Happy Monday, everyone. It was another positive basketball weekend, as the men won on the road in Fayetteville despite making it a bit harder than it needed to be, and the women took care of business vs Mississippi State.
The No. 23/23 Alabama women’s basketball team defeated Mississippi State, 80-60, Sunday afternoon in Starkville, Miss. The win marks the fastest a Crimson Tide team has reached 20 wins as the team improved to 20-5 overall and 7-4 in SEC play.
Sarah Ashlee Barker led Alabama as one of four starters to score in double figures. Barker recorded her second double-double in as many games, scoring 19 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and tying her career-high eight assists. Essence Cody posted 17 points, while Zaay Green and Aaliyah Nye each scored 12 points. Karly Weathers added nine points with three assists as the UA starting five scored 69 of the Tide’s total 80 points. Barker (four) and Nye (three) combined for seven of the team’s nine steals.
Mississippi State is solidly projected to be a NCAA team, so dominating them in that fashion is impressive. ESPN Bracketology has them as an 8-seed currently, and Alabama a 6. That was last updated on Friday though, so the Tide may well move up a line. Keep rolling, ladies.
You may have heard about a little football game in New Orleans last night. The Philadelphia Eagles were able to stop the Kansas City Chiefs short of a historic threepeat in resounding fashion, thanks in large part to a nasty defensive front that thoroughly shut down Patrick Mahomes. The night and MVP award, however, belonged to one Jalen Hurts.
The Chiefs clearly came into the game determined to shut down superstar RB Saquon Barkley, who had a career year in 2024. They were pretty successful against the run but Jalen obliged them with 77% passing for 221 yards and two TDs, plus 72 on the ground and another score. He had a pretty rough interception in the first half, but that’s a minor blemish on an otherwise stellar night.
Jalen’s full story is being told today, and it’s a beautiful one.
The doubt has long outweighed the support, dating back to college when he led the University of Alabama to the national title game as a freshman, lost, and a year later was benched for Tua Tagovailoa. He stuck around as a backup, and then transferred to Oklahoma. The Eagles were mocked for drafting him; some pundits called him a running back cosplaying as a quarterback. It became clear that he wasn’t, but he was still doubted. He was holding the Eagles back, until he wasn’t. Hurts was tremendous in Super Bowl LVII two years ago, but it didn’t matter because they lost. As he piled up big numbers last year, the focus shifted to his relationship with Nick Siranni, as the Eagles unraveled and were blown out in the first round of the playoffs. Even this season, the compliments were backhanded. This is a historically talented Eagles team, will Hurts hold them back?
He didn’t, he doesn’t, and Sunday was the proof.
DeVonta Smith was Jalen’s primary target on the night, finishing with four catches for 69 yards including this dagger.
DeVonta is now in rare air in his own right.
Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith joined some elite company in football history on Sunday night after winning Super Bowl LIX against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Smith became just the fifth player in the sport’s history to win a Heisman Trophy, a college national championship and a Super Bowl in his career. He joins Hall of Famers Charles Woodson, Marcus Allen, Tony Dorsett and Reggie Bush as the only players ever to achieve all three feats.
Landon Dickerson is a starter on the Eagles’ offensive line, and he was asked about Nick Saban’s influence.
During a Super Bowl Week interview with another former Alabama player, Slade Bolden, Dickerson shared what being coached by Saban had meant to him.
“Coach Saban does a tremendous job with every guy that he coached and mentored,” Dickerson said, “not only for big games and big moments in football, but in life, too. You know what I mean? You’re going to have times, moments bigger than this where you got to be a man and step up, and I think coach did a great job of kind of getting us ready – just men — so I appreciate everything he did for us.”
What a run we had, folks. What a run.
Kalen DeBoer still has plenty to prove, but count Scott Cochran among his believers.
“I met coach DeBoer one time because I was going to see former players. … What a great guy,” Cochran said, per the Tuscaloosa News. “Seemed awesome, down to earth. And the players seemed to really like him.
“When I talked to (Ryan Williams) about it, he was like, ‘Man, (DeBoer’s) a great recruiter.’ He had all all these great things to say about him. And I was like, ‘Well, that’s where you need to go,’ because at the time, I was stepping out. So I’ve heard nothing but good things.
“Now everybody thinks they can put their opinions out there. But I’m sure he’ll take that place back to new heights. I feel like he’ll do a great job.”
Emilee Smarr examines whether Nate Oats can ever get people referring to Alabama as a basketball school.
“We’re definitely not a blue blood,” Oats said, “because we’ve only been to the one Final Four and haven’t won a national championship here, but a basketball school? … I think there’s five schools in the country who reached three out of the last four Sweet 16s. It’s Gonzaga, Houston, UCLA, Creighton and us.”
College basketball betting expert Thomas Casale of SportsLine.com thinks Alabama has an additional hurdle.
“It’s almost impossible for them to be a basketball school because of their history,” Casale said. “Alabama has had two of the five greatest coaches in the history of the sport for football (in Saban and Paul W. “Bear” Bryant). … College football is bigger in the South than pro sports. It’s the only area in the country where that’s true.”
It’s an uphill battle, but he’s doing a fine job.
Last, Justin Thomas finished tied for 6th at the WM Phoenix Open at -15 on the weekend, but his last shot was the highlight of the tournament.
That’s about it for today. Have a great week.
Roll Tide.
