quote:
I'll talk some of you off the ledge. I heard the exact same problems regarding the Auburn team at the end of last year. You won't find articles on it because AU beat writers suck

It shouldn't be shocking that this sentiment exists. Right now, you have a lot of new puzzle pieces that unfortunately fit different puzzles. When you start losing, young guys get frustrated and upset

I agree with this. Not even considering next season, if Alabama were to simply beat Texas A&M they will be in the NCAA tournament and a first round win would have people thinking this was just as much a really bad 1 week lull coming off two very tough road trips/games at UK and AU.

Let's not forget that the Florida team that caused this current meltdown was beaten just as badly at home by Alabama a month ago causing about the same "Mike White has lost the team" ect ect sentiments from their fans.

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I've said it up and down this thread, Bama needs to teach kids how to shoot or more likely just recruit better shooters considering Avery Jr is 21 and still can't shoot.

Avery's not a great shooter but isn't the best example of Bama's 3pt shooting woes. He's actually fairly decent even with the odd form. Significantly, he seems to shoot his percentage at around 30-33% consistently without out-of-the-ordinary hot and cold streaks. I would also point out that his percentage is lowered by the uncommon amount of bad possessions --partly his fault due to other deficiencies in his game -- that end with him heaving a desperation 3.

The better examples are guys that actually do have solid 3 pt shots. We'll have to disagree completely on Petty. IMO, he's a 3 pt shooter that should be tearing it up and the kind that would be hitting "oh no. . . oh yeah" shite from all over the court at 40+% in Bruce Pearl's offense like Porter (EDIT: Harper), just for example.

The Petty problem, in my opinion, is one that's plagued Alabama's offense under Grant and now Johnson. Very simple to see but sure seems hard to fix: the offense just doesn't get guys comfortable doing what they do best. The most obvious description of Alabama's players on offense is too often "overthinking" "reluctant" and "nervous."

Much has been made of Petty's road shooting problems but I'd love to see his 3pt shooting percentage (along with Key and Sexton) on shots when the game is kind of out of hand either way-- I'd bet that each is 15-20% points higher -- or about double the deviation you'd expect in those situations.

That tells me these guys don't have a shooting problem but a mental issue and I think that comes from not being comfortable running the regular offense (which is a coaching problem).

I do agree with you on Ingram being so reluctant to shoot the three.

However, we do have a coach who was successful NBA point guard never known to shoot first and I've seen about a million offenses work very well with a guy that can drive strong but doesn't like the 3 point shot.

That again goes back to coaching and making the offense fit the players and having them in position to do what they're comfortable doing.

What I don't like above all is how slow both Grant's and now Johnson's offenses were/are.

If you have guys that thrive driving, you absolutely have to be moving --the ball, players off the ball -- on offense a whole lot quicker than Alabama is usually doing.

That's when Ingram, for example, will be getting a pass and not calling for a screener late in the shot clock but already have a scrambling defender to drive.

It's not that this doesn't ever work for Alabama -- the efficient offense when they've won big games this season (against some solid defending teams as well) has looked just like this.

This post was edited on 3/1/18 at 9:09 pm