re: UA Basketball (16-15, 8-10)

Oats has got to go into the transfer portal and get a big.

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This thread was filled with negative energy posts during the last few minutes of the game vs A&M.

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Uh, ya think?

Well, last night really sucked.

I thought I was going to be the only sunshine pumper left after last night, but Fever TYFYS.

After reading the last 5-8 pages, it’s pretty obvious to me that everyone in here is frustrated and disappointed with last nights result and how this season has turned out. Some of you are making excuses (some valid imo to be fair) and some of you are regurgitating the same old song and dance about the program being cursed and our players suck and kick them off the team etc.

Here is my opinion on all of that:

We did legitimately start this season behind the eight ball a bit with the news of JQ, Rojas, and Gary. We did lose Herb for a few games and also have had him limited for a couple games. We have a first year head coach with a new breakneck speed tempo that is ideally only suited for maybe half the roster.

That’s it. Those are the only legitimate excuses I will claim for the results this season. Now as I try to be level headed and realistic, our record right now actually makes a lot of sense all things considered. We’re a pretty good team that is capable of beating pretty much anyone outside of the elite teams of the country, but we’re also capable of losing to teams that are inferior to us because we have a short rotation that includes guys that don’t fit our system at all.

I still believe Oats has done a really good job this year. A lot of our guys have made obvious progress this year and Oats and staff deserve credit for that. We’ve played one of the toughest schedules in the country and if things went our way a little more in some of those games we could be at 20 wins already. I’m sure Oats would admit that he is still growing and learning to coach at this level and I hope he is able to do that at Alabama for the next decade or two while building this program up and getting us to the level we want to see it reach.

As for the curse that keeps getting thrown around. Meh, I don’t believe in curses. The program is not cursed. We are what we are because of what we are, not because of some mythical curse. We’re an average P5 program that has had some good eras that are mostly just history and old news now. It doesn’t mean we will always be that way. I don’t think we are actually all that far from turning this thing around and becoming the program we are hoping for.

I don't think we're cursed, I just think that it's impressive the consistenty with which we've hung around the 10-12 team NCAAT Bubble/NIT top seed line for 80% of the last decade.

And I admit to being supremely frustrated by it while still acknowledging legitimate reasons for it, but growing tired of hearing them. Fair, unfair, I don't know.......but when I hear about why things will be different the next season (legitimate or otherwise) it grows harder and harder to accept them given the results I have witnessed for the better part of 1/3 of my life.

JMHO

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Yeah, if last night didn't convince you that Galin just has to go then nothing will.

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THIS. My biggest problem currently is people acting like Galin and Reese are different than who we know them to be. Reese is a glorified stretch four who will never be able to dominant or even above average on the boards. Galin plays his balls off every night and gives every single thing he has... hes just not very good! He will have a decent game out of every couple of games but thats it. The people on here calling them mentally weak or pussies are absolute idiots. Mentally weak or being a pussy has nothing to do with their overall average basketball ability. Some of yall need a real reality check because at the end of the day... no one on this board or in the stands wants to win more than those players and coaches.

Updated, more terrifying and insane chart

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6 straight seasons of a collapse when you couldn't have one.

6 emm effing seasons straight...

Maybe we're all just in a Saw movie? A really, really long Saw movie.

I think Reese will be back, but I really hope Galin moves on and we can get an athletic big to fit the system.

I’m also concerned about backup PG with Kira leaving. Beetle is an absolute trainwreck as a ball handler/facilitator in this system and with only JQ being here for sure next year, i’d like to have someone I trust for that position more than Herb, Petty, Forbes.

It's hard to be rational the morning after. We reverted back to our Tennessee and Arkansas efforts and energy. All 3 of those have been at Coleman. That is just inexcusable, and falls on the coaches. Maybe there's a lesson he's trying to send that we can't see.

But I guess my rational take is we are a team that is reliant on the 3-point shot to be successful. When those shots are falling, we generally play well. They were mostly only falling last night in the latter part of the 1st half. Couple that with an opponent that shot better than they have all season from the 3-point line, and it's easy to see why we lost. I mean Shack missed 3 open looks and Kira missed one from the 3-point line in the final 2 minutes of the game, while their guy hits a contested one with one second on the shot clock to put them up 6. Difference in the game right there. But it's hard to ignore that it should have never been that close. They had 14 turnovers in the first half, and we could only muster a six point lead at the half.

Easily the worst loss of the season, at the worst possible time.