Welcome back, Alabama basketball.
We're considering the Crimson Tide's 87-85 exhibition win over Auburn the unofficial start of the season, due to the simple fact that neither team was treating "The Feud" like it didn't matter. That game gave us plenty of players to highlight, as did Alabama football's 31-20 win over Texas A&M, making this week's edition of Crimson Tide Athletes of the Week far easier than last week's.
Samuels went 6-for-19 from the field and 3-for-13 from beyond the arc on Thursday, both by far the most attempts and misses on the team. He also had, by far, the highest plus-minus on the team, at plus-17. Samuels was one of the most impactful players on the court throughout the exhibition, and played the third most minutes on the team at 27.
If he can alter a game on a bad shooting night, what is going to happen when they start falling? Opponents probably don't want to find out.
The much-improved Scott had his official coming-out party against Texas A&M, with six catches for a career-high 156 yards. He was nothing short of sensational for a Crimson Tide team that desperately needed a receiver to fill the void of the injured Ryan Coleman-Williams. It was the first time he had ever cleared even 60 yards in a game; a special performance for a player who has waited about as patiently as anybody for his time to shine.
Williams tallied five catches for 91 yards in the Lions' 20-17 win over Green Bay, scoring two touchdowns for the second straight game. After a relatively slow start to the season (less than 50 yards in each of his first three games), he's now averaging an even 80 yards over his last three. The Lions offense is as potent as ever with Williams, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and this guy.
Is this the first-ever case of Crimson Tide Athlete of the Week voter fatigue? Gibbs ran for 116 yards and added 27 off five receptions. I'm admittedly a little tired of writing about Gibbs -he has been in contention for the award virtually every week he's played, winning it three times already this season, with numerous more surely to come. I'm sure he won't be offended by his teammate winning this week in his stead.
Allen came back to Alabama to prove he could be an NBA guard. We saw the first evidence that he indeed could in Thursday's exhibition, as Allen scored 18 second-half points for the Crimson Tide. The sophomore, a regular "Freshman of the Week" winner last winter, went 5-for-7 from the field and 7-for-9 from the line in those final 20 minutes and converted an and-one with 69 seconds to play that proved to be the game-winning points.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/alabama as Rico Scott, Amari Allen Headline Crimson Tide Athletes of the Week .
