Gump Day: Career night from Jarin Stevenson propels ‘Bama to the biggest hoops game in SEC history

In case you missed it last night, Alabama routed a team that was in the Top 12% nationally in offense and defense; shot 60% from the three-point line; hit 100+ for the 7th time this season; held the talented ‘Horns to just .75 points per possession; went absolutely berserk with 1.3 points per possession; dominated the glass; and stomped an absolute mudhole in the collective steerage of the SEC’s most pampered program.

And it felt marvelous.

Here was Nate after the game:

If you prefer your spiciness in text, here ya’ go. I particularly enjoyed the Xs and Os aspect, where it was a Tide priority to keep Trey Johnson away from the rim in those endless pick and rolls he murders teams with:

“Look, Trey’s really good. Our thing with him was, again, he had a fairly efficient night, to be honest with you. Nine-of-17. To score 24 points on 17 shots is pretty efficient. Not quite as efficient as Jarin, but Jarin is not the focal point of everybody’s defense like Tre is. So our thing with him was, like, we know he’s going to get shots up. We just need to make sure they’re tough, contested. He’s gonna make some. He’s not gonna make enough tough, non-rim twos to beat us. So let’s don’t let him get to the rim. Let’s run him off the 3-point line. We didn’t do a very good job of that at times. We gave up the three in the corner and the underneath at a bounce play. We gave the three in transition. Or we didn’t get matched to him.

“There was a couple threes he got that we didn’t do a good job. But we tried to make sure that they took as many non-rim twos. And I’m looking, we took six non-rim twos and went 3-of-6. They took 20. They were 8-of-20. Looking at their percentage of shots, like 10 percent of our shots were non-rim twos, and almost 30 percent of their shots were non-rim twos. So our thing was, like, we knew they’d settle a little bit for that. So with Tre, we had some traps and some blitzes in that we needed. The problem was we kind of came with the baseline trap and he missed, we were giving up offensive rebounds. So we decided we’d be better off just settling with him taking a tough, contested pull-up over one of our defenders and not giving up the O boards.

Auburn also held serve in their trap game at Vandy, setting up a rare No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup — and, to my knowledge — not only the first time it’s happened in the SEC, but also the first-ever No. 1 vs. No. 1 meeting.

And I’m child-frighteningly old.

There will plenty more on this matchup, but it’s going to be an absolute zoo. Perhaps the best regular season matchup since those 1999 No. 1 vs. 2 Duke / UNC clashes.

This is what I made my Faustian bargain for: a basketball superpower. #BOG

It’s not just that ‘Bama / ‘Barn are No. 1 and No. 1. Half of the Top 10 are from the SEC, including the top four of the Coaches poll. Even devoted Dookie alum Jay Bilas has been stunned at the nightly talent on display in the SEC, calling it “the best-ever.”

Most games in conference play are Quad 1 opportunities for a conference that features four of the top six teams in the NCAA’s NET rankings. Auburn is in a tier of its own with a national-best 11 wins in the first quadrant, while Tennessee is in sole possession of second place on that leaderboard with its eight victories. March Madness résumés from the SEC could even be so strong that the league produces multiple No. 1 seeds. [Edit: Alabama grabbed it’s 8th Q1 last night].

“I have never seen anything remotely like what we’re seeing in the Southeastern Conference this year,” said Bilas. “The non-conference success has not been seen since the ACC in the mid-1980s. That’s so long ago I played in the league back then. But the biggest difference in comparing those two is the ACC was eight teams then. It’s a lot easier to have eight really good teams than it is to have 16 really good teams.

“And the SEC has, top to bottom, the best league in the country, by far. They’re blowing away every other conference with the numbers they’ve put up this year.”

The SEC was always a bit of a sleeping giant, hoops-wise. It is a target-rich environment, demographically speaking, and that talent advantage is compounded with weather that affords nearly year-round playing opportunities. (Similar effect to what we seen in Latin American baseball: sport-obsessed, poorer talented local population with weather suitable for a competitive advantage, and cheap price of entry into participation).

The SEC was only ever lacking one thing: Commitment to resource the sport. Once a new crop of outsider ADs were in place, and flush with cash from 20 years of football title domination, what else was there to spend it on? We fortunately landed on basketball spending. And with the money, came excellent hiring, improved facilities, commitment to NIL…and lots of regional players to spend it on.

The SEC may not be this dominant again for a while: Florida, Alabama, Auburn, A&M, and Tennessee are veteran-laden teams (with a lot of Super Seniors.) But the SEC also isn’t going away either. The foundation is there for sustained success.

