Thoughts on Alabama’s 65-55 Win Over South Alabama

[Jordan Harper]

When you have a 9 month old battling pneumonia and a 2 and a half year old that’s bed time is 9, it makes it difficult to watch the game. Since I couldn’t watch last night, I watched the game this morning. Here are my thoughts.

1) First road test for these young guys and they handled it about how you’d expect. They were loose with the ball and didn’t shoot great for most of the game, but they still played excellent defense. This was a great game to have on the schedule to get this team used to playing on the road and while USA isn’t a good team, they’re a team full of 23 year olds that are very smart and know how to play. Oh, and JQ is back! That will be a huge help to the Tide as he is back a few weeks ahead of schedule. Look for him to get eased into action.

2) Alabama is +66 in rebounding through 3 games. You can tell this whole team sells out to crash the boards and that has been a glaring difference in the team this year and last. Very selfless and makes winning plays. They didn’t shoot well last night, but still made 10 threes which should be about their average. This was also the second game they’ve had 20 turnovers in a game, but that will correct itself as these guys gets experience.

3) This game really wasn’t close most of the second half. Alabama led by as many 20 and got complacent late in the game to make the score look decently close. If you love watching defense and effort, then you’ll love watching this Alabama team this season. It’s refreshing seeing a team playing as hard as they do on defense, even when the shots aren’t falling on the other end.

 

[frazor]

Was great to see an opponent held to one shot attempt per possession. Was also great to see Q back out there. Happy with the win but these guys have a lot of maturing to do which is to be expected since they are so young. They won't be able to out talent too many more teams moving forward so they better figure out how to make each other better.

 

[winin11]

They were up by 20 in the 2nd half when CNO put JQ in and also substituted other players and the scoring went cold and the defense lost their edge. Oats put the starters back in and they had trouble regaining their edge after that. Just wondered if anybody else sensed that.....

 

[Bama924]

Agree. LOVE the defensive effort so far.
Anyone else having PTSD twitches watchin 3/4 games w/sub par shooting (2 horrible, 1 bad and 1 good)?

 

[BAMACOASTIE]

Last week I said I thought Sears was an all-around better play than Quinerly. I'm going to stick with what I said but maybe dial it back a little bit. I forgot how smooth Quinerly was. He obviously didn't score and kinda hogged the ball a little last night but who can blame him. Sears and Q have two very different styles, but I think both will be very good for us this year. I'm glad we have both.

 

[vegas man]

Alabama is +66 in rebounding through 3 games. You can tell this whole team sells out to crash the boards and that has been a glaring difference in the team this year and last.

^^^This! Complete about face from last season.

 

[Jordan Harper]

Those rims at USA had to be bought at Walmart or something. They didn’t have any give on them. I stopped counting how many threes we had halfway down and out

 

[TideFever]

If this team ever gets into a groove with their shooting they will be a very hard team to beat. And the whole team doesn't have to catch fire, just 3 or 4 a night that warm up enough to threaten 40% on 3 point shots.

Early on this looks a lot like a Calipari team from a decade ago with their length and aggressive play. I just hope the younger players grow up fast because the next month will be tough on them. I also hope we can balance Miller's minutes. He's been on the court a lot already. With good reason but lets not forget we can go pretty deep in players capable of playing at this level.

 

[BamaNavyCPO]

Those rims at USA had to be bought at Walmart or something. They didn’t have any give on them. I stopped counting how many threes we had halfway down and out

Glad you posted this. I wondered if I was the only one who thought those rims were a little funky. They did sound cheap when struck.

 

[Codie B]

Glad you posted this. I wondered if I was the only one who thought those rims were a little funky. They did sound cheap when struck.

I remember those rims on the playground when I was a kid. If it didn’t perfectly swish, the ball bounced like no tomorrow.

 

[Watson_2]

They were up by 20 in the 2nd half when CNO put JQ in and also substituted other players and the scoring went cold and the defense lost their edge. Oats put the starters back in and they had trouble regaining their edge after that. Just wondered if anybody else sensed that.....

I did.....

 

[Sweetlou2.0]

Last week I said I thought Sears was an all-around better play than Quinerly. I'm going to stick with what I said but maybe dial it back a little bit. I forgot how smooth Quinerly was. He obviously didn't score and kinda hogged the ball a little last night but who can blame him. Sears and Q have two very different styles, but I think both will be very good for us this year. I'm glad we have both.

When Q is on he is All-American caliber. I don’t think Sears has that ceiling, but Q has also been very uneven in his production. Ultimately, I think JQ is the better PG due to his instincts and vision. Would love to see them on the court together a lot this year. I think it could help Sears as a scorer to be able to play off the ball some.

 

[onebamamaniax]

Those rims at USA had to be bought at Walmart or something. They didn’t have any give on them. I stopped counting how many threes we had halfway down and out

South had a bunch of lay ups and around the rim shots that looked like it was going in and rattled back out.

 

[onebamamaniax]

Those rims at USA had to be bought at Walmart or something. They didn’t have any give on them. I stopped counting how many threes we had halfway down and out

Before the game in warm ups, the 3's was falling. Crazy when the game started how many rimmed out. Shots were good and open shots just wouldn't go down. I know Bama won't win them all, but being at the game I never had that oh no here we go again feeling while shoots weren't falling.

