Bama comes up big with win over Pigs, 72-66

After a 4 game losing streak, there was a lot of speculation about possible changes in the lineup.  I was a little surprised it was JaMychal Green who lost his starting spot for this game rather than Tony Mitchell, but Nick Jacobs came in and played and excellent game. Green played 27 minutes and had an excellent second half after struggling in the first half.

This was an interesting matchup from a style of play perspective.  Both teams like to press, but oddly we seem to prefer a slower placed game, whereas Arkansas wants to get up the court quickly on offense and get a shot up before you can get set on defense.  I actually expected a game played to their pace to work in our favor, as our offense is atrocious in the half court against the zone.  

Things did not look good early on.  We were sloppy against their press with multiple turnovers.  We played a zone to try to slow down their offense, but they were effective in shooting over it.  Arkansas built a 5 point lead.  

Once again, Andrew Steele was the calming factor.  We made some adjustments and Releford and Steele did a great job of beating the press and getting us some open looks.  We were able to take a 5 point lead into the half.

Arkansas made some adjustments and were able to retake the lead about halfway through the second half.  While they still pressed a good bit, they figured out that they were not going to force Releford and Steele into many turnovers.  They started taking fewer gambles and sitting back in the zone.  Once again, we couldn't shoot them out of it, going an abysmal 2 for 15 from three point range.  We were able to get the win thanks to Steele and Releford's penetrating the zone, and Green's post play in the 2nd half.  Releford had 18 points and Steele a career high 11.  Good things happen when we put the ball on the floor and drive, as opposed to trying to pass and reverse the ball around the perimeter looking for an open shot or entry pass to the low post.  When Releford and Steele weren't scoring from the field, their drive and dish game was getting us to the line.  We made 20 of 25 from the charity stripe.  

Robert Horry was in the house.  Unlike Big Shot Bob, this team does not have a knack for closing out a win.  We had chances to put the Hogs away but failed to do so.  Tony Mitchell played a little better than he has been, but he did a number of things that drove me crazy.  In the first half, against a full court press after an Arkansas made basket, he nonchalantly stood in one spot, despite being free to run the baseline, holding the ball with one hand and nearly got a 5 second count.  At one point in the 2nd half he let a pass hit him in the face, nearly turning it over and getting us out of the flow of our offense, primarily because he was too busy trying to come up with cute and creative ways to wear his headband.  Later, we had a 7 point lead with 2 minutes left, a chance to put the game away, but Arkansas makes a 3 then Tony turns it over right under our own basket giving them a quick 5-0 run to cut it to 2.  At the other end, he was fouled going for a dunk and immediately got into the Arkansas player's grill.  The ref quickly intervened and thankfully did not give him what would have been a very costly technical foul.  To his credit, he made both free throws in the clutch.  Nevertheless, if Coach Grant can't get Tony Mitchell to buy in and play hard focused basketball for 40 minutes, this team will never meet it's full potential.  We need Tony, and I hope he realizes that he needs us too.

Charles Hankerson got a lot of playing time with Trevor Lacey being taken out about midway through the second half.  Coach Grant said it was not injury related, but the trainers were clearly looking at his back.  I like Hankerson, nobody plays harder than him and he brings a lot of positive energy to the team.  He's got some size to get some rebounds and was a good shooter in High School.  However, his shot is not very fluid and it's too much of a line drive.  He's not really quick enough to be a great on ball defender on the perimeter.  His handles are certainly not good enough to help at the point.  I know Bobbyjack thinks he could be the savior of the season, but he really doesn't do any one thing that either Lacey, Randolph, or Steele doesn't do better.  

The football hardware was on display before the game.  I suppose a good number of the "sellout" crowd, must have bought tickets for the sole purpose of getting their picture taken with a trophy and left without even watching the game.  That was the most pathetic "sellout"  crowd I have ever seen.  I would guess there was no more than 11,000 actually there.  The student section was a complete joke.  I am normally an advocate of the students, they tend to be the most vocal and passionate fans, and I've been saying for years we should get them closer to the court.  I also understand that it was a 12:30 Saturday start, but if they can drag their hungover asses into Bryant-Denny for an 11:30 am kickoff, there is no reason they can't bring a few thousand to Coleman for an early afternoon game.  If they can't, then we should sell those tickets to the public.  Folks, we are still a top 40 RPI team with only one "bad" loss, and it was on the road.  We are still in very good shape to make the NCAA tournament.  If we can put together a winning streak, we can still finish in the top 4 of the SEC and get the first round bye in New Orleans.  

