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re: 2017-18 Alabama Basketball Season Thread: 20-16 (10-11)
Posted on 12/20/17 at 7:05 am to Cobrasize
Posted on 12/20/17 at 7:05 am to Cobrasize
quote:
I don't think people are as concerned about the Mercer game as they are about how we have looked the last 5 games or so.
I'm not saying this is the best stretch of basketball that we could have hoped for, but we beat an at-large bid quality tournament team and outplayed a top 10 quality team on the road during that 5 game stretch. The other 3 games were not pretty, but there's a very solid chance that 4 of the 5 teams we played are tournament teams and a small chance that all 5 are. I get the the LA Tech, UCF, and Mercer games were bad, but we can't just forget that we had both a good and fantastic game in that stretch.
This post was edited on 12/20/17 at 7:07 am
1
Posted on 12/20/17 at 8:33 am to GenesChin
quote:This is a solid post! IMO, the thing we, as fans, should be watching is how much Avery can help this team improve fundamentally. If you have a team making the same mistakes at the end of the season that they make at the beginning, you've got a coaching problem...or some very dumbass players!
Young teams show signs of youth/inexperience. These are great learning experiences for coaches to build on to improve throughout the year
How much Alabama improves will be a testament to Avery's coaching ability
There is a spectrum from
A) Avery shows Coach K type in season improvement /coaching
To
B) Avery pulls a Johnny Jones coast on talent no in season coaching
** This is key**
Avery can fall somewhere between the two. It isn't necessarily either A or B
Posted on 12/20/17 at 8:51 am to BigBird09
To all Avery doubters: Avery is going to be an outstanding coach for Alabama basketball.Period! We will go on an unprecedented run of success to outdo the purple era of success we had under Newton and Sanderson.
Only thing stopping us right now is possibly Avery's lack of experience in developing college players. Once he gets that rolling and under control,he should make us a top notch destination for elite basketball players.
He has tremendous knowledge of the game given his long experience in the pro's as a PG/QB and coach.Here he needed to prove he could recruit at an elite level and be a teacher,developer of precocious talent. This years class answered the first question and with Obasahan and Hall's examples,I think he is well on the way to answering the second. To question his caliber as a coach with every inconsequential game is absurd.
We can question game plans and in-game coaching decisions all we want but please don't challenge the integrity of his hire.
Sorry for the rant. JMO but I think this was best hire we could have made.
Posted on 12/20/17 at 9:20 am to BigBird09
For a moment I thought I was on the Tiger rant after reading the comments in the game thread. Pretty sad that people were questioning the hire of Avery. The guy has done a solid job for our program so far. The game last night wasn't good, but reading some of the comments about the players and coach was discouraging.
The current run the football team is on has spoiled some of these fans.
The current run the football team is on has spoiled some of these fans.
Posted on 12/20/17 at 11:42 am to SummerOfGeorge
I don't dislike Jr. Or Norris. When they are confident they are good contributors. Problem is they have none because they aren't playing well in really any area. Let them hoop up some elementary kids or something. Just get your confidence up already.
Posted on 12/20/17 at 12:34 pm to Kcstills17
Alright I've settled down some. 2nd half last night it seemed like our lineup switches became more fluid. Avery was either switching almost everyone or just one player. Hopefully we see that moving ahead. It seemed like we played better with more continuity.
I suspect Reese, Herbert, and Galin won't see many minutes going forward. Although I think Herbert and Reese should play over AJ and Riley.
I suspect Reese, Herbert, and Galin won't see many minutes going forward. Although I think Herbert and Reese should play over AJ and Riley.
Posted on 12/20/17 at 1:26 pm to TomRollTideRitter
Did Galin play at all last night?
Posted on 12/20/17 at 1:56 pm to SummerOfGeorge
No I don't think so
Posted on 12/20/17 at 2:07 pm to TomRollTideRitter
Why is Herb not gonna get minutes?? He hasnt played well the last 2 games but has been solid in every other one.
Posted on 12/20/17 at 2:08 pm to mistaken4193
Wimp was on the radio earlier and lets just say he is not that big a fan of Key. Says he is a turnover machine.