 

[Codie B]

When Q is on he is All-American caliber. I don’t think Sears has that ceiling, but Q has also been very uneven in his production. Ultimately, I think JQ is the better PG due to his instincts and vision. Would love to see them on the court together a lot this year. I think it could help Sears as a scorer to be able to play off the ball some.

Sears is better than the JQ of last year, but not in the same league as the JQ of the 2nd half of the season before. Just my opinion.

 

[BIGRON930]

Before the game in warm ups, the 3's was falling. Crazy when the game started how many rimmed out. Shots were good and open shots just wouldn't go down. I know Bama won't win them all, but being at the game I never had that oh no here we go again feeling while shoots weren't falling.

Shots in warm-ups have 0 connection to shots during the game.

 

[aggietider]

They were up by 20 in the 2nd half when CNO put JQ in and also substituted other players and the scoring went cold and the defense lost their edge. Oats put the starters back in and they had trouble regaining their edge after that. Just wondered if anybody else sensed that.....

Literally mentioned it in the game thread. It may have been a coincidence but the real struggle started when JQ came in. We were from missing shots to not getting shots.

 

[frazor]

Literally mentioned it in the game thread. It may have been a coincidence but the real struggle started when JQ came in. We were from missing shots to not getting shots.

His very first possession he tries some weak flip pass that was easily stolen. He isn't an 18 year old freshman he's like a 7th year Sr and he needs to act like this is his last go around. Definately doesn't have his legs back under him so it's huge that he gets 4-6 minutes here and there to acclimate.

 

[michael1965]

Those rims at USA had to be bought at Walmart or something. They didn’t have any give on them. I stopped counting how many threes we had halfway down and out

Sounded like a jr high school rims from my younger days. You could hear them at a great distance,!

 

[Sweetlou2.0]

His very first possession he tries some weak flip pass that was easily stolen. He isn't an 18 year old freshman he's like a 7th year Sr and he needs to act like this is his last go around. Definately doesn't have his legs back under him so it's huge that he gets 4-6 minutes here and there to acclimate.

That was a perfect pocket pass to Pringle that Pringle wasn’t expecting bc he’s not accustomed to playing with a pg who’s capable of making that pass. Imo that TO was on Pringle.

 

[frazor]

That was a perfect pocket pass to Pringle that Pringle wasn’t expecting bc he’s not accustomed to playing with a pg who’s capable of making that pass. Imo that TO was on Pringle.

My bad then. I thought it was tipped away.

 

[Sweetlou2.0]

My bad then. I thought it was tipped away.

I don’t think so. I think it just bounced off Pringle. Don’t get me wrong! He made at least one terrible full court pass that sailed outta bounds! But I thought that one was a prime example of the guy on the screen and roll just not being prepared for the dump off. I don’t think he’s played with a guy capable of making that kinda pass through traffic.

 

[onebamamaniax]

Shots in warm-ups have 0 connection to shots during the game.

Dang, I could've sworn if they hit them in warm ups they had to go in. My whole point was that these guys have nice shots, not taking dumb 3's, the shots are gonna fall when they get more comfortable.

 

[onebamamaniax]

That was a perfect pocket pass to Pringle that Pringle wasn’t expecting bc he’s not accustomed to playing with a pg who’s capable of making that pass. Imo that TO was on Pringle.

Definitely on pringle, he was not expecting that dime.

 

[btr]

When you have a 9 month old battling pneumonia and a 2 and a half year old that’s bed time is 9, it makes it difficult to watch the game. Since I couldn’t watch last night, I watched the game this morning. Here are my thoughts.

1) First road test for these young guys and they handled it about how you’d expect. They were loose with the ball and didn’t shoot great for most of the game, but they still played excellent defense. This was a great game to have on the schedule to get this team used to playing on the road and while USA isn’t a good team, they’re a team full of 23 year olds that are very smart and know how to play. Oh, and JQ is back! That will be a huge help to the Tide as he is back a few weeks ahead of schedule. Look for him to get eased into action.

2) Alabama is +66 in rebounding through 3 games. You can tell this whole team sells out to crash the boards and that has been a glaring difference in the team this year and last. Very selfless and makes winning plays. They didn’t shoot well last night, but still made 10 threes which should be about their average. This was also the second game they’ve had 20 turnovers in a game, but that will correct itself as these guys gets experience.

3) This game really wasn’t close most of the second half. Alabama led by as many 20 and got complacent late in the game to make the score look decently close. If you love watching defense and effort, then you’ll love watching this Alabama team this season. It’s refreshing seeing a team playing as hard as they do on defense, even when the shots aren’t falling on the other end.

I’m sure you have addressed this before but what was wrong with last year’s team? I know Oats can coach but he couldn’t coach that group. Character issues?

 

[BaselineLeaner4]

Those rims at USA had to be bought at Walmart or something. They didn’t have any give on them. I stopped counting how many threes we had halfway down and out

What about the other ones that almost broke the backboard? No need for a rim then lol.

 

[Jordan Harper]

I’m sure you have addressed this before but what was wrong with last year’s team? I know Oats can coach but he couldn’t coach that group. Character issues?

Yeah when Nate said the other day that this years team “checks their ego at the door” was a slight at last years team.