I am impressed with what Mike Anderson is doing at Arkansas in his first year.  They have won all their home games, even though they have been horrible on the road, after losing their best player.  This is a team that could be in the tournament conversation if they continue to improve, and we will have our hands full in Fayetteville.  I look forward to this rivalry returning to the level it was under Wimp/Nolan in the coming years.  At this point, I just hope we can hold up our end of the bargain.

Up next, Any Kennedy's Ole Miss rebels come to Tuscaloosa for a 7pm tipoff next Saturday.  This is a good time for a week off.  The team clearly needs to work on a number of things, but it's always easier to improve when you are coming off of a confidence building win.  If we can get this win, we'll be back to .500 in conference play.  It's another huge game, hopefully our fans will be smart enough to realize that and give these guys some support.  

Know your enemy- Arkansas Razorbacks

The Hogs come in on a modest 2 game winning streak. They had to hold on for dear life to beat Michigan and Auburn in their last 2 outings. They needed the Michigan game as they didn't have a quality non-conference win up to then.

The good news is they haven't won a SEC road game yet (0-2).. or any road game for that matter.

Season stats

Led by BJ Young and Mardracus Wade, the Hogs come in averaging 74.6 a game. They are also the Hogs best 3 point shooters. No one stands out rebounding the ball, but they have done OK with a -2.3 rebound margin. They have 10 players that are freshman or sophomores... very young team.

Note that they did lose Marshawn Powell for the season with a torn ACL and they lost Rotnei Clarke to Butler, yet are still scoring as much as they are.

The numbers:
- .436 FG
- .349 3pt FG
- .684 FT
- +4.8 turnover margin

Prediction: As strange as this sounds, playing Arkansas might be a temporary cure for our offensive woes. They like to uptempo which we'll probably try to match. We have the athletes to do this and this could result in more baskets for Mitchell, Lacey, and Releford... and Hankerson if Grant would put him in the game. Both teams suck in the half court o so I expect a game in the 70s. Home court advantage says Bama wins by 7.

Game time is 1:30PM EST (12:30 CST) on ESPN3 and I'm guessing the SECN. I won't see a minute of this game so I'll have to rely on others for a recap. Hopefully I'm snowboarding, but chances are I won't.

Cock Blocked. Bama loses to hapless South Carolina 56-54

There's still a lot of basketball to be played, but this loss was inexcusable.  I know it's difficult to win on the road in the league, but playing in front of a high school sized crowd this should not have been a difficult road environment.  This team seems to lack some intangibles at this point when it comes to finding a way to win close games.

Three things caused us to lose this game: 1. Turnovers, 2. Rebounding 3. Poor shooting.  We've come to expect #3 most nights, but you can't turn the ball over and completely fail to block out and expect to beat anybody on the road.

We scored the first 5 points of the game but then went into a drought which allowed South Carolina to take the lead.  We were obviously the more talented team, but we did not take care of the basketball in the first half.  South Carolina's matchup zone gave us some problems.  Early in the game, we did a good job of rotating the ball to the wings and feeding the post.  USC did a good job of switching to the trap at the right times to catch us off guard.  The rest of the night we were indecisive, stagnant, and our guards routinely missed wide open cutters.

For the most part, we played good defense in the man to man.  It's frustrating that we gave up so many offensive rebounds though.  Green had 3 blocks in one possession, and after that USC seemed content to jack up 3s.  They weren't making them, but we weren't rebounding them either.  Green and Mitchell both ended up in foul trouble, and then Green sprained his ankle in the 2nd half.

Nick Jacobs got the start over Levi Randolph.  Jacobs played a great game, and I thought Levi was our best player on the court at times coming in off of the bench.  He played good defense, was one of the few getting some rebounds, and made a couple of outside shots.  I would have taken Tony Mitchell out of the starting lineup rather than Levi.

Tony played better than he has in the last couple of games, but still, too many turnovers, he was lazy at times, and committed dumb and obvious fouls at the worst possible moments (and then of course bitched at the officials unnecessarily).  At this point, I'm ready to see Grant pull him out of the starting lineup.  It's a gamble, it will either light a fire under him or he will completely shut down, but it's worth the risk because this isn't cutting it.

Despite playing like shit as a team, and JaMychal being hurt and in foul trouble, we were able to stay in the game mostly because South Carolina for some reason decided shooting 30+ three pointers would be a good idea. Neither team could put together a run and the game stayed close down to the end.  As great as Levi played, he made a couple of mistakes that killed us down the stretch.  He took a contested NBA range 3 with around 2 minutes left in a tie game.  We had the ball in a tie game with just under a minute left, and turned it over without even getting a shot off.  That possession was a microcosm for our night offensively.  As a side note, I do not understand why we did not try to go for a 2 for 1 there.  You see the 2 for 1 strategy all the time in the NBA but college teams never utilize it.

