School me on our bball team

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What are the problems with our team?

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We don't have what the free world likes to call an offense.

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Is it his coaching style or is it a lack of recruiting that is keeping us down?

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Our lack of landing a talented big man is the biggest deterrent.

We went to the NCAA tournament last year, and are 8-3 in the league this year. Yea the SEC is pathetic and our offense can be brutal to watch, but I wouldn't say we've been "kept down" under Grant. Grant has done a nice job stablizing the program after Gottfried ran it into the dirt.

We're an excellent defensive team. Last night was, I believe, the ninth straight game where we've held our opponent under 60 points. We like to pressure and set up a full court press, especially after made baskets. Only problem is...

We don't score enough. Not close to enough. This is a combination of a stagnant offense and a lack of creativity (understatement) and extremely poor shooting. We hold the ball forever, don't push it up the court (despite Grant saying that'w what he wants to do), and end up taking bad shots late in the shot clock. To be fair, we miss a lot of wide open shots at all times in the shot clock too. We have moved more with a purpose offensively the past couple of games since the Auburn debacle, but still can't shoot.

Grant has been a decent recruiter, actually signed the #5 class in the country a couple years ago per Rivals. Basketball recruiting rankings are no sure science though after you get past the few "can't miss" kids. He beat out Kentucky and Kansas for Trevor Lacey, and Pollard was also a 5-star player last season although he must've been the worst 5-star ever.

I'm not nearly as down on Grant as some have become this season. His style of play for the most part isn't exciting (although the full court pressure can be when it's really working), but it's been fairly effective. Our biggest issue is dropping games in the non-conference we have no business losing. Two years ago a horrific three game stretch in a pre-season tournament likely kept us out of the NCAA tournament despite a 12-4 SEC record. This year, home losses to Mercer and Tulane could end up doing the same. He certainly needs a change in philosophy on offense though and hopefully that will come with some staff changes in the offseason.

Sorry for the novel, got carried away

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Question is can Alabama get someone better than Grant?

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I'd be careful assuming the answer is yes, Grant was one of, if not THE, hottest young coach in the country when we got him. He was going to be the next Florida coach when Billy D left to coach the Magic for like a day and a half.

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What are the problems with our team?

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Some details have already been mentioned, and I agree with most of those.

CBB starts and ends with coaching, from recruiting to x's and o's to overall program development. So imo, looking no further than Grant for the answer to your questions.

I'm not yet on the "fire Grant" wagon but sure would like to see him improve in all areas. I'm still pulling for him and Bama to do well, as opposed to MG's last year and half when I wanted failure so he would be fired.

Just some simple tweaking of the offense will be appreciated. A complete overhaul of the fast break offense is also necessary, it's abysmal. When you're a pressing/defensive team, fast break offense is a natural extension of the game plan or at least it should be.


In general, the Bama program is underachieving. Continuously on the outside of the bubble, no excitement around the program, and I don't really see any momentum building going forward. But I do hope Grant can look at the program and start making some positive strides.

I think the biggest problem is lack of big guys. Gueye is terrible. If they had an inside threat it would open it up for the perimeter guys. They can hit shots when open, they just force a lot of bad ones.

Bama had some real talent at the beginning of my college career. 04-06 were good teams.

Yes, there has been some talent come through since mid 90's. But the high talent level has not been consistent year to year.


The years you mentioned had some really nice talent, along with some good role players and good chemistry.
'05 and '06 had the talent to make deep runs.
Winston and Davis were both very very good college offensive players. Davis' game was ruined when Mark pulled him away from the basket his senior year.

We certainly had some very talented teams under Gottfried, but those were the ones that underachieved more than any other recent Alabama teams. It's amazing how much he's already not living up to expectations at NC State this year. He's starting the same process all over. Granted, we could all see the train wreck coming from a mile away. Those poor fans got so excited last year, now they're screwed and they don't even understand yet

Would be curious to see what would happen to a guy like Shelton on a Bama team now.

I have believed for three years now, that Grant's offensive strategy is one of the reasons Bama's guards shoot poorly. Not talking about poor play design, which also hurts. Shooters need to be allowed to shoot in rhythm and when they "feel it" in the flow of a game, not when there has been x amount of passes or with five seconds left on shot clock.

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What are the problems with our team?

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we seem to play defense on BOTH ends

I don't mean to derail the thread with my Gottfried hate. I just can't pass up a chance to express my disdain for him. I didn't even realize I was doing it when I brought him up in this thread, it just comes natural for me