Crimson Red Sports

Well, needless to say this is a big'un in terms of games. Wichita State is #11 in nation & is a solid program. The question is, can Alabama win a game on the road, especially out-of-conference? The same problems/questions persist for the Tide:

1) rebounding and the general play under the basket
2) defense, both the interior and perimeter D has been shoddy so far
3) slow starts resulting in falling behind early

Some of our positives so far:

1) turnovers are lower than in the past
2) better and more efficient passing, less dribbling
3) shooting is much improved with more players scoring
4) overall guard play with Tarrant, Coleman, Cooper, & Levi is better
5) Kessens is showing encouraging signs as an inside player


 :dog:

Big BB game for the Tide tonight & NOBODY has made a comment. Wow. Maybe we should just disband the program. Truly amazing.



 :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm:

What time does the game start?

8pm on ESPN2.

I'm stuck watching Charlie Browns Christmas special... :-[

Vegas has Bama as a 12 1/2 point underdog.

I think we keep it closer than that. 

Basketball lines seem so unpredictable with end of game fouling, etc.

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-basketball/odds/las-vegas/

That's a great special that I remember as a kid. Hang in there with it & the kids.

 :clap:

I can't argue with the line. WSU has proved itself, Bama hasn't.


 :(

Here we go.

Starters:

Cooper
Tarrant
Levi
Kessens
Taylor


We have to have either Kessens or Taylor to play big under the basket.

 :popcorn2:

Defensive game so far.

WSU getting all the calls.

Doing ok with the 3's, but can't get the ball down low very well. Still hanging tough at 18-14.

Their D is tough.  Forcing Bama to take less desirable shots.

Still hanging in there.

19-14 WSU

Stats:

Tide

6/16  FG
0/1   FT
 8     Rebounds
2/7   3 pointers

Carter for WSU is killing us. Has 10 points. 6'7" Forward

We've gone stone cold.

21-18 WSU with about 3 1/2 minutes left in the first half.

Yep, shooting 7/20, 35%. Taylor playing decently, so far.



 :dog:

Zero defense on the perimeter. Struggling with FG's & FTs.


 :wall:

Tarrant and Norris warming up. 24-24 with less than a minute in the half.

24-24 All  Tide hustle and shot-blocking by Taylor is making the difference.

Rebounds WSU 18  Tide 14
Assists     WSU  8  Tide  4

Not good.


 :clap: :clap:

Wow, Bama leading at half, 25-24.     #+

25-24 Bama at the half!!!

If Levi can step it up and Hale quit taking NBA 3's we have a chance to win this game. Taylor is playing very well.

25-24 Half

The key is we can't come out in the 2nd half flat & get behind by 10-12 points then have to scratch our way back. Hale, Taylor, Tarrant, & Levi looking good.


 :wave:

Bama putting total effort in this game, leading 31-28.

Taylor showing confidence under the basket rebounding, blocking shots, & scoring. Luckily, WSU is shooting lousy.

Tide 12/29  WSU 10/30 FGs
Tide 2/10 3-pts  WSU 3/10


 :popcorn2:

Tide D has returned.


 :popcorn:

LEVI!!!

39-33 Bama. Levi heating up!!!

Trying too hard now. Tried to force a pass with 3 players guarding our guy. Kicked ball Tide &timeout.



 :clap:

We have to keep going at them & not get tentative. 41-33 Tide

Now we're dribbling too much & not playing like a team. Getting sloppy.


 :wall:

Tide is responding every time WSU scores & fans get loud. Tide 48-40.



 #+ #+ #+

6:54 left, Bama up 48-40. They have to keep up the intensity.

Why did Grant call a timeout when we have WSU discombobulated?




 ???

Kessens picks up his 4th foul I believe.

Tide has not beaten a ranked non-conference team on the road since 1996. Hasn't beaten ranked SEC team on road since 2004.



 :o :o :o

Letting it slip away. Gotta pick it up!!!

Suddenly, all we can do is foul or turn the ball over. We seem hesitant and unsure handling the ball. Twice in a row WSU misses a FT then gets the rebound. Totally unacceptable.

Tide 51-45.

Hang in there & hang tough.


 :clap:

It's like the refs said "OK, 5 minutes left and home team is losing. Gotta let them back in it".

Suddenly the officiating is absolutely horrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Officiating ain't killing us, poor passing and questionable coaching is.


 :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall:

53-52 WSU.
Grant strikes again!! We blow a game we should have won. Give the man a 10 year extension and pay raise. Why on God's earth did he call that timeout I referenced earlier? We were never the same after that timeout. I'm so mad & frustrated with this incompetent coach!



 >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(

Out of the last 12 points that WSU scored, only 4 were legit. Cooper got pushed and the guy makes the basket and a foul is called on Cooper. Tarrant is fouled going in for a layup. No call. Offensive foul wasn't called when Taylor was knocked down. I can go on and on. A bunch of very bad calls/ no calls. Huge home cooking the last 5 minutes of the game. Bunch of BS!!!

 >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(

I wasn't able to watch the game, but, was just wondering: MD, when was the last time in your opinion  we had a competent BB coach?

was it Wimp?

This one is NOT on Grant. Let me recap just a small amount of BS that happened in the last 5 minutes:

That 10 second call was complete BS.

WSU dude shoved Cooper on his way to a layup. Should have been an offensive foul, but the bucket counted and the foul is called on Cooper.

Tarrant goes in for a layup and is fouled. No call.

Taylor is layed out by an offensive foul. Not called.

Every frigging ticky tack touch resulted in a Bama foul. Not so for WSU.

