This is an opinion column.
It was all happening.
Red lights were blinking as the walls closed in on Alabama.
Who the hell is Robert Morris? And how could he be the chaos agent sent to ruin the sequel to Crimson Tide history?
From the Final Four to nearly getting kneecapped by some guy named Bob in Cleveland?
Sounds crazy, but the question’s legit.
Does this team have the killer mentality of the three-weekend journey it took last spring?
Getting boat raced by No. 1 seed Florida is one thing, but this guy?
It was all happening with 7:10 left a few blocks from a lake that once famously burned.
Mr. Morris took a 65-64 lead on the preseason No. 2 team whose vision of San Antonio suddenly blurred.
This was a classic upset scenario where the private school named for a man went from sending a wake-up call to knock-out range.
Win the hustle plays: Check.
Create havoc: Yup.
Frustration generation: Indeed.
And claim the casuals in the gym because any undecided will jump on the upset wagon.
Who is Robert Morris?
Turns out he was known as the “financier of the American Revolution” who was born in Liverpool but sided with George Washington over King George.
So he never liked a favorite wearing red.
Nearly 250 years after contributing to the ultimate uprising, his namesake came for the Crimson Tide.
Message sent.
Message delivered?
Stay tuned.
Alabama ultimately found just enough oxygen to extinguish the flame of this small private school from a place called Moon Township, Pennsylvania.
It ended with a 90-81 final score that served notice for a team whose coach on Sunday said anything short of a Final Four would be a disappointment.
They sat on the verge of disaster Friday.
For all the talk of being battle-tested by the greatest conference in history, the preseason No. 2 was getting musket-whipped by someone from the Horizon League?
This was a Crimson Tide team who had the size and speed to run the champs from KenPom’s 17th-best conference out of the gym.
But it didn’t. And not because Alabama didn’t try.
It was clear from the jump, Alabama wanted to gas the little guy who didn’t have the bench for a 40-minute sprint.
They played just seven players all game, one saw just nine minutes.
Leading scorer, Bessemer’s Kam Woods scored just eight points on 3-for-18 shooting after averaging 15.1 this season.
Knowing all this, how does this nobody from the Moon threaten to upset No. 2-seeded Alabama?
They played without fear.
After taking a 14-4 lead, the Morris family scored the next seven points.
Every burst was met with a response, and the Cleveland crowd was more than happy to watch the bracket burn.
Alabama never led by more than 12 points because it couldn’t get out of its own way.
Lazy passes, for example, became rally killers as Robert Morris claimed seven steals among the 12 Tide turnovers.
Hustle plays went the way of the Colonials. How else can you explain the fact they claimed 16 offensive rebounds that turned into a 16-5 second-chance points advantage?
Alabama shot 58.6% (compared to Morris’ 42.3%) so there were fewer opportunities. But the Tide took 20 fewer shots. The 58 attempts were the fifth-fewest of the season for Alabama, as the 58.6% success rate was its third best.
Robert Morris countered by committing just one first-half turnover to hang around. The game was stuck in a four-to-six-point margin before a quick 5-0 burst left Robert Morris leading 65-64 with 7:10 left.
It was enough to summon wounded Grant Nelson from the bench. His dunk at the 6:40 mark gave Alabama the lead back for good as Robert Morris missed its next six shots after snatching that lead.
For 30 seconds, everything was happening.
Alabama looked vulnerable against a 21.5-point underdog who wasn’t intimidated by the NIL disparity.
It used more gas than it expected for a No. 2 seed playing on Friday.
Mark Sears, largely absent in the first half, scored 19 of his 22 after halftime but still struggled from long range. His 3-point shooting skid now sits at 5-for-31 over the past five games.
Alabama was able to bully the undersized revolutionary to feed Cliff Omoruyi for 17 points with six dunks and 8-for-8 shooting.
It got away with a one-point outing from Labaron Philon.
Aden Holloway was again a non-factor with five points on 1-for-4 shooting from deep. Not fatal this time.
But, if little Bobby Mo could put the fear of the British in Alabama, one has to wonder what the Crimson Tide will do against a team with an actual bench and the size to match up.
Was this a warning shot?
Or foreshadowing?
Right, right … survive and advance. Sure.
But Alabama needs more of that blue-collar mentality Oats touts.
Because it was all happening Friday.
And it will again if they look like that moving forward.
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.
