Throwing a couple of extra takeaways from the Kentucky game with the roster rankings again.
— The defensive communication was much better Saturday. Still plenty of work to do, especially guarding ball screens but I thought guys worked through them a lot better and knew when to go over vs. under, etc. There were a couple of tough breaks. Andrew Carr hit three 3s, which was a season high and two of them came early in the game. It's still no excuse for another slow start but Nate Oats said they were willing to give up that shot and he hit them. It was similar to Broome's early makes against Auburn.
— Still not sure what has to happen to fix the starts but as Tony detailed in his column, Oats is going with the new sub policy and I really like the move. There's the obvious worry that it could prevent continuity throughout a game with so much rotating but I think it's both a good way for Alabama to out-depth teams and doesn't let players get complacent knowing there guaranteed minutes. Tony and I talked about it on the pod but it will be interesting to see if that spreads even more to the starting lineup.
— Alabama has to get more from Grant Nelson. He's been far too passive on offense, really in the last four games even though I thought he was alright against Auburn (12 points, 12 boards). There's just a lack of tenacity driving the ball right now, which when Nelson is at his best he can be one of the tougher guards in the league. He played a season-low 14 minutes against UK and foul trouble had a lot to do with that. But we'll see if that lights a fire under him because Alabama will need his production badly.
— Even though Alabama had a negative assist-turnover ratio, I still thought the ball movement was much better overall. The three-guard look is benefitting both Sears and Youngblood tremendously so far. Will obviously be big to see how it goes against a better defense than Kentucky's but it looks really promising. Labaron Philon has eight turnovers in the last two games, including five on Saturday, but he's making up for it with playmaking and defense. Oats wants him to cut the TOs down and I think he will as the lineup gets more comfortable.
Roster power rankings this week:
1. Mark Sears
2. Aden Holloway
3. Clifford Omoruyi
4. Labaron Philon
5. Chris Youngblood
6. Mouhamed Dioubate
7. Grant Nelson
8. Jarin Stevenson
9. Aiden Sherrell
10. Derrion Reid
More on each player:
alabama.rivals.com
— The defensive communication was much better Saturday. Still plenty of work to do, especially guarding ball screens but I thought guys worked through them a lot better and knew when to go over vs. under, etc. There were a couple of tough breaks. Andrew Carr hit three 3s, which was a season high and two of them came early in the game. It's still no excuse for another slow start but Nate Oats said they were willing to give up that shot and he hit them. It was similar to Broome's early makes against Auburn.
— Still not sure what has to happen to fix the starts but as Tony detailed in his column, Oats is going with the new sub policy and I really like the move. There's the obvious worry that it could prevent continuity throughout a game with so much rotating but I think it's both a good way for Alabama to out-depth teams and doesn't let players get complacent knowing there guaranteed minutes. Tony and I talked about it on the pod but it will be interesting to see if that spreads even more to the starting lineup.
— Alabama has to get more from Grant Nelson. He's been far too passive on offense, really in the last four games even though I thought he was alright against Auburn (12 points, 12 boards). There's just a lack of tenacity driving the ball right now, which when Nelson is at his best he can be one of the tougher guards in the league. He played a season-low 14 minutes against UK and foul trouble had a lot to do with that. But we'll see if that lights a fire under him because Alabama will need his production badly.
— Even though Alabama had a negative assist-turnover ratio, I still thought the ball movement was much better overall. The three-guard look is benefitting both Sears and Youngblood tremendously so far. Will obviously be big to see how it goes against a better defense than Kentucky's but it looks really promising. Labaron Philon has eight turnovers in the last two games, including five on Saturday, but he's making up for it with playmaking and defense. Oats wants him to cut the TOs down and I think he will as the lineup gets more comfortable.
Roster power rankings this week:
1. Mark Sears
2. Aden Holloway
3. Clifford Omoruyi
4. Labaron Philon
5. Chris Youngblood
6. Mouhamed Dioubate
7. Grant Nelson
8. Jarin Stevenson
9. Aiden Sherrell
10. Derrion Reid
More on each player:
Ranking Alabama’s roster after the Tide’s bounces-back win over Kentucky
The latest Alabama roster power rankings after a 1-1 split against Missouri and Kentucky.
