Bama Game Thread: MBB Senior Night - Bama vs Gators - 6pm CST ESPN2

[Bama Shoals]

We may not deserve him as a coach if this is a common feeling. This is the kind of stuff that will make him leave.

What part of that is false?

 

[December05]

Now 1-5 against the other top 6 in the conference. After Auburn got shellacked last night, you think we have a shot Saturday? That will make a 2-5 end to the regular season. Oats is going to have to reevaluate his program and figure out how to inject more toughness and defense to win at the highest levels. And he’s probably learned not to run his mouth so much in the offseason about his team being good enough to win a national championship. I hope so at least. Very disappointing!

Somewhat agree about the end of the season, but we may need to reevaluate our disdain for going back to the NIT days before Coach needs to reevaluate anything.

He’s learning as well and is still on the front half of his career most likely.

 

[Rolltidegirl205]

I don't know what's going on with the boys and coach but I hope they find something inside of them to make a decent run into the tournament.

I don't know what else to say.

 

[rjtide]

b'ball is about match ups. the way i've seen it we have NOT matched up well with teams that have an interior physical presence. we need a big body on the inside, a bigger presence than what we have now. the perimeter on our team is fine but the lack of a true interior big man is coming back to bite us.

 

[CajunCrimson]

What part of that is false?

It’s the difference between saying, “I’m a fan, and I hate it when we lose” and “I’m an immature overly emotional drive-by basketball fan who wants to insult the coach”

Sometimes it’s not the statement, it’s the attitude that goes with it

Statements like that hurt the program. Plain and simple. You get too many people spouting that rhetoric, you lose a coach

And as someone else just said, if you wanna go back to the days of 18 and 13, hoping to be on the bubble, have at it. But I am as happy as I’ve ever been as an Alabama basketball fan.

We are an elite team, regardless of what other others are thinking. Sometimes we have bad matchups. Florida is a bad matchup for us, due to the simple fact that their defense is almost the perfect fit for our offense

Auburn, however, is not. Tennessee is not a bad matchup for us. Missouri isn’t a bad matchup for us. But sometimes the other team and their athletes are good too.

I realize there are different ways to be a fan. Some ways are way more attractive than others. I struggle with the drive-by: bash the players, bash the coach, and offer zero positive
Fan.

It’s not the what, it’s the how

 

[bamadwain]

As coach said in his post game, we gave up 26 fast break points and 19 second chance points, almost half their points right there, gotta play better defense and get back on defense, losing to Auburn and Florida at home is tough but that's two very good teams, losing to UT and Missouri on the road ( Missouri shot the light's out) are good teams, the one that bites us is the loss to Ole Miss, should not have happened

 

[BamaInBham]

At least at this point, I feel like we have very much underachieved in the regular season given the preseason hype. A win Saturday would slightly improve that, but in the end, the team that we were supposed to be doesn’t lose every single game against Auburn, Florida, Mizzou, and Tennessee. Maybe split, but not losing every one.

With that said, there is reason for taking an optimistic view. We’ve suffered injuries - if Reid and Youngblood were 100% the whole year we likely do better. Three of those four teams play a brand of ball that give us a lot of trouble - and not many tourney teams can do that. Unlike many teams who had their best opponents spaced out, we had them bunched up. Our seniors, looking at the end of their careers, might suddenly rise up and insist on being remembered for the group who pushed Bama to the top.

Ready to move into tourney season and put the regular season to bed!

This has not been the team that Alabama thought it would put on the floor this year. Missing Wrightsell: best 3pt shooter and according to many the best on-ball defender; Reid: the most athletic and talented front court player; Mallette: IMO, a top-notch shooter and energetic presence. 3 big losses.

If the officiating is as bad as many of y’all indicate, it could be genuinely demoralizing to the players and Oats. But it seems like he would get a tech or two rather than shrinking away unless he believes there is no hope.

 

[BamaMoon]

Against UT I thought we outplayed them and just got clipped at the end.

Last night, it felt like we are just not as good as UF.

A team with great bigs like AU and UF is our kryptonite.

 

[BamaHoopsBoi]

This team most certainly has depth issues.

