I am in Huntsville for Coach Johnson's promo of the Alabama-Arkansas State game at the VBCC on December 21. Game will be televised by the SEC Network.
Alabama will also have a clinic where the players interact with young players (ages 8-9-10)
From CAJ
"We just want to promote the game and our team in this part of the state. We're also interested in recruiting around here. Know anybody?" (The crowd chuckled as if they do know somebody.)
"We feel this is fertile recruiting ground, not just 2017 but for years to come.
"We've been able to do some very cool things with Alabama basketball. We had about 9,000 people at Tide Tipoff last year and we are looking forward to doing that again.
"I've been able to coach my son, which is a pretty big deal. He's helped us in recruiting, too. I've been fortunate enough to hire who I think is one of the best coaches in America in John Pelphrey.
"When we looked at our team on June 5 last year, I said "let us pray." But so many great things happened.
"I think this year we'll see more of what I envisioned when I got here. We were a tough-minded defensive team, but I want us to average 75-80 points a game. Last year, we weren't a great ball handling or decision making team. We weren't a great offensive rebounding team. We weren't a fast team, talking about pure foot speed. I had to overuse some guys because of our depth. We've addressed all that. This year, we should be a deeper, quicker team.
"Our guys had a grueling summer. We've overhauled our conditioning. I didn't like the way we finished last year, physically or mentally.
"Dazon (Ingram) is looking good. He is 100 percent and I hear he's playing well. Shannon Hale is starting to do some half court work, so he's progressing nicely.
"(On Bola in early workouts): He's been an unbelievable rebounder. He gets what I call the dirty rebounds, not just the ones that come to him. And he can finish. That's why we wanted him. We think he's going to help us. Our bigs Donta and Jimmie understand now that if they don't rebound, they won't play because we've got someone on the bench who will."
Alabama will also have a clinic where the players interact with young players (ages 8-9-10)
From CAJ
"We just want to promote the game and our team in this part of the state. We're also interested in recruiting around here. Know anybody?" (The crowd chuckled as if they do know somebody.)
"We feel this is fertile recruiting ground, not just 2017 but for years to come.
"We've been able to do some very cool things with Alabama basketball. We had about 9,000 people at Tide Tipoff last year and we are looking forward to doing that again.
"I've been able to coach my son, which is a pretty big deal. He's helped us in recruiting, too. I've been fortunate enough to hire who I think is one of the best coaches in America in John Pelphrey.
"When we looked at our team on June 5 last year, I said "let us pray." But so many great things happened.
"I think this year we'll see more of what I envisioned when I got here. We were a tough-minded defensive team, but I want us to average 75-80 points a game. Last year, we weren't a great ball handling or decision making team. We weren't a great offensive rebounding team. We weren't a fast team, talking about pure foot speed. I had to overuse some guys because of our depth. We've addressed all that. This year, we should be a deeper, quicker team.
"Our guys had a grueling summer. We've overhauled our conditioning. I didn't like the way we finished last year, physically or mentally.
"Dazon (Ingram) is looking good. He is 100 percent and I hear he's playing well. Shannon Hale is starting to do some half court work, so he's progressing nicely.
"(On Bola in early workouts): He's been an unbelievable rebounder. He gets what I call the dirty rebounds, not just the ones that come to him. And he can finish. That's why we wanted him. We think he's going to help us. Our bigs Donta and Jimmie understand now that if they don't rebound, they won't play because we've got someone on the bench who will."
