re: Alabama Basketball Megathread | 26-7 (16-2)

The women win game one of the season 83-68.

Wow, #8 Illinois scored 122 points in their opener today. Doesn't matter who they were playing, that's impressive.

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Before Jacksonville State and Alabama tip off in three hours, here are a few things to know about the Gamecocks.

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11 of 15 players are newcomers

There will be a lot of new faces on the hardwood for the Gamecocks.

Only one returning starter – 6-foot-7 guard/forward Kayne Henry – is on the roster. Henry is the returning leading returning player in scoring (10.9), rebounding (6.9) and assists (0.7). The senior was one of three Gamecocks to average double figures last season and led the team in rebounds.

Transfers from North Carolina, Georgia, Troy

Of the 11 newcomers, three are Division I transfers.

Brandon Huffman, a 6-10 forward/center, was a Tar Heel the previous three seasons. The senior played in 70 games at North Carolina and scored 96 points, blocked 14 shots and grabbed 78 rebounds. His career-high of seven points came against UNCW as a sophomore.

Jacksonville State coach Ray Harper recently said, "I don't think you'll see those kind of numbers here" when speaking of Huffman.

Another newcomer is 6-9 forward Amanze Ngumezi, a junior from Georgia. He was with JSU last season but had to sit out because of the NCAA transfer rules.

Ngumezi started the first seven games of last season before transferring, averaging 6.1 points and 2.4 rebounds in 15.3 minutes. He scored a career-high 16 points against Delaware State.

Ngumezi has played at Coleman Coliseum before, scoring eight points on 3 of 5 shooting on Feb. 6, 2019.

Darian Adams is a graduate transfer from Troy. The 6-3 guard started 21 games last season as a junior, averaging 12.1 points per game.

A lot of success under coach Ray Harper

The Gamecocks finished 13-19 last season, but posted three consecutive 20-wins seasons prior.

In coach Ray Harper's first season as coach in 2016-17, the Gamecocks finished 20-15 and won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament. Jacksonville State landed the No. 15 seed in its first March Madness trip and fell to No. 2 seed Louisville, 78-63.

Harper is 80-56 at JSU heading into his fifth season at Jacksonville. His overall coaching record is 511-183.

Harper has won four national championships in his 21-year career (two in Division II, two in NAIA).

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I want to believe we are going to be really really good. But I been going at this shite for 30 years....my heart can’t take another disappointment. I’m scared.

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like the optimism in this thread, but I just can't bring myself to share it.

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These last 5 years have been the worst because they’ve all been the same.

1. Hyped up in preseason.

2. Come out and struggle the first few games and we melt/declare how awful we are in this thread.

3. Find a rhythm going into Conference play to get our hopes up again.

4. Win a few big games in conference we shouldn’t and lose some we shouldn’t to get us squarely on the bubble.

5. Hype ourselves up because we have a manageable schedule down the stretch that we should do well against.

6. End up Choking and being awful at end of season to miss the tournament.

7. Accept NIT bid with hopes of building towards next year.

8. Lose NIT game to end season.

9. Start back all over at #1

Tonight is the beginning of what is going to be a really fun decade of Alabama basketball.

Hustle on and find a seat.

I know they're young, but Kentucky has a lot of talent out there.

Isiah Jackson looks good so far. Damn would have been nice to have gotten him

Oats came out of nowhere and finished 2nd. He might have got him if Isaiah waited until April.

Yeah, Jackson is looking good so far.

Earlier they said he is the fastest guy on the team baseline to baseline.

He's 6'10".