For those who still think we are pretty good or can improve

[BamaSteve999]

I do not mean this as a flame or personal attack, but can you tell me what the basis of this belief is? I am looking for something to hold on to when rooting for a team that managed to beat Bham Southern by 4 points on its home floor.

I am fearful that we simply have no heart or desire. Which unfortunately comes from the top down.

 

[Bama-94-00]

I doubt anybody has said this year's team is pretty good since the first few games. Not sure where you got that.

As for improving, they have played good at times and poorly at others. This is a young team. Most of us would expect them to get better and play more consistently.

I don't think we should have to give you a bunch of reasons to support your team.

 

[Hoot30]

Heart or desire didn't have anything to do with the BSC game. I believe that we played with great desire to pull out that win. Just two days prior to that game, we played a very hard fought game at OU. The game was much closer than the final score due to the fouling by UA in the last minute. To come back with only one day's rest against a well-coached BSC team, give BSC some credit. Even CMG said during post-game that he was worried about scheduling this game.

Look at our schedule this year. OU, NC St., Notre Dame, Memphis, at Temple - 3 of those are top 25 teams. Would we rather be 12-0 against teams like North Florida and Texas-Pan American. I think the tough NC schedule will help this team in conference play. We'll see at the end of the year. If I'm wrong, then flame on. Considering our past and how well CMG has recruited, we'll be back.

 

[GrandBayTider]

We are currently starting two true FR and a SO. Our depth is fairly thin, with our backup PG a true FR as well. As these guys play they will get used to the college game and get better since they are talented players. Also in the SEC west the competitions is not that great. LSU and Ark are looking pretty good. I can't get a good read on AU, but Ole Miss, and MSU definitely look like they are not as good as they were the past few years. So we have a chance to be very competitive as the youngsters mesh with the older guys. Or at least that is what I'm hoping!

 

[Ldlane]

I do not mean this as a flame or personal attack, but can you tell me what the basis of this belief is? I am looking for something to hold on to when rooting for a team that managed to beat Bham Southern by 4 points on its home floor.

I am fearful that we simply have no heart or desire. Which unfortunately comes from the top down.

Sure, I think that we need some improvement. However, I don't see how we can do anything as "fans" besides supporting our team and help them get through the tough time. We are young and have lots of room to grow. I think that CMG has proven himself and has taken Crimson Tide basketball farther than any other coach that we have had.

 

[Tide&True]

I don't think we should have to give you a bunch of reasons to support your team.

Amen!

 

[Tide-N-Texas]

We are currently starting two true FR and a SO. Our depth is fairly thin, with our backup PG a true FR as well. As these guys play they will get used to the college game and get better since they are talented players. Also in the SEC west the competitions is not that great. LSU and Ark are looking pretty good. I can't get a good read on AU, but Ole Miss, and MSU definitely look like they are not as good as they were the past few years. So we have a chance to be very competitive as the youngsters mesh with the older guys. Or at least that is what I'm hoping!

I do not think Arkansas is that good. I saw them play Texas Tech in Dallas a couple of weeks ago and they did not impress me. They struggled to put away an average Tech team. Several Hog fans sitting around me were saying this was going to be a long season for the Hogs. They are very eratic and streaky.

 

[CornBiscuit]

We will improve because of our quality OOC schedule and the fact that the SEC is the worst it has been in a decade.

 

[Condor 63]

As for improving, they have played good at times and poorly at others. This is a young team. Most of us would expect them to get better and play more consistently.

I very much agree with that.

Most of the problems I have seen this year are correctable. Talent wise they seem to match up pretty well with most of the teams we have played this year. I'd say rebounding, shooting the 3 and defending the 3 have been our main shortcomings. Experience and coaching should be able to polish up some of those rough spots. Can they can get it done in time is the question.

I'd also like to see more intensity on the defense. I'm of the opinion that some of these massive point swings they see are because they occasionally go soft on the "D" and they are not a good enough shooting team at this point to cover it up. Point swings are a big part of basketball and they happen to the best of 'em, but when they happen as often as they do with this team and as large as they get behind sometimes, you have to question the effort a little.

 

[LP-HSV]

I don't think we should have to give you a bunch of reasons to support your team.

Well said.

 

[GrandBayTider]

I do not think Arkansas is that good. I saw them play Texas Tech in Dallas a couple of weeks ago and they did not impress me. They struggled to put away an average Tech team. Several Hog fans sitting around me were saying this was going to be a long season for the Hogs. They are very eratic and streaky.

