re: ***Official Fire Anthony Grant Thread***

I'll budge some and say he's had some pretty shitty luck with recruiting, but it's not like we don't have any highly regarded HS players currently on the roster. We may have only 9 players, but 6 were 4-stars, one was a 2-time JUCO AA, and the other 2 were foreign players (one of which had offers from every Belgian pro team). The only question is whether it's poor scouting or poor coaching.

Seriously, your goal for the second major revenue sport at the University of Alabama is to get some top 25 votes every once in a while? We should be able to build a program that's perennially in the sweet 16. That's not an impossible goal.

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Seriously, your goal for the second major revenue sport at the University of Alabama is to get some top 25 votes every once in a while? We should be able to build a program that's perennially in the sweet 16. That's not an impossible goal.

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Where the hell did you read "once in a while"? He said always. Secondly there's a difference between expectations and goals. If we actually had a team that accomplished that expecatation though, we'd be in position to accomplish that goal.

Alabama could have a prominent program again. We were a strong basketball program during the Newton and Sanderson years. We can coexist with football. Florida does an excellent job, so does UCLA, Ohio State, and Michigan. I in no way see a reason as to why Alabama cannot hire a home run coach. Frankly, Alabama has the resources to bring in a top notch coach like Bruce Pearl, Gregg Marshall, Mick Cronin, or Steve Fischer. I have seen Belmont's Rick Byrd thrown around, but he loves Belmont and doubt very seriously he leaves Nashville. Fred Hoiberg of Iowa State would be a very interesting hire, he is young, enthusiastic, and could bring in some real Midwestern talent to Alabama.

In all honesty, I want a coach who will leave the state of Alabama and go recruit the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest, Australia, Canada, and Europe in the old Baltic and Balkan states, heck even throw in China. There is tons of talent to be gotten in those areas, a coach just has to scout it, recognize it, and offer them a scholarship. Unfortunately, the talent level of basketball players in Alabama is just simply lacking. Basketball is a global game, thus I think Alabama basketball should extend globally. Think big, not small. I understand financials plays a huge role, and so do NCAA rules, but we are Alabama, we just dropped 7 million on Nick Saban, I think we can spare a few extra million for coaching and recruiting. Alabama is still a storied SEC basketball program.

I personally think the right move, the most beneficial move is to sever ties with Anthony Grant and fire him. Mark Gottfried had his dream job coaching at his alma mater only to destroy the program with his boozing and womanizing. Grant did a magnificent job bringing discipline back to the program, in fact, he did an excellent job in restoring Alabama basketball. However, he has had a full recruiting cycle of five years to bring in his players, yet we are incredibly bad. It is not only the coaching, but the talent he is bringing in that lacks real size and shooting ability. Overall, Grant has not performed to the capabilities of a coach being paid 1.9 million dollars. Frankly, if this were football, would we stand for this crumbling of a program?

The players on the court seem terrified to shoot the ball outside of the established offensive sets. Basketball is as critical defensively as it is offensively. Having an inside presence is paramount, unfortunately our best option in Nick Jacobs has not progressed offensively, but regressed offensively, and that my friends is a coaching problem. We have no true center on the inside like an Echenique from Creighton a few years ago. The most successful teams have a real inside presence with perimeter shooting capabilities. Grant has recruited neither. Our best three point option is our point guard, there is no reason for that.

A point guard is a facilitator, not a primary scoring option. Look at the Chicago Bulls or at the Boston Celtics, without surrounding scorers who can take over a game, the two teams are struggling. Why are the Indiana Pacers so good? A facilitator in George Hill at point guard, unless he needs to provide a spark, a shooting guard/small foward in Paul George to be the superstar, Lance Stephenson to be the swing forward/shooting guard to provide some offensive production but be a physical defensive and rebounding presence, David West being the old reliable offensive and defensive power foward who is trustworthy to win a game doing the dirty work, and Roy Hibbert being the pure center who has amazing shot blocking ability with quickness and savvy offensively and defensively who can create his own inside shot. That is why they win, they have a formula of winning based on the 80s version of the Boston Celtics recreated in Indianapolis by none other than Larry "Legend" Bird. Indiana is rooted in defense, but plays offense like a champion because of coaching, chemistry, and talent.

At Alabama, Coach Anthony Grant has a team suited to play the "40 Minutes of Hell" from Nolan Richardson, but yet, we play a half court offensive game, with an occasional intense defensive press, but we have no true identity or continuity. I, for the life of me, cannot figure out why a coach would run a timeline three pointer play with a streaky perimeter point guard in Releford with 7.8 seconds on the clock when there was enough time to drive the lane and at least kick the ball out for a better three point play. Much like the horrible play call against Creighton in the tournament just a few years ago, the horrible play call against South Carolina cost us a game against the 14TH RANKED TEAM IN THE SEC. That, my friends, is dead last in the conference.

Overall, my conclusion for the situation at Alabama is that Anthony Grant must go. Athletic Director Bill Battle should recognize this and make the best move for the program possible. A new coach would breathe life back into Alabama basketball, put fans in the stands, and, who knows, might make us relevant again. All I know is that I have a print of Antoine Pettway hitting a game winning lay up against Florida with Matt Bonner and Udonis Haslem looking in awe at Pettway and his Ruby Red Slippers that constantly reminds of better days gone past when Alabama was a relevant and nearly elite program. I do not see why we cannot be at that point again. There is a reason why we are second behind Kentucky in wins in SEC history, it is because we are meant to be a top tier SEC program capable of winning championships year in and year out, much like our football program. So I say, why not us? Why not Alabama reign the NCAA tournament with a crown at the end of a season? Because that is the point of March Madness, to be champion over more than three hundred other schools. Because if Texas Western can do it, why not Alabama? If N.C. State can do it, why not Alabama? If San Francisco can do it, why not Alabama? If Butler could almost do it, why not Alabama? Why not Alabama?

Grant was not on "Hey Coach" tonight. Any reason why he ducked out of it?

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packing his stuff

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Oh, how I wish you were right.

The mayor is an Iowa State legend so I don't see him ever leaving for another job unless it's to the NBA.

No one in a "BCS" type conference is going to leave the mid west to come to Bama. They get better recruits because of how many are within a 300-400 mile radius