‘BAMA BASKETBALL IS BACK

Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports On Saturday, February 23, 2002, Ernest Shelton made a fantastic pass under duress and found Antoine Pettway for a game-winning lay-up that gave the 5th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide a share of the SEC Championship (which the team would win outright a week later), as the home crowd stormed the court in Coleman Coliseum. As outdated and ancient as the Coliseum feels now in 2020, if you listen carefully, you can still hear the echoes of legendary times of the past, when Alabama was considered second only to the Kentucky Wildcats on the hard-court.

For many not familiar with the history of Tide Hoops, the idea of Alabama basketball being considered a top-tier program…