachcrisp
quote:
On the way out of the gym, getting ready for the drive back to Tuscaloosa, my buddies and I traded our tickets to the finals of that regional (in 2 days) for hot apple pie coupons from McDonalds.
That's great stuff
Posted on 2/1/16 at 3:13 pm to Cheeky Fellow
McDonald's pies were deep fried back then. A steal IMO 
This post was edited on 2/1/16 at 3:13 pm
Posted on 2/1/16 at 3:14 pm to I-59 Tiger
quote:
Probably the second best team that year to Indiana--which is considered one of the best ever.
Yeah, remember that game. Indiana got up big and we came back and were up by 1 late...if there'd been seeding like there is now, we'd have been a Final 4 team that year...many years later, Knight said that Alabama team was the best any of his teams ever played...
Posted on 2/1/16 at 3:15 pm to coachcrisp
quote:
Coach Knight came to the Alabama locker room after the game and told Wimp that Alabama was the best team they'd played all year
Actually,Newton was HC. They were pretty good friends as Knight had Newton on his 1984 Olympic staff.
For years Knight said that '76 Alabama team was the best team any of his tourney teams played in the NCAA's.
Posted on 2/1/16 at 3:16 pm to I-59 Tiger
quote:
For years Knight said that '76 Alabama team was the best team any of his tourney teams played in the NCAA's.
That game and situation kind of seems to sum up Alabama basketball. Close but no cigar. Lots of wins, very good teams, great players, no elite level success (Titles, Final Fours, etc)....for various reasons that just always seem to pop up at each possible breakthrough.
Posted on 2/1/16 at 3:16 pm to genro
quote:Yep...and we'd smuggled a bunch of whiskey inside and consumed it so we were both drunk AND hungry about that time!
McDonald's pies were deep fried back then. A steal IMO
Posted on 2/1/16 at 3:19 pm to I-59 Tiger
quote:You're right!
Actually,Newton was HC
Wimp was working the bench as an assistant back then.Posted on 2/1/16 at 3:20 pm to Cheeky Fellow
Yep. Just based on wins, rankings, SEC titles you could argue Bama was the 2nd best SEC program all time. Until the mid 90s at least. Enormous gap between #1 and #2 obviously, but it doesn't matter because we never had sustained elite success. The perception now is that we're just totally average and I understand it.
Posted on 2/1/16 at 3:25 pm to Cheeky Fellow
quote:
That game and situation kind of seems to sum up Alabama basketball. Close but no cigar. Lots of wins, very good teams, great players, no elite level success (Titles, Final Fours, etc)....for various reasons that just always seem to pop up at each possible breakthrough.
With that said, the 3 year stretch of Alabama basketball from 1973-1974 to 1975-1976 was cruel. Remember you could host a regional and play in it through the 1984 season. The only catch was if you hosted an NCAA tournament, you couldn't go to the NIT.
1973-1974 Alabama was co-champ with Vanderbilt. This was the last year of one bid per conference. Vandy won both regular season meetings so they were the SEC's representative. The Mideast Regional was in Tuscaloosa.So,instead of being in the Sweet 16 at home,Alabama at 22-4 and 15-3 in the SEC-T couldn't even go to the NIT,which was still a big deal.
1974-1975,co-champs with Kentucky but UK swept Alabama. With the tourney expanding there were first round games. Tuscaloosa hosted one --with Kentucky from the SEC. Alabama got its first NCAA bid,but went to Tempe and played Arizona State.
And the great '76 team played one of the best teams ever in the regional round. Had the tourney been like it was now, Alabama probably would have been a #2 seed and wouldn't have been paired with IU until the Elite 8.
Posted on 2/1/16 at 4:17 pm to I-59 Tiger
Good stuff I-59, you are the bar none best SEC Historian on this board
Posted on 2/1/16 at 4:25 pm to I-59 Tiger
quote:
40th anniversary. Truly superb team. Unfortunately for them seeding was a few years off. Probably the second best team that year to Indiana--which is considered one of the best ever.
Thanks for the nod to history. I was a huge basketball fan growing up in Tuscaloosa in the 60-70's and will never forget this team.
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