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

Petty was still grinding in the paint and around the rim down 20 late in the 2nd half last night.

He's had a rough start but the whole "he's lazy and just cares about shooting" takes are nauseating.

quote:

---

based on the shots both teams got, Alabama was supposed to win by 12!

---

We wouldn't have won, but the missed layups and other shots would have made this game a lot closer.

It is what it is. Stanford is no slouch defensively.

We Have to get Primo and Ellis going. If they can’t produce the we aren’t gonna be very good.

Yeah. I am not sure how much of bad practice is on the coaching staff. I know Saban has made the same complaints and no one questions him. A lot of it is in the players and leadership at this point. It is CNO second season on what is likely a complete rebuild. Plus, Stanford is not a bad team with lots of returning starters and a lottery pick. It’s early in the 2nd season. Let’s see how they play moving forward.

quote:

---

There's just no explanation for it

---

Seriously though, what could it be?

Assuming they are making most of these shots repetitively in practice, what's logically different during the game? Is it something the defense is doing that we're not prepared for, a random external factor (like the logistics on a different court), lack of confidence, just a random mental thing?

Shooters can have off-nights, but how can essentially the whole team, all at once? It's baffling.

quote:

---

It's definitely not. Petty usually plays with a lot of effort. He occasionally half asses it, but a lot of our fans want to pretend he's Tony Mitchell and just mails it in if he doesn't score in the first 3 minutes of the game despite there being absolutely zero evidence of that. From a leadership standpoint this group's problem is that they don't really have an emotional leader. They didn't last year either. Herb and Petty aren't those kind of players and Bruner doesn't appear to be either.

---

THAT is exactly what I'm saying, I'm not questioning his effort, I'm questioning his Alpha male-ness I guess. We don't have one and we need one. We need a player that gets on asses when somebody does something stupid or loafs and someone that calms them down when shite goes sideways like last night. When things got away from us at the end of the first half, we collapsed. That's what's missing; the guy that can calm jangled nerves, make a couple of shots, and right the ship to at least get back in the game.
If you carefully read my post, I never called Petty lazy, I called him out for not leading. He's the senior in the best position to be the guy everyone looks to for leadership, for emotional fire when needed and a steadying hand when needed. John doesn't want that mantle. He's made that clear. It's not purely an indictment, maybe that isn't who he is. But that's what Alabama basketball needs him or someone else to be. It frustrates me and probably many of you and certainly Oats that John isn't that guy, and we don't apparently have one.

ETA: and I guarantee you we see that game plan Stanford used again because they totally blew us the frick up with it. Nate better figure that one out.

I have no expectations for tonight. Im gonna hate watch the frick out of it tho

You literally said that if Petty is off he doesn't want to accept any leadership responsibility, and only begrudgingly accepts it even when he's hot. A ton of y'all just seem hell bent on making the poor kid the scapegoat anytime we don't play well for some ridiculous reason and have been pushing that narrative for the past 3 seasons. He typically plays hard and tries his best to help the team win even if he's not making his outside shots. I mean you're basically criticizing his personality at this point. Not everyone is a vocal, emotional person. Is there anyone on this team who is? I'm really not sure, but I don't think so. That's definitely a problem, but it isn't like it's some personal failing on their part either.

quote:

---

but that dude is either really really good, or he had a really really good night.

---

It's both. He's really good but also made a lot more low probability shots than even elite players are typically going to make. In typical Alabama basketball fashion we couldn't hit water if we fell out of a boat while our opponent's basket might as well have been 6 feet wide.