Crimson Red Sports

Alabama needs to win this game. Don't laugh. We actually stack up well against UCLA. UCLA's RPI is 78 with SOS of 179. We have a 135 RPI with SOS of 14. We have two common opponents. UCLA beat Drexel at home 72-67. We lost to Drexel in New York in 3 OT's. Duke beat UCLA 80-63. Duke beat us 74-64.

We need to play with a sense of urgency and avoid the late in the game drought and we can win this game.

Well, I hate to sound like a broken record, but we HAVE to win. The team's confidence can't handle another close loss in which we blow it late in the game. I still don't understand some of the coaching moves in the last game, in which a red-hot player (Hale) was pulled and kept on the bench despite his shooting.




 :deadhorse:

This is a must win game. A win tonight and a win over Robert Morris at home and we will close out non-conference play at 7-6. That will give us a little momentum heading into SEC play.

I am a firm, firm, Alabama Fan. I just don't see us beating UCLA. Every game is a have to win for us. I don't think we are going to do well in conference. Something has to change. RTR!

UCLA is a tough cookie. I'm hoping we don't get blown out and can win the game.


 :popcorn2:

We only have one senior but the majority of the team are juniors with a lot of experience. Obasahon is a third year sophomore. It is time the leaders on the team step up. I think today is the day they get fed up with losing and get a big win. At least I hope so!

Hale hits a 3, then goes down and throws up an air ball. UCLA 6-5 with 16:35 ion 1st half. Hale is starting for the first time. Have hustles down court and scores on an offensive rebound. The whole team is really hustling. 10-7 UCLA.

Releford not starting. Engstrom, Cooper, Hale, Obasohan, & Cooper on court.



 :popcorn2:

Releford on court, now. Taylor blocks shot. Key, Releford, Taylor, Jacobs, & Randolph on floor. 15-7 UCLA. We can't throw it in the ocean. 13 min left. 17-9 UCLA.

We stink.

12-2 run by UCLA. Tide with its usual poor shooting. UCLA 20-9
 


 :wall:

Tide on 6-0 run, 20-15 UCLA. Key gets 2nd foul.



 :clap:

Releford hits a 3, then we rebound missed shot but then turn the ball over. Timeout. UCLA 201-8. Bill Walton has spent most of the game bashing previous UCLA coaches and praising the fans & UCLA's BB history. Almost no commentary about the present game. Amazing.



 :o

All of a sudden we don't stink. Bad call by the ref. Not an offensive foul.

Tide on 15-4 run. 24 all with 4 min. till half. Another 3 pointer for Releford. 27-26 Tide.



 :worship:

Despite our poor start, the team is still showing great energy & enthusiasm. UCLA 28-27.



 :dog:

Randolph hits 3. Uh oh, here we go with passing too much, but Randolph its another 3. Tide 33-31. We rebound missed shot but then make horrible pass out of bounds. Tied 33 all.

Tide has made 6, 3 pointers. Tide 34-33 at half.



 #+

Wow! Bama up 34-33 at the half. After missing 3's early, they started hitting them late. Same old problem hurting us, though, getting beat down low.

Bill Walton said we had zero low post play. Why don't we have him come in as a consultant during the off-season?


 ???

15 min. left in game. 43 all. Timeout



 :wave:

Tide sloppy & turns it over. UCLA 47-43. Tide fouls.




 :tinfoil:

Well, we've gone cold again. UCLA 49-43. Cooper & Key have 3 fouls.



 :facepalm:

55-51 UCLA. Timeout. 7:50 left in game.



 :makemyday:

Tide 7/18 in 3 pointers. UCLA getting away from us, 60-53 UCLA. We have one player in double figures in scoring, UCLA has four. 62-55 UCLA. 5:54 left.



 :tinfoil: :tinfoil: :tinfoil:

Once again, we get a rebound under UCLA basket but then UCLA gets it back and scores. We just can not perform under the basket. Frustrating. 66-60 UCLA. TO




 :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall:

1:24 left and tie game. Can we finally close?

Same sh**, different day. This is the worst closing team I have ever seen. Good night Gracie!

UCLA throws up an air ball, but naturally they get the rebound and are fouled shooting. UCLA 71-67. Tide shot is blocked and UCLA rebounds.  Tide going down, again. Tide can not hit anything very late in the game and sure can not rebound. UCLA on 8-0 run. UCLA wins 75-67. Anthony Grant is now officially in deep trouble.




