Alabama Basketball History (Watch the Teasers!)

[3rdandLong]

I've followed Bama basketball when they were good (like most football fans) but find it hard to get interested during down times. I decided to read more about Alabama basketball history and was pleasantly surprised at what I found.

I do remember my grand father telling me many years ago about Bama's Rocket 8 I believe? I'm not sure if that was the exact phrase. Anyway, I was surprised to see Bama (Through today) has more all time wins than programs like Arkansas (just barely), Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Kansas State Pittsburg, Marquette and barely trails Georgetown. Did not know all this!

 

[BJ4TIDE]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

Interesting stuff. I would suggest changing the thread title to something that lets people know what the topic is. This is a "teaser" title.

 

[GreatMarch]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

I once heard someone say that Bama had the most wins in SEC history in football and baseball. We were second in basketball wins all time. Not sure if that is accurate but, if it is, that is pretty impressive.

 

[day-day]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

Definitely 2nd in all time SEC basketball wins.

 

[Alasippi]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

My Dad said the Rocket 8 was the best team in the nation. I believe their coach was Johnny Dee, who went on to Coach for many years at Notre Dame.
Somehow they didn't make the National Tournament even though they were undefeated(As I recall). I believe it was because they played freshmen or something like that.

But they were unbeatable according to my Father, who always listened to every Bama Radio Broadcast .

I can attest for a fact, because I was there in the 70's........that from the early 70's to the late 80's overall, Bama was easily one of the top five basketball programs in America in my opinion.

The 76 team, under Coach C.M. Newton, with Leon Douglas, TR Dunn, Amp Murray, Rickey Brown,Reggie "Mule" King, and Keith McCord was the most talented team in America. I remember Tennessee legendary Coach Ray Mears saying, "Alabama is head and shoulders above anybody". And that was the year he had Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld.
That year Bama lost in the closing seconds to an undefeated Indiana team in the semi finals of the Mid East Regional. Bobby Knight still say's it was the best team he ever coached against.

They ended up 30-0 and won the national title. Honestly, we should have beaten them.

Wimp Sanderson also, had some pretty terrific teams in spite of himself....lol....

But in retrospect, he may have been the best recruiter in Bama history.

I just can't get over his philosophy when we were playing Loyola Marymount in the Sweet 16. They were the highest scoring team in college basketball.

We ran a stall. A complete stall, and lost a close game in the final seconds.

After the game Wimp explained that he ran the stall because he didn't think we had the talent to run with them.

Our starting line up was Robert Horry, Latrell Sprewell, Hollywood Robinson, Jason Caffe...and a little point guard whose name I can't remember.

Our sixth man was Keith Askins.

Five of those six players were drafted in the first two rounds of the NBA draft. Marymount didn't have a player drafted.

Yet we didn't have enough talent to run with them.

I'm not a Wimp fan.

But yeah....Bama had quite a run in the 70's and 80's.

We've had our stellar moments since.....but at one time...we were pretty darn scary.

I think we're getting close to that point again. Grant is an outstanding coach.

Sip

 

[day-day]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

...Wimp Sanderson also, had some pretty terrific teams in spite of himself....lol....

But in retrospect, he may have been the best recruiter in Bama history.

I just can't get over his philosophy when we were playing Loyola Marymount in the Sweet 16. They were the highest scoring team in college basketball.

We ran a stall. A complete stall, and lost a close game in the final seconds.

After the game Wimp explained that he ran the stall because he didn't think we had the talent to run with them.

Our starting line up was Robert Horry, Latrell Sprewell, Hollywood Robinson, Jason Caffe...and a little point guard whose name I can't remember.

Our sixth man was Keith Askins.

Five of those six players were drafted in the first two rounds of the NBA draft. Marymount didn't have a player drafted.

Yet we didn't have enough talent to run with them.

I'm not a Wimp fan.

...
Sip

I've always thought Bama could have run away in the Loyola Maramount game as well; just like UNLV did in the next round of the tourny. LM could not handle Bama's defense. Bama had the athletes to match up with Johnson, Augmon, and their guard (can't remember his name) on UNLV while most teams in the country did not; maybe the only team in the county that could match up to the unbeaten Runnin Rebels. Cheatum was the leading scorer and a very fine college player but didn't have NBA talent like Horry, Benoit, and Askins. Sanders was the point; another of the very good point guards under Coach Sanderson. (Robinson, Sprewell, and Caffey weren't at Bama yet.)

