re: 2017 Basketball recruiting and offseason news thread

Rome wasn't built in a day guys. I'm the old geezer here I guess but I've followed Bama basketball for years. I'm probably close to the typical Bama basketball fan: I love the sport and follow it avidly...just as soon as the final whistle sounds on football. Maybe there's the occasional December exception of a big OOC game but typically, I follow casually until January.

Now, let me enlighten some of you a little. I started following when CM Newton already had Bama basketball rolling. One of my first Bama hoops memories is listening to Bama scare the hell out of Bobby Knight and Indiana in the tourney during their undefeated season. We stood toe to toe with them pretty deep into the second half before they got away from us. CM built that team using a tried and true formula that has worked before and since him. You keep the best in state kids at home and you cherry pick Ga, Ms, and to a lesser extent, Tn. Wimp continued that formula and added another element of hitting the Jucos for immediate help and unusual talents like Sprewell. After the failed Hobbs experiment, Gottfired used the same formula to win bigger than we ever have. Bottom line is, it works. Keep the Bama kids at home, away from the blue bloods, UAB, and Auburn, hit the surrounding states with weak basketball programs to supplement the home boys, use the Jucos to your advantage and just win and get to the Dance. We've done it over and over with each successive coach taking us a little farther with it. Coach Avery can follow that formula and add his more distant connections to expand our reach and take us to our first Final Four but first you gotta win. Winning solves everything. We took the first step last year. Keep moving forward. This program has enough history and tradition to attract the talent, we just have to show we can win again. Nobody will mistake us for a blue blood and for good reason. But we are firmly entrenched in the next level of teams historically and we need to retake our place there. That is my history lesson for today.

Re the uniforms for basketball, we should do whatever is needed to attract kids. Wimp had the Plaid Palace and it was a great attraction for both the fans and players. People knew who Bama was. If the boosters don't like it, frick them. Boosters in Tuscaloosa equals tight assed, middle to old aged white guys for the most part. And that's coming from a middle aged white guy. They might not like hip unis, but they hate losing more so if it wins, it sells.

Keep your fingers crossed. My personal belief is that Sexton is the key to this being a good class or an historic class for Bama similar to Sabans 2007 recruiting class. That's why I ranted a few days ago that he won't pull the trigger. If he comes, a lot of pieces fall into place like maybe Petty and the others. If he doesn't, Avery will salvage a good class and we will be good. If he gets his big targets, we can play with anyone, period. So please, Colin, come on down.