Thoughts on Alabama’s Tough Loss to Oklahoma

[Jordan Harper]

Two years ago, Alabama went into Norman for an early game on Saturday and had the worst performance of the season.

Two years later, much of the same.

In the end, this game doesn’t mean anything in terms of achieving their goal of winning the SEC, but there are startling trends that need to be fixed. 1) Alabama has lost its shooting touch, which happens over a long season at some point. 2) They have forgotten how to defend a ball screen. Both were exposed today.

Noah Clowney is 0-21 in his last 21 three point attempts and Jaden Bradley has disappeared. You knew they would hit the freshman wall and it has arrived. They have to push past it at some point for this team to get back to their elite level.

Give OU credit, they whipped Alabama in every facet. They hit every shot they took and defended very well on Alabama’s screen action. They really iced the action and forced Alabama’s players to make individual plays. Sherfield and Hill were phenomenal for OU. They needed a signature win after nearly beating Kansas and UT, and they came out and deserved it.

Alabama travels back home to take on Vandy and then travel to LSU next weekend. A little soft spot of the schedule where hopefully Alabama can start getting back to their old selves.

They have struggled the past 2 games, but they’ve been dominant since before Christmas. No need for overreactions on a small sample size. This team will be fine.

 

[mtmax]

I wonder if the emotions of the Miles situation has finally caught up with them and they are just drained?

 

[Codie B]

I wonder if the emotions of the Miles situation has finally caught up with them and they are just drained?

You are one of the best posters on here, but I don’t want the “Miles” situation to be an excuse. Good teams come together under tough outside circumstances. Bad teams use them as excuses. I don’t think the “Miles” situation is making them be worse shooters, or forget how to play defense.

 

[BamaNavyCPO]

I wonder if the emotions of the Miles situation has finally caught up with them and they are just drained?

IDK if it's the Miles situation or the tough sked played, but they do appear to be drained of energy. It's bad when the entire team is in a shooting slump.

 

[Codie B]

IDK if it's the Miles situation or the tough sked played, but they do appear to be drained of energy. It's bad when the entire team is in a shooting slump.

I understand players sometimes have small shooting slumps, but an entire team at the same time? And a slump is one thing, but a few of these guys…Clowney, Welch, Sears…it is more like the Grand Canyon than a small valley along the road.

 

[TideFever]

This game was as rotten of an egg as we've laid under Oats. It looked like a Gottfried road team out there. Soft, uninterested, unemotional when punched in the mouth, and incapable of playing through even a little contact. Generally they just looked lost all game long. Same for Oats. He looked thoroughly confused by how his team was playing.

OU played physical and the officials let them play as hard as they wanted without foul calls. We couldn't respond to it. We made a very mediocre OU team look like a contender for a top seed in the tournament. Come March that will be a bad loss. It might not be a quad 4 loss but only because it was a true road loss.

I swear Groves got away with whatever he wanted to do. He could extend his arms on screens and slide his leg out and nothing called. He basically grabbed guys a few times and never called. He pushed off every single time he popped out to set a screen and it was never called. He cleared out with his off arm under the goal and it was never called. We didn't have a single player capable of standing up against him in the paint. Their guard lit us up but Groves dominated us just like Timme and the UConn bigs.

It's a trend under Oats for his teams to hit a wall in late Jan or early Feb. They better push through it quick or this will be an epic collapse as the Feb schedule is looking rough. Play this bad in K'ville and the score today will look like a close game.

If we don't improve in the next two games we'll lose both of them. Vandy might shoot us out of the gym with 3 of our shooters sparking what feels like a torrid 5 for 100 shooting pace from 3 point.

