TIDE SEEMS READY TO ROLL INTO 

 PROMINENCE AGAIN

Johnson has the horses this year...

     

    It seems like a good time to write about Alabama basketball. Will this be the year that Alabama hears their name called on Selection Sunday? For all the good and loyal hoop fans, it seems like it is always next year in Jerusalem. Every year we all get very excited thinking this is the year that Bama basketball will become relevant again. No doubt, it has been a long time coming. Give Avery Johnson, Antoine Pettway, and John Pelphery credit for going out and signing a top five national recruiting class. That is tall cotton for a program that has fallen on some hard times of late. 

Recruiting and Brand soars...

   

Sexton is the Real Deal
compliments of Tipton Edits

       More than recruiting, Johnson has brought some high expectations to the hardwood once again. The Tide has upgraded the schedule and the brand of Alabama basketball. If the Tide doesn’t explode into a real competitor to win the SEC Regular Season Championship a lot of people are going to be disappointed. I don’t think Bama will win the SEC, but they are likely going to determine who will as the season progresses. An early “international” trip to Canada will give the young Tide ten extra practices. Johnson will need those practices to find his playing rotation. Five freshmen and one transfer will be added to the mix. Three of those freshmen should see major minutes this season. The transfer could elevate the Tide’s offensive punch in the paint.

      There are plenty of questions to be answered before the start of the first game. Who is going to be the point guard? Will Johnson play Dazon Ingram at the point? Or will he put in gifted freshman Collin Sexton to run floor. When you add AJ, Jr. the mix, the coach has three point guards who can play the game. Sexton is being touted as the second coming. He has the talent and the hard-nosed competitiveness to become a star, and is a legitimate one and done. I watched him play six games the past season and he is the real deal.

Point Guard U gets a new addition...

      The Crimson Tide has been point-guard U in basketball lore. Is it fair to compare a true freshman with Ennis Whately, Terry Conner, Ronald Steele, and Trevor Releford? That is a hard question to answer but from a pure talent standpoint, Sexton is more talented than any point guard to ever wear the Crimson and White. I named just a few of the great point guards in Bama history. The list is much longer. About the only weakness that Sexton has is some streaky outside shooting. Off the dribble he is going to make a lot of good defensive players look foolish. 

 

Ingram's late season surge was big for Tide

    So what happens to Dazon Ingram? Good question. Will Johnson decide to play two point guards and have better ball handling?  I think it will be hard for the Tide NOT to start Ingram. He is the team leader. His teammates look to him for fire on both ends of the floor. Ingram's late season explosion will be hard to overlook. Here's an idea. Play Ingram at the two. He will dominate a slower footed two guard and Ingram will cause a match-up problems against a true point guard. Ingram is 6-5. Most point guards are not that tall. He can post up low, or dribble penetrate to the basket and shoot over most defenders. Johnson has a wealth of problems to solve. He'll do it. He is a great floor coach. 

PART TWO TOMORROW  - JOHN PETTY AND THE OTHER TIDE FRESHMAN. STARTING LINE-UP GUESS, AND WHO IS READY FOR BREAK OUT SEASON?