JOHNSON ROLLS OUT ALABAMA BASKETALLL

TIDE BASKETBALL IS HERE...

   

        Alabama just had their version of midnight madness. It was remarkable. It was just what Tide fans needed. Look, I just picked the Tide to finish 10th in the SEC. I’m not getting my head caught up in the hoopla except to say it was just what the doctor ordered for Bama. It also shows the pent up desire that Tide fans have to see their basketball program to return to relevancy.  If this is the vision that Avery Johnson has for Tide basketball we should all feel a little better. That’s not to say the blast off phase of his coaching won’t have some pratfalls. The Tide has some decent players, but no first round draft picks are lurking in the rafters of Coleman Coliseum.  It’s going to take a couple of those type players to elevate the program back to days of Wimp Sanderson. It is going to take a very special coach to do that. I think that Alabama may have found that person in Avery Johnson.

        The coach has already set the stage in recruiting by getting a couple of four stars and a five-star player to commit to ‘Bama. Not all of them can play this season, but they’ll be in Tuscaloosa one day. Give this man three good years of recruiting and the Tide will be making some national noise in the world of hoops.  And dare I say, another big name will soon be on campus?

       I really believe that. Johnson has a clear vision of how he can use the brand of Alabama football to help make the basketball team better. He isn't running from football, he has embraced the sport. He has also cannily started to raise his own persona as the man who stands with Nick Saban. Smart move on his part. Smart move by Saban to help him do so. I think that finally everyone sees that football and basketball can be compatible and  each can help the other. 

          I've been watching Tide basketball for a long time. Honestly, my belief that Alabama could reach the upper echelons of NCAA hoops had faded. Will Alabama ever be a Duke or UCLA in hoops? I doubt it, but it would be unfair to discount it entirely. I'll say this - give us a couple of years and we'll be really good. We'll be so good that teams will not take the Tide lightly. That's a good first step.

PART III - SEC PREVIEW

11.  Florida Gators - who ever thought that the Florida Gators might be picked as one of the four bottom teams in the SEC? Billy Donovan has been replaced by Mike White who turned around the LA. Tech program. He is a good coach, but has his work cut out this season. The wealth of basketball talent is seemingly bottomless in the Sunshine State. White will be able to tap into that in the coming seasons, but for this year he may have a tough time. The Florida front court is substantial. Start with John Egbunu is a great post player who checks in at almost 7 feet. If White can find a backcourt to help his front Court the Gators could surprise. In 2013, Florida won 36 games. Last year that number dropped to 16. Donovan gave the Gators 19 years at the helm, but you can't wonder if he saw the writing on the wall. White starred at Ole Miss, and worked as an Ole Miss Assistant before resurrecting the La. Tech program.  Although White never took LaTech to the NCAA he won 28 games in his last season.  Dorian Finney Smith, 6-8 223, the SEC's 6th Man of the Year will know step into a starting role. He will give the Gators a strong Front Court along with Egbunu. Throw in Devin Robinson, who is 6-8, and the Gators have some decent size. 


12.  Tennessee Vols - have fallen a long way from back in the day. Robert Hubbs, III is the Volunteers best returning starter. He is 6-4 junior guard. But real story in Knoxville is the hiring of Rick Barnes. Barnes led Texas from mediocrity into one of the top programs in the NCAA before he was canned.  How anyone can accumulate the record that Barnes had at Texas and be fired is an example of just how dysfunctional things had become in the Texas AD office. The Tennessee jumped at the chance to hire Barnes. Rick hasn't had an opportunity to put his considerable recruiting skills to work yet. He was greeted in Knoxville in much the same manner as Avery Johnson was at Alabama. 

13.  ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS have more personal problems than any team in the SEC. Last year the Razorbacks won 27 games. They may not win 15 this season. Mike Anderson has a tough row to hoe coming up. The Hogs lost Booby Portis and Michael Qualls.  You don't recover from that. Add to the list of problems was a sub-par recruiting class according to various services which rank players. The Razorbacks also lost three transfer players to various personal and legal question. Not wanting to beat a dead horse just suffice it to say that the Razorbacks or in a down to the wire fight with Missouri to avoid the SEC celler.