 

[Namron711]

OU's big guns were Seniors and maybe a tough match up for the freshman physically? Learning how to fight through the mid season slump is part of adjusting to the college game. They'll be fine

 

[vegas man]

I swear Groves got away with whatever he wanted to do. He could extend his arms on screens and slide his leg out and nothing called. He basically grabbed guys a few times and never called. He pushed off every single time he popped out to set a screen and it was never called. He cleared out with his off arm under the goal and it was never called

Not be a sore loser but I saw the exact same things. I kept screaming "call the moving pick!". He was pushing, grabbing, etc on all of his picks and it was never called. True our guys didn't show any toughness. But if the screener is moving its basically like having a lead blocker for the ball handler. Total bullsh*t it wasn't called.

 

[mtmax]

Whatever the issues, someone please tell Oats to never wear a tie again.

 

[BaselineLeaner4]

We had no emotion today. I get Oklahoma shot lights out but you’re the number 2 team in the nation.

Where was the will to win? This seemed like an Avery Johnson or Anthony Grant team out there today.

 

[Jordan Harper]

Whatever the issues, someone please tell Oats to never wear a tie again.

I think he did that for Coaches vs Cancer or something like that

 

[Jordan Harper]

We had no emotion today. I get Oklahoma shot lights out but you’re the number 2 team in the nation.

Where was the will to win? This seemed like an Avery Johnson or Anthony Grant team out there today.

I'll take that 1 game out of 32 rather than all 32

 

[shake_weight]

Wonder if this takes us away from a 1 seed In bracketology

Normally I’d say no way. But this team got booty blasted and looked awful earlier this week

 

[Jordan Harper]

Wonder if this takes us away from a 1 seed In bracketology

Normally I’d say no way. But this team got booty blasted and looked awful earlier this week

Nah they'll still be there. It's a Q1 loss on the road. It doesn't really matter anyways. If you get a top 4 seed its really all the same outside of the first matchup.

 

[pwestbro61]

Wonder if this takes us away from a 1 seed In bracketology

Normally I’d say no way. But this team got booty blasted and looked awful earlier this week

Easily knocks them out for now. That was a world class pathetic effort today.

 

[Codie B]

Nah they'll still be there. It's a Q1 loss on the road. It doesn't really matter anyways. If you get a top 4 seed its really all the same outside of the first matchup.

You are pretty correct that after the 1st rd game, being a top seed doesn’t matter much anymore, and it means nothing after the first two rds.

 

[cola68]

The big picture is perception of the SEC and how this could affect a later discussion of seeding.

The small picture is Bama was just downright awful on offense and then their defense said hold my beer let me one up you.

Why did we continue to go over the screens ?

Oklahoma got us in bad switches time and time again.

Help defense was mostly lazy swats at the ball and very little actual rotation to stop penetration

One other thing that is bothering me : Poor free throw shooting

and it appears that our legs are tired as they shoot them ( gotta Bend an extra inch when your legs are dead )

 

[jtr4dad]

Two years ago, Alabama went into Norman for an early game on Saturday and had the worst performance of the season.

Two years later, much of the same.

In the end, this game doesn’t mean anything in terms of achieving their goal of winning the SEC, but there are startling trends that need to be fixed. 1) Alabama has lost its shooting touch, which happens over a long season at some point. 2) They have forgotten how to defend a ball screen. Both were exposed today.

Noah Clowney is 0-21 in his last 21 three point attempts and Jaden Bradley has disappeared. You knew they would hit the freshman wall and it has arrived. They have to push past it at some point for this team to get back to their elite level.

Give OU credit, they whipped Alabama in every facet. They hit every shot they took and defended very well on Alabama’s screen action. They really iced the action and forced Alabama’s players to make individual plays. Sherfield and Hill were phenomenal for OU. They needed a signature win after nearly beating Kansas and UT, and they came out and deserved it.

Alabama travels back home to take on Vandy and then travel to LSU next weekend. A little soft spot of the schedule where hopefully Alabama can start getting back to their old selves.

They have struggled the past 2 games, but they’ve been dominant since before Christmas. No need for overreactions on a small sample size. This team will be fine.

