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re: Alabama Basketball Megathread | 26-7 (16-2)
Posted on 3/18/21 at 11:29 pm to mistaken4193
Posted on 3/18/21 at 11:29 pm to mistaken4193
4 tournament games tonight.
3 down to the wire.
Final game going OT, taking us to near midnight.
3 down to the wire.
Final game going OT, taking us to near midnight.
1
Posted on 3/18/21 at 11:34 pm to Canyon16
Been a really good first night.
Posted on 3/18/21 at 11:40 pm to CrimsonFever
Yep! Prelude to come for a marvelous tournament.
Posted on 3/19/21 at 12:23 am to Canyon16
Tomorrow is gonna be awesome. I am hoping the SEC goes 3 and 0.
Posted on 3/19/21 at 12:34 am to CrimsonFever
I'd also like to see Arky, Fla, UT move on to the round of 32.
Posted on 3/19/21 at 7:11 am to CrimsonFever
Anybody can get it
Posted on 3/19/21 at 7:14 am to CrimsonFever
I think Nate basically sums up my thoughts on our chances in the NCAA Tournament in the latest Athletic article
quote:
“If you’re talking about teams playing at their peak, the best they’ve played, right now, I think we’re one of the four best teams in the country,” he says. “So could we? Yeah. Could we also get beat the first weekend? Yeah, 100 percent we could. If we end up with 24 turnovers like we’ve had at times and can’t finish at the rim and miss our 3s, then we might get popped and it’s done. But if we’re playing to our full capability, there’s just not very many teams that can beat us.”
Posted on 3/19/21 at 7:16 am to SummerOfGeorge
quote:
“Our shot-making should determine the margin, not whether we win or lose. When we make shots, we win by a lot. When we don’t, we can still squeak out a tight win.”
In a single-elimination tournament, one cold night can abruptly end your season, so Oats has taken steps to mitigate that risk. He has winterized Alabama. Although the Tide is 18-2 when hitting at least 10 3-pointers in a game, it has also won five games when hitting seven or fewer and is 7-3 when shooting 30 percent or worse from beyond the arc. The SEC tournament was a perfect example of what Oats means.
In the quarterfinals, Alabama’s offense got rolling (13 made 3s) and its defense suffocated Mississippi State (29 percent from the field) in a 37-point romp, after which Bulldogs coach Ben Howland said, “They’re a team that has a chance to go to the Final Four.” He’s done that three times, by the way. In the semifinals, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes seemed intent on making it a referendum on analytics-driven basketball – “Some people don’t believe in the midrange game,” he said the day before – by burying ’Bama in a hail of midrange jumpers and hounding the Tide’s outside shooters. The Volunteers led by 15 in the second half, and then Oats and Co. applied the clamps. UT turned it over nine times in eight minutes, made just 6 of 21 shots to close the game and lost by five.
“It was one of those culture wins,” Oats says. “We’ve built the culture up to the point where we can win a game like that. Lotta stuff going wrong and we gut one out. That shows how far the program has come in the last year and a half.”
Then, when Alabama got into a shootout with LSU’s trio of former five-star recruits in the championship game, it was all about making the handful of plays down the stretch that would decide it. To cite four: Jones snared a defensive rebound and raced the length of the court for a go-ahead layup with 19.5 seconds to go, Keon Ellis swatted Javonte Smart with seven seconds left, and Jones hounded Trendon Watford, who already had 30 points, into an airballed game-winning attempt.
quote:
“That’s what I dream of: Getting a stop to win the championship,” Jones says. “Coach has a lot of trust in me to make the right plays down the stretch.”
And why wouldn’t he? Jones has been terrific all season, but he was dazzling in Nashville, averaging 14 points, 10.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 2.3 blocks and 2.3 steals in three games. One NBA scout in the building, asked whether he was impressed, texted: Shhhhhhhhhh.
“He’s a pro. He’s a first-round pick in my mind. He’s a rotation player on a playoff team in that league right now,” Oats says. “The NBA has gone crazy for his type of dudes: tough-arse, hard-playing, all-about-winning dudes. And even when we had a lottery-pick point guard last year, we always felt Herb was as good, if not better, than Kira Lewis was. He’s so long that he sees over everything and you can’t affect him with a trap. He sees the backside, makes the read. I mean, he’s a 6-foot-8 starting point guard for us.”
quote:
His (Quinerly) attitude is great for the locker room and his talent is scary for opponents. He and Jones make Alabama a real challenge to check, giving Oats two dynamic creators to initiate the layups-or-long-balls attack. They get other guys open, but if the defense sticks to shooters, those two are driving to the rack and finishing.
Take, for example, the first two meetings with LSU: 23 made 3-pointers the first time (a 30-point win), six 3-pointers and 19 layups or dunks the second time (an 18-point win).
“So you’re gonna take away our 3s? OK, that’s fine,” Oats says. “Now we’re going to take it to the hoop over and over. You’ve got to have both, the way we play, and Quinerly and Herb are the guys who can get you both. We don’t win without them.”
This post was edited on 3/19/21 at 7:19 am
Posted on 3/19/21 at 7:20 am to SummerOfGeorge
Also, LOL that Kyle Tucker threw this in there
quote:
His team started to believe it could be special, Oats estimates, after it won comfortably at then-No. 7 Tennessee on Jan. 2. Alabama won 10 straight games and 20 of its last 23. Two of the Tide’s losses in that span were nail-biters at Oklahoma and Missouri, when they came almost all the way back from a 22-point second-half deficit. The other was at Arkansas, one of the hottest teams in college basketball over the last six weeks, when the Razorbacks took advantage of the largest free throw differential (plus-35) in an SEC game in the last decade.