Losing Wrightsell and Mallete was CRUCIAL. Reid on top of that has really really taken a toll on us.

 

[BamaMoon]

b'ball is about match ups. the way i've seen it we have NOT matched up well with teams that have an interior physical presence. we need a big body on the inside, a bigger presence than what we have now. the perimeter on our team is fine but the lack of a true interior big man is coming back to bite us.

I agree. The 4 and 5 position has been the weakness of this team.

I think we all thought we'd get more out of Cliff. In the SEC he's not what he was where he came from.

Stephenson, in year 2 is a bust. I know some won't like that, but I don't know what else to say at this point. He can't shoot and he's weak in the paint.

Nelson has his weaknesses, but at least he seems to play hard, but his shooting outside of point blank range has gotten worse instead of better this year. Is he playing hurt?

Mo D. - love his motor but he's not consistently good game to game.

Sherrell - best ceiling of the bunch. It really hurt when he went out of the game last night IMO. He just needs to learn how to use his massive body and be more aggressive.

 

[CaliforniaTide]

I think it's possible the guys are just tired. It's also the regular season; get a little double bye before playing their first postseason game will help them. They seemed tired at this point last year, and ended up going to the Final Four.

This is what it takes to keep playing this level in college basketball. Even among the blue bloods of the sport they weren't winning every year or every other year. With Coach Oats and his methods, Alabama is giving itself a shot almost every season, in stark contrast to my time as a student and fan leading up to Nate Oats hire. Give me this kind of season over the past seasons before Nate Oats anyday.

 

[BamaMoon]

I think it's possible the guys are just tired. It's also the regular season; get a little double bye before playing their first postseason game will help them. They seemed tired at this point last year, and ended up going to the Final Four.

This is what it takes to keep playing this level in college basketball. Even among the blue bloods of the sport they weren't winning every year or every other year. With Coach Oats and his methods, Alabama is giving itself a shot almost every season, in stark contrast to my time as a student and fan leading up to Nate Oats hire. Give me this kind of season over the past seasons before Nate Oats anyday.

Just posted in the Omnibus thread that rest might be more important than doing well in the SEC Tourney this year.

Every SEC is showing the grind has got to them. Especially us!

 

[Bama Shoals]

Somewhat agree about the end of the season, but we may need to reevaluate our disdain for going back to the NIT days before Coach needs to reevaluate anything.

He’s learning as well and is still on the front half of his career most likely.

We should always be learning. But Nate Oats is in his 10th year of being a head coach of a D1 basketball program, 6th year at Alabama. He's not a newbie. And he's making 5 million dollars this year alone with increases coming in the next few years. He's not paid like a coach in the developmental phase. And he's certainly not paid like a coach who should make the kinds of mistakes made at the end of the Tennessee game.

Look, I know Oats has taken Alabama to a new level. I've followed Alabama basketball since I was a little kid growing up in Alabama. His style is fun to watch but I also think we may have hit the ceiling. We can overwhelm teams who aren't very skilled and not very physical and teams who are just physical and not skilled. But when we play someone who is both, we are cooked. To get past that, he's going to have to inject more toughness and defense into his system. Otherwise, I'm afraid we are stuck and that's frustrating.

 

[dayhiker]

We are currently 39th in D on KenPom. Last year we finished at 110.

Last night was frustrating to watch. It seemed like they just got to every lose ball quicker than us. Seeing them outhustling us full court was frustrating. I may have to go back and watch this one on TV to see if some of the non-called fouls/flagrants were as bad as they seemed in person when viewed from a long way away.

Finishing the season like this does stink, but the stat at the beginning of the post seems to show that the sky isn't falling like people are making it seem.

 

[Bama Shoals]

It’s the difference between saying, “I’m a fan, and I hate it when we lose” and “I’m an immature overly emotional drive-by basketball fan who wants to insult the coach”

Sometimes it’s not the statement, it’s the attitude that goes with it

Statements like that hurt the program. Plain and simple. You get too many people spouting that rhetoric, you lose a coach

And as someone else just said, if you wanna go back to the days of 18 and 13, hoping to be on the bubble, have at it. But I am as happy as I’ve ever been as an Alabama basketball fan.