 :pullhair: :pullhair: :pullhair: :pullhair: :pullhair:

We consistently get beat in the paint. Our post play is non-existent. We were out rebounded 37-26. Offensive boards were 12-4. Until we get better post play we should not expect to be a good team. Jacobs, Taylor and Engstrom combined for 8 points. Jacobs had 6 of those points. He is our best low post scorer but he can not rebound. He only had 1 board.

Shannon Hale had another good game. He had 9 points and 9 rebounds (3 of our 4 offensive rebounds) in 29 minutes of play.

Cooper may have played the worst game of his career. He scored 0 points with 1 rebound, 4 fouls and 3 turnovers in 20 minutes.

We made a run and tied the game 67-67 with 1:34 to play and did not score again. They hit 8 straight foul shots.

 

I think Bama lost this game on the offensive boards.  UCLA had too many second and third chances.  At the end, there were some questionable foul calls and non-calls, which put Bama away.

Some sobering & disturbing facts about our Tide basketball team.

Our "biggest" win has been against Texas Tech, 7-5 & RPI of 125. We are 5-7 with an RPI of 156.

Tide Team Stats in NCAA:

Points per Game:  162nd
Rebounds per Game:  196th
Assists per Game:  303rd
FG Percentage:  129th

SEC Team Stats for Tide

Rebounding: 13th
Scoring: Tied for 8th
FG %: 9th
FT %: 2nd (Auburn is 1st, what does that tell you?)
3 point shooting %: 8th
Assists: 13th
Steals: 4th
Blocks: 7th



Everything starts with coaching.



 :deadhorse:

Yep, the coaches definitly need to improve on their free throw shooting, rebounding and eliminate their turnovers. They are terrible players.

I guess Coach K, Jim Boeheim, or John Calipari could not do better with these same players, right? Or even Wimp Sanderson or C. M. Newton?


 ???

Probably not. There's not but one real player on the team and he wears #12. The others  all want to be.

Amazing. So Coach Bryant who took a team that was 2-7-1 and the next year, using the same players went 5-4-1, then the next year he went 7-2-2 with basically the players of Ears Whitworth was just lucky. Saban took mainly Shula's players and had them at 12-2 two years later. I guess Coach Bryant and Coach Saban were just lucky to have good players and they had zero input into how well the team performed, right? Gosh, I didn't know it was so simple. Your stubbornness in admitting the reality of the situation is mind-boggling. By the way, who recruited these "sorry" players that Coach Grant has? Who has failed to develop them? Who decides what type of defense they play, what type of offense they play, who decides the line-up? Just wondering.


 :popcorn2:

Hmmm, I didn't know Bear and CNS ever coached basketball. ??? :dunno:

 :lol:

In my opinion, the recruiting, which looked promising, did not pan out. This is a lousy shooting team. I don't care how much coaching you get, if you don''t have the eye, you don't have the eye. Even CNS has had busts, Tyler Love and Philip Sims come to mind, and many more that did not live up to their potential.

But a few bad recruits can be overcome in football, because there are 22 positions on offense and defense to be filled with 85 scholarships to fill those positions. Only 5 total in basketball with much fewer scholarships.

You're not comparing apples to apples. I am not holding CAG completely without fault, but this team has no chemistry and very little talent, much of it because there is no leadership from the players. Releford is the only real talent on the team, and even he has problems executing down the stretch with the game on the line.

This is his FIFTH year. When has he had good shooters, ball handlers, inside players, etc. Greene has been the only inside player we have had & he was NOT recruited by Grant. How many years does he get until he can find some shooters & ball handlers? We have had the same EXACT problems since Grant has been head coach. Too many turnovers, too much fouling, no rebounding, too much standing around, poor outside shooting, losing in close games, blowing leads, etc. 90% of this is not his fault? We are paying him $2 mil a year for this type of playing & results? I have sincere questions for you & Jamos. How bad does it have to get before you place 85-90% of the blame on Grant? How many more years is this type of play acceptable? Just wondering. I really find this a fascinating situation and appreciate yours or anybody else's input. Thanks.


 :dog:

Was I dreaming or did Bill Walton actually say that Bama is the third best team in the SEC?

I think I will call Bill Battle and demand that CAG and staff stay after each practice and work on their shooting skills as well as their defensive and rebounding skills until they can perform better. I think it is just terrible that they can't play any better than what they have been playing because I know they are better players, they were highly rated coming out of high school and that should make them all-americans to say the least. If Ole Bill doesn't do what I demand, I think I will then ask that he be replaced. ;)

I find it interesting that you NEVER answer a question directly but give evasive answers that have nothing to do with the question that is asked. This means you can't answer the question because you know I am right so you try to answer in a mocking way. Please answer the questions I have asked of you and be specific, if you can. Here are some of the question I have asked, please respond to them. Thanks.