 

[lorange]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

In that game we passed up lay up after lay up. We could have forced Loyola out of their press by scoring. Instead they were encouraged because we were passive. We had just beaten Arizona. David Hobbs convinced Wimp that holding the ball was our only hope. Wrong!!

 

[Alasippi]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

I've always thought Bama could have run away in the Loyola Maramount game as well; just like UNLV did in the next round of the tourny. LM could not handle Bama's defense. Bama had the athletes to match up with Johnson, Augmon, and their guard (can't remember his name) on UNLV while most teams in the country did not; maybe the only team in the county that could match up to the unbeaten Runnin Rebels. Cheatum was the leading scorer and a very fine college player but didn't have NBA talent like Horry, Benoit, and Askins. Sanders was the point; another of the very good point guards under Coach Sanderson. (Robinson, Sprewell, and Caffey weren't at Bama yet.)

I stand corrected....lol...I guess my time machine blew a gasket Thanks for the info. But YES....we could have blown them out of the gym just like UNLV did.

 

[3rdandLong]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

If you mention Bama basketball to other fans around the country you usually get laughed at. We're perceived as a football school only, and rightfully so to an extent. But nobody realizes that Bama has only had 3 losing seasons in basketball since the late 70s/early 80s. If we do something significant like make a tournament run we're look at as a Cinderella type team.

 

[RamJamHam]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

I just can't get over his philosophy when we were playing Loyola Marymount in the Sweet 16. They were the highest scoring team in college basketball.

We ran a stall. A complete stall, and lost a close game in the final seconds.

After the game Wimp explained that he ran the stall because he didn't think we had the talent to run with them.Sip

And he was right. There's running, and then there's running. LMU was of the mindset that if you scored, that was OK because they got the ball back. We were in no way prepared for that sort of mindset and the tempo it would require. LMU had been doing it all season. We also did not come close to matching the athletes on that UNLV squad.

Your general point is a good one, however. I always though that Wimp's teams that actually had a collection of NBA stars were hampered a bit by his conservative coaching. I think it was 1992 when we played three epic games against a very talented Arkansas team, and we won two of them. In those games we ran with them a little, but it seemed like he was always holding back.

 

[day-day]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

I stand corrected....lol...I guess my time machine blew a gasket Thanks for the info. But YES....we could have blown them out of the gym just like UNLV did.

It happens to me as well... Probably because Bama had so many solid teams through the 76 team and up to McDyess and some squads had star players that over-lapped from one strong group to the next. There were so many squads that were more than capable to get to the final 8 or 4 of the NCAA tournament but either through bad luck or bad coaching, they didn't make it.

 

[GreatMarch]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

I do not know if true but I always heard that 76 team lost to IU because there was a no dunk rule. We had a breakaway or backdoor and without the dunk Leon Douglas missed an easy layup where as if he could have dunked, 2 points and the win. After the possession I think we fouled and IU hit their FTs. I heard Knight on JOX with Wimp and Sonny (when JOX was tolerable) and Knight said that we were the best team he had ever seen and we deserved that game because we outplayed IU and he even thought we were a better team than his Hoosiers. Interesting footnote in history. I have heard some say that if we had won that game, we would have won the Natl Championship and CM may have never left Bama.

 

[BAMA1979]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

Definitely 2nd in all time SEC basketball wins.

Also, 2nd in SEC regular season championships and 2nd in SEC tournament championships.

We are 4th in the SEC in NCAA tournament appearances behind Kentucky, Arkansas, and LSU.

Kentucky and Arkansas are the only SEC teams with winning records against us. Arkansas barely has a winning record against us.

 

[bama61]

I've followed Bama basketball when they were good (like most football fans) but find it hard to get interested during down times. I decided to read more about Alabama basketball history and was pleasantly surprised at what I found.

I do remember my grand father telling me many years ago about Bama's Rocket 8 I believe? I'm not sure if that was the exact phrase. Anyway, I was surprised to see Bama (Through today) has more all time wins than programs like Arkansas (just barely), Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Kansas State Pittsburg, Marquette and barely trails Georgetown. Did not know all this!

The Rocket Eight was a lot of fun to watch and Johnny Dee was indeed the coach. That group holds the distinction of being the first team to score in triple digits against Kentucky. They won 101-77 and it would have been worse if Adolph Rupp hadn't of had Kentucky slow the game down in an effort to keep Alabama from breaking a hundred. Georgia paid the price for that embarrassment, they played Kentucky a couple of nights later and Kentucky laid something like 140 points on them. Fun times in old Foster Auditorium when the Rocket Eight played.

