The Day After: Alabama vs. WSU (Postgame)

Re: The Day After: Alabama vs. WSU

I agree and I don't think this ruins our chances to get to the tournament.....we still have a very good chance to beat ucla and finish non conference with only 3 losses and as long as we do good in conference then I think we're ok

Re: The Day After: Alabama vs. WSU

I'm one never to blame refs, especially in basketball, but when they were in the double bonus with 8 min left in the game and we were never in the the bonus the entire second half, something ain't right. Granted we choked that game away not taking care of the ball under 4 minutes to go and only scoring 1 point after we took an 11 point lead with over 5 minutes left, but the refs didn't hurt their cause at all. Should've beat these guys again, but oh well....here's to hoping we can upset UCLA and finish out the rest of the non-conference games unbeaten and finish in the top 4 in the SEC. I think if we can get a win against Florida or UK during conference games, we can make the tourney.

Re: The Day After: Alabama vs. WSU

1. Less than a handful of minutes left, and Wichita State had 2 fouls, playing an aggressive attach defense. 2. Fouls.

2. Meanwhile, Taylor and Kessens were playing musical fouls, and I noticed that when Taylor got 4, sat down, and Kessens came in and got his 4th, the decline began. We just couldn't be as aggressive with liabilities in the game. We played very hesitant on offense and defense.

Re: The Day After: Alabama vs. WSU

yesitsmed23 said:

I'm one never to blame refs, especially in basketball, but when they were in the double bonus with 8 min left in the game and we were never in the the bonus the entire second half, something ain't right. Granted we choked that game away not taking care of the ball under 4 minutes to go and only scoring 1 point after we took an 11 point lead with over 5 minutes left, but the refs didn't hurt their cause at all. Should've beat these guys again, but oh well....here's to hoping we can upset UCLA and finish out the rest of the non-conference games unbeaten and finish in the top 4 in the SEC. I think if we can get a win against Florida or UK during conference games, we can make the tourney.

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bamahippie said:

1. Less than a handful of minutes left, and Wichita State had 2 fouls, playing an aggressive attach defense. 2. Fouls.

2. Meanwhile, Taylor and Kessens were playing musical fouls, and I noticed that when Taylor got 4, sat down, and Kessens came in and got his 4th, the decline began. We just couldn't be as aggressive with liabilities in the game. We played very hesitant on offense and defense.

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Bama shot a total of 12 free throws last night. Wichita State shot 11 in the second half and 17 overall. I'm sure it was just by chance WSU's run really got going when VanVleet was able to get Jimmie to foul at with 4:27 left. That layup made the game 51-44.

CajunCrimson said:

I also am never one to complain about the officiating, but Basketball is such a momentum based game....and one or two bad calls or (in last night's case) NO calls....really killed us. At some point the kids start to question everything they do. I saw Levi decide to take over -- and he almost did it. If that last shot goes in -- and he gets the FT, we win, even after all that junky officiating.....

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We were fortunate Levi was able to recover the ball and call timeout after he was mugged while driving the lane.

Re: The Day After: Alabama vs. WSU

I think this is the best team CAG has had at Bama. Hopefully the team will continue to improve.
The key, to me, is to pull one of these nail biters out so our confidence can grow.

Re: The Day After: Alabama vs. WSU

Ldlane said:

Where is Slaughter? I didn't see him play last night. BTW - this is the "post game" thread.

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I'm somewhat puzzled as well. I haven't looked up his stats, but he seems to be a pretty good 3 pt. shooter when he does get in.

Re: The Day After: Alabama vs. WSU

I agree with everything above but would like to make a couple of observations during that critical last 4 minutes of the game.. twice at the beginning of it, tarrant did not want to come back to get the ball (he was already past half court). One time I even witnessed him motioning to the player with the ball to dribble up, except he was double teamsd and it caused a turnover. I wonder if tarrant was having cramps again. something to keep an eye on.

2.during that time when we desperately needed another ball handler JC didnt come in the game at all. I think that means he is really untrustworthy on defense and will not be as much as a help this year as we had hoped.

Re: The Day After: Alabama vs. WSU

What about the WSU who got a loose ball, slid on the court, and called a timeout? That should have been a travel. There were other bad calls then went against us but honestly we should have still won the game. It wasn't like WSU hit all their free throws, they missed 2-3 down the stretch. Unfortunately they rebounded those misses and got other opportunities. Regardless of the bad officiating (and it was bad down the stretch) we completely came unraveled when they started pressing us.

