re: Alabama Basketball Megathread | 26-7 (16-2)

I think the veteran leadership by Q and co. will surpass what we had this year in a lot of ways - mainly because they will be more reliable than Petty.

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On to year 3 for Nate and Bama. The question is do we get better or take a step back?

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I think we'll be a significantly better team -- even with the leadership and skill from Herb / Petty / Reese we're losing. Oats has built the roster (and continues to do so) based on the system he runs, which is something we've lacked for literally 10+ years. The added bonus is his system is one that's VERY attractive to top talent. (Seriously, when's the last time Alabama had two five-stars on the court at the same time -- much less the possibility of having four or five?)

We also should be able to limit the up-and-down streakiness of our overall offense to a greater extent, as Oats continues to identify and recruit players based on his system.

Now, it's entirely possible we'll be a better overall team, but our record won't be quite as good. Just the nature of the beast in basketball. But barring terrible injury luck or weird occurrences, I'm confident we'll be solidly in the tournament next year, and years to come. And once we get in the tournament, we should be a tough matchup for most teams.

In other words, we may be on the cusp of seeing a football-esque run with our basketball team. Not saying we will be able to win six championships in 12 years, by any stretch ... but we'll be a factor in the tournament on a regular basis.

Perhaps a silver lining to losing last night is that this will quell all the national chatter about Oats and every coach opening.

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The number of people who contributed nothing to this thread all season until jumping in to pile on and talk shite about the team over the last 12 hours is fricking pathetic."

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AfrickingMen

It wasn't their best game. There's no need to come up with a million reasons why this team was flawed. We discussed the flaws all season. Nobody thought they were unbeatable. Yes, they could have beaten UCLA. They didn't. That doesn't change the fact they were a great team. There's no reason to suddenly bring up player or coaching flaws that a lot of us discussed months ago like you're contributing anything. Go crawl back under your football rocks.

I’m really looking forward to see what this team can do with a legit big man. I really hope they get Bediako. The talent is getting better and better it seems. The future is bright

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Evan Miyakawa
@evanmiya
In a vacuum, the probability that Alabama shoots as poorly as they did from the free throw line (11 for 25), given each shooter's season FT%, is 0.5%.

Only 1 out of every 200 games would they make 11 free throws or less out of those 25 attempts.

Rough.

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shite. From the first two minutes on, the team playing uptight made me uptight watching and I wasn't even competing.

I can relate to miss Free Throws.

True, and I definitely think Herb's quick 2 fouls affected the team's psyche and just increased that pressure on them.

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shite. From the first two minutes on, the team playing uptight made me uptight watching and I wasn't even competing.

I can relate to miss Free Throws.

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Missed FTs are contagious. Even if you're not the one missing them, it's not like the team didn't realize that they were struggling mightily from the FT line. With each missed FT, the team is more likely to miss the next one.

I'd imagine Oats didn't mention the the missed FTs until after the game. Free throws are a mental game. That's why I've always laughed at the idea that fans think the team should practice more on their FTs after a poor night on the line. You want to really get in their head? Make a big deal out of one poor night at the line.