re: 2017-18 Alabama Basketball Season Thread: 20-16 (10-11)

quote:

---

Things are in Fight Club mode right now Gene best bet is to wave goodnight and bring in some breakfast and Advil in the morning.

---

I'm extremely concerned with where we are and what we have left on the schedule. However, it's still all very much out in front of us. Win the next 2 home games and we'll be sitting pretty before a brutal stretch. Won't be easy, but definitely not impossible.

quote:

---

I've followed Blake Lovell's podcast and columns and he's really got it nailed as far as us and the league as a whole.

---

He's great. Just found him this year and his stuff is really good.

quote:

---

I don't feel good about our chances. We've won one road game all year, so I have trouble picking us to win any of those. We have 6 home games left, so if the aim is 18 wins plus 1 in the tournament, we have to win 5 of 6 home games unless we can beat Miss State or A&M on the road. We aren't winning @Florida, Kentucky, or Auburn.

---

Yea, I'm not confident.

But hey, maybe something will click.

We don't suck, we re doing well considering we re one of youngest teams in the country. Just need to finish strong these last 11 games

Drew dearmond put some people in their place tonight. We have too many in this fanbase that think football works the same way as basketball. This team is growing and knowledgeable fans see the big picture

I don't always agree with drew but he was dead on tonight. We re the 348th experienced team out of 351 teams in D1 and are playing one of the top 10 schedules in the country. The numbers and metrics favor the league and our team . It's not like the old days where u needed 20+ wins.

I don't disagree that we are young and the expectations were probably too high. However, my issue is that we do not appear to be getting any better. We aren't any better now than we were in the 3rd week of the season.

KenPom now has us 59th overall and 9th in the SEC. That's just not acceptable with this group, to be honest.

14. Tennessee
18. Auburn
23. Florida
33. Kentucky
34. Texas A&M
36. Missouri
43. Arkansas
56. LSU
59. Alabama
67. Georgia
78. Ole Miss
80. South Carolina
81. Mississippi State
102. Vanderbilt

I'm not going to fall into despair because there is a clear path to a successful season and a NCAAT bid, but nothing I've seen from this team indicates that they will win any of the following games : @ Florida, @ MSU, @ Kentucky, @ Auburn, @ Texas A&M. That means, to get to 18 wins, we have to go 5-1 in the following : vs OU, vs Mizzou, vs Tennessee, vs LSU, vs Arkansas, vs Florida. That's a helluva task.

I don't think that outlook is negative or outlandish at all. It's just reality at this point. All of our remaining games are difficult. Every single one. And at this point, we need to go 5-6 or 6-5 over the last 11 to be in the NCAAT conversation (5 wins to get to 18, 6 wins to get to 19).

Just disappointing because this team hasn't seemed to develop any real identity and doesn't seem to be figuring things out really at all. And when they do, they then take 3 steps back in another area. They are young, and the schedule has been tough, but so far this season has been a disappointment.

quote:

---

What would Wimp or Frank Martin do with the talent we have assembled?

---

I do think that is a fair criticism, however, Frank Martin's only really good season at South Carolina was on the backs of upperclassmen. I'm not sure he'd be firing on all cylinders with a team that relies so heavily on freshmen and sophomores either.

My hope is what Ritter said last night, that we will realize in a few years that we had a really good class this year of guys who were really good 3-4 year CBB players (Herb, Smith, Petty, Reese) and this is just their first, raw year. A lot like Randolph and Cooper were. However, when you watch this team on a nightly basis you know what they can do and certain games are just really frustrating. I actually wouldn't even put last night in the top 5 of most frustrating outings this year. We didn't play great, but Ole Miss is not a terrible team and they just kept pulling away when we made runs.

Like I said last night, it isn't fair, but this entire season kind of rested on Collin being the tide that lifts all boats and a superstar. If he's not, you are relying on a lot of talented but raw parts. That's not a great recipe in a really good league.