Where do we stand as a basketball school today?

Tide hosts Southern Miss tonight...

Tide thumped Towson and struggled against Western Carolina..

 

Emails asking the same questions...

     I get emails from fans wanting to know my opinion about our basketball program. A little background first. I’ve been watching Alabama since the Rocket 8 lifted off from the hardwood. Those were gaudy times. Then came the Eugene Lambert era which was pretty bad, but not terrible. If you view that time against the time he coached, Alabama was about average for an SEC team. No one really gave a flip about hoops in those days. Foster Auditorium was an absolute joke even for its time. It was all Alabama needed though.

Fans wanted some changes in the 60's

     Their came a day when a group of basketball fans, me included, started to write letters to Coach Bryant about the need to upgrade our program. He gave it his best shot. And like all the shots that the Bear took it was dead solid perfect. We explained to him that his legacy as an AD hinged on the improvement of basketball and other non-revenue sports. My father and Coach Bryant a lifted a drink or two together in their times, so the Bear was not a complete stranger to me. It would not be true to say we were friends. How I met the Bear was more to do with bourbon, Old Golds and Chesterfields. But he knew who I was due to my father. Those fan conversations took place with Coach through individual efforts, but finally a “group” asked to meet with him. I think it was a preview for looking at God on judgment day. He was polite and generous with his time. We had 15 minutes or so. He listened. You could tell he was really listening about what we thought as fans and alums.

Enter C.M. Newton and the program exploded... 

      Bryant hired C.M. Newton as our next head coach. Who the heck was C.M. Newton? Where the heck was Transylvania College? I was young and cocky and thought I knew it all about hoops. That hire was a puzzle to me. I remember thinking ‘why didn’t we try to sign someone like Adolph Rupp’. That’s how young and naïve I was back then. It was a total lack of respect for people who actually knew basketball. It’s the same lack of respect I see that our younger fans give our older fans today. The young think that older fans don’t know a darn thing about Hoops, and that selling us season tickets is hilarious. Many of the younger fans think that older Alabama fans sit on their hands in expensive seats, and that is a total waste of time. Nothing could be further from the truth on all counts. I’m 67 years old now. I know so much more than a college student, as it relates to basketball, because of the extra 45 years I’ve attended games. I’ve got so much information about the game of basketball and Alabama basketball in my brain than most could imagine. Reading the forums it is clear that having a mouthful to say is not the same as having a brain to back it up. I don’t always agree with the opinion of others regarding our program. But if an Alabama has an opinion I’m open to what they have to say. We have polarized our fan base, and forums just fuel the fire. I think that loving Alabama should be unifying. I’m clearly aware that criticizing our coach is perfectly acceptable. I don’t think it is acceptable to make untrue comments about our players. Like the other day someone say Devonta Pollard is "as dumb as a rock". He isn't. He is a smart young man who was carrying more trouble than most of us could endure. Let's cut that crap out.

   Unity through winning is what C.M. Newton brought to Alabama basketball.  We have had two truly great basketball teams in my opinion. Either could have won a national championship. The ’76 team was one. The ’87 team was another.  Truthfully, if you get on a roll and make it to the Sweet Sixteen you might make it to Finals. Gottfried got to the Elite Eight on the backs of great shooting in the post season. C.M. Newton came at a time that was absolutely perfect. He started to recruit black American players. The State of Alabama had a ton of them. Wendell signed to come on board and the world started to change. All of sudden, the Crimson Tide became a force. Those guys didn’t win every game, but they weren’t chump change. You had to beat Alabama because they were well coached and had superior players. Wimp inherited a great situation and made it better.  C.M. may have kicked started Alabama but in Wimp Sanderson, Alabama basketball found it’s identify. I think C.M. was a very good coach. He assembled so much talent after those first few years that Alabama simply overwhelmed the competition. Wimp was something special. He was also something else to behold. He was one of us, a man of the people, a populist. He was what we imagined what we might be ourselves if we coached. He was also a genius. I'm not talking figuratively, but making a literal statement.

Sanderson set the standard for measuring future Alabama coaches at the Capstone...

  Wimp is the best basketball coach I’ve ever known. If fact, he’s the best coach I’ve ever known. He got more out of great players than any man I’ve seen. He got more out of less talent than any coach I’ve ever seen. The persona of Wimp Sanderson was not unlike the Bear. Think Houndstooth and think Plaid. Wimp has us so close to being a top five program. He was as close as the razor’s edge. He packed the Plaid Palace with great teams and great fans. I’m telling you that we were so close you could smell it cooking. 

    Then he was gone. I am not going into the why of his leaving, but I will say it was the most overblown situation ever imagined. Wimp made the mistake of trusting a gonzo radio commentator off the record. The record now reflects it ruined Alabama basketball to the extent it has never recovered. Sure, we’ve had good teams since. No doubt, we were ranked #1 for the time it takes to drink a coke. We were #1, and a lot of schools will never be able to make that claim. That was cool. It wasn’t unimaginable then. It is now. Things changed after Wimp, Something was missing. The consistency was gone. The talent level didn’t play up to its potential, and players started going pro early. I think David Hobbs was a step away from being a really good coach until Antonio McDyess went pro. After that departure things started to go downhill fast.  Things got better with Mark for a while, and then they got really bad despite good talent.

