Concerns Moving Forward

[BBALLSTAN]

First of all, speaking for all Bama basketball fans, it sure is nice to be
able to enjoy this week without sweating not making the NCAA TOURNAMENT,.for a change.
I really worry about the 'RIM'. My biggest fears are not finishing at the rim and
not defending at the rim. Surely, we will come ready to play Friday and play hard.
But, we have no shot blocker on defense and we have finished so badly around
the basket. I hope we can find a way to remedy both on Friday. It has been a
Great year, but I hope we are not near satisfied. We have a golden opportunity
to push Alabama basketball to new heights!!

 

[BaselineLeaner4]

Our success with boil down to offense, plain and simple. I trust our defense.

We will either get hot from 3 and go deep in both tournaments or come out cold and lose early. No in between in my opinion.

 

[aggietider]

Q is starting to come alive. He’s the one that can break things down and finish and then force help. Shack has been solid too. He just doesn’t beat people off the dribble as easy. He makes tougher ones.
We don’t need everybody to be able to do it often. If Q can do it enough and the others just throw a drive and finish in there every so often, we are good. Then it comes down to making the open 3 when when get them.
Obviously our defensive numbers are really good. I haven’t seen them. But man we give up a lot of wide open layups in the half court for an elite defense.

 

[Codie B]

When it comes to single elimination tournaments, like the NCAA BB tournament, there are just so many variables. I trust our defense, but we have to not only shoot well from 3 pt land, but we need to finish better at the rim, and limit our turnovers. All that said, nobody knows what team you are going to run into in the tournament. Do you get lucky, and face the Providence team that should have lost to Austin Peay in the 2nd rd in ‘87, or the one who couldn’t miss against us, and then Georgetown in the next rd? Do you play the UNLV team that Ball State had on the ropes in the sweet 16 in ‘90(since I figured we were going to beat Loyola Marymount in the sweet 16), or the one that dominated the next 3 opponents in route to a NC? Do you play the Villanova team that won on a last second shot in the 1st rd against Dayton in ‘85, or the one after that that went on to take down the rest of the field for a NC(including an ultra talented Sr lead Patrick Ewing Georgetown team)? I don’t care how great your BB knowledge is, nobody has any idea on the above. That is why there is just so much luck in these types of tournaments. College BB also has a lot more parity today, talent wise, imop.

 

[vegas man]

Well, here is my honest opinion. I love me some Alabama basketball and I am truly giddy that our fans have a program to be proud of again. Oats has done a fabulous job in his second year and you can definitely see his recruiting and system starting to make a difference. Having said that this team is not quite "there" yet. In another thread someone mentioned Bama might be the most overrated team in college basketball and, unfortunately, I don't know that I can disagree here. I am hoping for the best but I have watched this team struggle too much with really good competition. However, the one great equalizer will be Bama's three point shooting. If this team can shoot consistently (at least ~40%) from beyond the arc then it can go deep into the NCAA tourney. Fingers crossed.

 

[BamaNavyCPO]

First of all, speaking for all Bama basketball fans, it sure is nice to be
able to enjoy this week without sweating not making the NCAA TOURNAMENT,.for a change.
I really worry about the 'RIM'. My biggest fears are not finishing at the rim and
not defending at the rim. Surely, we will come ready to play Friday and play hard.
But, we have no shot blocker on defense and we have finished so badly around
the basket. I hope we can find a way to remedy both on Friday. It has been a
Great year, but I hope we are not near satisfied. We have a golden opportunity
to push Alabama basketball to new heights!!

I don't know which is more frustrating, TOs or non rim finishes. I also hope Oats realizes that calling a timeout won't result in a technical foul.

 

[PlaidandParquet]

First of all, speaking for all Bama basketball fans, it sure is nice to be
able to enjoy this week without sweating not making the NCAA TOURNAMENT,.for a change.
I really worry about the 'RIM'. My biggest fears are not finishing at the rim and
not defending at the rim. Surely, we will come ready to play Friday and play hard.
But, we have no shot blocker on defense and we have finished so badly around
the basket. I hope we can find a way to remedy both on Friday. It has been a
Great year, but I hope we are not near satisfied. We have a golden opportunity
to push Alabama basketball to new heights!!

Sop

I don't know which is more frustrating, TOs or non rim finishes. I also hope Oats realizes that calling a timeout won't result in a technical foul.

Post of the day

 

[tydzbk]

Well, here is my honest opinion. I love me some Alabama basketball and I am truly giddy that our fans have a program to be proud of again. Oats has done a fabulous job in his second year and you can definitely see his recruiting and system starting to make a difference. Having said that this team is not quite "there" yet. In another thread someone mentioned Bama might be the most overrated team in college basketball and, unfortunately, I don't know that I can disagree here. I am hoping for the best but I have watched this team struggle too much with really good competition. However, the one great equalizer will be Bama's three point shooting. If this team can shoot consistently (at least ~40%) from beyond the arc then it can go deep into the NCAA tourney. Fingers crossed.

Agreed. Perhaps I'm holding out hope that we don't see much of what may make this a top 8 tourney team. In other words, maybe our defense, pace, depth, etc. contribute more than we can perceive. We'll find out soon enough. But when I look at stats, it's what you said about 3 pt % that has stood out to me as well. Seems with our overall profile and style that we need a few more percentage points in that arc shooting if we're to overcome some of the better front courts out there.