Talent level increasing for Alabama

BOB HOLT
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

This is the eighth in a series previewing SEC basketball teams
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Alabama figures to be younger but better this season.
The Crimson Tide lost four starters from last season's 17-15 team that played in the NIT, but has added a top five-rated recruiting class that might help carry Alabama to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1995.
"This is the most talented team since I've been here," Tide senior center Jeremy Hays said. "I believe this year we'll make the NCAA Tournament, and next year no doubt.
"Two or three years down the road, the sky's the limit."
The Tide will be counting on six newcomers: 6-5 sophomore guard Shea Cotton, 6-8 freshman forward Rod Grizzard, 6-8 freshman forward Erwin Dudley, 6-9 freshman forward Kenny Walker, 6-2 freshman guard Terrence Meade and 6-2 freshman guard D.J. Towns.
Cotton, who averaged 25.8 points and 5.8 rebounds last season to earn All-American honors at Long Beach (Calif.) City Junior College, is expected to be a impact player. He missed the Tide's first exhibition game after having a cyst removed from his chest, then had 21 points, 6 steals, and 5 rebounds in 28 minutes in an 80-70 victory over Siroki, a Russian team, on Monday night.
"Shea is very gifted physically," said second-year Alabama Coach Mark Gottfried, a former Tide player and UCLA assistant and Murray State coach . "He's strong, quick and very, very explosive.
"Because he's so big and strong and quick, he puts a lot of pressure on the guys who are guarding him. He can shoot from the outside, and he also attacks the basket pretty good. I think he's going to get to the foul line a lot."
Cotton was a first-team Parade All-American two years ago at St. John Bosco High School in Los Angeles.
Grizzard, who averaged 17 points and 7 rebounds in the Tide's two exhibition games, was a fourth-team Parade All-American last season at Birmingham (Ala.) Central Park Christian whose leaping ability earned him the nickname "The Helicopter."
Cotton and Grizzard and the other newcomers have upgraded the athletic ability on Alabama's roster and will help transform the Tide into more of an up-tempo team this season.
"We're going to have a pretty young team, but I think we're going to have a pretty exciting team," said Gottfried, who was hired last season to rebuild the sagging program. "We wanted to be a fast-type tempo last year, but I never felt we were very effective that way, and we needed to slow our team down.
"I think our team will look a lot different this year. We're more athletic and we have more guys who can score on their own, that can get the ball in the open floor and make a play.
"We're going to an emphasis on running, make or miss, and really trying to get out and get down the floor and attack the basket and look for good shots quickly."
Hays, 6-11 and 248, said he won't have trouble keeping up.
"I've always run pretty well for a big guy, and now I'm in the best shape of my life," said Hays, who averaged 12 points and 8.4 rebounds last season. "I'm excited about how we're going to play."

Tomorrow: Ole Miss

This article was published on Thursday, November 11, 1999

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