UA Men's Basketball Non-Conference Scheduled Finalized
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
University of Alabama men's head basketball coach Avery Johnson announced the 2015-16 non-conference schedule this afternoon. This year's line-up should be more challenging for the Crimson Tide.
Bama opens on November 13th hosing Kennesaw State. This will be the debut for coach Avery Johnson in his new position. The Tide will then hit the road going to Dayton on November 17th and will be televised as part of ESPN's Tip-Off Marathon. That will be played at Noon CT. November 20th Bama goes to Orlando, Florida to participate in the 2015 AdvoCare Invitational over the Thanksgiving weekend. Bama's first game of the Invitation will be November 26th against Xavier on ESPN2 at 11 AM CT. The Tide would then face either Wichita State or USC in the second round on November 27th. The final game of the tourney is to be played on November 29th.
The month of December rolls around with Bama on the road for two consecutive games. December 4th the Tide will face Southern Miss before going to Clemson on December 13th. The non-conference schedule concludes with a four-game home stand. The first is actually in Birmingham on December 21st hosting Oregon in Legacy arena. Then it's Winthrop on the 16th, Jacksonville State on the 29th, and finally Norfolk State on January 2, 2016.
It should be noted that the Crimson Tide will play one exhibition game this season, and that will be November 6th. Bama will host Trevecca Nazarene at Coleman Coliseum.
The entire schedule will be released at a later date, according to RollTide.com.
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Today 1st Full Pads Practice Of Fall Camp
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
Today was the first day for full pads during Fall Camp. The Crimson Tide suited up and practiced today for two hours inside the Hank Crisp Indoor Facility. Fundamentals and conditioning were the key ingredients in today's practice session.
Day five is now over, with 23 more to go before Bama's season-opener with Wisconsin on September 5th. The Tide will suit up for their first intra-squad scrimmage on Saturday, August 15th and allow the coaches to get a look at the players in a somewhat game-like atmosphere.
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Fall Football Practice Injury Report
Though he went down with what was believed to be a significant knee injury, Alabama's Cam Robinson was back practicing yesterday at Fan Day in Bryant-Denny Stadium. There appeared to be no noticeable limitations due to that sprained knee.
Tight end Ty Flournoy-Smith was back practicing yesterday after suffering a twisted ankle.
Suffering from a pulled muscle, cornerback Marlon Humphrey was held out of practice. Head coach Nick Saban says that Humphrey will miss "a few days", according to AL.com.
Wide receiver Chris Black is listed day-to-day, according to Saban, with a twisted ankle.
Though suspended for the first four games of the season, freshman running back Bo Scarbrough did practice with the tailbacks yesterday. Due to a knew injury he was wearing a black, no-contact jersey as well as heavy wrapping around the right knee and wearing a brace.
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Kirby Smart On Defense
University of Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart took about 15 minutes yesterday to discuss the Crimson Tide defense for 2015. They key word for his comments was "excited." He did say, however, there are areas that needed to be cleaned up if this current defense was going to join the great defenses of the past.
This is the first time Smart has addressed the media in quite some time. And most likely the last time to hear from him officially until the bowl season arrives. Head coach Nick Saban usually deals with the media.
Smart said, "We’re excited about this unit. Trying to improve in a lot of areas. Did not have the kind of season we’re used to standard-wise at the University of Alabama. I think the last seven years, in our seven-year goals, last year’s group was the worst goal-wise of the last seven years. So we’re trying to improve in a lot of those areas."
Earlier Saban had commented on the turnover situation with the defense last year compared with other defenses of the past. He emphasized how during practices this year, spring and now in the fall camp, making turnovers was a priority. Kirby addressed that very area himself.
Kirby commented, “We always say to be a great defense you’ve got to get turnovers, and we didn’t do that last year. You cannot give up big plays, and we didn’t do that last year – we gave up a lot of big plays. The third thing for us is third down and that’s always saved us from being really good in third down area, and we weren’t very good at that last year. But we were good in the red area, which is the fourth spot to be really good. You want to be a great team in the red area, and we were good with that. And that helped us finish sixth in scoring average in the country and kind of saved us there.
“But obviously those aren’t the expectations we’ve got, we want to be good in turnovers, we want to be good in third down and we want to be good in not giving up big plays, so we’re really emphasizing that this camp, especially the turnovers and trying to change that, it’s a habit. This is a good group, we’re really deep in the D-line, we’ve got some guys back in the secondary. I’m back with linebackers, which is exciting for me. I’m back with Reggie (Ragland) and Reuben (Foster), some of those guys that I was with a couple of years ago.”
Smart took questions from the media, mostly dealing with specific players. Overall, he was very complimentary of their work ethic and what the future held for them at Alabama.
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Fall Football Practice Injury Report
Though he went down with what was believed to be a significant knee injury, Alabama's Cam Robinson was back practicing yesterday at Fan Day in Bryant-Denny Stadium. There appeared to be no noticeable limitations due to that sprained knee.
Tight end Ty Flournoy-Smith was back practicing yesterday after suffering a twisted ankle.
Suffering from a pulled muscle, cornerback Marlon Humphrey was held out of practice. Head coach Nick Saban says that Humphrey will miss "a few days", according to AL.com.
Wide receiver Chris Black is listed day-to-day, according to Saban, with a twisted ankle.
Though suspended for the first four games of the season, freshman running back Bo Scarbrough did practice with the tailbacks yesterday. Due to a knew injury he was wearing a black, no-contact jersey as well as heavy wrapping around the right knee and wearing a brace.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kirby Smart On Defense
University of Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart took about 15 minutes yesterday to discuss the Crimson Tide defense for 2015. They key word for his comments was "excited." He did say, however, there are areas that needed to be cleaned up if this current defense was going to join the great defenses of the past.
This is the first time Smart has addressed the media in quite some time. And most likely the last time to hear from him officially until the bowl season arrives. Head coach Nick Saban usually deals with the media.
Smart said, "We’re excited about this unit. Trying to improve in a lot of areas. Did not have the kind of season we’re used to standard-wise at the University of Alabama. I think the last seven years, in our seven-year goals, last year’s group was the worst goal-wise of the last seven years. So we’re trying to improve in a lot of those areas."
Earlier Saban had commented on the turnover situation with the defense last year compared with other defenses of the past. He emphasized how during practices this year, spring and now in the fall camp, making turnovers was a priority. Kirby addressed that very area himself.
Kirby commented, “We always say to be a great defense you’ve got to get turnovers, and we didn’t do that last year. You cannot give up big plays, and we didn’t do that last year – we gave up a lot of big plays. The third thing for us is third down and that’s always saved us from being really good in third down area, and we weren’t very good at that last year. But we were good in the red area, which is the fourth spot to be really good. You want to be a great team in the red area, and we were good with that. And that helped us finish sixth in scoring average in the country and kind of saved us there.
“But obviously those aren’t the expectations we’ve got, we want to be good in turnovers, we want to be good in third down and we want to be good in not giving up big plays, so we’re really emphasizing that this camp, especially the turnovers and trying to change that, it’s a habit. This is a good group, we’re really deep in the D-line, we’ve got some guys back in the secondary. I’m back with linebackers, which is exciting for me. I’m back with Reggie (Ragland) and Reuben (Foster), some of those guys that I was with a couple of years ago.”
Smart took questions from the media, mostly dealing with specific players. Overall, he was very complimentary of their work ethic and what the future held for them at Alabama.
