Tide needs to beat Missoui ...
Grant Reports Tarrant out indefinitely

Tarrant probably won't play tonight

    Nothing like a playing a basketball game on National Signing Day, particularly when your hoops team can open a window to hear the fat lady warming up.  A couple of weeks ago I thought the Tide could win 20 games and before playing in the SEC Tournament. Dreams of winning 22 games danced in my head. Then came the Auburn and Florida games and those horrendous starts. I’ve tossing the Kentucky game in my current thought processes for several reasons. No one is beating UK and what makes us think we could have won either of those games. I think that two losses to Kentucky may be better than any win we’ve had so far.

Since that early prediction, some reality has smacked my Crimson heart. First, the loss of Ricky Tarrant is bad. Ricky has been our floor leader. When Ricky is on the floor something is going to happen. It is usually good, sometimes bad, but something is on the horizon to catch our attention. Second, we haven’t shown anyone that we can replace Tarrant. I have no doubt that Justin Coleman has the potential. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been getting all the minutes he should have dedicated in the hope he grows as a player. Finally, there is Coach Anthony Grant, and the fat lady humming in the background thing. You’d think the man was coaching for his job. Perhaps he already knows something we don’t.

Tonight’s game with Missoui is seemingly the easiest game on the Tide’s remaining schedule. A home game against a team whose record is just south of the Mendoza line should bring a smile to your face. But we are the new Alabama basketball. That’s the team who can’t win close games, can’t toss the ball off the end of a pier and hit water, and rebounding which is like sighting an endangered species. You have an occasional sighting to make you hope there might be more to come.  I just don’t see any reason to delude ourselves in thinking we might make the NCAA. NASA might call any of us to fly to the moon, but I’m not counting on that either. Basically, when you are now sweating a game with a losing dog team, your season in trouble.  The Tide is a 10 point favorite, and I’m not the least bit convinced we will win the game. We should, we could, and ought to mop up the floor with the worst Missouri team in the last couple of decades. This is a Missouri team which has invented new ways to lose games. But tonight, the Tigers play Alabama, a team edge of falling apart. Perhaps a win over Missouri can turn things around?   My mind says the Tide wins without Tarrant, because Justin or Retin can adequately fill in for Ricky T. My nervous worry center is telling me that that might not happen. In a matter of a few seasons, I’ve gone from the eternal optimist to a pessimist about Bama basketball. If bad can happen to Tide basketball it will. Ricky Tarrant is just the latest example. Maybe Coach Grant is really a good coach but has a hex on him from some satanic source. Maybe we all keep hoping that God will build a hedge around him because he is so good in other areas. That’s what Job hoped as well. We all know how that turned out.

I still look at the match-ups, compare the stats, look for trends, and anything basketball related to determine who should win. The bottom line is that my preparation for game now consists of the following:

1.  Turn on the television and hit the record button; and

2.  Pray that nothing horrible happens to one of the players; and,

3.  Ask for divine intervention in lieu of running a real offense; and

4.  Hoping that Coach Grant will actually run on the floor and kick  Michael Kessens in the rear end to rebound like a real man; and

5.  Levi Randolph decides to shoot in the first half; and,

6.  Jimmie Taylor doesn’t catch his second foul in the first five minutes; and,

7.  Anthony Grant gets a technical foul proving he has a pulse and acts like he actually gives a darn; and,

8.  Several young players are watching and one of them says, “Hey we could go to that school and play before prom.”

     I have retired my lucky tee shirt in order that it doesn’t lose any remaining luck that it might still have. When we watch games on television, my wife calls me from the kitchen and says – “if we score, run back the recorder so I can see.” (actually happened). I will no longer drink during basketball games because I am afraid I could become an addict, and the cost would be too high for our limited liquor budget. My wife catches up on her sewing sometimes. I have to answer all her questions like, “dribbling the ball off your foot is bad, right”. Here’s personal favorite, “why do we just pass the ball in circles all the time”. And then there are the never ending statements such as, “I feel so sorry for our players, don’t you”? “I thought you said that basketball teams ran plays?” “Look, we can’t get the ball inbounds just like when Mark was here.” And one of personal favorites, “where are all the fans."

     And my all-time favorite that my wife says to try to cheer me up. “At least now that we live in San Diego we don’t have to watch the games in person nearly as much.” When another loss occurs she will try to cheer me up by saying, “you’ll get over it because you had your time to watch when we great.” That’s it. I’ve had my day in the sunshine with Alabama basketball. I’m just about over the whole darned mess. Except, I know that the next time we play, I’ll be watching every moment. Then I’ll watch the replay. Next, I call my buddies and we will all lament the passing of an era, and hope for the end of the current era. I can tell my grandchildren about a time when Alabama was a great team. I will tell them stories of a man named Wimp. Talk to then about Leon Douglas, Amp Murray, Spree, McDyess, Mo, and a boat load of other stars. I can show them the article I wrote when Alabama was actually #1 in basketball. All that seems so long ago. God, I love Alabama basketball when I don’t hate Alabama basketball.

       And whether it is wishful thinking or merely delusion thinking, I like Bama by 5 tonight. Why? Because I remember the time when Missouri was like us, and they had a coach nicknamed Stormin’ Norman. I think that just maybe they have sunk lower than the Tide. All that was in a Galaxy far, far, away, and a long time ago for two proud programs, however.