If it wasn't for replay, a very obvious out-of-bounds call that they gave to WSU would have stuck.

All this and more took the confidence and momentum from the team. Screw the home cooking. I rarely watch much basketball anymore because the officiating is almost NEVER objective. They dictate the outcomes of more games than not.

That was frustrating.  Bama gets tentative, sloppy, careless, inattentive, and unfocused, then fails to finish a game they had an 8 point lead late in the game.

Like I said earlier , I couldn't watch the game. It wasn't available up here in middle Tennessee or I couldn't locate it . was it the home cooking or Grant?

Since MD doesn't elect to hang around and respond to his accusations I have to assume 2 stater has the right opinion!

I don't blame the coaching.  The team was playing with a lot of confidence, then it seemed like they got sloppy with the basketball and turned it over, then WS got some momentum and put on a full court press, and suddenly WS has gone on a 9-0 run to win the game.

I don't have an opinion about the officiating.  Not having ever played BB, I don't follow the rules as closely as I do football.  I trust 2's opinion on this.  The OOB call was clearly in error, and it seemed our guys were being mauled and WS was getting all the calls. 

Nope, went to the gym to work out before it got too late. Coach Sanderson is the last good coach we had. The officials did not cost us this game. The Tide players tried flopping twice late in the game but it did not work. The officials did miss a charge on WSU late in the game. We were 7/12 on FT's & WSU was 8/17. Since Grant has been the this team has always fouled a lot and normally more than the team we play. We has 16 fouls called on us, WSU had 12. Wichita State is known for not committing many fouls in a game. We scored 1 point in that 6 minutes & 4 after Grant called a timeout when we were on a hot streak & winning 48-40. We were never the same after that timeout. David Hobbs replaced Wimp and he drove the program into the dirt. Gottfried started off with improvement every year but after 6 or 7 years he became complacent.


 :wave: :wave: :wave:

If anybody watching that game didn't see this, then they weren't watching the game, No flops. The officiating was horrible.

I agree with you about the timeout.  Bama was playing well before it, lost all momentum afterwards.  Usually, you want to call a timeout to slow down the opponent's momentum. 

Maybe Grant saw it coming, the players getting tired and sloppy, or maybe he transferred some of his anxiety onto the players, who knows.

:wave: :wave: :wave: ???Good Morning!

I agree with all of this.

Same as it ever was.

WSU was -20 from their season average for points and -15% for FG%.

Both teams shot horribly all game.

WSU led BAMA in all categories except TOs and PFs.  Congrats BAMA.

As usual I saw flashes of brilliance combined with a whole lot of what just happened.

I watched the game, and still have it on DVR (for the moment).  We should have won that game.  We choked, plain and simple.  The pressure of getting a huge road win got to them in the end and they caved.  Also, Taylor fouling out was huge on the defensive end at a time when we still had a big lead.

A victory could have launched a brilliant season.  I am afraid a heart breaking loss could have the opposite effect and it will be the same thing as previous years the rest of the way.  It is critical for CAG to regroup and get these guys thinking the right way.  It is obvious that we have quite a bit of talent and depth compared to previous years.  Coming that close to beating a highly ranked team on their home floor could light a fire under them if they look at things from the right point of view.  Or they could also look at it as yet another frustrating loss on the road, just like last year.  How they respond to this loss will be key to the outcome of the season.  If they can get over the psychological hurdles we can still have a great season.

By the way, I thought that 10 second call was total $#^$, and said so to my wife.  Then I rewound the tape and looked at the clock.  It actually took us 12 seconds to get the ball across midcourt.  I do think there was a lot of inconsistencies with the foul calling though.  I thought they practically tackled Levi on that last drive but they didn't call anything.  I have never understood the rules of basketball and most of the calls just seem random to me.  But even random would be fine if the distribution was even.

My feelings & concerns, too. Good points SC. What did you think about that timeout I have referred to more than once? When it occurred I felt like, oh no Grant just killed our momentum plus wasting a TO.


 :dog:

I thought it was a horrible timeout.  When they blew the whistle I just knew the other coach called the timeout.  My jaw almost hit the floor when I saw that we called it.  I would love to know why he did that and what he said to the team.

I think we have a much better team this year and will do pretty well in SEC play.  Unfortunately that may not be enough to get into the tournament.

Hind sight is a wonderful thing, it gives us all a chance to make the right decisions. All of these "what ifs" are only speculation that they would have made a difference. Sure, I wish some things had never happened last night but they did and the team lost, move on. I saw a lot of things in the game that I thought were game changers but I didn't see any one specific thing that I felt was the total reason for the loss. If there was one thing that I thought was a big reason for their loss, it was the missed free throws. Bama has been a good free throw shooting team all seaspon but last night just wasn't their night at the line.

That game is over and hopefully that's the way the team feels, go back to practice and work on the mistakes made last night, mentally and physically and get better. It would be nice if Bama had fans like Wichita State has at home games, I think their winning percentage would improve as well as the team morale.

Perhaps Grant should bend Saban's ear about the motivational training aspect, and what contractors Saban uses.   ???

But I agree with Jamos, a loss is a loss and time to move on.

We had possession of the ball so the other coach could not call the timeout. Speaking of timeouts, on the last play of the game we had 1 timeout and there were 9.4 seconds left in the game. We had to inbounds the ball at the far end of the court, if we inbound and call the timeout immediately, we get the ball at half court with at least 8.8-9.0 seconds left in the game. The coaches could have set up a play and have some real time to get a decent shot. Like I said, poor coaching strikes again.


 ???