Alabama
Where Alabama basketball’s 2024 NCAA Tournament résumé stands for March Madness
![Where Alabama basketball’s 2024 NCAA Tournament résumé stands for March Madness Where Alabama basketball’s 2024 NCAA Tournament résumé stands for March Madness](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2024/02/29/PNAS/72792695007-usatsi-22649917.jpg?auto=webp&crop=4723,2658,x0,y245&format=pjpg&width=1200)
Selection Sunday has arrived, and Alabama basketball will soon find out its exact seeding, opponent and location for the NCAA Tournament and March Madness.
The Crimson Tide experienced a short run in the SEC Tournament, losing to Florida in the quarterfinals on Friday after Alabama (21-11) had received a double bye. The Crimson Tide will need to try its best to hit the reset button heading into March Madness considering it hasn’t been playing its best basketball of late, having lost three of its last four games and four of the last six.
Where does the latest bracketology have Alabama projected? Despite the loss, the latest predictions still view Alabama as a No. 4 seed. As of late Saturday, that hadn’t changed. Alabama will officially learn of its seeding Sunday (5 p.m. CT, CBS) during the selection show.
Alabama basketball NCAA Tournament resume
As of Saturday night, the Crimson Tide ranked No. 9 in the NET rankings. It had a 4-10 record against Quad 1 teams and a 7-1 record against Quad 2 teams. The only Quad 2 loss Alabama had was to Clemson, per Bracketologists.com. Previously, the Ohio State loss was considered a Quad 2 loss while the Clemson loss was Quad 1.
March Madness bracketology predictions for Alabama basketball
ESPN and CBS still kept Alabama as a No. 4 seed even with the immediate exit from the SEC Tournament. It seems that the Crimson Tide will more than likely will end up with a top-four seed for the second consecutive season.
ESPN’s projection from Joe Lunardi as of Saturday had Alabama playing in Salt Lake to start and facing No. 13 seed Samford.
CBS’ prediction from Jerry Palm as of Saturday saw the Crimson Tide also playing in Salt Lake but with a first-round matchup with No. 13 seed McNeese State.
MARCH MADNESS: Alabama basketball has a snowball problem. Can it fix it for March Madness?
NATE OATS: What will it take for Alabama basketball to keep Nate Oats long-term? | Kelly
NICK SABAN COMMEMORATIVE BOOK: Relive Nick Saban’s epic career with our special book. Preorder here.
Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men’s basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
![](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/np-logo.png)
Alabama
Alabama kids celebrate their hometowns in statewide art contest highlighting value of homeownership
![Alabama kids celebrate their hometowns in statewide art contest highlighting value of homeownership Alabama kids celebrate their hometowns in statewide art contest highlighting value of homeownership](https://alabamanewscenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Art-contest-feature.jpg)
Alabama
Death Row inmate Alan Eugene Miller: Prison too ‘incompetent’ to fit his gas mask
![Death Row inmate Alan Eugene Miller: Prison too ‘incompetent’ to fit his gas mask Death Row inmate Alan Eugene Miller: Prison too ‘incompetent’ to fit his gas mask](https://www.al.com/resizer/v2/BUOWEULXHVGUTGVITFAJB375CI.jpg?auth=da7447ec208774e0d966b234b2ea20e291c0d646b0ec252ccc66eb3e558dc2b8&width=1280&quality=90)
Alabama Death Row inmate Alan Eugene Miller said he has no intention of holding his breath or resisting his execution from nitrogen gas suffocation, but he’s worried the state will fail at securing his gas mask because they’re “incompetent.”
“I don’t think ya’ll know what you’re doing,” Miller, who would be only the second inmate in America to die by suffocating on nitrogen gas, told a state attorney during a deposition. “And these guys can’t even open a cell door sometimes. They’re keystone cops is basically what they are.”
The deposition was filed as part of an argument Miller’s lawyers made earlier this week. That filing also said the only training execution team members have for preparing an inmate for the procedure is from an Alabama Attorney General’s Office prosecutor.
Miller, 59, is set to die on Sept. 26 at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. The prison is the only facility in the state with an execution chamber and is where most death row inmates are housed.
In a Monday filing in federal court, Miller’s attorneys said Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office and its deputy, James Houts, are “responsible for training the execution team on how to carry out a nitrogen hypoxia execution.”
Miller said he’s open to having the gas mask fitted to his face prior to his September execution, but only if a doctor, medical professional or third party appointed by a federal judge does the fitting. That’s because he believes the prison workers are “incompetent” at mask fitting.
The execution, if carried out, will be the second using nitrogen in the country. The first was also in Alabama, when the state executed Kenneth Eugene Smith in January. That execution was widely criticized, after Smith convulsed for several minutes on the gurney.
State officials have argued that Smith held his breath at the beginning of his execution, delaying the nitrogen entering his body.
“The best explanation of the testimony is that Smith held his breath and lost consciousness when he breathed nitrogen gas—not that the mask did not fit or that the nitrogen was impure,” the Alabama Attorney General’s Office said in a filing earlier this month.
Miller “has no physiological explanation for how Smith could have suffered due to the State’s nitrogen hypoxia protocol,” it said.
