Thoughts on Alabama’s loss to Kentucky

[Jordan Harper]

It was a frustrating loss considering how Alabama started out and then finished, but at the end of the day this game doesn’t hurt the resume at all. Just frustrating to waste an opportunity when UK was without TyTy and Wheeler. I’m not high on Wheeler, but TyTy is solid. However, the National Player of the Year Oscar Tshwibe played and had a great game and the top transfer in the country Grady couldn’t miss. At the end of the day, it’s still #5 UK at Rupp so it is what it is.

Alabama started out on fire hitting 9 threes and building a 12 point lead. Then Miles got a dumb technical foul and that sparked a 13-0 run to give UK a 1 point lead at half. Alabama couldn’t defend the dribble drive at all and UK wasnt missing at all. It was probably their best overall shooting game of the year, but they had a lot of open looks. When you have guys like Brooks, Toppin, Mintz, Grady, Oscar, etc that can step in and not miss a beat without TyTy then you know you’re loaded.


Keon Ellis had his best game of his career. Started out 6/6 and had 17 points at half. He finished with 28 and 4 steals. Shack had 18 and Gurley had a solid game with 12, but nobody else stepped up offensively. JQ had another disappearing act, Gary can’t stay on the floor, and Miles had a bad game. JD started off rough but finished pretty well. You should never score 81 points on the road and lose, but that’s all on the defensive end. They made 14/40 from 3 which isn’t a great percentage but still a high volume of made threes. You knew you weren’t going to get any calls in Rupp and UK had 7 fouls called on them all game which is insane. +8 at the FT line was a big difference.

On to the next game on Tuesday at Vanderbilt. It’s a house of horrors for Alabama, but a very winnable game. The next 3 are extremely winnable and then they finish at LSU which is very winnable too. Like I said, this game doesn’t effect their standing in the tournament at all, but would’ve been nice to win.

 

[D Isaiah T Billings-Clyde7]

Harper do you have thoughts on Oats refusal to use a timeout? He just doesn’t seem to manage the game at all sometimes.

 

[cola68]

I like Miles. He has to grow up and show up.

Bama was 14/40 from three point line.

They shot a high percentage in the first part of the first half but the remainder was similar to its 3 pt. shooting night vs Ky at Coleman.

 

[Jordan Harper]

Harper do you have thoughts on Oats refusal to use a timeout? He just doesn’t seem to manage the game at all sometimes.

Coaches manage it differently. Some overuse them and some would rather save them. He doesn’t call them at appropriate times imo.

 

[D Isaiah T Billings-Clyde7]

Coaches manage it differently. Some overuse them and some would rather save them. He doesn’t call them at appropriate times imo.

I think with some teams it’s best to let them play but this team just lacks the composure at times to stop a run on the fly and I believe he needs to help them along in those situations.. especially on the road or in the tournament when all it takes is one run and all the sudden you are down 10 in a win or go home situation and all the pressure in the world suddenly falls on you.. I really like oats but man he kills me just letting us get completely discombobulated for a 4 minute stretch and allow the opponent to make a game changing run that hurts/kills our chances of winning.

 

[Tide60T]

If Bama had an Oscar they would be #5 in the country!

 

[Jordan Harper]

If Bama had an Oscar they would be #5 in the country!

He truly is a difference maker. I really like Brooks too.

 

[pwestbro61]

Oats not calling timeouts during runs has played a major role in nearly every loss. Georgia, Missouri, Davidson, Barn at home, today/ I could go on.

 

[TideFever]

You knew you weren’t going to get any calls in Rupp and UK had 7 fouls called on them all game which is insane. +8 at the FT line was a big difference.

Its really dumb how much UK can get away with in Rupp. But we also only had 16 fouls overall and quite a few of those were late in the game. I was sure coming in that UK would be in the bonus for 30 minutes of the game or more and shoot 40+ free throws.

On to the next game on Tuesday at Vanderbilt. It’s a house of horrors for Alabama

Worst gym in the SEC. A commissioner should have strong armed them into building a normal gym or playing SEC games downtown or something. I think we can win but given our history there and the fact that Vandy has had some punch of late I'm not counting on a W.

So we may be 7-8 with 3 to play against SCe, A&M, and @ LSU.

 

[GOBAMA100]

I think with some teams it’s best to let them play but this team just lacks the composure at times to stop a run on the fly and I believe he needs to help them along in those situations.. especially on the road or in the tournament when all it takes is one run and all the sudden you are down 10 in a win or go home situation and all the pressure in the world suddenly falls on you.. I really like oats but man he kills me just letting us get completely discombobulated for a 4 minute stretch and allow the opponent to make a game changing run that hurts/kills our chances of winning.

Amen brother! We need to use timeouts we struggle to much on both ends in SEC play.

 

[bhudson08]

I’m pretty sick of Oates always talking about the lack of effort. He’s been saying it for months. It’s a direct reflection of him. If you can’t put a group out there that will compete hard then sit them.

 

[Jordan Harper]

I’m pretty sick of Oates always talking about the lack of effort. He’s been saying it for months. It’s a direct reflection of him. If you can’t put a group out there that will compete hard then sit them.

If you have nobody then you can’t. He put in a walk on and a kid that never plays to prove a point. Only so much he can do when it comes to effort

 

[Bamagirl2018]

BAMA had the momentum in the first half, and then the refs called a technical foul on a BAMA player for barely touching the Kentucky player's head. It seemed like it took a half hour to sort it out. BAMA just could not get back the momentum they had before the bogus foul call.

 

[pwestbro61]

Its really dumb how much UK can get away with in Rupp. But we also only had 16 fouls overall and quite a few of those were late in the game. I was sure coming in that UK would be in the bonus for 30 minutes of the game or more and shoot 40+ free throws.