Here's a link to one of my favorite stories involving the Rocket Eight:

Horse Bogan got bitten

 

[CrimsonEyeshade]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

I do not know if true but I always heard that 76 team lost to IU because there was a no dunk rule. We had a breakaway or backdoor and without the dunk Leon Douglas missed an easy layup where as if he could have dunked, 2 points and the win. After the possession I think we fouled and IU hit their FTs. I heard Knight on JOX with Wimp and Sonny (when JOX was tolerable) and Knight said that we were the best team he had ever seen and we deserved that game because we outplayed IU and he even thought we were a better team than his Hoosiers. Interesting footnote in history. I have heard some say that if we had won that game, we would have won the Natl Championship and CM may have never left Bama.

What a game, agonizing as it turned out. Hoosiers jumped us 9-0, as I recall. But once our eyes cleared, we just kept clawing back. We took the lede with about 3 minutes to go on a turn-around by Keith McCord, a true freshman who later transferred to UAB, and led by as many as five. But we missed free throws, Leon rolled around Benson and missed a bunny, and then the most controversial call of the game swung it. Block, and Benson is gone with his fifth foul. But they bought his flop and Leon got the foul.

Indiana did what great teams do. They steeled themselves when they had to. But for a couple of trips down the court, they were dead, and we let them back up.

Back to C.M.: Great man, Alabama hero, and instrumental in making the SEC, for a time, as good a basketball conference as could be found anywhere. Glad he's back in town.

 

[imauafan]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

I agree with Wimp's philosophy in the LMU game. They would have worn us out by mid-way through the 2nd half just like they did every other team they played that year. UNLV had the talent and stamina to hang with them. We had the talent but not the stamina. Of course, who knows what actually would have happened had Wimp turned them loose but IMHO his strategy was correct. The year prior we lost to USA in the first round due to horrible officiating. In the next round we would have faced Michigan who went on to win the NC. I feel like if we had beaten USA we would have also beaten Michigan because they had not yet caught fire and we were playing some very good basketball. I'm not sure if we could have won it all that year but we definitely could have made some noise.

 

[day-day]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

Good point imauafan about the stamina in the LMU game and like you said, we'll never know how a different game plan would have played out. If Alabama had run with them and then tired out down the stretch it could have turned nasty. Coach Sanderson would have had to substitute a little more than he liked.

There was one point in the 2nd half of that game when Bama's defense stuffed LMU and then scored quickly off of the fast break a couple of times during a short streak. Bama started to pull away with a 6 or 7 point lead and I thought Coach Sanderson had "released the offense" and Bama was going to run away with the game; however, Bama slowed up again and the game stayed close. (At least that's the way I remember it...?)

 

[SouthBaman]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

My Dad said the Rocket 8 was the best team in the nation. I believe their coach was Johnny Dee, who went on to Coach for many years at Notre Dame.
Somehow they didn't make the National Tournament even though they were undefeated(As I recall). I believe it was because they played freshmen or something like that.

Your dad was on the right track! According to Clyde Bolton's The Basketball Tide, the 1956 "Rocket 8" won the SEC championship with a 14-0 conference record, finished the season 21-3, and were the first team to ever lay 100+ points on the Kentucky Wildcats (101-77). Five Tide players were ineligible to play in the NCAA tournament because they played as freshmen, so Alabama let Kentucky represent the SEC rather than compete with bench-warmers. Bill Russell's San Francisco team won the tournament and Alabama finished 5th in the polls.

 

[ElephanTideis]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

Your dad was on the right track! According to Clyde Bolton's The Basketball Tide, the 1956 "Rocket 8" won the SEC championship with a 14-0 conference record, finished the season 21-3, and were the first team to ever lay 100+ points on the Kentucky Wildcats (101-77). Five Tide players were ineligible to play in the NCAA tournament because they played as freshmen, so Alabama let Kentucky represent the SEC rather than compete with bench-warmers. Bill Russell's San Francisco team won the tournament and Alabama finished 5th in the polls.

So if it weren't for a rule that disallowed freshman from competition, Alabama might have a national title in basketball.

 

[rhunter]

Re: I wasn't aware of this

I think it's a case where our Football tradition is so far ahead of all SEC and any Southern teams, that when you talk Bama Basketball in most places you get the blank stare- Besides the great consistency, you have championships and solid NCAA runs- (some could have been a game or two better I guess!). CAG will get us back at the level we were in the 80's and early 90's with every year runs of NCAA and some new banners to hang. Hopefully he stays 10-15 years at least and doesn't leave.