The Problem with Alabama Basketball 2021/2022 Season

I would like to address what I see as the multiple problems with the basketball team. These problems include:

Poor defense
Poor ball handling/Decision making
Poor Rebounding
Recruiting
Team chemistry/Team leadership
Coaching

Some off these listed problems overlap each other so I will try to combine them and their impact on our team game plan. These stats come from a basketball site that I will show at the end of this discussion. Statistics and looking at every angle of a game, whether football, baseball, or basketball is incredible.

Poor Defense

Last year Bama was 17th in team defense efficiency. This year they are 231 out of 358 teams. You see no swarming defense by the Tide and no one seems to be locked in to playing an aggressive defense. Under the basket and around the basket the defense is almost invisible. The biggest problem around the basket is the lack of a big man around the basket, an inside power guy at forward and or center. Our center is a 7 foot center and very skinny with no real power game. He's a freshman trying to learn the game but he is also prone to foul and have to sit a lot. Plus, he has no power player around him to help with the inside game, like a 6'8" to 6'10" player who is all about being around the basket to rebound, score, block out, block shots, and move opponents players out of the way with their presence.

Poor Rebounding

This overlaps with the poor defense as rebounding is such a vital part of the game. The Tide was 91st in defensive rebounding and 6th in offensive rebounding which resulted in being 54th in overall rebounding in the nation. This huge discrepancy between offensive and defensive rebounding shows a problem with the balance in our rebounding and gives the other team more rebounds to enable them to take make shots. Why is our rebounding so poor on defense is obvious to me. You have to want to get under the basket and fight for the ball, risk an elbow to the face or body, and being physical with other guys under the basket. We don't have a single power player when it comes to be bib and physical under the basket. Our team\am is undersized and built for speed and run & gun, not for a possible slugging match if our 3 point game falters. This leads into another subject of our problems. Fouls are another prevalent problem on defense. We are 305th in fouling, in other words, in other words, 304 teams foul less than us. So many our our fouls are reach in type. This is a coaching/defense area that must be addressed in a major manner.

Recruiting

Coach Oats has apparently recruited a team of greyhounds which is now biting us since we have no real power forward/center. Gundy is 6'8" and is no power guy, the closet we have to one is 6'9" Rojas but he seems confused many times on offense & defense. Our 7 foot center looks as lost as Rojas and is not asserting is 7 foot frame around the basket and goes hot and cold at times, with too much fouling. Even a player who is say 6'5" to 6'7" can make a difference around the basket if he is built in a solid frame instead of being say 6'7" and 190-200 pounds but maybe 220. The best news I have is that we have recruited some some big men in this next class. One is a 6'9" power forward, and 6'10" center, and a 6'9" small forward, so there is some daylight off in the horizon.

https://n.rivals.com/team_rankings/2022/all-teams/basketball

Ball Handling/Decision Making

Alabama is 318th in turnovers. Think about that stat, it's huge. Why is our ball handling so bad? Many of the turnovers were due to bad decision making and trying to make passes into tight spots where our opponent had 2 or 3 people in the area but we still attempted the pass. Also, we tried too many long lollipop passes instead of firing the ball. Long arching passes work in football, not basketball. Being 231st in defense and 318th in turnovers is a kiss of death.

Team Chemistry/Team Leadeershio

Can someone tell me who is the leader or rah rah guy on the team. A player who is energized, leading the way, and setting an example? I sure can't. Two players do show a certain amount of this with their hustle and that's Rojas and Juwan Gary but it's not good enough and maybe next year Gary can be that guy since Rojas is a senior. Did you all see where Coach Oats ole a voluntary shoot around for the team before our game with Notre Dame and only Quinerly showed up. That's a sure fire sign that something is not right on the team.

https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/sports/college/basketball/2022/03/18/why-did-most-alabama-basketball-players-skip-voluntary-shootaround-before-ncaa-tournament-loss/7100109001/

Coaching/Recruiting

This is a tough one to talk about since I like Coach Oats but his coaching philosophy has taken a hard hit this year. His offensive strategy is about around the 3 pointer and secondly the close-in shot or layup under the basket. What happens when a team has a bad night shooting the 3, the defense starts clogging the middle and guarding the basket making layups almost impossible. This also means the opponent has more players around the basket to rebound. We have abandoned the mid range jumper, 15-17 away from the basket. This makes us almost totally one dimensional on offense especially if we are not hitting 3's. I really don't understand his justification for this act. He has eliminated a third of our offense by doing this and living off the 3. His past recruitment of players who could play fast and shoot the 3 resulted in us having a smallish team with no power rebounders/scorers for around the basket. There is hope now since he has recruited a couple of players who fits that mold of playing close to the basket. My biggest question is will he let players shoot a 15 foot step back or jump shot in the future. Also, we need to recruit ball handlers who show good sense when passing the ball and are smart about it.

I could say more but I'm tired of all the typing so I have cut it somewhat short. Good recruiting and better coaching can correct most of these problems but we need more emphasis on defense and an all around offense. Another little stat, we are 139th in foul shooting. Maybe we need less voluntary shoot arounds and more mandatory ones.

https://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basketball/stat/free-throw-pct