Worst gym in the SEC. A commissioner should have strong armed them into building a normal gym or playing SEC games downtown or something. I think we can win but given our history there and the fact that Vandy has had some punch of late I'm not counting on a W.

So we may be 7-8 with 3 to play against SCe, A&M, and @ LSU.

Doubtful Bama wins in Nashville. They have won 5 in a row at home and Tide never plays well there. Pippen will have about 30 and their 7 footer will huge game.

 

[cola68]

BAMA had the momentum in the first half, and then the refs called a technical foul on a BAMA player for barely touching the Kentucky player's head. It seemed like it took a half hour to sort it out. BAMA just could not get back the momentum they had before the bogus foul call.

Miles’ fault, not the refs.
He has so much potential if his maturity level improves dramatically.

He may not be around next year to show us

 

[RollTide15]

Kentucky's run actually started with 2 bad passes from JD before Miles' technical. (PS. The Kentucky guy actually bumped Miles to start it. But Miles shouldn't have responded.)

 

[frazor]

If you have nobody then you can’t. He put in a walk on and a kid that never plays to prove a point. Only so much he can do when it comes to effort

Not sure if they're there just yet but at some point it will fall on Oats to have a collection of players that he can demand a response from, assuming that is what he expects. Terrible era to be a hardass as a coach. Bobby Knight wouldn't be able to get a top 300 recruit to put up with his antics today. Most everybody here would probably love for their son to play for Frank Martin as I think he probably does a fantastic job of molding men, so why is it a stuggle for him to sign top talent? I may be 100% wrong but I'd dare say less than 5% of the top 50 high school players have ever had their high school or AAU coach make an example out of them.

 

[Sweetlou2.0]

Not sure if they're there just yet but at some point it will fall on Oats to have a collection of players that he can demand a response from, assuming that is what he expects. Terrible era to be a hardass as a coach. Bobby Knight wouldn't be able to get a top 300 recruit to put up with his antics today. Most everybody here would probably love for their son to play for Frank Martin as I think he probably does a fantastic job of molding men, so why is it a stuggle for him to sign top talent? I may be 100% wrong but I'd dare say less than 5% of the top 50 high school players have ever had their high school or AAU coach make an example out of them.

Yep. Dead on.

 

[Bama Swoosh]

I spent parts of the gaming yelling at the refs, as it felt like every time we had an open drive down the lane, as our player would be lifting up his arms with the ball to layup or dunk, UK would strip it "cleanly" - meanwhile we got called every time for the same thing.

Also UK hit a three off the backboard, another long two off the backboard, and Grady looked like he was walking off the floor with his back to the action, ball somehow hits his rump, "oh look what I found" the guy puts it up and it goes in. UK had a heck of a lot of things go their way.

 

[HOUNDZTOOTH1]

Concerning Bama Basketball, It is what it is and it is a consistent is what it is.

 

[Sweetlou2.0]

Concerning Bama Basketball, It is what it is and it is a consistent is what it is.

And if that’s a 5 seed in the ncaa tournament that’s all good with me

 

[BamaTexan]

And if that’s a 5 seed in the ncaa tournament that’s all good with me

I suspect that at least one 12-seed will advance at Bama’s expense. This team will make no noise at all in the NCAA tournament. It’s simply a team which does not react well to adversity.

 

[D Isaiah T Billings-Clyde7]

I suspect that at least one 12-seed will advance at Bama’s expense. This team will make no noise at all in the NCAA tournament. It’s simply a team which does not react well to adversity.

I don’t think that’s been an exclusively true statement.. we’ve had plenty of games where we held off good opponents when they tried to surge and we’ve won several close games. There have definitely also been times where we didn’t handle it well but that’s kind of part of the learning process of the season

I’m definitely not guaranteeing tournament success but not counting it out at all.. when I look at the top 4 seeds that laid out Saturday I see a lot of teams we can beat and a lot of team we already did beat

 

[pfaud001]

I suspect that at least one 12-seed will advance at Bama’s expense. This team will make no noise at all in the NCAA tournament. It’s simply a team which does not react well to adversity.

This team has proven they can beat almost any team. They have also played down to their competition. If the Kentucky game had been in Tuscaloosa, we would have blown them out. Alabama was smoking hot and I think Ky would have folded. It wasn’t, so it doesn’t matter. I think many are giving up too early on this team. We don’t usually win at Vandy, so I am not counting on the win. I do think think there will be plenty of teams not wanting to face us in the Tourney.

 

[BamaTexan]

This team has proven they can beat almost any team. They have also played down to their competition. If the Kentucky game had been in Tuscaloosa, we would have blown them out. Alabama was smoking hot and I think Ky would have folded. It wasn’t, so it doesn’t matter. I think many are giving up too early on this team. We don’t usually win at Vandy, so I am not counting on the win. I do think think there will be plenty of teams not wanting to face us in the Tourney.

Bama played Kentucky in Coleman a couple weeks back or so and lost.

It’s Kentucky, and Bama rarely beats Kentucky so it is what it is with that.

Bama’s a one and done in the tournament IMO, so 66 other teams won’t have that big worry of facing Bama next month.

Maybe next year.

 

[pfaud001]

Bama played Kentucky in Coleman a couple weeks back or so and lost.

It’s Kentucky, and Bama rarely beats Kentucky so it is what it is with that.

Bama’s a one and done in the tournament IMO, so 66 other teams won’t have that big worry of facing Bama next month.

Maybe next year.

Bama couldn't make a shot in that game, but played good enough defense to beat a full strength KY. This team is a beast when they put it all together. It may not happen this year, but I am not giving up on them.