re: Tide Hoops | 25-12 (13-5)

Wrightsell looked good last night shot the ball well.Watch Estrada right at the start of the second half , he's not a point guard and a good defender can make Nelson pick his dribble up.

The whole point of a press, to trap someone. Both are scorers and damn good, and I'm glad we have them. But I'd bet if you twisted Oats' arm and asked him what he wishes he had he'd agree with me.

some quality melt on the LSU board

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Nice Quad 5 loss tonight

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first post as I did not watch the game but saw the stat line. 4 in double figures. We shot over 50% from three point land and overall. 85% from the charity stripe. How long has it been since Bama went over 100 points in back to back games.

Did watch Mizz vs Memphis and Quinerly was their started at the G spot and did basically the same thing he did at Bama. One thing I did notice that was different he did not dribble down the middle and try and challenge a few bigs.

2 games into this season ticket thing, and it’s a lot more fun than just going to a few per year!

Overall comments so far:
1) while I think we will get better at defense than what we’ve seen, even getting to a top 50 may be impossible this year. We won’t be as 1 sided as like an Iowa, but offense is going to have to carry us this year.
2) Decision making is still an area for improvement. Some guys struggle with “playing within themselves,” and are trying to force things that aren’t there. Griffen particularly struggles with that on offense, but he’s not alone. Estrada and Nelson are really the only guys that can make things happen without forcing it (Sears and Stevenson have moments, but they’ve forced unnecessarily as well).
3) We need Stevenson to be the guy late in the season. Pringle is a good support role player, but he’s not ever going to sniff an NBA roster for obvious reasons. Wague has to step up on defense when we play monster bigs. Only chance to beat Edey in a few weeks is to run him all game…Wague and Pringle will have 5 fouls each in like 10 min of playing time (Bediako leaving may have cost us a legit shot at a NC team).
4) This team is going to be fun to watch all year. They are playing hard and are clearly all coachable guys. Love teams like that!!!
5) Our coaching staff is incredible! Hoping they stay together for at least 3 years, but wouldn’t be surprised if we lose 1 or more sooner than that. Nate’s coaching tree is going to be insane in 15-20 years if he stays in the college game.

Roll Tide boys!!

I agree with everything you said. I think we need Sears and Griffen to play better and make smarter decisions with the ball.

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How long has it been since Bama went over 100 points in back to back games.

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1964-65

Looking at next week, Mercer looks absolutely horrid. They have a loss to Clark Atlanta and a five point win over Chicago St., who is usually one of the worst teams in D1. South must be down as well.

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I think we need Sears and Griffen to play better and make smarter decisions with the ball.

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Sears just needs to be an undersized 2 guard who can shoot and get to the FT line if they close out on him too hard. There have been countless guys like that who have been really good CBB players. Running an offense isn't his thing at this level of competition though. He doesn't have the first step quickness or the handle to get a defender off balance and force the over-rotation that gives us easy looks. He mostly relies on having good enough body control to consistently draw contact in the paint. Griffen is kind of in the same boat, but he actually has the frame to be a big 2 guard/small wing who can defend the perimeter. He is making a lot of the same careless mistakes he made last year so far though, so he could just be one of those dudes who is always a solid rotation piece but never takes the next step. Again, nothing wrong with that at all for our purposes, but you've eventually got to play to the strengths of your personnel. For us that probably means 30-35 minutes a night for Estrada, and Nelson playing point forward when he needs a breather. Then Sears, Wrightsell, and Griffen rotating in as the 2 guard or the 2 guard and wing when we go with a smaller lineup.

I also think Griffen has been fine. I mean there’s only one basketball. Estrada, Nelson, and Sears are going to take the majority of the shots. Wrightsell is also gonna let it fly. And Griffen doesn’t really create his own shot. More of a catch and shoot guy off of others’ drives.