13. (tie) MISSOURI TIGERS basketball came into the SEC with a highly regarded program. The football team was kind of an afterthought. It hasn't turned out that way has it. Last year the Tigers were 9-23 and were frankly, a very bad basketball team. Jonathon Allen, the team best player transferred to Gonzaga. It would be easy to say the cup board is bare. Mizzoui doesn't even have a cupboard. The burden falls on the gifted Wes Clark, a 6-1 guard who is the real deal. Unfortunately,  doesn't have the help to pull the Tigers into respectability. 
 
Accolades for the season...

          Do you include Freshman for an all-conference team when they have never played a game?  Common Sense says you shouldn't but after watching a lot of AAU games and video they are hard to ignore.
SIMMONS - LSU. Simmons is the best high school player I've ever seen. He will dominate the SEC. I'd like to think that Simmons would stick around for a couple of seasons but that isn't likely.
Runner-up: Danuel House - Texas A&M - Not a glamour pick but House is that good...

SEC COACH OF THE YEAR: BEN HOWLAND - MISSISSIPPI STATE.  I have no doubt that picking a man who has never coached a game in the SEC is controversial. I'm sticking to my guns. From last season to the end of the present season I think that Howland is going to be the man.

Runner-up: Johnny Jones, LSU. You could pick him #1 and get no beef from this writer. Jones has rung the bell in recruiting and it should pay off big time.

ALL-SEC FIRST TEAM:

BEN SIMMONS: LSU
DANIEL HOUSE: Texas A&M
SKAI LaBRISSERE: Kentucky
DAMIEN JONES: Vanderbilt
ALEX POYTHRESS: KENTUCKY

SECOND TEAM:

JAMAL MURRY: Kentucky
MALIK NEWMAN: Mississippi State
STEPHAN MOODY: Ole Miss
JALEN JONES: Texas A&M
DORIAN FINNEY-SMITH: Florida 

SEC TEAMS RECEIVING NCAA BID:  Kentucky, TAM, Vanderbilt, Georgia, and  LSU
NIT BOUND: Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina, and Auburn

BACK BURNER TEAMS WHICH MIGHT SURPRISE: Mississippi State and Alabama. 

 

SEC PREVIEW

SEC PREVIEW FOR THE 2015-16 SEASON…

      It’s hard to believe that Alabama opens up the 2015 basketball season on November 13th. That is just around the corner. Fans are excited and have every right to be so. Last year, the Tide won 19 games in the final season of Anthony Grant. It did so without Ricky Tarrant for the last 12 games and Shannon Hale for 6 late games. That was a remarkable achievement. Levi Randolph had a storybook ending to his senior year and is now with the Boston Celtics. Rodney Cooper showed flashes of greatness, but never quite lived up to his own expectations. That’s all in the past, and now we enter the Avery Johnson era. Johnson, an ex-NBA coach, was a welcome if hardly anticipated hire. He has been well received by Tide fans.

         The new coach has gone about the business of coaching Tide basketball like someone lit his shoes on fire. He’s done it all, including some heady recruiting. Bama got a verbal commitment from their highest rated prospect in quite some time. Coleman Coliseum has new seating arrangements for students to bring on the heat in T-Town. Whether they show up in large numbers is yet to be seen, but there remains a strong cadre of Tide fans who will. It will be an exciting beginning for the basketball program, and kudos to Johnson for re-uniting the Tide fan base. It was sorely needed. If you described Anthony Grant, the term stoic comes to mind.  Describe Johnson and the words atomic bomb comes to mind.

SEC TAKES STEPS TO IMPROVE IMAGE OF THE LEAGUE...

      
        Quietly, and without much fanfare, the Conference hired Greg Shaheen as a consultant to upgrade SEC basketball. Shaheen is a past NCAA Tournament Director. His job was simple. What does the SEC need to do to become a premiere conference again. The conference was told it needed to do several things:

1. You have the money so increase your advertising budget. Increase your expenditures for recruiting to attract better players.