Anyway, for once we had fouls to give at the end of the game, and wisely used them to force USC to inbound the ball.  The Gamecock guard simply beat Levi off the dribble.  Green tried to rotate over but was not much help.  I don't understand why JaMychal was in the game on defense in that situation.  It was obvious that he was not able to move very quickly with his injured ankle.  A few moments earlier, he drew a double-team and found an open Levi for a big basket, but I'm not sure what Coach Grant thought he could accomplish on defense at that point.

This is the kind of bad loss that can keep you out of the tournament, and if we don't turn this around quickly, we will find ourselves on the bubble again, at best.

Up next, Mike Anderson's Arkansas Razorbacks come to Coleman Coliseum for a 12:30pm tipoff Saturday.  Arkansas likes to run a fast paced game, and they will present another difficult challenge.  This year has been a major disappointment to date, as we have fallen woefully short of expectations.  Nevertheless, I still think we can get it together and bounce back.  We have the talent to do it.  Coach Grant and the team needs our support now more than ever.  Let's get behind them and help them end this 4 game losing streak.

Gamecocks Hand Bama Fourth Straight Loss

Our worst fears were realized tonight, folks. After avoiding bad losses throughout the season, Alabama finally laid a gigantic egg on the road against a very poor South Carolina team, losing 56-54. In the process, they lost their fourth straight game and their NCAA tournament hopes have taken a real hit, barring some kind of quick turnaround.

Due to my current residence being outside the SEC network's reach and continued issues with ESPN3, I was unable to watch the game, instead following the Gamecast and Radio Broadcast. Due to this I don't want to report too much on the play itself. One thing that did stand out is that after going toe-to-toe with Kentucky at Rupp, our guys seemed to come out flat and lacked the aggression necessary to compete on the road in conference. South Carolina is a horrible offensive team, but thanks to our allowing them to rebound the ball off the offensive glass, the Cocks had nineteen more shot attempts than Bama. If Carolina had just a few less possessions, Bama probably wins.

Once again, the team had no leadership on the floor. JaMychal Green, Tony Mitchell and even Trevor Releford were nowhere to be found for large portions of the game. It doesn't take a basketball scholar to realize that Alabama has virtually zero chance to win games if those three guys aren't clicking. Perhaps the biggest disappointment has been the complete lack of leadership at times this season from our returning guys. You would imagine a senior like JaMychal Green would be hungry to end his career in the NCAA tournament, but he hasn't played with that sense of urgency at times. He's suffered some injuries this season, including an injured ankle tonight that severely limited him, but I can't help but think the team hasn't gotten Green's best when it has needed him the most.

The team now sits at 13-7 (2-4) and seems really out of sorts. Anthony Grant's postgame comments on the radio seem to suggest he's lost this team a little bit and is not really sure how to get them back on board. It's hard to feel very confident after tonight's performance. Coach Grant appears to have his hands full moving forward.

As I wrote earlier this week, this upcoming five-game stretch would be crucial for Alabama's tournament hopes. After dropping the first, and arguably easiest, game of that stretch, the situation has now become dire. Alabama's tournament hopes have went from rosy after the Puerto Rico tournament to resting on life support with a hand perched near the plug.

Not that the Alabama coaching staff is free of criticism. As anyone who reads this blog knows, I have been on the Anthony Grant bandwagon since day one. I still believe in Coach Grant and what he can accomplish in Tuscaloosa, but he and his staff have not been able to effectively implement an offense that plays to the strengths of the players. As a result, the offense has looked disjointed much of the year and appears to be getting worse if tonight is any indication. The coaching staff has also done a poor job of having this team prepared to play at times. In the last week, Alabama has gone into two very big games (tonight and at home against Vandy) and has come out flat. I'm not sure what the easy answer is, but the future of the program under Grant may come down these final few weeks of the season. And I certainly did not believe that would be the case coming into the season.

However, some of the comments I'm reading online are out of bounds. Yes, we love this program and we want to see them achieve their highest potential. We're all frustrated with the losing streak right now, but don't turn your back on this team. Don't write comments on message boards that you're done with this team and when does football start? That's counter productive. And, for God's sake, don't leave disgusting comments on the players twitter feed, which I saw after the Vanderbilt game. For those of you that can, put your ass in a seat at Coleman on Saturday and help them try to get back on track. A fanbase is measured by how they react in bad times. Let's not give up on this team.

