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MARCH MADNESS Chicago Regional at Cleveland Monday, March 14, 2005 STEVE IRVINE News staff writer TUSCALOOSA - The Alabama men's basketball team received its NCAA Tournament road map on Sunday. The road, which travels through the Chicago Regional, begins Thursday in Cleveland with a first-round matchup against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. After a handful of disappointing finishes this season and last season's Elite Eight run, Alabama fans may be expecting another successful run in this year's tournament. But Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried refuses to listen to that type of rhetoric. "The first thing is, our fans or people around the country, I'm not going to let them define what success means to us," Gottfried said. "That's not going to happen. Last year we had a remarkable run. This is a different year, different team, obviously a different matchup." The first matchup for the No. 5 seed Crimson Tide (24-7) comes Thursday at 11:25 a.m. against Horizon League champion and 12th-seed Wisconsin-Milwaukee (24-5) at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland. Win that game and the Tide will play the Boston College-Penn winner on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Two wins create a possible matchup with overall No. 1 seed Illinois (32-1). "I think we've got a difficult road ahead of us," said Alabama junior Kennedy Winston. "We've got one of the toughest brackets. Either way you look at it, it's going to be tough." Looking ahead in the bracket is not part of Alabama's plan. The Crimson Tide's first-round game Thursday is against a Wisconsin-Milwaukee team that won 17 of its last 18 games and was both the regular season and Horizon League Tournament champion. Panthers coach Bruce Pearl likes the pairing. "We're going to be wearing that Cinderella slipper," said Pearl, a long-time coaching friend of Gottfried's. "Alabama will certainly be the prohibitive favorite against us, but our kids are prepared and they know how to win basketball games." Gottfried compared Milwaukee-Wisconsin's pressing style of play to UAB's 40 minutes of pressure. "They press the whole game," Gottfried said. "You better lace your sneakers up real tight to play this game. They're going to come after you." Alabama just may handle the pressure if the Tide players take the calm approach they did on Selection Sunday. The players gathered at Gottfried's house in the afternoon and quietly watched the CBS selection show. "Two years ago we watched the show here in the locker room," Gottfried said. "They announced our name, and I went flying across the room in a full swan dive across the table. This year, our guys were pretty calm. They kind of just saw it, figured out who we're playing, went back to eat wings and were ready to go." One concern for Gottfried is getting senior guard Earnest Shelton back in the lineup. Shelton suffered a deep right thigh bruise and sprained right ankle in Saturday's SEC Tournament semifinal loss to Florida and came down with flu-like symptoms on Sunday. "We got the double deal going here," said Gottfried, whose team is making its fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. "We've got to see how he does these next two days. He was going to come tonight. He didn't feel good so he went home to go to bed. We obviously need him healthy by the end of the week." Alabama will practice in Tuscaloosa today and Tuesday afternoon. The team will fly to Cleveland on Tuesday night and practice at the Wolstein Center on Wednesday. "It's kind of a new start," Alabama junior Chuck Davis said. "We've been going, playing a long season. Getting this opportunity, it kind of revives you. It's like a new beginning, like everything is fresh again." E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ RTF mailing list RTF@rolltidefan.net http://rolltidefan.net/mailman/listinfo/rtf_rolltidefan.net