2. The Conference needs to schedule stronger opponents to raise the RPI of each team. Shaheen found particular fault with weak non-conference opponents. The consultant explained in no uncertain terms exactly what the Selection Committee expects from their potential invitees. 

3.  A long term goal was to improve the facilities of some schools to bring them to an on par level with the out of conference competition.

4.   Shaheen was aware of the pending SEC network, and urged the Conference to make full use of its nationwide potential for showcasing basketball in the Deep South.
The SEC Network is bringing in so much money that it gives all SEC schools the chance to compete with Kentucky finance wise. That’s a good thing if you are trying to elevate your exposure on a national level. 

       Did it work? The SEC had five bids last season compared to three in 2013. The Conference had a couple of teams on the edge of invitations last year to boot. All decent SEC schools not taken by the NCAA got NIT bids.

SEC FACTOID… 

       No SEC team has ever had six players drafted by the NBA in single season. A total of seven Wildcats made teams.    

HERE COMES THE MAN…

Simmons will turn LSU around...

        There has been a tremendous influx of talent into the SEC in the last two years. This season’s freshmen are top recruits, and not all of them signed with Kentucky. The nation’s top prospect, Ben Simmons, 6-10, signed with LSU. Simmons may be the best player signed by any school in a decade. He can play four positions on the floor.

        Kentucky once again rang the cash register. The Wildcats inked the nation’s top center in Skai Labissiere. The 6-11 post player gives the Big Blue an Anthony Davis type player. If that wasn’t enough (and at Kentucky there is no limit) 6-4 Jamal Murray, the best two guard prospect. Top 25 players Isaiah Briscoe, and 6-3 all-purpose guard, and Charles Matthews, a 6-5 tweener all became Wildcats.  At Kentucky it is the same old song, with a different verse.
Those two schools are just an example of the talent pouring into the SEC. Every school, including Alabama had excellent recruiting classes. How it ends, as the Greeks say, “it is now in the hands of the Gods”.

PREDICTED FINISH FOR THE SEC…

  

Like him or not, he's a great recruiter

# 1.   KENTUCKY WILDCATS…
Last year Kentucky won 38 games. They had six players drafted and another signed a free agent contract. The Cat’s lost the famed super seven. They also lost 85% oftheir scoring, and 89% of their rebounded. The Cats will be decimated, right? Hardly the case if you can believe that. The Blue will return Alex Poythress, the 6-8 SF, who was breaking out last season before he injured an ACL. Marcus Lee, 6-9 forward is back. Lee had several great games last year. Stats are really deceptive for Kentucky. They played so many players no one had killer numbers. The team’s fireplug, 5-9 Tyler Ulis, who might be the best point in the conference is back, and he has plenty of people to pass the ball who can score.

Kentucky signed the nation’s top center and shooting guard. They also signed to other top 25 prospects who would be the best players signed by most programs. It’s hard not to pick the Wildcats. Great coaching, great talent, and the SEC’s best home court advantage. This is the Alabama of SEC basketball. Kentucky may also get two foreign players in Issac Humphreys, a mere 7-0 feet tall from Australia. Next door New Zealander, Tai Wynyard. He’s only 6-10. Both were the best players in their respective countries. The rich get richer. 

       Kentucky is also the poster child for what is killing college basketball. Kentucky places no emphasis on education. They only want to win, and the term student athlete is a joke a great academic institution.

#2.  Louisiana State University Tigers

    

Jones signed the best high school player in USA

  There are so many good teams bunched behind Kentucky it’s almost like a coin toss. I like LSU simply because Ben Simmons is the best high school player I’ve watched on tape since LeBron James. In addition, the Tigers signed another highly touted guard. The Tigers are loaded at both the point and the shooting guards. Sure, the Tigers lost a lot on the inside. If Simmons is as good as advertised my bet is the Tigers can finish very high in the SEC. 