Posted on 12/20/17 at 2:11 pm to mistaken4193
quote:
Why is Herb not gonna get minutes??
probably increase if he stopped turning the ball over. Turned it over immediately when he came in last night and got pulled.
Posted on 12/20/17 at 2:12 pm to TomRollTideRitter
To the smart arse comment about what I said about Mercer being top 3 in their league being " no big accomplishment" I ll say this...Alot of mid major conferences are top heavy with quality teams who are just as good as a power 5. Anyone who follows college basketball regularly knows this. To the point about defensive effort...We've turned games around this yr due to defense so the lack of effort nonsense is bs. Reasonable criticisms can be made ...ie free throw shooting, loose ball handling. Our problems are correctable and can be handled thru more experience. I'm pretty confident in these guys to be a team no one wants to deal with in February and March.
Posted on 12/20/17 at 2:12 pm to mistaken4193
I'd play him, but I don't think Riley or AJ Jr will be moved out of the rotation. Then we need a backup big, so Giddens will stay. I don't see more than eight guys playing a lot moving forward.
Posted on 12/20/17 at 2:14 pm to TomRollTideRitter
Reese and Herb are MUCH better than Riley and AJjr. If AJ jr. wasnt the coaches son he wouldnt even play. Somebody said it in the game thread, he thinks he is Steph Curry with all of this game when really he just sucks
This post was edited on 12/20/17 at 2:15 pm
Posted on 12/20/17 at 2:16 pm to Bamainva40
I don't think we lack effort on defense either. We just aren't very good at it.
Posted on 12/20/17 at 2:21 pm to mistaken4193
I was listening to 102.9 this morning and they were saying the same thing about Avery Jr. The guy on there was saying he didn’t understand why AJ was playing so many minutes. Then he said, if AJ HAS to play that many minutes that’s fine but he doesn’t need to be taking 6 shots a game when he only makes 1. Especially don’t take 4 three pointers when you can’t hit any
Posted on 12/20/17 at 2:32 pm to mistaken4193
quote:
Wimp was on the radio earlier and lets just say he is not that big a fan of Key.
That makes two of us. He's had some good games, but I've never been very high on him. Those horrible passes he threw last night were nothing new for him.
As far as the team, I never fooled myself into thinking they were going to the Final Four. I expected some bad games, and we're getting them. I just hope they get better and get into the tournament and win a game or two. I'd be happy with that. Anything else is would be fantastic.
Posted on 12/20/17 at 2:42 pm to TomRollTideRitter
quote:
I don't think we lack effort on defense either. We just aren't very good at it.
Shouldn't be that surprising for a team that gets nearly 50% of their minutes from true FR. Almost expected when you add in Giddens is in YR1 of play + Norris/Ingram are effectively in different roles too.
It takes time for players to learn a D system + team defense. A lot of FR may be good on ball defenders, but they often are subpar in "team defense" & "D communication"
A good example is "elite D coach" Frank Martin YR2 vs YR3 at South Carolina
YR2:#115 Nat'l D Efficiency
~45% min by FR
Minutes Continuity #299 34.5%
Experience #342 0.92
YR3:#21 Nat'l D Efficiency
~8.6% min by FR
Minutes Continuity #32 70.8%
Experience #224 1.55yr
The team was more or less the exact same year to year. Frank Martin yelled just as much in both years. The difference was learning to play D together
Posted on 12/20/17 at 2:43 pm to Bamainva40
quote:
Alot of mid major conferences are top heavy with quality teams who are just as good as a power 5.
Mercer is not just as good as a P5 team. Not an average Power 5 team, at least.
Posted on 12/20/17 at 2:45 pm to GenesChin
quote:
It takes time for players to learn a D system + team defense. A lot of FR may be good on ball defenders, but they often are subpar in "team defense" & "D communication"
Bingo. And, we've played some really, really well coached, senior laden teams early that know exactly what they are doing on offense and make you pay for bad rotations. Last night we played pretty solid defense for the majority of most of Mercer's possessions. However, they know what they are doing and they are content to keep running their stuff until you make a mistake, even if it takes 22 seconds for that to happen.
I'm not super concerned about it. It's crazy to expect a bunch of young guys to show up and be great college team defenders in general and then especially do it as a unit.
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