The Tide is struggling, but ...
I'm not trying to be the Grinch who stole Christmas. This year's Alabama basketball team is not ready for prime time, at least not yet. More than anything, basketball is a sport which values team chemistry above everything else. The Tide has some dynamic talent. What they don't have is the ability to play together. I'm not sure a coach can do anything about that.
To date, the Alabama coach has tried to throw together every conceivable line up possible. The Tide has played 9 or 10 players in almost every game. So far none of those lineups have worked. Should we be surprised?
At the start of the season, some Tide fans tried to sound a note of caution about expectations. Lowered expectations is not something Alabama fans can deal with. I suggested on a couple of occasions that it was going to take four recruiting seasons to get things squared away on the floor. That only meant the talent level. You simply cannot predict chemistry.
Now our fans are starting to label this team as underachievers, or that Johnson cannot coach. I doubt either of those beliefs are true. First, Johnson is a good coach. The second thing we must keep in mind is that the Tide starts two pure freshmen, and despite what you might see on occasions, pure freshmen rarely deliver championships. The talent and coaching are present for a good plus season. So far we have proven to be a good minus team, however. The season can still be stellar. The SEC season looms and I am not sure there is one great team in the SEC. There are a lot of good ones.
If you look at teams that beat 'Bama a couple of things is pretty clear. If you cut the head off the snake (Collin Sexton) the rest dies. Sexton is a great player. Petty is a much better than the average player. I had a good conversation with the Dick Vitale on a layover in Atlanta once. That coach/commentator said something that has stuck with me. "You need three good players. You need an aircraft carrier on the inside, you need a great point guard, and you need a pure shooter from the perimeter." Vitale is not very popular in the Southeast. He has become more of a showman than coach these days. The man has a first-rate mind for coaching. If you apply that standard to Alabama what do you have? Don'ta Hall is doing a good job inside. Don't let his performance against Texas minimize his season thus far. A lot of players are going to struggle against Mo Bamba this year. I'd check off that position as more than solid. What about the point guard? Sexton is unbelievable. Not only can he score in a variety of ways, he is also very unselfish with the ball. Let's check that one off as solid. Does the Tide have a pure shooter from the arc? That is the area where the Tide may be missing a player so far. Shooters by their very nature are going to be streaky. Some nights a great shooter may stink the gym up. I think Petty is a good answer to position three, but after him, the outside shooting has been poor. I think 'Bama looked to get a lot more out of Riley Norris, and Dazon Ingram. Neither of those players has lit it up from downtown. I agree with Vital about his basketball trinity, although I'd add that you need two good outside shooters. Alabama needs to find a second great shooter.
You look around the nation and you see a lot of programs that survive and win on outside shooting. They may not have the best athletes, but they have a much need skill the Tide is lacking right now. If 'Bama has two outside shooters that could hit around 45% they might well be undefeated right now. Throw out the Minnesota game which was one of the greatest games I have ever seen. I've thought about that game a lot. Why did we score so well with just three players? That night it was the Collin Sexton show. The depleted Tide didn't need chemistry. They had Sexton. It was essentially a one-man show late in the game. It seems to me the Tide is stuck between letting Sexton run the show or try to get him to distribute the ball. I know what Johnson is thinking - I need to get Key ready for the SEC and take some lumps along the way. Right now the Tide is much better when Sexton penetrates to score. He is so good at driving the lane that he gets a lot of open three point looks himself. That should work for the outside shooters as well. So far there has been no positive consistency from the downtown. I had hoped the Tide would be ready for some fine tuning. It appears we can't get the car started at this point. But... we can.
