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

Sort of OT, but considering the history and the bad blood between Stansbury and Gottfried, would you guys say Mississippi State is our biggest rival in basketball? I know Auburn will always be the one our fans want to beat the most because it trickles down from football. And then you look at Tennessee, who is almost a mirror image of Alabama in terms of program success. But I've always sort of felt more intensity in our games with them than any other program.

who are some of our all time best from Miss?

Mo Williams
McDyess
James Robinson

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State-Alabama in the early and mid 2000s was as visceral and hotly contented as anything Basketball has had in my lifetime. The recruiting, the fact we were both really good, the distance, the coaches, the fact all the kids played with and against eachother. It was awesome.

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I bet going as a student would have been fun. I remember going to one back in like '06 or '07 where we lost by 10.

It was just a random thought that crossed me when I was reading an old article on Gottfried resigning. Came across this funny thing too:

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Gottfried signed a six-year contract with Alabama in 2005 that made him the school's first $1 million basketball coach and gave him a larger salary than that of football coach Mike Shula. The contract ran through 2011 and included a buyout if he were fired, but any financial terms tied to his resignation were not released.

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Mississippi State is our biggest rival in basketball?

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I wouldnt say rival but conference foe, yes.

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Hollywood Robinson

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My favorite all-time Alabama player

Yeah, I don't think seeds are locked in to cities and I don't think cities are locked into regions for the opening round games.

State was/is definitely our biggest basketball rival when Stansbury was there. It got nasty. We’ve had some competition with Dale Brown’s LSU teams and Nolan’s Hog teams where they were big games and tough contests and it got a little chippy but nothing like State under Stansbury. That was pure unadulterated hatred.

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I disagree. UF didn't communicate the switch effectively leaving Hall to roll free which made the backside defender sag . UF doubled Sexton after the screen which is pretty dumb considering Hall is rolling. Hard to believe that was executed right by UF

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That's a switch that the PG has no chance of defending. He's completely over-matched and the roller already has the advantage of position in a switch scenario. Plus it was technically a slip which didn't allow him any time to switch. Taking in mind that he knows that in their pick and roll defense there's a player designated as a safety (hence why the play design was based on Key drawing him out or getting an open 3), I think he was right in doubling and hoping Sexton slipped up under pressure. There's absolutely nothing he can do when chasing Hall down from behind. Defensively there isn't much you can do to defend it. Perfectly executed offense will always trump perfectly executed defense.

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completely agree w your point, but a good D forces an offense to perfectly executes multiple steps

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Agreed, in most scenarios. But in this scenario the only thing I could see the defense doing differently to stop this play from succeeding is for the defender to decide to go under the screen, and if that happens it would give Sexton (who was feeling it that day) an open opportunity for a pull-up jumper. As soon as Hall saw him prepare to go over the screen he slipped, because with as quick as Sexton is, it afforded him plenty enough time to drive by creating enough separation where the PG couldn't possibly defend the roll pass and at the same time attracted the roll defender. From the moment the defender started to go over the screen this play was going to result in an open shot. The fact that the open shot was a 3-pointer in the hands of Key is probably something Mike White would have taken in this scenario.