We are an elite team, regardless of what other others are thinking. Sometimes we have bad matchups. Florida is a bad matchup for us, due to the simple fact that their defense is almost the perfect fit for our offense

Auburn, however, is not. Tennessee is not a bad matchup for us. Missouri isn’t a bad matchup for us. But sometimes the other team and their athletes are good too.

I realize there are different ways to be a fan. Some ways are way more attractive than others. I struggle with the drive-by: bash the players, bash the coach, and offer zero positive
Fan.

It’s not the what, it’s the how

I'm not satisfied with always having to rely on matchups to be successful and I don't think anyone associated with the program should be either. Oats said before they year that this team would be so versatile, we would be able to deal with different matchups. But here we are. As I said above, there are certain kinds of teams I don't think Nate Oats teams will ever beat. Last year, we were fortunate we got to face UNC and Clemson to get to the Final Four. That Bama team stepped up to beat those teams and should be celebrated. But when we faced a complete team like UConn, we lost by double digits. I think the most talented team Oats had was the Brandon Miller year, a NBA lottery pick surrounded by other NBA level players. We flamed out in the Sweet 16 to a SDSU team who was physical and somewhat skilled but not ultra talented. We've lost four in a row to Tennessee, 3 of 4 to Florida, and 2 of 3 to Auburn going into Saturday.

I also do not see or rarely see Nate Oats teams fully buy in. You can't watch the effort on some of these plays and say they are fully bought in. Balls bouncing on the floor and people standing and watching, getting beat down the court on D. There are examples every game. You could really see the contrast last night between our game and the Ole Miss/UT game. Ole Miss players were fully committed and bought in and were giving everything they had and it led them to a win over a team they probably shouldn't have beat. I'm not sure why the players at Alabama are not doing that but it needs to be addressed. We couldn't even do it at home on Senior Night. Until that happens consistently, Alabama will not win at the highest levels against those elite teams. That's what I want to see as a fan, at least once before I die.

And as of now, we are 5-7 against the KenPom top 30. And as I mentioned, we are 1-5 against the other top 6 of the conference including three losses at home. That's not elite. We are good, not great. And I'm afraid unless something is changed like more defense and toughness systematically injected into the program, that's all we will ever be. That was my point.

 

[Coach D]

We should always be learning. But Nate Oats is in his 10th year of being a head coach of a D1 basketball program, 6th year at Alabama. He's not a newbie. And he's making 5 million dollars this year alone with increases coming in the next few years. He's not paid like a coach in the developmental phase. And he's certainly not paid like a coach who should make the kinds of mistakes made at the end of the Tennessee game.

Look, I know Oats has taken Alabama to a new level. I've followed Alabama basketball since I was a little kid growing up in Alabama. His style is fun to watch but I also think we may have hit the ceiling. We can overwhelm teams who aren't very skilled and not very physical and teams who are just physical and not skilled. But when we play someone who is both, we are cooked. To get past that, he's going to have to inject more toughness and defense into his system. Otherwise, I'm afraid we are stuck and that's frustrating.

This seems a little emotional if not critical. A ceiling of final 4 is higher than any other bama coach plus most all others. Any team except maybe two or three would trade their coach for him. Bama has been a top SEC and top 10 team under him. Yes he is still learning but his teams are in games except maybe 2 a year. He has a couple weakness like inbounding and it seems defense since that one coach went to ark st. But he can recruit, coach and win at a high level and smart enough to know to spend money to get players vs a new arena. (Coleman and crowded suck except students) No argument we need toughness but he knows that too, some times the team doesn’t respond or act like expectations.

Youngblood playing soft especially last night. As another said Stevenson is just a flat bust. Injuries obviously hurt although not sure wrightsell helps much as he is also small, d is avg at best and not versatile on offense. But college ball has turned into winning the player transfer lottery then sprinkle recruiting then finally add in coaching. Other than Philon I don’t know if we have a player that can sniff the NBA based on their play this year. But I know Oats is a great coach.