It wasn’t “Two years later, much of the same”. That team 2 years ago came back and nearly won the game. Our guys today weren’t even competitive. It was embarrassing. Oklahoma is a horrendous offensive team. They’ve had numerous games where they scored under 60 points. They almost hit that by halftime.

 

[kimbell]

Not be a sore loser but I saw the exact same things. I kept screaming "call the moving pick!". He was pushing, grabbing, etc on all of his picks and it was never called. True our guys didn't show any toughness. But if the screener is moving its basically like having a lead blocker for the ball handler. Total bullsh*t it wasn't called.

Bediako moves every pick

 

[Jordan Harper]

It wasn’t “Two years later, much of the same”. That team 2 years ago came back and nearly won the game. Our guys today weren’t even competitive. It was embarrassing. Oklahoma is a horrendous offensive team. They’ve had numerous games where they scored under 60 points. They almost hit that by halftime.

They’re not horrendous. They’re top 60 adjusted offense which is above average. Big 12 has really good defensive teams. They couldn’t miss and Alabama couldn’t hit. 2 years ago neither team could hit but OU hit more than Bama. It’s basketball. No 2 losses are the same, but they count the same

 

[jtr4dad]

They’re not horrendous. They’re top 60 adjusted offense which is above average. Big 12 has really good defensive teams. They couldn’t miss and Alabama couldn’t hit. 2 years ago neither team could hit but OU hit more than Bama. It’s basketball. No 2 losses are the same, but they count the same

They scored 59 against Ole Miss and 51 against Sam Houston State. Say what you want, but they’re a bad offensive team.

 

[StablerCountry]

Bottom line. Bama SHAT on the court today. And got their arse whooped and shamed.

 

[Bama924]

I wonder if the emotions of the Miles situation has finally caught up with them and they are just drained?

Almost has to be. They've been unbelievably resilient since then. I wouldn't be surprised to see abit more hangover from that. Think They'll be ok though.

 

[Rolltide68]

They embarrassed the State of Alabama today and me to

 

[Jordan Harper]

They embarrassed the State of Alabama today and me to

Because of one game? Some take a single loss way too hard.

 

[Jordan Harper]

They scored 59 against Ole Miss and 51 against Sam Houston State. Say what you want, but they’re a bad offensive team.

I mean if you want to cherry pick games from November go ahead. They’re not a great offensive team, but not horrendous. They had a great shooting day. It happens. This game only means something if it carries over into next week and beyond.

 

[BaselineLeaner4]

I mean if you want to cherry pick games from November go ahead. They’re not a great offensive team, but not horrendous. They had a great shooting day. It happens. This game only means something if it carries over into next week and beyond.

True but it’s already carried over from Miss State. I’ll move on if we look like a different team against Vandy but for now, today was more worrisome for me than just a “it happens” type day.

 

[mr4bama]

True but it’s already carried over from Miss State. I’ll move on if we look like a different team against Vandy but for now, today was more worrisome for me than just a “it happens” type day.

that miss state just beat a hot tcu team.

 

[Jordan Harper]

True but it’s already carried over from Miss State. I’ll move on if we look like a different team against Vandy but for now, today was more worrisome for me than just a “it happens” type day.

Basketball isn’t a game where you can just flip a switch on or off and look like a totally different team. You’re not the only team playing the game and sometimes the other team has something to do with a poor day like today. Oklahoma played the best game they have all season and were more hungry for a signature win. This was a wake up call to Alabama and the players said they got a little overconfident. They’re 18-22 year old kids in a unique situation so it’s hard to blame them for that. I think you see lineup changes come Tuesday

 

[gossy]

Bediako moves every pick

I have noticed that as well

 

[jtr4dad]

that miss state just beat a hot tcu team.

TCU was without their starting center, then lost their best player, who is the second leading scorer in the Big 12, to an injury less than 4 minutes into the game. The game still went to overtime. State wouldn’t have beaten a full strength TCU team.