       Simmons is 6-10 and can play the post, power forward, small forward, and he shoots the ball so well he can play the two. I know Johnny Jones well enough to know he’d rather let Simmons play facing the basket. The young man has those kind of skills. Add Simmons to the long list of Tiger greats. Men like Bob Petit, Pete Maravich, Shaquille O’Neal, and others make LSU a historically great program. I think Jones has LSU on the cusp of bringing big time basketball back to Baton Rouge. Simmons may be a once in a decade player, and he is certainly another one and done. This is a kid that Kentucky couldn’t get even though he was their top recruit. 

       LSU lost 32+ points and 19+ rebounds with the departure of Jarrell Martin and Jordan Mickey. That’s a lot to replace. At the end of the fall quarter, Arizona transfer Craig Victor, a 6-9 inside banger will be eligible. Tim Quarterman is an able if not flashy point guard. He’s 6-6 and averaged 11.5 ppg last season. Finally, the Tigers have long range bomber, Keith Hornsby at the two. He’s 6-4 and is a deadly shooter. He averaged 13.4 ppg last year. 

#3.  Vanderbilt Commodores

    

Jones returned for Senior Year

   I have to admit struggling with putting the ‘Dores this high in the SEC. One thing that separates Vandy from the rest of the league is sheer size. A lot of tall athletic bodies has to be a good thing. Vandy will have the tallest team in the SEC. Vandy caught a major break when All-SEC center, Damien Jones, opted to return for his senior year. Jones projected as a high second- round pick but felt another year under his belt would show the NBA his true value. He is 7-0 and averaged 14.5 and 6.5 respectively. He is a great foundation to build a team around. The small forward is 7-1 junior Luke Kornet. He made 50 three-point baskets last season and causes all sorts of matchup problems with his size. The Commodores may end up with four or five players over seven feet. 

        All the size is well and good, but someone has to deliver the rock. That would be sophomore Wade Baldwin IV. As a freshman, Baldwin had some great minutes and was solid. Jeff Roberson is only 6-6 but he has the ability to play both forward positions.  Vandy is counting on him heavily to deliver this year. If Baldwin can match his freshman year play, I think that Vandy might just be the surprise team in the SEC. The Commodores have a good coach, and one of the most unique home court advantages in the SEC. Oh yeah, you’ll lose the battle of shooting free throws in Nashville every time.

       One thing I’ve learned about the Commodores in the last fifty years is that the when you least expect the success out of Nashville you’ll going go get it. Vandy has been a big force in SEC basketball, and this could be another year for their ship to set sail.

#4.  Texas A & M  

  

Kennedy says TAM is ready to for next level

      TAM is a strange team. They have a coach that has had his shares of stories in the news. One thing you cannot  dispute is that the Aggies are getting better. Last season the Aggies got one an NIT bid. A couple of late season losses killed their NCAA chances. Earlier this year, Aggie head man Billy Kennedy said “we are going to the NCAA this season.” It could happen in large measure to the return of the gifted Danuel House. He is a 6-7 guard who would start on any team in the SEC, including Kentucky. An injury to House severely hurt the Texas teams’ chances to make the NCAA.  As House goes, so goes the Aggies. 

        But House is not the great player on their team. Alex Caruso, he of the unexpected passes, played a key role in the team’s success. He was a lot like Levi Randolph in that it was hard to get him to shoot the ball. He can shoot. Alex looked sick (physically) toward the end of the season, and coupled with the loss of House it hurt.

     Billy Kennedy hopes that gilded point guard, Alex Robinson, 6-1 can fulfill his potential. That will allow Caruso to play the two guard and not wear himself down. The Aggies have a good schedule and dodge having to play some of the big boys twice. I almost picked them 3^rd or 4^th and that could have easily been justified..

SEC FACTOID…   

     This is the first time in memory that no Alabama player is projected to be a first, second, or third team All-SEC. I think by the end of the season at least one Tide player will make one of those teams. My guess – Shannon Hale or Retin Obasahan.


