Bama plays hard for 30 minutes then fizzles.

we played better, but...
score didn't indicate closeness of game...
pollard shows up but lacey vanishes again
  

       It's hard to sugar coat a loss. We are now 8-6 and things aren't looking good. But there were a few bright spots. Devonta Pollard finally showed us a couple of big league plays. Releford had 26 points and 3 assists. More on that later. Rodney Cooper had 11 points and 7 rebounds. We scored 68 points and cut a big lead to 2 midway through the second half. Then we quit playing good defense. I think, looking at it up close and personal, we were just physically tired. It wasn't that the brains were trying, it was that the legs were gone.

         Of course, once again, there were problems. Trevor Lacey was almost non-existent. Levi Randolph had a rare bad night. We had 16 turnovers and only 8 assists. Phil Pressley had 13 assists on his own. In fairness, he does have teammates who are deadly shooters, and someone to pass the ball inside for layups. We have the two stooges down low. They are so bad at times we didn't have to hire a third stooge. Seriously, I know that Jacobs and Gueye are trying. It dawned on me that I'm not sure Gueye understands basketball well enough to play at this level. Jacobs has hands cut from granite and a competitive nature cut from a loaf of bread. Jacobs had 3 points and the tall one had zero points. I bet Rodney Cooper never thought he was the big man on this team.

       But throughout all the stumbling and bumbling Grant kept the game close until the fatigue set in. Let's be clear. Missouri would have beaten Bama with or without fatigue being a factor. What I can see is that we are only 2 players away from having a really great team. We need two big men. We don't need two great big men, just two pretty good inside players who can score and rebound some. I'm thinking were do we find two Chris Hines in the Juco ranks. We are that close. We have a lot of problems but none that some inside size won't fix.  We could go from being thud to drawing some real blood next season. You can knock Grant all you like, and he deserves some of it, but it's not the coaching. It is the lack of bodies. If we had the Big Swede we would have one a few more games. We don't have the big Swede but his absence is obviously hurting the team.

         We don't  shoot well enough, often enough, or get enough good shots. Missou was raining in three point baskets on autopilot. The have quickness and bulk. I don't think they are the number ten team in America, but they are good. We are also good enough to win enough home games to stave off complete embarrassment. These guys didn't quit. Grant is going to be forced to play one additional player off the bench in my opinion. I don't care how well that player does. Just give someone a couple of minutes to suck up some O2 on the sideline. I wonder if we have a couple of guys on the football team that could come in a knock a few butts around?  I'm not talking skill here, but just tough play. Several of the players on the football team were good high school players. That may be like hoping to find a silver dollar on a corn row but what would it hurt. Maybe Coach Grant should put a suggestion box somewhere in the coliseum. 84-68 suggests some suggestions are needed.