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

Donta is the difference down the stretch for us. He has grown this season and is playing with confidence. If his play continues, he will likely play his way off of our roster and into the NBA draft.

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Most of you will be cussing the players, coaches and the team before its over. Just look back at this thread.

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This is probably true.

I do think most of the pissed off irritation really comes out when we lose/play poorly against the teams in the lower half (Georgia, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss). Some will be mad down the stretch but all of those games are against good teams.

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Group 1 : 6-3
Group 1 Home : 5-1
Group 1 Away : 1-2
Group 1 Neutral : 0-0

Group 2 : 3-5
Group 2 Home : 1-2
Group 2 Away : 1-3
Group 2 Neutral : 1-0

Group 3 : 5-1
Group 3 Home : 4-0
Group 3 Away : 0-0
Group 3 Neutral : 1-1

Group 4 : 3-0
Group 4 Home : 2-0
Group 4 Away : 0-0
Group 4 Neutral : 1-0

Total : 17-9
Home : 12-3
Road : 2-5
Neutral : 3-1

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What this really shows is that despite some of the frustrating games (I'm looking at you Vandy and UCF), Bama hasn't lost to a really bad team.

When you also consider that you're getting over half your minutes and points from first year players and the two biggest consistent contributors on the team (Sexton and Hall) have both missed games due to injury you've really got to appreciate the job Avery and the staff have done.

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Most of you will be cussing the players, coaches and the team before its over. Just look back at this thread.

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I coached HS for 15 years, so it comes with the territory. I see it like this, when we struggle, it is because of our lack of experience. I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Is there anywhere that shows stats for charges taken on the year?

I know Herbert owns the Ala record now but who owned it previous?

I don't know if rolltide.com has that stat or not in their compilation of stats or not. Check there and see.

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What this really shows is that despite some of the frustrating games (I'm looking at you Vandy and UCF), Bama hasn't lost to a really bad team. When you also consider that you're getting over half your minutes and points from first year players and the two biggest consistent contributors on the team (Sexton and Hall) have both missed games due to injury you've really got to appreciate the job Avery and the staff have done.

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Yep. And, when you look back on it, we've really been a pretty consistent team the last month

Since the back to back losses @ Vandy/UGA. We were 9-6 (1-2) at that point.

* 8-3
* 4 Top 50 RPI wins (3 Top 21 wins)
* Losses : @ #113 Ole Miss, vs #22 Missouri, @ #58 Mississippi State
* Loss @ Ole Miss was the one stretch of the year they were playing well and Sexton was coming back from injury. It was a bad loss, but we didn't just look dysfunctional like we did @ UGA/Vandy. Not good, but better. Loss vs Missouri we played poorly, but Missouri is a top 25 RPI/NCAAT team. Loss @ Mississippi State was a hard fought loss in which we didn't finish the game well.

Overall, we've clearly gotten better since early January. Our players play better together, they have figured out roles and are more consistently playing well together on both ends.

Next 5 games will be very difficult, but it will be fun to see how they respond. Hopefully they keep playing well and getting after it. They have a shot to really be a high functioning basketball team with an impressive resume by the time we go to St Louis in early March.

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Do we want Kentucky getting any momentum this evening? As much as it's hard to pull for Aub, it may be the right call.

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I can't decide whether it's better for them to be near death or win a big game and get the young team big head (we know how that works).

However, I think that them losing tonight and looking bad might really shake them even more. Their fans are at the edge of sanity with them, too. Their last few home games Rupp has been like a tomb.

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Do we want Kentucky getting any momentum this evening? As much as it's hard to pull for Aub, it may be the right call.

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It would be nice to see them go triple OT

Based on the way Kentucky has played this season I don't think what happens tonight will change anything about how they play against us. They can get hot for parts of one game, but the personnel issues they have are going to prevent them from showing any degree of consistency from game to game. They could come out and beat Auburn by 10 then turn around and lose to us at home while looking horrible in the process. Or they could get their asses handed to them tonight and run us out of Rupp this weekend.