Know your enemy- @ South Carolina Gamecocks

This is a really bad 'cock team we are playing in Columbia. A team that is 0-4 n conference with all of those losses being double digit ones. A team that has lost to perennial powerhouses Elon and Tennessee St. The Gamecocks are easily the worst team inthe SEC... and quite possibly the worst SEC team I've seen the past 5 years. Looking at their schedule they could potentially go 0-16... but I suspect they'll win one vs UGA (another putrid team) and maybe UTK. Darrin Horn is stealing money right now.

Write up from the Gamecock official site. Also, a link to our friends at garnettandblackattack.com.

Malik Cooke and Bruce Ellington lead the team i scoring at 12.2 and 10.9 a game... with Ellington mostly coming off the bench. Surprisingly, SC Lite have a few decent 3 point threats in Ellington, Anthony Gill, RJ Slawson, and Eric Smith... but I guess being down big time late in games might have padded some of that. Damontre Harris is their 'big guy' bringing down 6.4/5.3 a game.

I was reading the presser... SC Lite is in their 104th year of hoops, and like their football program it's been the Rutgers of the south. They have tried to be better, but Dave Odom only could vault them to back to back NIT Championships... which while I sort of mock it is something Alabama has never won (lost 2 title games).

Gamecock season stats
Important #s:
- 63.3 PPG
- .425 FG
- .340 3pt FG
- +1.2 rebound margin
- 5.1 blocks

Prediction: Unless we come out unmotivated, tired, constipated, sick, or shorthanded this game should not be close. Green should dominate inside and Mitchell has his best chance to get back on track. Also, I expect Releford to chip in 15 points as the Tide cruises in Columbia by 12.

Game time is 8PM EST (7PM CST) on the SECN. Also available on espn3.com (or whatever they're calling it now).

Upcoming 5-Game Stretch Could Determine Bama's Postseason Fate

2006. That was the last year our beloved Crimson Tide were selected for the holiest of holies in college basketball, the NCAA tournament. That's a long time in basketball years. Coming into this season many of us felt the drought might come to an end. Anthony Grant was entering his third year, the top three players from last season's 25-win team returned and the program welcomed in a top 10 recruiting class. After an early run of success culminating in wins over notables such as Maryland, Wichita State and Purdue in Puerto Rico, it looked certain this team was well on its way.

Then a funny thing happened on the way to the NCAA tournament: the team lost three out of four games in December, recovered, but are now in the midst of a 3-game losing streak in conference play. Fortunately, unlike last season, none of the losses so far can be regarded as a "bad" loss as all of the teams that have beaten Alabama are themselves projected to be in the NCAA tournament at this time. The only exception may be Dayton, but they are currently at the top in the Atlantic 10 conference and will certainly be among the 68 if they maintain their steady play.

Unfortunately, losing a steady stream of games to even good teams can not guarantee you a spot in the dance. You simply must win some of the tough games while remaining successful against the "bad" teams. Alabama remains in good shape thanks to a tough strength of schedule and a high RPI, but their best wins at this point are over Wichita State and Purdue.

While Wichita has held up their end of the bargain by being one of the top teams in a strong Missouri Valley, Purdue has faltered somewhat in Big 10 play. If the Boilermakers struggles continue, you can cross that win off Bama's "good wins" scorecard. After those two teams, VCU - tops in the Colonial - is probably Bama's next best win. Nothing particularly attractive, but far from ugly as it was a year ago.The resume so far would get Bama in, but it probably wouldn't result in a high seed. While some Bama fans would be happy with just making the tournament after a six-year drought, I wouldn't mind seeing the team stick around awhile. The chances of that improve if Bama can net a good seed.

As luck woud have it, the selection committee is not meeting today to select the 68 teams so Alabama has some more work to do. That work includes ending this 3-game losing streak and beefing up that tournament resume as February rears its ugly head. Alabama had a tough start to conference play in that they had to play three of the top teams in the conference right off the bat, two of those games on the road. While Bama played well enough to win but fell short on the road at MSU and Kentucky, the uninspired performance against Vandy in Tuscaloosa was a real killer in a game that could have provided another quality win to the resume.