Even better news! Also LSU has struggled at times as well. So maybe we do have a chance to win the west! _surpris

 

[cbfactor]

Inconsistency

So far this team has had many woes but we were in all but one game (Temple). Against Memphis and Notre Dame we let them jump on us early and had to have rallies to just get back into contention. While against NC State and Oklahoma we had just a few minutes of poor play in the second half that ultimately cost us the game (NC State 3:30 to 1:30) (Oklahoma 11 to 9). I agree that this team at times seems to lack passion. However this is a trait that can be overcome and most likely will with time. The real question is how long will it take???

 

[TruCrimson]

You ROOT for a team not because they are winning, you ROOT for a team because you love that team and university...It does not matter who the coach is, is does not matter who is playing well, & who is not, all that matter is you go to the games & yell your arse off , & stay till that clock reaches 00:00 no matter Win or Loose. The Wagon is getting really empty now, but as soon as things change, because they will, maybe not this year, but they will, & the Wagon will be full once again, & maybe the "Fans" can ROOT for the Tide again.

RTR!!!

 

[BamaSteve999]

Nobody said anything about supporting the team

I support the team 100%, and I desperately hope I am completely wrong about the direction the program is headed. If I am, I will come on here and publicly say so. You guys can hold me to that.

What I asked for was reasons in support of the general statements that have been made on this board to the effect that "we will get better", "it just takes time", etc. Again, I hope all of you are right. But does it make me any less of a supporter of the team to question why we don't have anybody on offense who can create his own shot? Why we do not have a consistent outside scorer who is not a complete liability on the defensive end of the floor? Why we constantly get beat up and down the floor? Why we pretty much look like we do not care if the other team scores on us? Why seemingly every team is always "on" against us or "feeling it" from behind the arc?

I am just concerned because I do not get the feeling that a great deal of effort is being demanded of the players. I pitifully tried to play basketball in high school for an outstanding 6A program in Alabama. I wasn't any good, but I could go as hard as I could go as well as anybody we had, including at least 1 McDonald's All-American. I don't currently see that on the floor for Alabama.

 

[gottarun2win]

I don't suppose yesterday's game is enough for you BamaSteve

But it is enough for me to discount your fanaticism (at least for this year's basketball team).

Main Entry: fa·nat·i·cism
Pronunciation: f&-'nat-&-"siz-&m
Function: noun
: fanatic outlook or behavior especially as exhibited by excessive enthusiasm, unreasoning zeal, or wild and extravagant notions on some subject

As pertaining to Bama basketball, you need to fess up as being a fair weather fan - for this team. If you follow Bama basketball, you would not be worried about the direction of the program. Gottfried's teams are notorious as being either fast starting, fast falling, or slow starting, strong finishing. I have seen more the latter in the last few years and am confident of the growth of the team. That said, I also understand the predicament that the program is in this year due to the loss of players to the NBA (expected) and transfers (unexpected). We lost what, 3 or 4 players over the last two years to transfers? I think (hope) that is the reason we are tempering our great recruiting class of last year with a more "hidden jewel" recruiting of this year.

Don't get too upset though - I think when push comes to shove, probably 80% of us (me included) are fair weather fans at some point. I can't say I was much of a fan during the "Hobbsian decline" - though I did want to be. But, like you feel right now (or is it subsiding?), I didn't have much faith that the program was headed in the right direction.

However, I like Gottfried and though I question whether he will ever make us a National Champion, I don't really know if that is my goal - getting to the elite 8 was very satisfying for me - getting to the final 4 would be even better. Before Gottfried, we never saw the elite 8. The fact that we did it (even though Wimp had teams that had so much talent it was ridiculous) should never be discounted when assessing Gottfried's coaching ability.

This year will be a good test for Gottfried - he has a lot of young talent and some of it was sitting on the bench early in the season (a problem that led to transfers before). He wisely opened it up and now Hollinger is a great contributor. It is a shame we couldn't have played Weber more - I think he would have been a great player. But then, I don't know all the reasons things happen - he may have been horrible for the team. Anyway, as a fan, I like to think positive and hope for the best.

Also, in case you don't think the players read these forums, check out what Jamareo said after the game - he reads the boards.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

For a while...

I was afraid that watching the current team grow was going to be painful. I no longer think that. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. If I'd wanted to watch a NC contender every year, I'd have gone to Duke. OTOH, I did start at Bama when Whitworth was the coach, so "fair-weather" certainly doesn't apply to me.