But on Monday, Miller’s lawyers said the state doesn’t offer any proof for their claims. The state “hang(s) their hat exclusively on the self-serving testimony of a witness who claims to have remembered Mr. Smith’s oxygen levels nearly seven months after the execution.”
The execution team captain didn’t write down those oxygen levels, according to Miller’s lawyers, nor tell anyone about them on the night of the execution.
“In fact, evidence in the record suggest that the witness could not even see the levels from his position in the execution chamber, and the execution log from Mr. Smith’s execution… undercuts (the state’s) entire argument,” said the filing.
The captain’s deposition was also submitted in public court records.
That man said his responsibility was fitting Smith with his respirator mask for the execution. “I have not encountered any person for whom the mask did not fit securely and effectively,” he said.
During Smith’s execution, the captain said he watched the “readout for one of the pulse oximeters attached to Smith’s earlobe.”
“For a period of time that was longer than I had expected, I noticed that the pulse oximeter continued to read at a steady rate of 97%-98%. I did not notice whether Smith was breathing or holding his breath during this time.”
The captain said that Smith eventually released a deep breath, and then the pulse oximeter dropped “to the low 40s in a matter of seconds.” After 40 more seconds, he said, the reading dropped to 17%.
“This rapid drop in Smith’s pulse oximeter readings was what I had expected would happen when Smith began breathing nitrogen. After those breaths, Smith’s body did not move again,” he said.
Miller’s lawyers wrote that the captain has no medical or scientific training, and had received no training for fitting gas masks. In the heavily redacted filing, the lawyers wrote that he “has never read the (REDACTED) which provides instructions on the proper fit.”
Instead, the filing said, the captain learned how to prepare inmates from state Deputy Attorney General James Houts.
“Mr. Houts has admitted he is not an expert in nitrogen hypoxia protocols, but nevertheless believes he is qualified to (REDACTED) the State’s nitrogen hypoxia system because he is a ‘private pilot, a master scuba diver,’ and served in the military.”
The filing said Houts, too, has no medical or scientific training.
All notes from the state’s execution log that were included in the filing are redacted.
Miller believes, according to his deposition earlier this month, that the state’s gas mask won’t fit him. Various masks haven’t worked on his face before, Miller said, because he has a large head and face. He’s also unable to wear hats sold to prisoners because “they are too small for his head.”
“I’ve a big old head,” he said in the deposition.
According to his Alabama Department of Corrections inmate summary, Miller weighs 351 pounds.
Miller’s team also argued the state won’t use a mask with an inherent airtight seal or perform a negative pressure test on the mask. They also said the prison system should provide Miller, or anyone about to face a nitrogen execution, a sedative to “reduce the needless suffering that occurs during asphyxiation.”
Alabama
Infant deaths up across United States, Alabama above national average
![Infant deaths up across United States, Alabama above national average Infant deaths up across United States, Alabama above national average](https://gray-wbrc-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/O72X7WAAUVF3LHPE3ZZD7KQNZM.jpg?auth=c11b0f6375adf4a0f9d6176d32308b31c33bb80fc3d37ef25c45364ff2263a21&width=1200&height=600&smart=true)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – For the first time in 20 years, more infants are dying in the United States.
A new report from the CDC shows infant mortality rates in the U.S. went up 3% in 2022.
“Infant mortality is a very good indicator of how we’re doing as a society with our healthcare, and so, the increase is always concerning whether that’s in Alabama or whether that’s nationwide,” said Dr. Wes Stubblefield with the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH).
ADPH says the infant mortality in the state is above the national average.
The national infant mortality rate was 5.6 deaths per thousand live births in 2022. In Alabama, ADPH says it was 6.7 deaths per thousand.
Birth defects and sudden infant death syndrome are major factors.
Stubblefield says there are also disparities in Alabama. More Black infants are dying.
“There’s a lot of reasons that go into that, some of it has to do with healthcare access,” the doctor said.
Of the 14 states that enacted near-total abortion bans in 2022, like Alabama, all but two states had a higher-than-average infant mortality rate that same year.
However, Alabama is seeing some improvement.
ADPH says infant mortality was lower in 2022 than the previous year and says it continues to work with the Governor’s Office and the State Legislature to secure funding.
“Home visiting programs, promoting safe sleep awareness through education, using screening to ensure that mothers who are identified that have substance abuse disorders are referred for treatment,” Stubblefield said.
County-by-county infant mortality rates from ADPH can be viewed here.
Get news alerts in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store or subscribe to our email newsletter here.
Copyright 2024 WBRC. All rights reserved.
-
World1 week ago
One dead after car crashes into restaurant in Paris
-
Midwest1 week ago
Michigan rep posts video response to Stephen Colbert's joke about his RNC speech: 'Touché'
-
News1 week ago
Video: Young Republicans on Why Their Party Isn’t Reaching Gen Z (And What They Can Do About It)
-
Movie Reviews1 week ago
Movie Review: A new generation drives into the storm in rousing ‘Twisters’
-
News1 week ago
In Milwaukee, Black Voters Struggle to Find a Home With Either Party
-
Politics1 week ago
Fox News Politics: The Call is Coming from Inside the House
-
News1 week ago
Video: J.D. Vance Accepts Vice-Presidential Nomination
-
World1 week ago
Trump to take RNC stage for first speech since assassination attempt