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

quote:

---

It's weird because I think the sky's the limit for this team given the talent, but at the same time I'm more concerned than most about our 3-point shooting. I get that apparently everyone is Reggie Miller in practice, but the last 4 outings from this squad against actual competition:
- China: 6/32 (18.6%)
- TCU: 7/28 (25.0%)
- SIU: 3/22 (13.6%)
- Longwood: 3/28 (10.7%)

For reference, the worst 3P shooting team in the country last year shot 25.2%. We were a bad 3P shooting team last year, and we only shot below 20% in a game one time the whole season.

---

It's concerning for sure. But, the only good shooter we lost was Shack, and he just shot an OK percentage with high volume. I feel like the guys we brought in, at least on paper, are better shooters than the guys we lost.

If we have another poor shooting game Friday, I'll start to really worry.

how much were the beers? easy to get? good selection?

quote:

---

very little off ball motion

---

This is part of Oats system and I don't like it. Any off ball motion tends to be only on the perimeter. Oats wants the lane open early in the offense for penetration. For me, it lends itself to too much dribbling early in the shot clock which can lead to rushed or forced shots. I'd like to see more off ball screens leading to lane/basket cuts.

So this has been touched on frequently since last night, so I'll keep my thoughts kinda short.

- The poor shooting is a concern. Maybe it's just poor shooting being the first game of the season but they didn't exactly shoot it well over their last few exhibition games either. Maybe a healthy Welch will help out, and his career history shows it should, but I really don't like how Burnett was called the best shooter over the summer and then we watch that performance by the team.

- I'm looking forward to Miles and Gurley getting reduced roles. I'm fine with them being back, they bring experience and can help the new guys understand our culture a bit more but Gurley hasn't exactly provided much on the offensive end of the floor like we thought and Miles looks more like a failed project than anything else.

- On the more positive side, we just beat a 26 win team that made the tournament last year with four of their returning starts by 20+ points and we couldn't shoot and had way too many turnovers. If the team cleans up the turnovers a bit and starts shooting at average, this team is going to be dangerous.

- The upside of this team is crazy high. We have a ton of length and athleticism which provides flexibility over almost any kind of team we could face with the ease of going small or big and not losing any talent on the floor. Griffen came out game 1 and made his presence felt. I thought it may take him a bit longer to contribute but he looks very comfortable on the court and with the ball in his hands. Glad to see the Clowney hype was warranted and Brandon Miller is Brandon Miller.

- Sears had an up and down game but if he slows down a bit he'll be fine. It's nice to have more depth this season, especially when JQ gets back to help balance out the backcourt a bit more. Bradley flashed with some crazy plays.

Overall, I'm only bummed by the shooting performance. With this many new faces, it'll take time for the team to gel. The shooting will come around and the more time on the court for these guys, the better they're going to get, especially with so many key players being so young. Looking forward to Friday.

quote:

---

the last 4 outings from this squad against actual competition:
- China: 6/32 (18.6%)
- TCU: 7/28 (25.0%)
- SIU: 3/22 (13.6%)
- Longwood: 3/28 (10.7%)

---

I hear you - it hasn’t been great. I’m not at the point where I’m overly concerned yet though tbh.

- China was ranked #29 in the world and we weren’t using a standard American basketball.
- TCU was an empty gym against what is likely to be a good team this year without a couple of key contributors.
- SIU was on a volleyball court without a full squad.
- Longwood was on opening night with guys playing either their first career game (Miller 0/6, Griffen 1/7, Clowney 1/4) or their first game for Alabama (Sears 1/5) or their first game for Alabama and first game in 672 days (Nimari 0/4) and without Welch who may actually be the best 3P shooter on the roster.


I think they will get it figured out. The size, length and athleticism of this roster should see us dominating the glass and the paint almost every night and playing nightmare defense on other teams.

Defense and effort are contagious - shooting is too. Once one or two guys start hitting their shots, the flood gates will open and we’ll have a chance to start thrashing teams.

The turnovers need to be reigned in, but at least a half a dozen of them last night were just on simple communication errors or poor reads by the passer. That should get organically cleaned up as the chemistry grows game by game.

I’m feeling extremely optimistic right now.

Where is George?

quote:

---

Defense and effort are contagious - shooting is too. Once one or two guys start hitting their shots, the flood gates will open and we’ll have a chance to start thrashing teams.

---

I'm paraphrasing a bit but Oats has said numerous times since being here that defense wins games and our 3pt shot determines the winning margin. I was very proud of the defensive effort and guys actually getting back off a turnover or bad shot instead of moping around and just wanting the ball back.

Hopefully they can hover around the defensive level they were at a couple years ago. I'm pretty hopeful in the turnovers being cut down eventually and shots will start to fall.