Well, different game same story. We get punched in the mouth (which we all knew UF would) and we collapse (yet again...haven't we seen this movie before?). How many times this season have we either lead and collapsed, or got behind and collapsed? With 16 minutes left in the game UF had 27 points. In a ten minute span they outscored us 25-9...extrapolated over forty minutes and that's 100-36. For twenty four minutes we look like world beaters then the next ten, between the missed layups, missed FT's, and TO's, we look like we couldn't beat a good high school team.
Two things really disturb me about this season. 1) Our mental lapses have lasted all year. From our needing a buzzer beater against SDS at home the first game, to the second UF debacle 30+ games later. 2) When we're bad, we're really really bad. Some say it's a lack of maturity, but as one poster pointed out, our bevy of soph's have played 60+ games,not to mention TR. They may lack the maturity to stop the bleeding, but one would think they could at least slow it down some.
Too those that say this team "overachieved" I'll say this...Yes we were picked 6th in the preseason, we finished 4th. We had key injuries resulting in little depth or inside presence but we had a 21-12 record. Someone that doesn't follow Bama basketball that closely may say "They really overachieved this year". But if one looks at our schedule game by game and sees who we beat and how we beat them, and who we lost to and how we lost, any inkling of over achievement physically is quickly negated by our underachievement mentally. If we beat Mercer, Dayton, Tulane, Auburn, and LSU, we're 26-7 and in the NCAA's. Then there is a case for "over achievement", but we didn't Some may say we have a "football mentality"...we sure coulda used some of that mental toughness that CNS talks about this year. Maybe this NIT bound Tide will learn from this year. RTR