By the way, who recruited these "sorry" players that Coach Grant has? Who has failed to develop them? Who decides what type of defense they play, what type of offense they play, who decides the line-up? Just wondering.

How bad does it have to get before you place 85-90% of the blame on Grant? How many more years is this type of play acceptable?

Thanks for your input.

 :popcorn2:

I never heard him say that. However, if he did, it's a huge statement about the quality, or lack thereof, of Coach Grant's coaching. I just don't see how he could have said such a thing, though.


 ???

I do not think shooting % is our problem. Hitting clutch shots at critical points in the game is our problem. Our SOS is 13 and we have gone to the final minutes with a chance to win in every game. We are shooting 46%. 35% from 3 pt and 71% FT. These may be our best %'s under CAG.

Rebounding is a real problem. We are 12th in the SEC in rebound margin. We are shooting a higher % than our opponents but they are taking 20 more shots per game.

Whose fault is it? It is hard not to blame CAG for not having an SEC caliber post player on our team. JaMychal Green was inherited from Gottfried staff. Other than him we have not had a good post player under CAG. It is too early to say if Jimmie Taylor will be a good one or not but he has potential. We do not have a big man signed in next year's class. It also bothers me we never have a full team on scholarship. This year we have 9 scholarship players available to play with 2 transfers. That leaves us with two open scholarships.

It is hard for me to blame it on the players. Releford is our only All-SEC player but we have talent on this team. Randolph, Cooper, Obasohan and Jacobs could earn playing time with most SEC schools. Taylor and Hale are freshmen with potential. Hale looks like a future star to me. Key looks good at times but he has not played enough to tell what he can do. I have been a supporter of Engstrom but I have come to realize BAMAWV was right about him... he can not play at this level.

I like CAG. I think he is a good man that represents the school with class and integrity. However, I will not be satisfied with the NIT every year. Our RPI is around 150. Realtime RPI is projecting us to go 6-12 in the SEC. This year has the potential to be the worst Alabama team in 40 years.

I am concerned CAG is losing the team and he has already lost much of the already small fan base. 

Outstanding points & observations. I appreciate you giving specific examples and viewpoints on this subject. I have been a fan of Tide BB since 1968 and this year it seems to be slipping away. You are right, the fans are not showing up, but I guess they will be blamed next for the poor results on the floor. Plus, Bill Battle i a highly successful businessman. I doubt he is very happy with the "product" he sees on the court right now. If this team goes 8-12 in the SEC, then I think people will demand a change in the coaching. Our record would be 13-19 on the regular season. I still have high hopes, though for tho to be turned around.


 :facepalm:

You can not afford to miss on any players when you do not use all your scholarships. CAG has never used all 13 of his available scholarships. This year we have 9 players (11 counting 2 transfers).

In all college sports recruiting is part of the job description. If you do not bring in good players you will not be a consistent winner at the SEC level.

I think he has used all of his scholarships in years past, but players continue to transfer out leaving us with fewer scholarship players. This is part of the mystery of what is going on down there and why does it keep happening. Something is just not right in the BB office, but I don't know what it is. Your comments on recruiting made me look up our 2014 recruits on ESPN & Rivals. Bill Walton kept saying we had the #6 recruiting class, but ESPN has us at #26 & Rivals at #29. Plus, there appears to be no big men on our radar. We have 2 guards and a small forward as commitments, but looking at other recruits, there are no big men being considered, as far as the recruiting services list.

 :dunno:

CAG needs to do what Gottfried did and get a coach on staff to recruit and develop the big men.  If he has one, he needs someone else.

I agree, but after 5 years, it may be too late. I am puzzled by why we are not actively recruiting a big man for 2014, unless something is going on and ESPN & Rivals are missing it. We need a "banger" under the basket, he doesn't have to be a scorer, just someone who is an animal under the boards.


 :wave:

In his first three years we had 13 players. Three years ago we signed 6 players to get back to 13. That class had Lacey, Randolph, Cooper, Jacobs, Obasohan and Gueye. That was the 2010-11 season.

Two years ago (12-13) we lost 4 players in Green, Mitchell, Eblen and Hankerson. Green was the only senior. We only signed one in Pollard. We had 10 players.

We are still trying to recover from signing only Pollard in in the 12-13 class.

We also lost Coach Dan Hipsher last year. How much has that hurt?

Thanks for the reminder, I had forgotten all about the 2012 fiasco. How did that happen? Another strange goings-on in the Tide BB office.