Alabama GameThread

There's no way around it: January delivers an alarming dose of #SECBasketballFever. An alarming dose. Symptoms may include the following:

• Headaches
• Muscle aches
• Loss of appetite
• Small orange field goal posts shaped in a circle
• Multiple forward passes on the same possession
• A team's score increasing by a multiple other than seven
• Games with fewer total points than the 2014 Iron Bowl

Fight the urge to remedy these ills. Embrace the pain, skip the trip to CVS, and bunker down. Because SEC Conference basketball has arrived.

Who: Alabama Crimson Tide (9-3 (0-0), 8-0 home)

When: 8:00 PM CST (SEC Network)

Where: Coleman Coliseum

Y'all, this is going to be some tough sledding. The Tide have put in a series of strong, consistent performances over the winter, with the exception of the SEC-mandated home scare against an underwhelming opponent (Appalachain St. on 12/21).

They have no losses at home (like us), they employ above average defense (like us), and they have taken a couple of really good teams to the wire away from the friendly confines (umm, not like us).

Make no mistake, this Alabama squad slots comfortably in the top half of the SEC. It's a stark test against another program that's expecting to make the NIT, but if we want to take the next step we have to start showing up on the road.

Personally, I don't see it happening today. Not because we don't have the talent, but because I'm pretty much forced to predict poor showings away from home until otherwise noted. I hope I'm wrong.