Is Alabama Basketball Playing the Real Game of the Week on Thanksgiving? All Things CW

Alabama's first-round game in the upcoming Phil Knight Invitational got a little more interesting after its opponent Michigan State upset Kentucky.

The All Things CW notes column by Christopher Walsh will appear in five parts this week, one each day as the Alabama Crimson Tide prepares to host Austin Peay.

This is ...

Take 5

The Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team already knew that it would be facing its first strong test of the 2022-23 season at next week's Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Ore. 

It's looking even tougher, now. 

When Alabama plays in the nightcap game on Thanksgiving, set to tip off at 9:30 p.m. CT, it'll face Michigan State in the first round. 

Tuesday night, the Spartans stunned No. 4 Kentucky in the Champions Classic, 86-77.

Joey Hauser, a fifth-year transfer from Marquette, led the Spartans with 23 points and added eight rebounds. He was 8-for-16 from the floor, including 4-for-7 from 3-point range.

It's an interesting matchup. Tom Izzo's team has a terrific transition defense and a lot of toughness and poise, but not a lot of depth. 

The Spartans also played in the Armed Forces Classic on the USS Abraham Lincoln, where they lost to No. 2 Gonzaga at the buzzer, 64-63. They also host Villanova this Friday at the Breslin Center for those who want to do their own own scouting. 

If organizers could redraw the brackets for the eight-team tournament they probably would because one these teams is going to end up traveling across the country just to end up in the consolation bracket. Granted, the field is so strong the games would still be interesting, but obviously it wouldn't be the same. 

Of note, before Michigan State upset Kentucky, SportsBetting.ag had North Carolina as the Phil Knight Invitational favorite at +135, with Alabama and UConn second at +500, and Villanova fourth at +525. Michigan State was listed sixth at +1000, after Oregon. 

After the Spartans pulled off the upset, the odds changed to North Carolina +160, Michigan State +350, and Alabama +525.

Tide-Bits 

• Circle Dec. 5 on the calendar, it's when the transfer portal will open. It's the morning after the Alabama football team banquet, and two days following the SEC Championship Game. 

• Per his contract, Nick Saban will be getting a $100,000 bonus and the football program hit the required mark with its APR score and the recently released NCAA Graduation Success Rate of 89 percent. That's among the top four of SEC football teams (tied for third with South Carolina, behind Florida and Vanderbilt. 

Also of note from the NCAA, the overall single-year Graduation Success Rate for Division I student-athletes held steady at 90 percent, the highest rate recorded. Over the past 20 years, Black student-athlete graduation rates have increased from 56 percent to 81 percent. Hispanic/Latinx rates went from 64 percent to 88 percent.  

• If the 12-team College Football Playoff was already being used, based on the selection committee's rankings eight-seeded Alabama would host Clemson in the first round, with the winner facing top-seeded Georgia. 

Meanwhile, the BCS computers (remember them?) don't see eye-to eye with the CFP rankings by the selection committee when it comes to Alabama. The computers have the same top five of Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, TCU and Tennessee. But then they have the Crimson Tide sixth, ahead of LSU and Southern California. 

Did You Notice?

• Mississippi State coach Mike Leach was asked on the weekly SEC coaches teleconference with media how he would grade officiating this season. Leach called it a ridiculous question and added: ‘You go ahead and mail me a check. I think $30K will cover it. You go ahead and mail me the check, and I'll give you one heck of an answer.’”

• Vanderbilt, Florida, Georgia and Pittsburgh are the latest programs to partner with the NFL on a $60M concussion study which utilizes data from mouthguard sensors worn by players who voluntarily participate.

• Sports Illustrated had previously reported this, but SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey reiterated this week that the league is leaning heavily at going to a single division. The four-team pod system is no longer being significantly considered. 

Please Be Thankful 

As we head into the holiday season, please take a moment to think about what happened at Virginia, where a deadly campus shooting took the lives of three football players: wide receivers Lavel Davis Jr. and Devin Chandler and linebacker D’Sean Perry, while running back Michael Hollis in critical condition in a Charlottesville hospital.

Virginia has canceled Saturday’s football game against visiting Coastal Carolina, 

No decision has been made on the Cavaliers’ scheduled Nov. 26 game at Virginia Tech, which not too long ago had its own horrific campus shooting with 32 people murdered, 17 wounded and six more injured from jumping out of windows to try and get away from the shooter in 2007.

You also may want to check out the outstanding coverage by Sports Illustrated‘s Ross Dellenger including the following. 

• ‘I Walked Into a Nightmare:’ Mike Hollins’s Mother Recounts UVA Shooting Aftermath
• After an Unspeakable Tragedy, UVA Students Are Left With One Question: Why?
• Thousands of Students Gather for On-Campus Vigil to Honor Shooting Victims
• Three Football Players Dead in University of Virginia Shooting

There's also the story of former Alabama center Ryan Kelly and his wife Emma, who was 19 weeks pregnant they los their baby daughter. They're now trying to help others who may have gone through something similar. 

Get your Crimson Tide tickets from SI Tickets HERE.

See Also:

Take 1: Did Alabama Play The Road Schedule From Hell?

Take 2: Why Strength of Schedule is Alabama's Biggest Playoff Asset

Take 3: Throwback Thursday? AJ McCarron, Memphis Showboats Both Back