So, Who is Oregon, Anyways?

The Alabama Crimson Tide are about six hours from tipoff for their first of three games in the Maui Invitational, where their first opponent is the Oregon Ducks.

Of course most of us are aware of Alabama's situation this season, but what about Alabama's first major conference foe of the season?

First off, the Ducks have six new members to their basketball team this season, good enough to have the No. 16 class in the country last year. The gem of the class is Michael Dunigan, a 6-9 center from Chicago.

Dunigan has started his first three games for the Ducks, averaging 13 points a game and eight rebounds. His real weakness, however, is the charity stripe, where he is only shooting 43% so far.

Both freshmen Matthew Humphrey and Garrett Sim have started at the guard position this season for Oregon and have seen substantial time on the floor, as well as Josh Crittle, however none of these three have proven to be a real scoring threat.

As for the returners for Oregon, there is a real dual threat from the Ducks' guards Tajuan Porter and LeKendric Longmire. Both players are averaging 15 points a game this season, but are extremely scary from behind the arc.

Longmire is 6-8 this season from downtown while Porter is shooting 43% from range so far. As a team, Oregon is shooting 42% from distance.

To pair with Dunigan in the frontcourt is sophomore Joevan Catron. Catron averages nine points and just over eight rebounds so far this year, as well as an impressive 80% from the free throw line this year. He is second on the team only to Porter (95%).

As a team, though, Oregon seems to be a fair match for the Crimson Tide. Aside from the impressive numbers from three point range, the Ducks shoot a decent 40% from the field as a team, but a sad 65% from the free throw line.

As for their season, Oregon is currently 2-1 with wins over Northern Colorado (66-64) and UC-Irvine (84-77) and an 82-79 loss to Oakland(MI) sandwiched in between.

Now, for match ups, look for Ron Steele to be assigned Porter whether Porter is at the one or two position. Senario Hillman will have the job of keeping Longmire away from the three point line. Green and Knox should alternate between guarding Dunigan and Catron, but the biggest goal for Alabama down low will be to get rebounds on either side of the floor. Alonzo Gee will be matched against either Humphrey or Sim, whoever gets the start, and should do his best to take advantage of their young age.

For a full breakdown of the entire tournament, Jay Bilas was kind enough to enlighten the masses with his knowledge.

Now time for everyone's favorite portion of the ITNOT blog during Iron Bowl week, its more Auburn "love."

Shout out two of three for the day will come to us from Tommy Tuberville's webcam. We all know Tubbs is such a lazy recruiter when compared to Saban, so you won't see his massive ears online. Instead, it will look something like this...

Nick Saban's Warnings, Basketball Returns, and Other Things

As if Nick Saban returning to Baton Rouge this week was not going to be enough of a media distraction, Alabama now has a No. 1 ranking in all polls to create a media barage during time with the media.

But don't worry, Saban has already issued a warning to the media on both instances.

After the game Saturday, the talk of of the Fighting Tigers had begun, and Saban was already clearing the air about his connections to this game.

"It ain't going to be about me," Saban said. "It's going to be about our players and about our team. And I don't care how hard anybody tries to make it about something else, it's not going to be. So I'm kind of giving you a little forewarning. If somebody wants to get a you-know-what chewing this week, that would be a good way to get it. Because it's not going to be about that."

Safe to say, if anyone drops the idea that Saban once coached the Bayou Bengals.....well, getcha popcorn ready!

As for the new BCS, AP, and Coaches' poll rankings, Saban was flattered, but made his statement to try and protect his players from the new distraction.

"We appreciate the interest shown to our team," Nick Saban said in a statement, "but rankings at this time of the season do not define anything relative to the post-season. Our concern is our preparation to play a very good LSU team and these external factors can not affect our planning, schedule or focus on the task at hand."

As fans, that goes for you, too. We play LSU this week, and any hopes of Miami and maybe even Atlanta to an extent hinge on this victory.

In other news, the Men's Basketball team took to the court last night with a new look, a new three-point line, and ready for a new season.

The Crimson Tide, sporting the "throwback" jerseys from a few years ago (which all indications are that the Tide will be in these jerseys all season) took to the court for their first open practice so far this season.

What transpired was somewhat familiar, but there were a few nice suprises.

The Crimson Team won 102-77, led by a Demetrius Jemison double-double and diaper dandy JaMychal Green's 18 points.

The White team was helped by Ron Steele's 21 points to lead the White team and a double-double from Alonzo Gee.

The suprises, however, were quite nice.

Mikhail Torrance, on the Crimson team, led all scorers with 27 points and nine assists to easily have the breakout afternoon in this game.

As for the new three-point line, which has been moved back a foot for the men's game, it did not seem to make a difference for the Crimson team.

JUCO transfer Anthony Brock, who shot 47% from three last season, was 3-6 from downtown as was Senario Hillman.

The best suprise of the afternoon, however, had to have been the free throw percentages for both teams.

The Crimson team shot 91% from the line, the White 75%. Both of those numbers are lightyear's ahead of the team's free throw percentage from last season.

The men will take to the court for their fist exhibition game on Thursday, November 6th, against Faulkner at 7pm.

Now, just for a quick rundown of what an early morning browsing of the internet has revealed:

• Sign ups for Mark's Madness have begun! To sign up, visit Coleman Coliseum sometime between 2-5pm Monday-Wednesday and between 6-9pm on Thursday for the Faulkner game.
• Mark Ingram has been named SEC Freshman of the Week this week for his performance against Arkanas State. Ingram ran for 113 yards and two touchdowns against the Red Wolves during Alabama's homecoming victory.
• Sources are beginning to report that Tennessee head coach Phil Fulmer and UT officials have agreed to a deal that would have Fulmer step down at the end of the season.

That's all for now. Be on the lookout this afternoon for my Top 25, my Heisman list, as well as links from around the country concerning Alabama and the SEC.