Chris Stewart Sports

I'm sorry I didn't get to write after last night's loss to Oregon, but there was a very quick turnaround from last night until this morning's game with Chaminade. Also, like most of you, I was so disgusted by the Crinson Tide's "second half debacle", as Mark Gottfried described it, that I just wanted to go to bed and get ready for Game Two.

Alabama didn't handle the adversity that came with tight officiating as well as Oregon did, and thus a close game at the half turned into a blowout. Today, the Tide was definitely better, but I think the game with Saint Joseph's will be a very big one.

The Tide needs a win over a quality team from a reputable conference, and Saint Joe's and the A-10 certainly fit that description. Alabama needs to win this game to feel like they accomplished something here in Maui. It won't be the same as beating Oregon and having the opportunity to face North Carolina and Notre Dame or Texas, but it would still be a positive way to end the trip.

On a side note, it was very interesting to watch Indiana today and see just how decimated this program is right now because of the mess Kelvin Sampson left behind. It truly looks like an intramural team out there. It's not that Tom Crean's squad doesn't play hard (because they do) and execute what he wants at times, but they are just painfully untalented - which is mind-boggling when you think of what Hoosier Basketball has looked like over the years.

It also made me think about how Alabama's football program looked during our down times caused by NCAA probation. It made me appreciate the competitive level at which Tide teams played throughout most of its probationary period. I don't think the Tide's talent level in football was as low as Indiana's in basketball. But I also think you can build your program back more quickly in basketball - especially somewhere like IU where the tradition is so great.

Seeing the Hoosiers in that condition also made me very thankful that time is now over for Alabama's football program. The Tide is No. 1 in America, set to close out a perfect regular season against Auburn, and is assured of a spot in the SEC title game - in which a national championship game berth will hang in the balance. 

Our long national (okay, statewide) nightmare is over, and the Tide has risen once again.

 Even from 4,500 miles away....you can still sense it's Iron Bowl week.

Aloha, Rammer Jammer, and Roll Tide!!!!!!!