All Things CW: Take a Moment to Reflect on Luke Ratliff as Alabama Plays Again in the NCAA Tournament
Normally in this space we take a long look at some part of the Alabama football team, or try to draw attention to something you may not have noticed about Crimson Tide athletics.
Somehow, it just doesn’t feel right this week.
Whereas we should be celebrating the full return of March Madness, on top of spring break and even St. Patrick’s Day (which was Thursday, on the first full day of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament), quickly approaching is the one-year anniversary of the passing of our friend, Luke Ratliff.
We know that in spirit he’ll be in San Diego today, yet it won’t be the same without seeing him in a plaid suit coat and white hard hat, cheering on his beloved Alabama basketball team against Notre Dame and leading whatever fans who had made the lengthy trip.
Not only am I positive that the “Fluffopotamus” would have been in the front row of the Alabama section, but the BamaCentral crew would have seen him away from the arena as well as he took in the full experience of the trip. He also would have started scouting for places to go in San Francisco should the Crimson Tide return to the Sweet 16 (Note: I say should. He would have said “when”).
Nearly everything that can be said about Luke and the terrible way he died after attending the 2021 NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis has been told and chronicled, but J. Brady McCollough did an outstanding anniversary story for the Los Angeles Times: ‘Alabama, goodnight’: The story of Luke Ratliff, a college hoops superfan gone too soon.
It’s worth the read, especially today. As Nate Oats said last April: “He’s What Embodies College Basketball”
Regardless of whether Alabama’s NCAA Tournament run is long or short this year, we should all take a moment to remember and toast Fluff. Please be grateful for those who are still with us, and appreciate that we get to do things like March Madness again.
More On Fluff
To learn more about Ratliff and his legacy, visit the links below or search his name at the top of the page:
For Superfan Luke Ratliff, Alabama Basketball Just Means More
All Things Bama Podcast: Talking Crimson Tide Hoops with Superfan Luke Ratliff
All Things Bama Podcast: Crimson Tide Hoops Superfan Luke Ratliff Re-Joins the Show
The Best Way to Honor Alabama Superfan Luke Ratliff is to Live Like He Did with Unwavering Positivity and Unmatched Energy
Unsung Hero
The Alabama football program doesn’t have an unsung hero award for spring football, but the engraver can already start getting one of the plaques ready for Kendall Randolph. In 2011, he was one of the recipients of the Jerry Duncan “I Like to Practice” Award, but this year something like the Sylvester Croom Commitment to Excellence seems more fitting.
Randolph may the ultimate role player for the Crimson Tide. Listed as 6-4, 298 points, he’s sort of a ‘tweener between the offensive line and tight ends, so developed as both.
He’s played in 41 games over the past three years, including 13 starts at tight end. He hasn’t complained about his role(s), hasn’t transferred, and is back this season as a graduate student for his final year of eligibility.
That’s why Nick Saban is going to give him every chance to pin down a starting job on the offensive line this season.
“I really love it when guys like Kendall Randolph show great resiliency, perseverance to continue to want to try to develop as players, make a commitment to the team to do whatever you need to do to help the team be successful,” Saban said. “This is one of the guys that I’m most proud of in terms of where he came from from when he was a young player to where he is now. To graduate, to become a leader, to set a really good example. To have sort of great goals and aspirations for what he wants to accomplish in the future and what his focus is and what his commitment is to it.
“I think this is a great example of what college football should be. He’s created a lot of value for himself here by what he’s developed into, and we’re really, really proud of him. And I’m really happy to have him back.”
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Thomas Itching For a Run
Justin Thomas may have 16 wins on the PGA Tour, but hasn’t finished atop a leaderboard since The Players Championship last year. Consequently, he’s not happy with his current No. 7 world rankings.
But with just three weeks until the first major of the season, he sees signs his game is coming together.
Thomas has three top-10 finishes in his last five starts, which includes his incredible bogey-free round at this year’s Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in winds that approached 40 mph.
“I feel great about my game,” he said at the Valspar Championship, at Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead), in Palm Harbor, Florida. “I feel like it’s very, very close to where I would like it. I feel like I’m close to getting on a good run here. I’m just trying to stay patient and kind of let it happen.
“I played some really, really good golf last week, I was obviously on the wrong end of the draw and I feel like I played really well to battle through that and really fought hard on Sunday and Monday there to kind of hang around and really just got a little unfortunate there with the rain coming down when I was on 17 to throw away a long week of fighting.
“So the result was not even I felt like close to how I played last week, but I’ve shown a lot of great signs of improvement in the areas I’ve been working on and I feel like some wins are coming, so I just need to stay patient, keep letting it happen.”
By bad side of the draw, Thomas was talking about the weather conditions, as he ended up up the course for the worst of it.
The tournament was on by Australian Cameron Smith, while John Rahm is still at No. 1 in the world ranking, ahead of Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland. At age 28, Smith is the oldest of the bunch that’s leading the next wave of golf. Rahm is 27, Morikawa is 25 and Hovland 24.
“That’s a good thing for the game of golf,” said Thomas, who himself is only 28. “Having Patrick Cantlay do what he did last year pushes me to become better and having Collin Morikawa and Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland play as good as they are and be in contention in all the majors and win the biggest golf tournaments, I mean, yeah, selfishly and the jealous side of me wants that to be me.”
Tide-Bits
• Thomas when asked who he likes in March Madness: “I haven’t even looked at a bracket or filled one out. I think my frustration with Alabama hoops has probably been there. But I don’t know. I mean, I really don’t know.”
• The USFL announced its roster of assistant coaches, which includes two former Crimson Tide assistants: Larry Kirksey is the running backs coach with the Birmingham Stallions and Neil Callaway is the offensive line coach with the Michigan Panthers. Of course, Mike Riley is the head coach of the New Jersey Generals.
• Former Alabama cornerback Levi Wallace on not being drafted when he met with Steelers media: “People say undrafted, I say eighth round.”
• Could the trade for Mack Wilson give the Patriots two former Alabama players starting at interior linebacker? Probably not. The Patriots don’t have a lot of salary cap room and Ja’Whaun Bentley is coming off a career year. There’s a lot of speculation in New England that Dont’a Hightower won’t be back as he’s 31 and and his numbers are declining.
5 Things That Got Our Attention This Week
SEC Baseball To Utilize TrackMan Technology
Alabama Athletics
SEC coaches take aim at March Madness brackets
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
The Next Thing: Transfer Portal Camps
Photo | Gary Cosby Jr. via Imagn Content Services, LLC
LSU fallout just beginning
Ever Wonder Why the SEC is Based in Birmingham?
SEC
Bonus: He Paid For What?
Sportico obtained several expense account reports from athletic directors and coaches over the past year, anything from UCLA men’s basketball coach Mick Cronin asking to be reimbursed $49 to upgrade a car rental when he makes $4 million a year, to Rutgers athletic director Patrick Hobbs being reimbursed $8,712 for various golf outings with donors in 2021.
Among our favorites is Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari being reimbursed $1,645 for a night at the Ritz Carlton and a $633 room at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Also, Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin was reimbursed $1,487 for a pizza truck he hired to come to his home for a VIP party during the weekend the Gators played Alabama.
Did You Notice?
• Was the SI Daily Cover yesterday a foreshadow? ‘Facing Duke Was All Business’: Ten Years After No. 15 Seed Lehigh Slayed a Giant
• Two of these teams have already lost: The 10 Teams Most Likely to Win the 2022 Men’s National Title
• The Best NBA Draft Prospects in the 2022 NCAA Tournament includes a Crimson Tide player.
Christopher Walsh’s notes column “All Things CW” appears every week on BamaCentral.
