Big day in basketball for Ingram and hopefully Alabama

Who will it be for Mr. Basketball?

   

Mr. Basketball in Alabama, Dazon Ingram

 It seems to me that this Dazon Ingram to Kentucky is strange. Have any of you read or seen anything that leads you believe that Ingram has an offer from Kentucky? I haven’t, but perhaps it was something I missed. The last I heard was that he had talked with John Calipari on the telephone. Assume that Ingram has an offer from Kentucky. Why would he want to play at Alabama? I know his family will be close and that kind of thing. If Anthony Johnson can convince Ingram to attend Alabama over Kentucky, that would be the recruiting coup of the year. Maybe we should include Pettway in this gig if it happens.

     The other thing I find so interesting about this situation is the national perception of where the Tide is headed under Avery Johnson. I’ve said all along that Ingram was very underrated, but he didn’t get the coveted fourth or fifth star. Why not? Because basketball coverage in this state is embarrassingly lacking. If Alabama went into Kentucky and steals a running back it becomes a headline favorite. I honestly think that Alabama would be better served by letting sports bloggers take over the basketball coverage. It’s just about that way right now. Cecil Hurt does a credible job. He is the University’s go to guy on letting stuff become public. I wouldn’t let the other newspapers in the building. I suspect most of us get our information from the blogs on the internet. We now have a number of good blogs about basketball which warms my heart. Young fans have no idea about how little information was available in the press years. If the Birmingham News ever says anything about recruiting you've already heard it on the internet. I wish Randall would start his own blog. I have no idea who gives him his info but it is almost exactly what I get as well.

     The other thing I find so interesting about this situation is the national impact on the perception of where the Tide is headed under Avery Johnson. I’ve said all along that Ingram was very underrated but he didn’t get the coveted fourth or fifth star. Why not? Because basketball coverage in this state is embarrassingly lacking. If Alabama went into Kentucky and steals a running back it becomes a headline favorite. I honestly think that Alabama would be better served by letting sports bloggers take over the basketball coverage. It’s just about that way right now. Cecil Hurt does a credible job. He is the University’s go to guy on letting stuff become public. I wouldn't let the newspapers from Birmingham, Montgomery, Huntsville, and Mobile into the press area. They don’t cover Alabama basketball with any real enthusiasm. In fact, I’d go as far as to say they hurt basketball by officially giving it a back page priority.

     If Alabama won a national championship in basketball I think the headlines would read:

Alabama gets commitment from 4 star running back

Tide men win the first national championship in basketball

   I’ve been fighting this recognition battle for five decades, and it has only gotten worse. The only time that basketball gets real ink time is when a coach is fired and a new one hired. I have to say I sense something a little different about what’s going on with Battle. Tide fans are expecting some instant gratification. Avery Johnson has already said his remaining players are going to represent the core of next season’s team. That is coach speak for we don’t have much talent but we are going to shake things up style wise. Some of the media also jump to conclusions. 

   I read one article last week that stated very plainly that Ingram was a program changer. That’s not going to happen. I will say that Calipari and Kentucky getting involved makes it a bigger story than it would have been otherwise. Ingram has great skills. He is clearly a good athlete. But being a good thlete doesn't make you a great basketball player. No doubt his signing with Bama would be big time for Johnson. Newspapers will say that Johnson beat out Calipari for Ingram. That may be true. It may not. Regardless, Ingram signing with Bama would be a big deal today. I’ve always thought that if he liked the new head coach we’d have the edge. We will see later today. Let's keep our fingers crossed. Locking down the borders could start today. In fairness to Johnson he got in very late.