Re: The Day After: Alabama vs. WSU

There were opportunities, but CAG made some in game coaching errors IMHO. We have an 11 point lead at the 6 minute mark, they go on a run, We call 1 timeout and can't stop the bleeding. You call as many as needed to get your team to focus. 1 basket wins the game. I also have to wonder where was Norris during the last few minutes. He seems pretty good with ball security and gives you a toughness that European players like Kessens do not have right now.

At the end of the game, they score with about 10 seconds left , we rush down court, but don't call a TO to set up a play. Levi does his best and clearly gets fouled, but if there is one thing we've learned over the years is the officials are going to swallow their whistle on fouls against the home team at the end of a game. We in bound and basically get no shot at all to win the game. How may games over the past 5 year have we had a chance to win, but can't manage to even get a shot off. I am not counting Coopers shot because it didn't touch anything.

Bad calls or not, there is no excuse to lose a game with and 11 point lead with six minutes to go. How many shots did we even get off after the 6 minutes mark. Zero field goals after the 6 minute mark and how many turn overs? I applaud CAG for being willing to change his style on offense, but it may be too little too late. We needed to win a road game or two and time has just about run out. The committee will devalue conference road wins because of the perception the SEC is weak. I still think we have a chance, but we are going to have to be at least in the top 4 in conference play to have a chance now.

Re: The Day After: Alabama vs. WSU

Really really need to take the UCLA game...

Re: The Day After: Alabama vs. WSU

imauafan said:

What about the WSU who got a loose ball, slid on the court, and called a timeout? That should have been a travel. There were other bad calls then went against us but honestly we should have still won the game. It wasn't like WSU hit all their free throws, they missed 2-3 down the stretch. Unfortunately they rebounded those misses and got other opportunities. Regardless of the bad officiating (and it was bad down the stretch) we completely came unraveled when they started pressing us.

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Think my fiance was a little annoyed with my reaction to that play. How can you not call a travel when a guy slides across the court?

Rama Jama said:

There were opportunities, but CAG made some in game coaching errors IMHO. We have an 11 point lead at the 6 minute mark, they go on a run, We call 1 timeout and can't stop the bleeding. You call as many as needed to get your team to focus. 1 basket wins the game.

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We had two timeouts remaining when the game was 51-40. The first timeout used was with 1:07 left after Rodney had his 10 second violation. Guess it's two fold. Save the last timeout for an emergency (Levi using it with 1 second left) or use it to stop the bleeding and hope we hold on.

Bad calls or not, there is no excuse to lose a game with and 11 point lead with six minutes to go. How many shots did we even get off after the 6 minutes mark. Zero field goals after the 6 minute mark and how many turn overs?

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After Ricky's three pointer to make the game 51-40:

Shots (including Cooper's): 4
Turnovers: 4
Fouls: 3

Re: The Day After: Alabama vs. WSU

Just tough to get too worked up when we've had games like this year after year even going back to Gottfried. Sure part of it is horrible officiating in college ball but these type of late game collapses against quality (and non quality) opponents are too common under Grant. Regardless of the talent he may have brought in this year I continue to have serious concerns of the mental fortitude of his teams. Until that improves our talent (and coaching) will allow us to play with most good teams until 'winning' time. If this was Grant's 3rd year it'd be easier to give him the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to a fairly new squad but it's not.

Ldlane said:

After letting it soak in I think we are improved. The effort last night was tremendous, but it could be too little/too late for CAG. I'm still excited about this team and our chances this year over the past two years. We looked very disheveled the last 3 min. of the game and I think we should've gotten an earlier TO to settle down, etc, etc, etc ....... RTR

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Grant's coaching for his job from this day forward - and not a thing wrong with that. The 1-21 record vs. Top 50 RPI factoid is very sobering. But what could get Grant run off back to Richmond is that since his second year, his teams have not improved as the season progressed. Early on at 'Bama, his teams clawed and scratched defensively, and that kind of suffocating play made up for their shortcomings and lack of development in other areas. They never seemed out of a game even when they were behind 90% of the way. Now, it's reversed - he's got talent and his teams get a lead but they never seem to exude any confidence (nor instill any confidence in us the fans) that they're going to win the game until the final whistle blows. Ergo, last night's mighty deflating loss - carve it up any way you want, the game should've been put away in the Win column. In summation, yes, they can still improve, and yes, they can still reach the Big Dance, but the trend of play over the last four years under Grant really argues against it.