This is an opinion cartoon

Hang a rim on the barn, y’all. Basketball is alive, electric and here to stay in Alabama.

I grew up in rural Kentucky. Basketball and tobacco country. For every dented mail box on the side of the road, there was an orange rim with a ragged net hanging in the driveway or on the barn. My basketball goal stood stalwart in a cow pasture, 12 feet high, bolted onto a plywood backboard held up by two iron pipes welded together and stuck in the ground. If you missed a corner shot, there was a three-minute game delay while the shooter chased the ball down the hill into the briar patch. Everybody I grew up with had their own home court advantage.

It’s been fun watching football-crazy Alabama blossom into a basketball state. This season, Alabama just might be THE greatest basketball state in the country.

A couple weeks ago, No. 1 Auburn defeated No. 2 Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide got revenge over the Tigers in Saturday’s classic OT buzzer-beater on Auburn’s home floor. It was an electric game that sets the table for March Madness and the SEC tournament that begins this week.

A few bonus thoughts, observations from an Alabama-Auburn stunner

March Madness: Latest bracket predictions for Alabama after upset of Auburn

Auburn and Alabama are at the top, but they’re not alone. High quality college basketball has become contagious in this state.

The University of North Alabama men’s team had a magical run this season. They fell one game short of the program’s first NCAA Tournament berth with a 76-65 loss to top-seeded Lipscomb in the ASUN Conference tournament championship game in Nashville.

The Lions’ moved to 24-10 on the year, sharing the regular-season championship with Lipscomb. They will be headed to the NIT.

South Alabama, 21-11, was the No. 1 seed in the Sun Belt conference tournament before being bounced out by Arkansas State Sunday night. If they don’t get an NCAA bid, they may also be in the NIT.

The SEC Network’s Cole Cubelic posted this graphic on X, formerly Twitter: “By my count the state of Alabama has THIRTEEN 20-win college teams this season:”

Here are some excerpts from Kevin Scarbinsky’s column: The numbers don’t lie: Alabama is the best basketball state in the country.

It may sound blasphemous to the memory of Shug Jordan and Bear Bryant, but Pearl and Oats are building a case to be remembered as the two best coaches that have gone head to head in the Iron Bowl rivalry in any sport. Since Oats arrived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama has 139 victories – and Auburn has 139 victories. Alabama leads the series 6-5. Auburn has outscored Alabama in those games 910-908.

Elite rivalries don’t get much better or closer than that.

There are 10 Division I basketball programs in this state that compete in seven different conferences. Nine of those teams have a winning conference record with one or two weeks left in their regular seasons. Nine of them are in the top three in their leagues. Eight of them have won at least 11 conference games.

Three of them – Auburn in the SEC, Jacksonville in Conference USA and North Alabama in the ASUN – are in first place. Four of them – Alabama in the SEC, UAB in the AAC, Troy and South Alabama in the Sun Belt – are in second place. Samford in the SoCon and Alabama State in the SWAC are in third place.

Combine their conference records, which is the best measure of performance against comparable opponents, and this state’s 10 DI teams are 105-44 this season. That’s a winning percentage of .705. That’s a higher winning percentage than any collection of teams from any state except New Mexico and Vermont.

The difference: New Mexico has only two Division I teams. Vermont has one.

Enjoy the madness while it lasts. With the current crop of outstanding coaches in this state, the winning won’t end anytime soon.

Read all of Scarbinsky’s column here.

Meet me in the pasture for a game of H-O-R-S-E.

True stories and stuff by JD Crowe:

The mysterious ‘Bubble Guy’ of Fairhope and the art of bubble Zen – al.com

How I met Dr. Seuss

Robert Plant head-butted me. Thanks, David Coverdale

I was ZZ Top’s drummer for a night and got kidnapped by groupies

Check out more cartoons and stuff by JD Crowe

JD Crowe is the cartoonist for AL.com. He won the RFK Human Rights Award for Editorial Cartoons in 2020. In 2018, he was awarded the Rex Babin Memorial Award by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Follow JD on Facebook, Twitter @Crowejam and Instagram @JDCrowepix. Give him a holler at [email protected].

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