Dateline Alabama "UA, UAB have more in common than you think"

Two No. 1-seeded teams have been upset so far in this year's NCAA Tournament, and both of them were toppled by teams from the state of Alabama. Is it something in the water around the state, or is there another explanation? Dennis Pillion shows that the two teams have more than geography in common.

The short answer is that they both play solid defensive basketball and have several seniors on the team in an era where top stars leave early for the lure of the NBA.

The longer answer:

The University of Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham have put the state back on the basketball map by pulling off huge upsets and making the Sweet Sixteen. The teams, aside from being giant-killers, have several other similarities that office bracketologists should make a note of for the future. Though the two teams arrived in the Sweet Sixteen this year coming from different circumstances, they are now traveling the same road, winning close games with defense and incredible clutch performances from undersized seniors. How they got here Alabama The Alabama Crimson Tide entered the season expecting to have a rebuilding year after losing seniors Erwin Dudley, Kenny Walker and Terrance Meade to graduation and sophomore Maurice Williams to the NBA. Those four led Alabama to its first-ever No. 1 ranking in December 2002. The Tide dropped like a rock after that, going just 7-9 in SEC games and winning only 5 of the last 15 games of the season, including a first-round exit from last year's NCAA Tournament courtesy of Indiana. After losing four quality players from a team that wasn't that good to begin with, expectations were fairly low around Tuscaloosa in October. Those expectations weren't much higher Feb. 10, after the Tide lost its fifth straight SEC game, dropping its record to 11-9 (3-6 SEC). The Tide however, has stormed back, going 8-3 since then, including its two NCAA Tournament wins. UAB New head coach Mike Anderson came to Birmingham two years ago looking to revive a program that had lost any semblance of basketball prominence it had achieved under former coach Gene Bartow. Anderson started making waves at the end of his first season with the team, when the Blazers made an improbable run to the final game of the Conference USA Tournament before falling to Rick Pitino's Louisville team in Louisville. This year, Anderson has led UAB to a four-way tie for the C-USA regular season title, including key victories over Cincinnati and Charlotte. UAB is the only C-USA team remaining in the tournament. Defense UAB Anderson instituted the famous "40 minutes of hell" defense he learned while an assistant under former Arkansas head coach Nolan Richardson. Anderson's Blazers proved how affective such a defense can be last year, in the C-USA and NIT Tournaments. This year, "40 minutes of hell" is back with a vengeance. The Blazers led the nation in steals per game this season and used those to generate their own fast break offense. There probably isn't an NBA prospect on UAB's roster, but the Blazers use their depth and speed to wear down and frustrate their opponents. Alabama Faced with the loss of a tremendous amount of offensive firepower in Dudley and Williams, Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried decided to turn his attention toward improving his team's defense. One of the key moves Gottfried made was hiring defensive-minded assistant Tom Asbury last summer. Asbury brought a vast amount of experience to the Alabama bench. The Tide plays a combination of man-to-man and zone defenses, relying more heavily than usual on zones. Last year, Alabama opponents exploited the Tide's zone defense by hitting open shots. This year, the kinks have been worked out and Alabama's defenders rotate out to cover perimeter threats much more effectively than last year. Alabama's big men, Chuck Davis, Jermareo Davidson and Evan Brock don't have the bulk and power Dudley brought to the table during his four years at the Capstone, but they do have better length, mobility and athletic ability. This lankiness allows the Tide's post defenders to challenge shooters. Davidson also provides a good shot-blocking presence, allowing Alabama's guards to play more aggressively on the outside. Seniors Antoine Pettway Everyone who has followed Alabama basketball at all over the past three seasons should be very familiar with Pettway. The man who worked his way from walk-on to bench player in sparkling red shoes to game-winning hero has been the face of Alabama basketball since he hit the game-winning layup to give Alabama a victory over Florida and clinch the SEC regular-season championship in 2002. This year, Pettway has defined clutch play in college basketball by hitting game-winning shots against Georgia and Southern Illinois, and game-tying free throws in the overtime loss to Florida. Pettway hit the game-winner in Alabama's first round victory over Southern Illinois, and was the only player on track from the perimeter early in the Stanford game. In addition to scoring, Pettway grabbed seven rebounds against Stanford, in a game where Davis, Davidson and Brock were getting beaten on the boards by Stanford's big men. He also led Alabama with three steals in the game. Mo Finley Finley, a fifth-year senior, has been a scoring threat since he put on a UAB uniform, as he showed his freshman year when he scored 32 points against Fresno State. Now Finley has developed into the Blazers' go-to scorer in crunch time, and a big-time defender on the perimeter. Finley led the Blazers with 17 points in what was possibly the biggest game in UAB's history, their 76-75 win over Kentucky. Finley hit three of four from the 3-point line and hit the game-winning shot from just inside the arc. Though Pettway is listed at 6'0 in Alabama's media guide, his height is clearly exaggerated. Finley is listed at 5'11" and may be taller than Pettway. Finley is more of a scoring threat than Pettway, but they both mattered most to their teams in the NCAA Tournament. Finley and Pettway are proving that in college basketball, experience, defense and heart often matter more than height.