 

[BamaMoon]

We are currently 39th in D on KenPom. Last year we finished at 110.

Last night was frustrating to watch. It seemed like they just got to every lose ball quicker than us. Seeing them outhustling us full court was frustrating. I may have to go back and watch this one on TV to see if some of the non-called fouls/flagrants were as bad as they seemed in person when viewed from a long way away.

Finishing the season like this does stink, but the stat at the beginning of the post seems to show that the sky isn't falling like people are making it seem.

No, the ceiling isn't falling. We can absolutely beat 90% of the teams we'll face in the Dance.

Our problem was on display last night. On the boards their length kept the ball alive and it always seem to bounce toward them. But it was their length causing it.

And their length bothered us at the rim. I don't know if I can remember a game where we missed more point blank shots at the rim. It's probably why we took so many 6-10 footers...also the most I can remember.

The issue is not that we aren't a good team, but that UF is just better.

 

[CrimSonami]

Last night was a disappointing loss, true, but UF is probably THE BEST team in the league at the moment and we still had a W opportunity late into the game regardless of our shooting percentages at all levels. The team "toughness" might be questionable to some, but we've had the hell beat out of us over the last half dozen games, or more, because of the league's "physicality" label. It's not, it's a hack n' hope plan that most Zebra crews have come to allow. So, in my eyes, toughness isn't the question here. When players are consistently pushed off the baseline, moving screens are allowed, players are dragged down like Stevenson was last night and Sherrell has to leave the game because an opposing player head butted him on the run without a whistle (it was not incidental) then their toughness IS NOT a fault. A stable of bigger, stronger, tougher players are not what fits a CNO team. I'm good with where we are as a program right now and proud to be a Bama Fan.

 

[BamaMoon]

I know there is some disagreement among us right now, but I think this is a healthy discussion.

It doesn't mean CNO isn't great or that our team is not good, but I think it also is an acknowledgment we've got some growing/changing to make to get past what seems to be a problem of beating very physical and big/long teams.

 

[Coach D]

I'm not satisfied with always having to rely on matchups to be successful and I don't think anyone associated with the program should be either. Oats said before they year that this team would be so versatile, we would be able to deal with different matchups. But here we are. As I said above, there are certain kinds of teams I don't think Nate Oats teams will ever beat. Last year, we were fortunate we got to face UNC and Clemson to get to the Final Four. That Bama team stepped up to beat those teams and should be celebrated. But when we faced a complete team like UConn, we lost by double digits. I think the most talented team Oats had was the Brandon Miller year, a NBA lottery pick surrounded by other NBA level players. We flamed out in the Sweet 16 to a SDSU team who was physical and somewhat skilled but not ultra talented. We've lost four in a row to Tennessee, 3 of 4 to Florida, and 2 of 3 to Auburn going into Saturday.

I also do not see or rarely see Nate Oats teams fully buy in. You can't watch the effort on some of these plays and say they are fully bought in. Balls bouncing on the floor and people standing and watching, getting beat down the court on D. There are examples every game. You could really see the contrast last night between our game and the Ole Miss/UT game. Ole Miss players were fully committed and bought in and were giving everything they had and it led them to a win over a team they probably shouldn't have beat. I'm not sure why the players at Alabama are not doing that but it needs to be addressed. We couldn't even do it at home on Senior Night. Until that happens consistently, Alabama will not win at the highest levels against those elite teams. That's what I want to see as a fan, at least once before I die.

And as of now, we are 5-7 against the KenPom top 30. And as I mentioned, we are 1-5 against the other top 6 of the conference including three losses at home. That's not elite. We are good, not great. And I'm afraid unless something is changed like more defense and toughness systematically injected into the program, that's all we will ever be. That was my point.

as far as this year versatility that’s way, injuries killed that. The Brandon Miller year dealt with the shooting and that destroyed the team emotionally and mentally.

They played UConn the closer than anyone and had chances but that was one of the best teams ever.

His teams have been tough, beat Houston few times, Grand Canyon team, as you said a tough Clemson team, unc couple times, uk twice this year alone. Yes some tweaks needed but over reacting.