Texas A&M is next up. The game will be in Tuscaloosa and A&M is a very good team. The Tide then hits the road for Vandy (always tough) and very improved Georgia team. Then its back home for the Gamecocks. I'd like to see the Tide start 3-1. I'm not holding my breath. It is more like keeping your fingers crossed. Merry Christmas
I'm not trying to be the Grinch who stole Christmas. This year's Alabama basketball team is not ready for prime time, at least not yet. More than anything, basketball is a sport which values team chemistry above everything else. The Tide has some dynamic talent. What they don't have is the ability to play together. I'm not sure a coach can do anything about that.
To date, the Alabama coach has tried to throw together every conceivable line up possible. The Tide has played 9 or 10 players in almost every game. So far none of those lineups have worked. Should we be surprised?At the start of the season, some Tide fans tried to sound a note of caution about expectations. Lowered expectations is not something Alabama fans can deal with. I suggested on a couple of occasions that it was going to take four recruiting seasons to get things squared away on the floor. That only meant the talent level. You simply cannot predict chemistry.
Now our fans are starting to label this team as underachievers, or that Johnson cannot coach. I doubt either of those beliefs are true. First, Johnson is a good coach. The second thing we must keep in mind is that the Tide starts two pure freshmen, and despite what you might see on occasions, pure freshmen rarely deliver championships. The talent and coaching are present for a good plus season. So far we have proven to be a good minus team, however. The season can still be stellar. The SEC season looms and I am not sure there is one great team in the SEC. There are a lot of good ones.
If you look at teams that beat 'Bama a couple of things is pretty clear. If you cut the head off the snake (Collin Sexton) the rest dies. Sexton is a great player. Petty is a much better than the average player. I had a good conversation with the Dick Vitale on a layover in Atlanta once. That coach/commentator said something that has stuck with me. "You need three good players. You need an aircraft carrier on the inside, you need a great point guard, and you need a pure shooter from the perimeter." Vitale is not very popular in the Southeast. He has become more of a showman than coach these days. The man has a first-rate mind for coaching. If you apply that standard to Alabama what do you have? Don'ta Hall is doing a good job inside. Don't let his performance against Texas minimize his season thus far. A lot of players are going to struggle against Mo Bamba this year. I'd check off that position as more than solid. What about the point guard? Sexton is unbelievable. Not only can he score in a variety of ways, he is also very unselfish with the ball. Let's check that one off as solid. Does the Tide have a pure shooter from the arc? That is the area where the Tide may be missing a player so far. Shooters by their very nature are going to be streaky. Some nights a great shooter may stink the gym up. I think Petty is a good answer to position three, but after him, the outside shooting has been poor. I think 'Bama looked to get a lot more out of Riley Norris, and Dazon Ingram. Neither of those players has lit it up from downtown. I agree with Vital about his basketball trinity, although I'd add that you need two good outside shooters. Alabama needs to find a second great shooter.
You look around the nation and you see a lot of programs that survive and win on outside shooting. They may not have the best athletes, but they have a much need skill the Tide is lacking right now. If 'Bama has two outside shooters that could hit around 45% they might well be undefeated right now. Throw out the Minnesota game which was one of the greatest games I have ever seen. I've thought about that game a lot. Why did we score so well with just three players? That night it was the Collin Sexton show. The depleted Tide didn't need chemistry. They had Sexton. It was essentially a one-man show late in the game. It seems to me the Tide is stuck between letting Sexton run the show or try to get him to distribute the ball. I know what Johnson is thinking - I need to get Key ready for the SEC and take some lumps along the way. Right now the Tide is much better when Sexton penetrates to score. He is so good at driving the lane that he gets a lot of open three point looks himself. That should work for the outside shooters as well. So far there has been no positive consistency from the downtown. I had hoped the Tide would be ready for some fine tuning. It appears we can't get the car started at this point. But... we can.
Texas A&M is next up. The game will be in Tuscaloosa and A&M is a very good team. The Tide then hits the road for Vandy (always tough) and very improved Georgia team. Then its back home for the Gamecocks. I'd like to see the Tide start 3-1. I'm not holding my breath. It is more like keeping your fingers crossed. Merry Christmas
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