Samford’s Ruth Ketcham drives against Florida State
in the first round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament.

The post-season hopes grow ever dimmer with each passing game for Alabama teams.

In the National Invitation Tournament, No. 1 Alabama managed to defeat No. 4 New Mexico 74-67 on Monday. So far, Alabama is 18-0 at Coleman Coliseum.

The Tide earns one more home game, this time against No. 2 Miami, 8 p.m. Wednesday, airing on ESPN2. Tickets — $8, $4 for students and age 18 and younger — are available online, by calling (877) TIDE-TIX (877-843-3849) and at the door. [NIT bracket]

Should Alabama win, the team will head to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York against Colorado or Kent State.

Samford‘s first trip to the NCAA Women’s Tournament ended abruptly Sunday. The No. 14 Lady Bulldogs lost to No. 3 Florida State 76-46 in the opening round at Auburn. Samford ends the season at 25-8.

Also:

• More basketball coverage

Alabama’s Chris Hines takes the leap against New Mexico.

Photo (bottom): Kent Gidley, Alabama Athletics

Samford Lady Bulldogs prepare for NCAA Women’s Tournament

Alabama’s Senario Hillman, left, and Trevor Releford play defense
against Coastal Carolina. The Tide won 68-44 in the NIT opening round.

It’s been somewhat of a downer post-season so far for Alabama men’s basketball teams.

The bright spot is No. 1 Alabama‘s win Tuesday over No. 8 Coastal Carolina 68-44 in Tuscaloosa in the opening round of the National Invitation Tournament. The Tide faces No. 4 New Mexico at 8 p.m. Monday, also in Tuscaloosa. The game will air on ESPN. Tickets — $8, $4 for students and age 18 and younger — are available online and at the door. [NIT bracket]

UAB fell to fellow No. 12 seed Clemson 70-52 Tuesday in the new NCAA First Four round in Dayton, Ohio. The Blazers end the season 22-9.

And Alabama State lost to Texas-San Antonio 70-61 Wednesday in a battle of the No. 16 seeds, also in Dayton. The Hornets finish 17-18.

Meanwhile, the Samford Lady Bulldogs won the Southern Conference Tournament Championship earlier this month, earning their first trip to the NCAA Women’s Tournament. No. 14 Samford faces No. 3 Florida State at 4 p.m. Sunday in Auburn, to air on ESPN2, WVSU (91.1 FM) and streaming online. [NCAA bracket]

Also:

• Men’s teams announced for tournaments

Photo: Kent Gidley, Alabama Athletics

Alabama top seed in NIT

Video: A look at the biggest surprises in the tourney field.

The college basketball post-season has a possible bright spot or two for state teams, depending on a couple of first-round games this week. UAB (22-8) faces Clemson in a battle of 12th seeds at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio, in the NCAA Men’s Tournament. The winner becomes the actual No. 12 East seed to play No. 5 West Virginia on Thursday in Tampa in the second round, which used to be the first round. Really.

UAB advanced one round in the 2010 National Invitation Tournament before losing to North Carolina at Bartow Arena.

Meanwhile, Alabama State (17-17) plays Texas-San Antonio at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Dayton to be the No. 16 East seed. The winner faces top seed Ohio State on Friday in Cleveland. In all, four play-in games — airing on truTV — have expanded the tournament to a field of 68 teams overall.

UAB’s inclusion was not without some controversy, especially after the Blazers’ early exit in the Conference USA Tournament on Thursday.

Alabama won’t be sitting out. The Crimson Tide (21-11), a top seed in the National Invitation Tournament, will welcome No. 8 Coastal Carolina to campus at 6 p.m. Tuesday, airing on ESPNU.

Brackets:

• NCAA Men’s Tournament
• NIT [PDF]

Video: NCAA selection committee chairman Gene
Smith defends the picks, including UAB.

Video: North Carolina advances to NIT semifinals over UAB.

Basketball season has ended for the state of Alabama. UAB lost its quarterfinal match to the defending national champion, North Carolina, 60-55. The Blazers ended the season Tuesday with a 25-9 record in front of a sellout crowd at home.

Birmingham News: Game summary

Also:

• UAB advances in NIT, takes on North Carolina Tuesday
• UAB men, Samford women advance in NIT
• UAB, Troy headed for NIT

UAB defeats North Carolina State.

The UAB men’s basketball team defeated North Carolina State on Saturday at home, 72-52, in the second round of the NIT.

The Blazers face the 2009 champions, the Tarheels of North Carolina, at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Bartow Arena. The game will be available on ESPN and streaming audio. Tickets are $15 and available online; sales were moving briskly on Sunday.

Update March 22: The game is sold out.

• NIT bracket

The Samford women’s team lost its second-round NIT game to Missouri State on Sunday, 75-54. The Bulldogs finished 23-11, tying the school record for wins in a season.

Also:

• UAB men, Samford women advance in NIT
• UAB, Troy headed for NIT

Photo: UAB Sports

• • •

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Men’s basketball

UAB defeated Coastal Carolina 65-49 Tuesday at home, sending them to the second round of the NIT. The Blazers play North Carolina State at 4 today in Bartow Arena. [game audio]

Meanwhile, Troy lost its opening round game to Ole Miss Wednesday, 84-65.