LATER THIS WEEK: The other teams, All-Conference picks, All-Freshman teams, and more.

LIKE TO CONTRIBUTE TO CRIMSON HOOPS WITH YOUR  POINT OF VIEW? SEE PAGE TWO IN RIGHT HAND COLUMN.

PART TWO OF SEC PREVIEW

William "Turtle" Jackson

#5.  Georgia Bulldogs are a team on the rise. I find it almost impossible to find myself picking them so high in the conference. They will be good. Coach Mark Fox endured a couple of so-so seasons in 2012 and 2013, and went about the business of setting a solid foundation for the future of Georgia basketball. The University has started revamping Stegeman Coliseum. It was the worst facility in the SEC in my opinion. The old joke about the facility was to make sure you had the wind in the second half. Those days are gone. The Bulldogs are ready to assert themselves and take advantage of the talent rich state of Georgia. The Dawgs have a couple of problems to overcome this season. They got to replace the scoring numbers Marcus Thornton and Nemanja Djurisic. Together, the pair contributed over 21.3 points and 12.5 rebounds per game. The Red and Black will see the return of the very talented Juwan Parker, a 6-4 junior swingman who ruptured an Achilles tendon. If he returns at 100% it will help offset the loss of the above two players. 

       The main news out of Georgia is the Turtle. That’s the nickname of 6-2 guard William Jackson. He is a superstar. He can shoot the long range jumper, break down a defender on the dribble, and has great court sense. He reminds me of the late great Earl Monroe. His mantra was “whoever is free is the man I see.” Mark Fox got a five-star recruit who can play the point or the two. Then you add the return of Kenny Gaines, 11.7 ppg, and Charles Mann, who averaged 11.2 ppg game. The three might well be the best backcourt in the SEC. I went back and watched a couple of Georgia games and had forgotten just how impressive that pair really can be. Add the Turtle and you have something that will elevate you to the top half of the SEC. 

       # 6 Mississippi State Bulldogs landed two great additions to their team. First, they got a great coach in Ben Howland. Howland has been to the upper echelons of college basketball. The second is the addition of Malik Neman, the top player out of Mississippi who turned down big time offers from Duke and Kentucky to stay home and play. Newman is a 6-3 guard who is a program maker. Expect him to start alongside Fred Thompson who is 6-5 and scored 9.3 per game. Keep in mind that the Bullies return three of their top four scorers. Top of that group is Montgomery’s Craig Sword. Sword averaged 11.2 ppg despite continuing back problems. He had surgery off season and reports are that he is 100%.  6-9 Gavin Ward is back after having a 10.0 and 7.1 rebounds per game.

Howland was great hire for Hail State

 
Ben Howland took UCLA to three straight NCAA Final Fours from 2006-2008. That isn’t the exact stuff of John Wooden but it’s not shabby either. Most coaches never make it for even one appearance in the Final Four. If you live in Starkville, Mississippi better times are ahead. Howland is known for his discipline. Some say he goes beyond that. How you go from Westwood to Starkville is an interesting story. Look for substantial improvement from the Bullies.
 
#7 South Carolina Gamecocks are led by the mild mannered Frank Martin. Joking aside, Martin is an excellent coach, much loved by his players, despite having a volcanic like temper. He has high expectations for his own performance, and believes his players should mirror his desire to win. Look for that 17 win total of last season to increase. It all starts around Sindarius Thornwell. The 6-5 shooting guard was injured much of last season, but when Thornwell played up to his potential the Gamecocks were a dangerous team. It might be said that USC will be as good as Sindarius. Martin thinks he is going to be a force for the Gamecocks. Last season the Gamecocks had early wins over Iowa State and Oklahoma State. The Gamecocks even had a cup of coffee in the Top 25. Then USC lost eight games by narrow margins. It took a while to rebound, but the Gamecocks had two big wins in the SEC Tournament.
                                                                             