The dirty secret, is that was always there — it just needed the money.

Was it an easy road to a victory last night? Not as easy as Alabama’s inflammable shooting suggests. Coach Oats had plenty to grouse about afterwards, including this team’s biggest bugaboo:

One area that could help Alabama climb to the top of college basketball standing is cutting down on turnovers. The Tide gave the ball away 17 times against Texas, which turned those into 26 points. The Horns scored 39 points off of turnovers and second-chance points (13). While it was an efficient shooting night, Oats knows there are still areas to clean up.

“We had way too many turnovers again,” Oats said. “That’s becoming a major issue with us. Gotta give Texas a lot of credit. They got into us. They were physical with us. They forced some turnovers. And I thought they played hard.

“… So we were fortunate to get these two wins on the road trip, both Arkansas and here. Now, we got to lock in. We’ve got a pretty tough stretch here these last seven games coming up.”

Seriously, Mark’s hero-ball and dribbling in iso for 10 seconds is killing us. He’s not that guy. This is not that offense.

In the stupidest timeline…

Not to be outdone by our neighbors, the Alabama state legislature decided that it was a great use of taxpayer resources to promulgate tax-free NIL relief similar to that afforded by Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and now Georgia. Three of those states have no personal income tax, and Georgia is carving it out for their pampered pooches in Athens.

It will not shock you to know that it was proposed by a member of the ‘Barn district — himself an Auburn alum — and conveniently sunsets just as Hugh Freeze’s contract is set to expire.

A new bill could aid the recruiting and roster management efforts of Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer and other college coaches in the state.

State representative Joe Lovvorn of Auburn is seeking to create what he says is a “competitive edge” for college athletes in Alabama by making their name, image and likeness earnings exempt from Alabama’s individual income tax.

Lovvorn introduced House Bill 240, the Competitive Edge NIL Tax Cut Act, on Tuesday.

Representatives Danny Garrett (R-Trussville) and Chris Blackshear (R-Phenix City) helped write the bill.

The bill, if it is signed into law, would go into effect on October 1. It would apply retroactively to Jan. 1, 2025, and remain in effect through the end of 2027.

Look, I get it. You can’t hamstring the state institutions; there’s simply too much at stake in modern college athletics.

But I would also dare venture a guess that there are higher fiscal priorities for the 7th poorest state in the country (with 1 in 6 people in persistent poverty), with the 6th worst education, where 12% of people go without regular meals, that has the 4th highest rate of STDs, the 5th highest rate of children born out of wedlock, and the 5th most corrupt state government..but call me silly.

Sometimes I think democracy was a mistake.

We criticize him for sure. But last night, Jarin was a force to be reckoned with, notching a career night for him:

Alabama had its best 3-point shooting night since the 2021-22 season on Tuesday night at Texas. The Crimson Tide made 17 of its 29 shots from beyond the arc in a 103-80 win.

Four of those triples were made by sophomore forward Jarin Stevenson, whose career-high 22 points helped Alabama claim its seventh consecutive victory. It marked just the fifth game this season that Stevenson scored in double figures and knocked down multiple threes.

“Jarin, we know (he) can really shoot it, but he hasn’t shot it this well in a game yet this year,” said Alabama head coach Nate Oats. “But he did make five threes to send us to the Final Four last year when we beat Clemson in the Elite Eight. So he’s stepped up in big games before and had great shooting games. He ends up with a career-high.”

Stevenson scored Alabama’s first five points of the game. He missed a 3-pointer at the 15:59 mark of the first half but proceeded to make every other shot he took inside the Moody Center, going 7-of-8 from the field, 4-of-5 from deep and 4-of-4 at the free-throw line.

Thirteen of Stevenson’s points came in the second half, where he went 3-of-3 from 3-point land. The 6-foot-11 forward also recorded four rebounds and one block in his 20 minutes.

Grant got the hardhat. Mark won the +/- battle. But it was a night for some guys who’ve been cold or on the mend (Philon went nuts too). Let’s hope Stevenson’s great play extends to the next 12-15 games, eh?

Finally, apropos of absolutely nothing, I leave you with this short of my favorite judge in America — Houston County judge Hon. David Fleischer. He’s become bit of a viral sensation, with his no-BS approach to prosecutors, compassionate tough-love for defendants, willingness to help anyone in his court…and world-class sartorial style.

He’s a hoot, and this is one fun rabbit hole to dive into when you’re doomscrolling in the family reading room.

See? We can end a little less cynically for a change, eh? We need more like him.

Have a great one.

Row Tahd