Women’s basketball

Samford had better luck against its Ole Miss counterparts, winning in the last 5 seconds 66-65 at home. The Bulldogs travel to Missouri State for their second-round NIT match, playing at 2 p.m. Sunday. The game will be available on WVSU (91.1 FM) and through the station’s online stream.

Also:

• UAB, Troy headed for NIT

The Blazers have pulled off the seemingly impossible: They’re the only men’s college basketball team from Alabama playing in a post-season tournament.

Update: As Jeff pointed out in the comments, Troy is also headed to the NIT, playing Ole Miss in Oxford at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Our thanks to him.

In 2009, Alabama State lost in the NCAA tournament play-in game. This year, zero teams from the state are in the Big Dance. The lone bright spots are Troy and UAB in the National Invitational Tournament. UAB plays at home against Coastal Carolina 7 p.m. Tuesday. Tickets are $15. No broadcast information is available.

The 2009 NIT tourney invited UAB and Auburn, which fired coach Jeff Lebo after 6 years and a 96-93 record.

The NCAA women’s tournament teams will be announced tonight.

Update: No state women’s teams are headed to the NCAA tournament. Instead, Ole Miss will play at Samford in the first round Thursday in the NIT’s first 64-team tourney.

Also: “State of Alabama tosses another NCAA air ball.”

A look back at all things and people and events 2009 …

Video: “Chains of Love,” Los Lobos. The band will play
an acoustic concert on Jan. 22
at the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center.

March 3 | Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival moves forward with plans to hire a new executive director, as featured in this Wade on Birmingham exclusive. The leader of the state’s largest film festival will need organizational and fund-raising skills, but not necessarily deep cinematic knowledge.

March 11 | The Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center was still months away from the end of its 2008-09 season when we broke the news on the lineup for the 2009-10 season, including Los Lobos (see video above), Savion Glover and the Peking Acrobats coming in early 2010.

March 15 | The way the ball bounces: A sad post-season for Alabama college basketball squads, as Alabama State didn’t even make it past Morehead State in the men’s play-in game, while No. 2 seed Auburn won its first-round game, only to lose to Rutgers next in the women’s tournament.

March 23 | Wade on Birmingham branches out into another company and blog, the Birmingham Blogging Academy. Businesses interested in all forms of social media have a new resource here in town.

March 29 | City Stages announces its headliners, the all-too-familiar mix of oldies but oldies, including the Doobie Brothers, Styx, 38 Special and REO Speedwagon. Birmingham yawns.

“Survivor” at a glance | March 5: Debbie and J.T. go toe to toe in shouldering the most weight, and J.T. survives Tribal Council … March 12: J.T. breaks a tooth in a losing battle, Debbie schemes with Coach … March 25: clip show! with more scenes from Debbie and J.T.

See all of our March coverage.

• • •

Haiku flashback

grandma said (March 15)

Kind words go further
than angry ones. Mind that you
keep plenty in stock.

• • •

365 days of Birmingham’s best and worst: Wade on 2009

While only one men’s team in state has a halfway chance of making it into the Big Dance, the women are faring slightly better. Auburn is headed to north to play Lehigh in the first round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

Auburn, a No. 2 seed, tips off at 11 a.m. Saturday in Piscataway. Yes, scenic Piscataway.

Bracket: NCAA

• Birmingham News: Auburn women will open NCAAs against Lehigh

• • •

More headlines | send us your news tips.

Who’s going to the Big Dance? Not Alabama, nor Auburn, nor UAB.

Instead, the Alabama State Hornets are heading for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Sort of. They play Morehead State on Tuesday in the play-in match for the 64th spot, to face No. 1 Louisville on Friday.

Meanwhile, all’s not lost for other state teams. UAB plays at Notre Dame Tuesday and Tennessee-Martin comes to Auburn Wednesday in first-round NIT action.

Brackets: NCAA | NIT (PDF)

• Birmingham News: Alabama State to tangle with Morehead State in NCAA Tournament

• • •

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And so, the hip young
fashionista schools the old
salt in basketball.

• • •

Read more haiku.

The Big Dance starts nationwide Thursday, and eight teams are headed to Birmingham to Step. It. Up. The BJCC Arena will play host to first-round East region games of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament on Friday and Sunday. The matchups:

Friday

• Game A: 2. Tennessee (29-4) vs. 15. American (21-11), 11:15 a.m.
• Game B: 7. Butler (29-3) vs. 10. South Alabama (26-6), 1:45 p.m.
• Game C: 3. Louisville (24-8) vs. 14. Boise State (25-8), 6:10 p.m.
• Game D: 6. Oklahoma (22-11) vs. 11. Saint Joseph’s (21-12), 8:40 p.m.

Sunday

• The winners of Game A and B, 1 p.m.
• The winners of Game C and D, 3:30 p.m.

(Specific times to be updated.)

The South Alabama Jaguars are the sole team in the field of 65 from the state, essentially playing a home game in Birmingham, which last held tourney games in 2003. UAB and Alabama’s men’s teams could be headed to the NIT, to be announced at 8 tonight on ESPN2/ESPNU.

Tickets for the Friday/Sunday games are still available, in three-ticket books at $153 each.

Update: Alabama State (but not Alabama) and UAB are headed to the NIT. Plus, zero Alabama women’s teams headed for the tourney.

Update 2: And the last team headed to post-season? Auburn, playing George Washington in the first round of the ladies’ tourney, 1 p.m. Saturday in Stanford, Calif.
• ESPN: 2008 NCAA tournament selections

• • •

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