         # 8 Ole Miss Rebels have been on the upswing. They have won 127 games in the

Ole Miss "little big man"

last five years. Those are lofty numbers for a team not known for basketball prowess. The Rebels, a/k/a Black Bears have become a team you cannot overlook with Andy Kennedy at the helm. The question for Kennedy this season is whether you can build a team around a 5-10 point-guard. Stephan Moody is a player that any team in the SEC would like to have. He is the SEC’s returning leading scorer at 16.6 ppg.  Moody has had some off-season legal problems and surgery on one leg. The legal matter has been settled and rehab is reportedly going well.  Kennedy has gone worldwide in trying to shore up the Rebels. The Rebels lost over 23 points a game with the graduation of Jarvis Summers and LaDarius White. What did Kennedy do? He went the post grad and transfer route which he has come to love. 
 
     Sam Finley, a JUCO, from Howard Texas Junior College, to be the running mate with Moody. Finley made some JUCO All-America team, and Kennedy has high expectations for him. In addition, Liberty University grad, Tomasz Gielo who is 6-9 to help Ware with the inside game. He will have one year to play. I have to admit to finding Kennedy’s path to success somewhat unique, but he has shown he knows how to find players to fit his team’s style of play. If Moody is not fully recovered, you can expect the Rebels to take a hit in the standings.

Pearl hopes Canty can elevate the Tigers

#9 Auburn Tigers had some lofty expectations under Bruce Pearl. It didn’t pan out the way Tiger fans hoped. Despite having arguable the best scoring back-court in the SEC the Tigers had only 15 wins. The Tigers lost twice to in-state rival Alabama. The Tide win in Auburn proved to be particularly upsetting in the Tigers season. In all fairness, wins in the SEC Tournament gave Pearl somewhat of an extended honeymoon with Tiger fans. Will the Tigers be better this season? They might. They might be a better team, but that won’t equate to more wins. Pearl has proven to be a great coach at prior coaching stops, and he believes that AU will be more different. 
 
        Pearl is putting his hopes around Kareem Canty, the 6-1 Marshall transfer who now eligible to play this season. Pearl himself says that Canty is one of the best three guards in the SEC. He is a point guard who can shoot, distribute, and run an offense. Pearl is a master of hyperbole, but a couple of Marshall fans tell me that Canty is the real deal. Auburn has some decent size inside. Tyler Harris is 6-10 and has good mobility. A wild card is 7-2 Travon Reed. The center has some potential and got a lot of minutes last year after being thrown in the fire early on. But the main man inside is Cimmeon Bowers, who is 6-7 and weights around 245. He has soft hands and the moves of a guard. He is also undisciplined and was always a show in every game he played last season. If Bowers can start thinking of his team inside of his NBA future, he will be a great asset to Auburn. If not, he’ll be a comical distraction. No doubt he has the skill to be a great player. Some compare his to Charles Barkley. That’s high praise, and a lot of pressure to live up to. If Canty can deliver the mail, the Tigers might be a much improved team.

       #10 Alabama Crimson Tide fans have put of a lot of expectations on first year college coach Avery Johnson. Tide fans had become frustrated with the molasses like offense under Anthony Grant. They better be ready for a slip ‘n slide ride with Johnson. He will install an NBA wide open 94-foot game. The Tide practices with a twenty second shot clock and everyone has the green light. Watching Alabama play may be like watching a tennis match with the back and forth action. Make sure your neck muscles are buckled up. Buckle Up is the mantra of the Crimson Tide this season. 

