If a person looked in the dictionary for a definition of a bubble game, Saturday’s matchup between Alabama and LSU would be written in bold letters as the answer.
Both teams went into the game 7-8 in conference and searching for that important eighth league win to reach the .500 mark.
And it seems for now the Crimson Tide’s bubble was burst, while the Tigers placed themselves in position to receive a coveted invitation to the NCAA Tournament field of 65.
LSU defeated Alabama, 66-62, before 11,322 fans on an emotional day that kicked off with Senior Day festivities honoring the six Tiger seniors. The win pulled LSU to 8-8 in conference and provided head coach John Brady an opportunity to plead his team’s NCAA Tournament case, saying the team deserves to go to the tournament.
“We are 8-8 in our league; we have won five in a row; we have won seven-out-of-ten; I think, five straight, two of the five on the road,” Brady said.
“Our RPI [Ratings Percentage Index] is Top 40, our schedule strength, contrary to you guys beating up our schedule, is Top 50 in the country. We are playing well at the right time. We have beaten No. 1 [Arizona] in the country. Only one other school [Stanford] in the United States has beaten No. 1 in the country.”
Senior point guard Torris Bright thinks the Tigers are in the NCAA Tourney, and he is excited about the opportunity, if it presents itself.
“We are ready for [the NCAAs],” Bright said. “We have a lot of momentum going for us; we are starting to play better, and you know, hopefully we can go deep in the tournament after the SEC Tournament.”
A staunch defensive effort by junior forward Jaime Lloreda with some help from seniors Ronald Dupree and Collis Temple III put LSU in a position to win the game.  
  Lloreda swatted seven shots, pulled down 13 rebounds and had two steals. He also played a large part in limiting ‘Bama senior forward Erwin Dudley to seven points, with five points coming in the last 18 seconds of garbage time. Dupree and Temple hounded Dudley, who averaged 15.3 points per game before Saturday, with double teams from all directions.
“We were going to make somebody else beat us and not let Dudley have a big game,” Brady said.
LSU opened the game much like it did in its 76-65 loss to the Crimson Tide Feb. 1 in Tuscaloosa, Ala., jumping out to a 5-0 lead.
The Tigers retained the lead for nearly the entire half, falling behind only once, 10-9, with 14:20 remaining, and led by as many as eight with 5:40 remaining.
But a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Earnest Shelton tied the score at 29 at the end of the first half.
LSU came out firing in the second half, shooting out to a 36-29 on a 7-0 run.
But ‘Bama answered like it had all day, eventually taking a 52-48 lead off two-consecutive Shelton putbacks.
Brady then called a timeout to regroup his team. Obviously, it worked.
The Tigers subsequently went on a 16-2 run to essentially put the game out of reach and win their final regular season game of 2003.
“I think we just settled down and got open shots,” Bright said of LSU’s play after the timeout. “We were shooting the ball kind of quick, and I think that is why we were not making our shots. But we just settled down, and the game just eventually game to us.”
Dupree led the way offensively for the Tigers, scoring 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Freshman Darrel Mitchell, Lloreda, Bright and Temple all scored in double figures, with Mitchell hitting all three of his 3-point attempts on his way to 11 points.
Maurice Williams led the Tide with 19 points.
Because of the win, LSU now will represent the SEC West as the No. 3 seed in this weekend’s SEC Tournament at the Superdome in New Orleans.
The Tigers will face Vanderbilt, the No. 6 seed from the SEC East, on 2:15 p.m. Thursday. The winner faces Florida.