re: Tide Hoops | 31-6 (16-2)

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Groin injuries can take weeks/months. He has world class trainers and cutting edge treatment, but this is honestly a much bigger deal than most of our fans want to acknowledge. Could easily be the difference in a Final Four run and an early exit.

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Yeah this is definitely something to keep a close eye on. Miller didn't look like himself yesterday, and groin injuries don't get better overnight, or even over a week.

The good thing is we're deep enough to win it all with a 75% Miller. The bad thing is our margin for error is much, much thinner.

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For a FOG analysis, losing a player like Miller to an injury is like losing your starting QB and starting MLB.
At least.

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It's obviously a big loss, but because of the way we play we are able to function as a Top 10 level team without him. And, given our draw for at least the next 2 games, I think that we can win games (even in a comfortable fashion) without him.

But we'd need him back against a team that can defend and has firepower (which luckily we avoid for a while). It'd be very difficult to beat some of the top teams in this tournament with him not being a factor.

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Maybe I’m being naive but I really don’t think it’s a big deal. He didn’t look any different in warmups than what I’ve watched all year and he didn’t look different in actual gameplay moving around other than missing his shots.

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I didn't really think so either but my dad (who goes to a bunch of games like some of you guys do and has a much better feel for live movement of those guys than I do) was almost morbidly concerned about him post-game - and he's generally pretty positive about Alabama basketball in general. He kept saying "I sure hope we hear he had a 24 hour bug or something, because I can't ever remember him just kind of floating around and being stiff and slow like that". I was kind of in your boat, I just thought TAMCC sagged in, it dictated a shared approach and his shot was just kind of off.

But then the groin thing popped up and it did kind of align with the observations my dad had. So I dunno. He definitely did not look like he was struggling to move or anything, just "bothered" at most. And that sucks, but it isn't devastating long-term (like Sasser's).

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And, given our draw for at least the next 2 games

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We're set to play the 8 and then the 5.
Not necessarily the easiest route on paper

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Maybe I’m being naive but I really don’t think it’s a big deal. He didn’t look any different in warmups than what I’ve watched all year and he didn’t look different in actual gameplay moving around other than missing his shots.

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I don't think that it is a big deal either. He didn't look all that injured to me, and we got out to a big lead that never relinquished without him having to do much, and we got to rest him for half the game. Really worked out pretty good. He took 8 shots total, but I recall that all 3 of his 3 attempts weren't really good open looks.

It’s funny you read the play that way because I was the exact opposite. I immediately said to my dad what a great play JQ made by not lobbing it to Miller because the defender was more concerned about taking it away.

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Yep, and the sad reality is (as we saw yesterday) even if he plays, he is basically ineffective. It removes explosive movements--so hard drives to the basket, defending well laterally, etc is all greatly diminished. He basically goes from an elite player to the level of guy we wouldn't even play were it not for the name on his jersey. Maybe a decoy but that's about it. The fact that he scored zero points against a terrible team should be sounding the alarm bells, but most of our fanbase it too drunk on the success of this team to realize this is basically Bryce spraining his ac joint against Arkansas. It's a big deal and easily the difference in a title run or not.

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I wouldn't go that far. The gravity he drew in the first half was the reason everyone else was wide open for 3. Keep in mind that Miller played less than half a game but his +/- had to be in the neighborhood of 20. Even at 75% he's going to draw enough attention to allow other players to operate more freely.

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Well I don't agree with that at all. He didn't shoot well, but I don't think that was really a groin issue (he had the groin issue Sunday in Nashville, too).

If he has a tweaked groin it could limit him, and that would certainly limit us. But he's still a terrifying threat as an outside shooter even if he can't attack the rim or attack the glass in the same manner he could at 100%. And that alone makes him much more than a "name on the jersey" participant.

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Fair enough, but taking away his ability to attack the glass, defend and rebound not to mention block shots is a pretty huge deal. Plus, groin pain can affect a shooter's ability to elevate for 3 point shots. It just messes up the flow/mechanics of a shot. Hopefully his isn't serious, but I'm telling you as a former athlete who experienced a severe groin injury, it can become a pretty huge friggin' deal.

I think in the end it is definitely a concern - you are not as good a team without the best player in college basketball on the floor as you are with him on it (or with him in a hobbled state). Case closed. I do think our team is deep, and not just deep in terms of bodies but deep in terms of offensive scoring and personnel, and our system is built around a driving guard, an athletic rolling big and catch and shoot 3s..........and we still have personnel to do all those things well and win games against good teams.

We very much would need him back and healthy before the Final Four, and it would be really nice if he was back and healthy before the Sweet 16 (obviously). I don't see it as a knockout punch, but it certainly makes us more vulnerable in a close game when you want to have a bucket getter that you can just trust to get one outside the offense.

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Yep, and the sad reality is (as we saw yesterday) even if he plays, he is basically ineffective. It removes explosive movements--so hard drives to the basket

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He literally had a awesome dunk where he exploded to the rim at the very end of the SECC game after he was already injured.

He had an off game yesterday and got in very early foul trouble, wasn't limping or looking injured at all. He is gonna be fine. Good lord we have some women in this thread that constantly worry about and blow everything out of proportion.

ETA: Jeff Goodman said Oats told him last night that Miller is fine.