News and tidbits from Alabama football and other Tide sports – May 27th
By Ronald Evans
The Alabama football and basketball offseasons allow fans time to keep up with all kinds of news and tidbits from those and other Crimson Tide sports.
There was plenty of Alabama football news the past week, plus other Tide sports involved in post-season competition. This weeks report covers football, men’s basketball, softball and the women’s and men’s golf teams.
The past week, the University of Alabama announced Academic Progress Rate (APR) results. The NCAA measurement of APR has become the standard athletic departments use to measure academic success for each sport in relation to other NCAA programs.
The latest NCAA report covers the last four academic cycles concluding with 2016-17 school year. For the fourth year, men’s cross country, women’s golf, gymnastics and softball each received perfect 1,000 scores. Fifteen of the Tide’s 21 teams achieved scores above the national average for their sports.
Eight Crimson Tide teams finished in the top two in the SEC for their respective sports. Gymnastics, softball, women’s golf, women’s swimming and men’s cross country each ranked No. 1 in the SEC. Football, baseball and men’s swimming were ranked No. 2 in the SEC.
More complete details can be found at rolltide.com.
Alabama Football
Earlier we reported on the addition of quarterback Layne Hatcher to the 2018 Crimson Tide roster. Hatcher is a 3-Star prospect, not highly rated by the recruiting services. Clearly, Nick Saban did not want potential transfers and injuries derailing another championship run. The prevailing opinion on message boards is that Saban is wasting a scholarship. We are confident such a complaint is not valid.
Another football note concerns former player Reuben Foster. Foster was cleared of domestic abuse charges when his ex-girlfriend drastically changed her story. Foster was also facing a felony charge in the state of California for possession of an assault rifle. That charge was reduced to a misdemeanor. Reuben also had his Tuscaloosa, misdemeanor drug possession charge dismissed because he completed a court-mandated ‘diversion’ course. He has returned to 49ers off-season work.
Alabama Men’s Basketball
As part of next season’s SEC-Big 12 challenge, the Crimson Tide will play Baylor. The Tide will travel to Waco, TX for the game. Nine other SEC teams will participate in the challenge: Kentucky; Tennessee; Vanderbilt; Ole Miss; Arkansas; Florida; Georgia; Texas A&M and South Carolina.
We will provide a detailed recruiting report in the next couple of weeks. It is early but Avery Johnson just might pull off a 2019 class that will exceed the tremendous 2017 group.
Alabama Golf
The women’s team came close to winning a national championship, losing to Arizona on the first playoff hole of sudden death. The match was a battle of two great teams. Our hats are off to the Crimson Tide women who played some great golf and competed courageously throughout.
The men’s team is competing in the NCAA Finals. After two rounds of stroke play, the Tide men sit at No. 3 with a team score of 3-under par. The Tide men had a record-setting score on Saturday in the second round, shooting 9-under par.
After Sunday’s round, the top 15 teams will compete in a fourth round of stroke play on Monday. After the 72 holes of stroke play is finished Monday, the top eight teams will move on to match play for the national title.
Alabama Softball
Alabama softball lost its Super Regional to Washington in Seattle. Given the team had been on a strong streak of play, failing to win a game against the Huskies was disappointing.
Next: 30 Great Tide Players who were 3-Star Recruits
We linked our list of 30 great Tide players who were 3-Star recruits for a purpose. We are not predicting Layne Hatcher will become a Tide great, but based on the above list, how can any fan know he will not be?