This post was edited on 3/19/21 at 7:21 am
Posted on 3/19/21 at 7:20 am to SummerOfGeorge
The man doesn’t lack confidence. I think that’s one of the reasons why the culture has changed. Our team has taken on his attitude/swagger and plays with an edge.
Posted on 3/19/21 at 7:22 am to mistaken4193
quote:
Izzo. We DO NOT need him losing his job
If he is going to get fired or retire, this is the best time for it - Oats' buyout is at its highest right now - rather Izzo get canned now than in a year or two when the buyout is less.
Posted on 3/19/21 at 7:22 am to Bryant91092
quote:
The man doesn’t lack confidence. I think that’s one of the reasons why the culture has changed. Our team has taken on his attitude/swagger and plays with an edge.
And I think the biggest thing is that it's legitimate confidence and swagger. A lot of dudes pretend to have swagger but deep inside they aren't sure, Oats is absolutely 100% positive that the system and methods he uses are the best way to play college basketball. That doesn't mean you'll win every game, but he has no doubt whatsoever in what they are doing.
That shite breeds confidence in your guys, especially when you can then teach and communicate those methods and systems in a way that your players/staff can understand and put into practice.
Posted on 3/19/21 at 7:23 am to roadkill
quote:
If he is going to get fired or retire, this is the best time for it - Oats' buyout is at its highest right now - rather Izzo get canned now than in a year or two when the buyout is less.
Plus I think it'd be harder for Oats to leave (just personally) right now than it would be in, say, 3 years when he's won stuff and gotten things rolling.
He's just gotten things built up right now. The hardest work has been done.
Posted on 3/19/21 at 7:24 am to SummerOfGeorge
quote:
Thing is, ’Bama might be the buzzsaw this year. And for a man who has no problem tooting his own horn, Oats wants to make sure to tip his cap to the last guy before hanging up the phone. Avery Johnson left him a mighty full cupboard.
“Did anybody expect it to be this good in Year 2? No, including me. It’s a little bit crazy. But then again, I’m not totally shocked, because we’ve got really good players,” Oats says. “I may never get to coach another player like Herb Jones again in my life. To inherit him and John Petty? You better take full advantage of that. How often are you going to get two guys who should play a long time in the NBA and you have them as college seniors? So maybe everybody is a little shocked by how quickly this has happened, but it’s because we did not walk into an awful situation. We inherited talent and we just had to shore up some of the culture stuff and allow the talent to shine through.
“We play a completely different style of offense, got them actually playing hard on the defensive end, but the hardest part is getting good enough players to win, and they had that here.”
Posted on 3/19/21 at 7:30 am to SummerOfGeorge
How crazy is it that the Top 2 incoming freshmen next season in the SEC are going to Auburn and Alabama?
Posted on 3/19/21 at 7:39 am to SummerOfGeorge
quote:
“If you’re talking about teams playing at their peak, the best they’ve played, right now, I think we’re one of the four best teams in the country,” he says. “So could we? Yeah. Could we also get beat the first weekend? Yeah, 100 percent we could. If we end up with 24 turnovers like we’ve had at times and can’t finish at the rim and miss our 3s, then we might get popped and it’s done. But if we’re playing to our full capability, there’s just not very many teams that can beat us.”
Oats reads this thread.
Posted on 3/19/21 at 7:54 am to Chadaristic
Good (great) news: son being baptized at church.
Bad news: must be there at 4PM EST, tomorrow.
Bad news: must be there at 4PM EST, tomorrow.
Posted on 3/19/21 at 7:58 am to SummerOfGeorge
quote:
How crazy is it that the Top 2 incoming freshmen next season in the SEC are going to Auburn and Alabama?
The times, they are a changing.
Seriously though, the best thing that could happen for SEC basketball is an end to Kentucky's dominance of the conference because other teams are able to start matching up with them in terms of talent. We need them to be good, but having them win the conference with 15+ wins every single year is not good for the perception of the SEC. Like this year a ton of people are accusing the SEC of being shite just because Kentucky sucked.
Posted on 3/19/21 at 8:06 am to SummerOfGeorge
quote:
“That’s what I dream of: Getting a stop to win the championship,” Jones says. “Coach has a lot of trust in me to make the right plays down the stretch.”
And why wouldn’t he? Jones has been terrific all season, but he was dazzling in Nashville, averaging 14 points, 10.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 2.3 blocks and 2.3 steals in three games. One NBA scout in the building, asked whether he was impressed, texted: Shhhhhhhhhh.
“He’s a pro. He’s a first-round pick in my mind. He’s a rotation player on a playoff team in that league right now,” Oats says. “The NBA has gone crazy for his type of dudes: tough-arse, hard-playing, all-about-winning dudes. And even when we had a lottery-pick point guard last year, we always felt Herb was as good, if not better, than Kira Lewis was. He’s so long that he sees over everything and you can’t affect him with a trap. He sees the backside, makes the read. I mean, he’s a 6-foot-8 starting point guard for us.”
Hell yeah. So glad that Herb is getting the recognition he deserves. His draft stock definitely rose because of his play in the SECt. He quietly became one of the best players I've ever seen at Bama.
Posted on 3/19/21 at 8:09 am to CCTider
"Ain't no pressure when you having fun."
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