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

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With his system and recruiting of his style player will get us to the Final Four

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I'm not a big, drum-beating delusional optimist, but I agree with you. His style of play will draw certain types of players to him like flies to honey! It'll take several years to get it his way, but it'll come!

Let’s do it

If Reese is perfect for Oats system, we are in big trouble.
He has zero energy and intensity. That bothers me more than anything. He just has a passive personality. Thats ok but its not good for college sports. He cant get one inch off the floor. He cant rebound unless it falls in his hands He shoots set shots from behind the 3 point line. About every 6th game he makes a few. He doesnt play good defense. He doesnt block shots. He cant dribble drive without falling down. He cant shoot off the dribble-just atch and shoot. He cant post up and play with his back to the basket. He looks slow to me. I know he has hip problems, but I dont remember anything different that he did last year.

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Alright admins...

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Perry has been great over here

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If Reese is perfect for Oats system, we are in big trouble.

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I think he is a good offensive fit. Agree on his energy though, and not a great defensive fit.

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Reese is still averaging more points and rebounds per game than Davis and Smith combined. Not that I like Reese, but he is probably our best big, which says a lot about how shitty our bigs are.

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And therein lies the problem with this player and the team as a whole. This may be long so stop here if you don’t want TLDR.

We have a culture problem. Nate knows it, we see it, only a blind person could miss it. I know it’s easy to point a finger but these guys did learn bad work habits under Avery and crew. He brought the NBA mentality with him that it’s your job and you bring your own effort and motivation with you. That ain’t how the average college athlete works and the previous staff never figured that out. So we’ve got guys with 3 years of bad habits of I work and play as hard as I feel like, not as hard as I can.

Enter Nate Oats with his my way or the highway, bust your arse philosophy. The players like the direction as they’ve had none for 3 years but old habits die hard and while it sounds good, it’s too hard, too much effort for most of them. Nate is preaching the message, you frick off, you don’t play...and he really means it. But the players look around and say yeah, right. Who you gonna replace me with? So Reese and to a lesser extent Petty, and the other guys just have games where they say “frick it, I’m tired, so I’m going to half-arse it tonight.” Oats sees it, knows it, and it pisses him off and he’d like nothing better than to snatch their arse outta the game and give them a seat. But he’s been tenaciously clinging to tournament hopes and looks down the bench and realizes it’s suicide to pull them. So he grits his teeth and he motivates and coaches and gets pissed off and gets Teed up and uses everything he knows to motivate these slugs. Some nights it works, some nights it doesn’t. Last night after the game and all hope of Dancing has evaporated, you saw Nate pull the gloves off. He went after Reese publicly and with good reason. He has been the worst because he’s got an injury and he’s got NOBODY pushing him for minutes. So he feels like he can dog it the most and he does.

Some of the younger guys are still trying to figure it out like Shack and hopefully, Hawkins and Davis so they show flashes but don’t bring it every game. I think Nate can reach them and get the message across and develop them into good players. The rest need to wake up real fast or GTFO. I think with an NIT bid looming, you will see Nate send a message Saturday: play hard or sit the frick down. Expect to see freshmen and walk-ons if the starters frick up or frick off. The results don’t matter. The message does. He will go all in to win the tourney as it’s our only shot at Dancing but Saturday, and maybe in the NIT, all bets are off.

We have no player with a killer instinct, an assassin mentality. Last night, Vandy’s was Saben Lee. Every time Bama drew close or evened it up, Lee would calmly drain a 3 to kill the surge. Every. Time. Our guys give up open looks, pass the ball, miss clutch free throws. They are scared to be The Man. Kira has tried, I’ll give him credit for effort. The rest, not even a try. I think Kira and to a lesser extent Petty, feel burdened to carry the team night in and night out because nobody else can or GAF. I don’t think either are natural leaders and are being forced into that role due to lack of alternatives.

Nate gets it. He’s stated they’ve got to change the culture and it’s true. It won’t change overnight. Unlike the football program, the basketball program doesn’t have the luxury of blueblood status. We can’t bounce back overnight after a decade (or longer) of struggling with mediocrity. We were all hopeful that with the amount of talent on the roster, we could change overnight and make the tourney. But the talent we have is mentally soft and undisciplined which negates their talent when it is most needed. Combine that with the injuries, the difficulty of the schedule and Q being denied and this season was doomed from the start. I still believe we have the right guy at the helm of the program. He’s working hard, coaching hard, recruiting hard. He has seen the problems, spoken about them, and is attempting to address them. My biggest fear is he gets frustrated with not making headway and leaves for greener pastures.

I am just as frustrated as the rest of you, more so than some, because I have seen what we can be. Alabama basketball is absolutely capable of being a perennial top 15-20 team with the occasional squad being top 10 material and able to play with anybody in the country. We have been that team numerous times for stretches of several seasons during my lifetime. It’s doable and it’s not that difficult. It is now because it’s been so meh for so long. But a little success for a couple of years would catapult this thing back to contender status pretty quickly. Back to back tournament trips and Bama basketball would ignite under a coach like Oats. I think he realizes that and why he pushed so hard to get there in year 1. That would make his job so much easier to continue to progress next year. But now he’s got to start over. He’s frustrated too. We all are.

I understand why a lot of you hard core guys like me are pissed off and frustrated and ready to kick Bama basketball to the curb. But have a little patience. We can all see the changes Nate has made and there has been significant progress. Just not enough. I think we all felt that after the A&M loss. It was “uh-oh, here we go again!” When you undergo a complete philosophy change in a sports program, the last thing to go is the old mentality. Especially if the new one is harder and more work and demands more. Keep the faith, my brethren. Brighter days are ahead. I look forward to the off season as I expect a rather large housecleaning project to take place.

Our best play all year has been that slip screen with Reese at the top of the key for a 3. Him forgetting how to shoot and being too lazy to get in the gym and fix it has hurt

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I keep saying this but it’s true. This is no different than Saban losing to La Monroe in 2007. There was no committed buy-in from some players. Nate has the same problem and he knows it and will have the same solution as Nick. Stay tuned. I think you will see as many as 7 or 8 players gone. The only certainty is Beetle. Most of the rest are a possibility.

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The difference is Nick Saban was a national championship head coach who had a history of success at the highest level and Nate Oats is on his first big conference job.

It could absolutely end up being the same, but it's not just a given.

Cecil just discussed Reese. Reese took nine shots last night. Every single one were from the 3 pt line. "He doesnt even try to do anything in the paint". Vandy went small and created match up problems for Alabama, trying to guard the perimeter. But--that should have created match up problems for Vandy. A 6-9 guy like Reese should have been able to hurt a small Vandy team, but he doesnt even try. Maybe its Oats system, but if it is, then his system sucks.

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Kira’s defense isn’t good enough for the NBA IMO. He is also mentally weak IMO. I still expect him to enter the draft though


Great Great Player but I don’t think he is ready and would get eaten alive by the League.

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I agree with your assessment, but I still don't understand why he and his family wouldn't want him to have another year to improve his game, and potentially get into the big money rounds of the draft.