Grant is a good coach, but...

  Contrary to most “experts” on the forum believe,  I think Grant is a great x and o guy. The problem is you have to recruit some great players. Slowly, the talent wasn’t being replaced. Some players were highly ranked and didn’t pan out. Devonta Pollard is an example.  Trevor Lacey was a good player but he was never great. Tell me any great players that Grant has recruited who turned into a great college player. We had one. His name was Releford. Even the little engine couldn't play in the NBA.  As great as the little man was, he wasn’t great as Leon Douglas, Mule King, or TR Dunn from the Newton era. He wasn’t great like the multiple stars who played under Wimp. You know who they are. The kid was like a Rolls-Royce in a used car lot. He had no help. What is Grant doing or not doing that CM or Wimp were able to do?

 CM and Wimp locked up the borders. Precious few got away. Those who did were an exception to Alabama’s general rule that no great player was leaving Alabama. By the way, UAB was considered to be an out of State school.  One night while Herb Winches and I was doing a talk radio show. Wimp was our guest. The Wimpster let his true feelings escape regarding UAB and Bartow. The radio station was aghast. The rating jumped for the first time ever in college basketball season. Some may not have liked what he said, or the way he said it, but by God he was a man who loved Alabama and we loved him back. The man lived and died Alabama. Anthony Grant is so reserved it is hard to know exactly how he feels about the school and the fans.

Our first two games make one thing very clear...

      I have watched our first two games. We play hard. We have better players than last season. They are, despite some contrary opinions, well coached. They are not shooting well right now, but they’ll get better as they learn to play with each other. Kessens and Tarrant are good players. There is a lot of new blood to mix into a unit. They may get there or they may not. Here’s the problem with our program today. Any program, including Alabama, will rise and fall on one simple fact. A team has to have some great players. We have pretty good players. Pretty good players will pull of an occasional upset and get beat on occasions when they should win. It’s just the nature of the talent level.  All Grant can do is play who he has recruited. That’s his problem. His recruiting hasn’t been up to par with CM, Wimp, and Mark. I have no doubt if he had the players he be successful. Here's a simple fact of life. He won't cheat to get them.

So where are we going into game three?

   Were do we stand?  Keep in mind that a game or two is a mere snap shot of something, and is not definitive. Anybody can take a selfie. A video of a season is a better indicator, but a career of a coach is like a full length movie. That is where you go to determine what’s happening in a program. We will never win a national championship with Grant. We may never win an SEC championship with Grant, we will never win a SEC Tournament under Grant unless, and I stress the unless Grant can start recruiting great players, and he has shown only minimal evidence of an ability to do that. He really is a good coach. He is surely a decent man. That isn’t enough. It isn't his fault we are not Kentucky. You have to acknowledge that. The one and done rule is the biggest hypocrisy ever approved by the NCAA and NBA.  We need to fix that. One day it will be corrected. Today, it hurts us. We are, however, the second best program from a historical basis in the SEC and we could try to live up to that standard. We aren't. We are not even close.

What keeps us from being great...

There are two other things that keep us from being a great program. I’m not convinced the AD has a real vested interest in helping us move forward. I have no proof he isn’t, it is just a feeling. And when you read on a forum, “do we play Kentucky in basketball this year?” shows you the state of people who think they are fans. Seriously, do we play Auburn in football? Wimp Sanderson was a coach who would change is offense for each opponent. Our coach doesn’t have enough talent to change a light bulb. That doesn’t mean I don’t love my school, my coach, or our players. I do. I hope this season is a roaring success. I want to hear Dick Vitale ask 'where did these guys come from'? I’m not holding my breath and neither should you. I think our program has reached a state of what Arlo Guthrie once said,  "Stop hoping for bad luck and knocking on wood.” That’s where our program really is. We really do expect the worse and then knock on wood that it won’t happen. Does anyone think that works?

   If you can't support the coach or the AD, then support the kids. If you don't like the coaching then support the effort of the players. If you think the whole thing is like buying a ticket on the Titanic, then look on those jerseys and see the word ALABAMA on the front.  That, we can all support.

I think our program has reached a state of what Arlo Guthrie once said, “Stop hoping for bad luck and knocking on wood.” That’s where our program really is. We really do expect the worse and then knock on wood that it won’t happen. Trust me that does not work…

    In the meantime if you can’t support the AD and the coach, support effort, if you can support the coaches support the players, and if you think the whole thing is like a ticket on the Titanic, look on the jerseys and see the word – ALABAMA. That, you can support. Let’s quit taking low shots at our players. It only hurts our recruiting. That is something I know first hand.

 Oh yeah,  how much would the 76 or 87 beat today's Tide? I'd say about 30.