 
      'Bama lost three senior starters last season. A lot of SEC teams don’t even have three seniors on their rosters. They will not be easily replaced this season. This season is going to be a wild roller coaster ride of highs and lows. I think the highs and a glimpse of the future will be enough to satisfy Tide faithful. Alabama brings in Mr. Basketball, in Dazon Ingram. Ingram was not highly rated, but Kentucky wanted him. That tells me he is a good player. He is a true point guard is 6-5 and that alone will cause a lot of problems for defenders. Justin Coleman, was a four or five star high school recruit who had an up and down freshman year. He had 28 on the road in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The last Tide players on the roster had to be Coleman and Retin Obasahan. Both of the players will love to motor up and down the floor. Obasahan is the best defensive guard in the SEC. The Tide returns a very surprising Riley Norris who had a good freshman season, and showed a lot of court savvy. Jimmie Taylor, 6-10, at Center patrolled the paint like a barracuda as the season progress. He is not a real offensive threat but had his moments. The Tide signed another shot blocker in Class AA Player of the Year in Alabama. A lot of people think that Donta Hall is going to be a great player with some weight and some weight room work. The highly underrated Brandon Austin from Montgomery is going to surprise in my opinion. He is a 6-5 two guard and can go to the small forward position as well. Michael Kessens, 6-10 power forward steadily improved during the season. He’ll be better this year, but you have to wonder if he has the up and down the floor game. If he does he will be a key member of the Tide offense. He needs to get a meaner on defense. 
 
    Without a doubt, the real man to keep an eye on is the moody Shannon Hale. The 6-8, 230 lb. forward had some great games. He isn’t afraid to shoot. That was something that Avery Johnson noted right away. If Hale can take his game to the next level the Tide might finish in the upper half of the SEC. Otherwise, the Tide faithful should sit back and get a preview of things to come.   
 

Next up:  The last four teams, All - Conference Picks, and a little more

AVERY JOHNSON IS DOING A GREAT JOB...

'Bama needs three good recruiting years...

   

"buckle up" Johnson...

  Avery Johnson hit the ground running, and is now blasting off like a Saturn 5 Rocket Ship. 'Bama cannot ask for more. The coach has gotten three verbal commitments. One didn't make his grades. One is a five star high school All-American. The last commitment is a highly regarded 4 star JUCO. Changes have been made to allow students to sit closer to the floor to further antagonize opposing teams. One of his new coaches has AAU blood running through his veins. Another is a much loved graduate from Alabama, and the head man himself was a great NBA player and coach. I think it's safe to say that things have picked up a smidge in Tuscaloosa. Fans are excited beyond words. Alabama faithful have visions of SEC championships and Final Fours dancing in their dreams. Now hold on just a minute...

        The Avery Johnson show is going to need a couple of more years to get everything in place to make a run for an SEC title. I don't doubt that Johnson can do it, but we need to be realistic in our expectations for his program. 'Bama is returning some potentially good players. Perhaps a couple of great players are coming back. Despite all the haters, Anthony Grant didn't leave a bare cupboard. It's not stocked with five star players,but there are some good players.back for Johnson's first year. A couple could be All-SEC type players. Who's who in this returning bunch?

1  Once Retin Obasahan shook off some nagging injuries he started to play like a star. He is a great defender, a shot blocker extraordinaire, and finishes plays. If his shooting improves over the summer, the SEC better watch out...

2  Justine Coleman was a pretty good little point guard last season. Look for a monumental step forward this year. There isn't a better coach in America to help Coleman progress than Avery Johnson. An NBA point guard turned coach is going to light the fuse on this little man. Just wait and see.

3  Shannon Hale has played great and played poorly. You can always look at Shannon to see his state of mind. Under Grant he played cautiously and it hurt his game. He is a shooter and a scorer. Under Johnson he'll always have the green light to jack one up. I'm excited for his future.  

4  Michael Kessens has some potential. He has some considerable potential. Last season he played well in spurts but looked awfully soft at time. There will be a new attitude and more confidence. A great year under the boards from Michael could propel the Tide to a better year. 

5  Jimmie Taylor isn't going to score a bunch of points, but he is a shark in the paint. Last season he became a legitimate defensive force inside. He also developed a nice little baby hook that showed potential.

6. Riley Norris surprised a lot of fans with his hustle, outside shooting, and some fierce rebounding. He is fast, he isn't quick as some, but he has  a lot of court sense. He was solid player who logged in some big minutes. 

Later this week we'll talk about the rest, the transfers, and our freshman.