Rejection Row

Without Ronald Steele, this isn’t a top 10 team. Without him, Bama might not even be NCAA-tournament caliber right now.

But Steele’s balky knee won’t be acting up forever. And close escapes against inferior teams, like last night’s grinder against Louisiana-Monroe should be a thing of the past. It sounded like a brutal game, at least the part I listened to after being, um, distracted by other things.

The obvious good news is that the Tide won with Steele sidelined and Jemareo Davidson having a brutal shooting night. Mykal Riley going off for 22 points certainly didn’t hurt. In fact, he is making a strong case for starting alongside Steele, with Brandon Hollinger being purely a backup point guard.

Two other bright spots emerged from the box score. One, Alabama finally made its free throws, which was crucial in a game that was in doubt until the last few minutes. 19-for-24 is a great showing, and Alonzo Gee (6-for- was the only player to miss twice. Also, it was nice to see 12,268 people found something better to do than play track the university airplane for a night.

Box score