I just realized something.... I was looking up the 2013-2014 team... I think I see the pattern here.
Looking at the stats from the previous season, I noticed that when Alabama men basketball team won games, It was usually Key, Releford or Randloph early in the season, then as the season went along, It was Releford that's leading the team for the most part. Cooper finally started leading the team in Rebounds in second half of the team. Looking at the depth and I'm thinking our players were inconsistent on the field. We've screwed up on defense when we shouldn't be. Our offense wasn't clicking because Look at the starting lineup : Taylor at C, Cooper at PF, Randolph SF, SG for Obasohan and PG Releford... with bench of Nick Jacob, Shannon hale, Dakota Slaughter, Algie Key and Carl ENstrom... Seems like Releford took control of the offense, and sometime he took the game away from the players. I'm not knocking on Releford at all, but I often wondered whether he held on the ball little too much or was shooting when he could've trusted his teammates little more by getting them involved. Sometime the guys looked lot of sync at times, and get caught off guard by decisions made on the floor... Say what you want about Grant, but this not really about him at this point, but rather the roster and the players we had.
After the season, we lost Algie Key, Carl Enstrom, Trevor Releford/Julian Goode/Nick Jacob/Isiah Wilson... Nick Jacob transferred to Georgia Tech and Carl ENgstrom left to play oversea.... ( I think Key, Engstrom and Jacob was encouraged to transfer/leave)
We added Justin Coleman, Riley Norris, Devin Mitchell, Ricky Tarrant, Micheal Kessens and Jeff Garrett. (Jeff Garrett and John Gibson are redshirted)
Suddenly, We're playing better on the floor, Playing better defense. We're seeing Tarrant, Cooper, Kessen, Randolph, kessen leading the team in scoring. On Rebounds everyone is chipping in. I noticed guys are communicating on the floor... Look at fantastic passes we've seen from Tarrant to Randolph several times this season. IF we can tighten up the defense, I really think we could be stingy team that can generate points off turnovers... we're already doing that, but we missed lot of opportunities here and there...
Looking at last year schedule, We lost to Duke by 10 points, Lost in overtime against Drexel, Lost by 1 point against South Florida, Lost by 5 points against Wichita State, Lost by 3 points against Xavier, Lost by six points against Florida and we played close game against Kentucky. Losing those games messed us up mentality, but It also showed that we can compete with those guys, and we weren't very good at closing out the games.. and it almost showed this season. Blowing a lead against Iowa, and losing a game against Wichita. I truly believe that Wichita game really woke the team up, They are playing better on both side of the ball, even limiting Tenn without a shot for 14 minutes. Attendance Crowd are continuing to improve with each wins. This team could be something special this year, we just have to continue to believe in them. I definitely expect Hale to be back on the floor soon... when he realizes He has to be consistent with his defense and knowing when to pick his spot to shoot the ball. Justin Coleman is learning and he has showed flashes at times... But is very inconsistent shooter, especially from the three's. He's rushing his shots and needs to learn to settle down and shoot. Taylor needs to be little more aggressive but at same time learn to not challenge every single shot and pick up fouls... We need to get Kessen and Cooper involved more... By getting them involved, we will see Tarrant, Norris and Randolph getting more looks. I honestly think we need to feature Norris and Tarrant as deadly 3 point shooter... and Randolph too, and see our big guys get some looks. Guys, I think we can surprise lot of teams this year... Seems like teams like SC, Kentucky, Arkansas and Auburn aren't taking us too seriously.. Win those games... whew! I really think the issue was with our depth bench last year and we addressed this and it has paid out well. We also got new players coming in next year, and man, we should be good again.