Now the Tide faces a 5-game stretch, three of them on the road, that could potentially keep the tournament hopes comfortably afloat or send all of us into selection Sunday with rapid heartbeats and white knuckles. These five games, while obviously not automatic wins, do provide the team potentially better match-ups against teams either hoping to get on the bubble themselves or who are already hoping for a miracle run in the SEC tournament to have any chance of making the dance. In other words, the next five games are winnable games that Bama needs for momentum before it heads into a very important match-up against Florida on February 14th. Anything less than a 3-2 record at the absolute minimum over this stretch, and Bama could find itself squarely on the bubble for the month of February. If this team truly is an NCAA tournament team this season, they need to prove it in these next five games.

Number one gets it done, Bama falls 77-71

Our view for the game.  Those red and white ants down there are actually basketball players.  We didn't take many pictures due to being so far away from the court.  

We actually jumped out to a 5-1 lead despite picking up 4 fouls in the first 2 minutes, 2 of which were on Tony Mitchell.  Jacobs replaced Mitchell and played very well in the post, especially on the offensive end.  He ended up playing 28 minutes and had 9 points.  UK went on a first half run to take an 8 point lead with around 13 minutes left in the first half.  Thankfully, they could not make their free throws in the first half and we were able to fight and stay in the game.  We trailed by only 5 at halftime.  

Moral victories are for losers, but there were a lot of positives from this game.  I liked our game plan and was surprised by how well we were able to execute.  I was afraid we would get dominated in the post, but instead we went right at them and had a lot of success.  JaMychal Green had a great game with 22 points in addition to what Nick Jacobs was able to accomplish.  If we could have got any production out of Tony Mitchell we might have pulled the upset, he fouled out with only 6 points.  In fairness, he drew a very difficult matchup, but he is in a funk right now.  I think once again he got frustrated with the officials, despite the fact that his fouls were actually good calls for the most part.  

Releford did a nice job of driving the lane and making some circus shots, as well as knocking down a couple of treys and putting us in a good position to score.  It was a great effort from our point guard in a very difficult environment.  

It seemed like every time we would cut the lead to 4 or so Kentucky would make a big three point shot.  Conversely, every time UK  would go up 7 or 8 and the fans would get loud, and I started to worry that we were on the verge of being blown out, somebody would step up and answer with a big basket.  We showed a lot of poise against one of the nation's elite teams on the road.  

Not only did we play well inside, but we actually made 5 of 7 from three point range.  We were selective about shooting from out there, and most of our shots were wide open, thanks to them double teaming in the post.  Coming into the game, 3 point defense appeared to be UK's only weakness.  I was afraid we would try to exploit that by relying too heavily on the outside shot.  Great job by Coach Grant and staff for not falling into that trap, as we all know outside shooting is not the identity of this team.  

Defensively, we mostly played them straight up but allowed them to shoot some open outside shots.  We couldn't press much due to their quickness and athletic ability.  We played about as good as could be expected on defense, Kentucky is a damned good team and they will make some shots.  

While UK's poor free throw shooting kept us in the game in the first half, it was their work at the line that eventually won it for them down the stretch.  They shot 40 free throws in the game, and made 27 of them.  They were only 4 of 11 at halftime.  

We still had a chance to win in the final minutes of the game.  In fact, we were only down 2 with less than a minute remaining, but UK couldn't miss from the charity stripe.  A couple of key possessions, at one point we were down 4 and Green missed the front end of a one and one.  UK made 2 free throws at the other end for a 4 point swing.  Also, down 4 we got a steal and had numbers, but could not convert on the layup with a couple of minute remaining.  Andrew Steele picked up a foul at the other end, when we had played good defense and forced UK into a difficult shot.  

Overall, a good effort, but we just didn't make the plays when we had to.  With Syracuse losing to Notre Dame, Kentucky will be the top ranked team when the polls come out.  Hopefully hanging with the nation's top team on the road will give us some confidence going into this stretch of very winnable games.  

If you have never been to Rupp Arena, put that on your list.  It is as great of an atmosphere for college basketball as you will find.  Their fans are knowledgeable (well, except for the guy who asked me how many fouls it takes to get into the bonus) and very passionate about their team. The arena itself is not very nice.  It's huge, but cramped and takes forever to get out of after the game.  Their fans are very hospitable, many wishing us luck before the game and complimenting our team after the game.  As one person said to me as we were leaving, "Alabama came in here and played Kentucky as tough as anybody I've seen.  You guys have a good team."  UK doesn't lose at home under coach Cal.  We came as close as anybody has to changing that.

Up next, we travel to Columbia, SC for a 7pm Central tipoff Wednesday night.  I will be watching on the SEC network.  It's a winnable game but going on the road is never easy.  If we want to be a top 3 or 4 team in the conference, these are the games we must win.  Not to mention, we need to snap the 3 game losing streak.