Poll: The Future of Alabama Basketball

Since it's a free article from the T-News I thought I'd link it:

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/artic...omething-has-to-change-for-Alabama-basketball

FWIW, Cecil is barking up the same tree as many of us in that CAG's brand of basketball is boring, frustrating and (most importantly) is not working.

Someone posted this on another forum and I thought it would fit here in this thread, when Grant first arrived he promised an exciting brand of basketball. Full court press, fast break offense, etc. We did that for a couple of years and were very successful in 2010 (CAG's 2nd season) finishing 12-4 in the SEC and NIT runner-ups to a very good Wichita State team. The committee gave us the shaft because it was obvious to anyone with half a brain that we deserved to be in the tourney that year. Then in 2011 with a top-notch recruiting class to go with the returning veterans we blew the doors off the Puerto Rico tourney against some pretty good opponents. However, even during that tourney we saw Grant start to slow things down which led to very obvious frustration by some of our players (Mitchell, Green, and, to a lesser extend, Releford). After that tourney it seemed like Grant clamped down on the reins and we've been mostly a slow-down, half-court offense and defense team ever since. What happened? Why did he abandon that style of play which the players and fans really enjoyed and seemed to be successful? I have always heard it was a depth problem but we had more depth in 2011 than in 2010. We did make the NCAA tourney in 2011 but quite frankly that team was not as good as the 2010 team even though the overall talent level was better. We all blamed Mitchell and Green for being cancers on the team but for awhile now I have been of the opinion that Grant mishandled them both badly. I'm not saying they were choirboys but that he did not manage their emotions very well. I'll hang up and listen to others response/thoughts.

Crimson1967 said:

If we fire Grant, they are going to hire someone just like him. A young coach who had success at a mid-major that may or may not work out.

I think unless the season is a total disaster (such as going 5-13 in the SEC), they'll keep him another year just to save on the buyout clause of his contract.

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Our AD is one of the most prosperous in the nation, a few million dollars is no reason to hang onto a lame duck coach. Plus it almost always works out this way, a coach is fired, gets another job so the buyout is reduced by the amount paid by the new job.

Grant first arrived he promised an exciting brand of basketball. Full court press, fast break offense, etc. We did that for a couple of years

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Great post. When we went to the barn game we saw a plaque on the wall that had a quote from Grant talking about bringing 94 feet of pressure and fast break offense and we both said that all was a lie.

When we first slowed down I remember people on here making excuses talking about depth and that Mitchell and Green were the problem but I think it's clear after how many players we've lost something is wrong with Grant.you lose your top players is going to hurt. I feel more like Grant has regressed as a coach and either lied or just coaches scared the past 4 or 5 years and his teams don't look like they have fun.

Ldlane said:

Is Paul Westhead still alive?

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Yeah, and apropos the "plaque on the wall" in the post above, so is Nolan Richardson, as I noted yesterday. Maybe a second-chance coach with a long history of entertaining and winning basketball (and those suffocating "40 minutes of hell") would be the ticket for getting 'Bama basketball out of Grant's Tomb.

imauafan said:

Our AD is one of the most prosperous in the nation, a few million dollars is no reason to hang onto a lame duck coach. Plus it almost always works out this way, a coach is fired, gets another job so the buyout is reduced by the amount paid by the new job.

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Yep, especially when there are 2 or 3 other donors where a $1 million dollar, tax deductible donation to the AD would pay for the buyout (assuming that that kind of money would only be a drop-in-the-bucket to them).

TitleWave said:

Yeah, and apropos the "plaque on the wall" in the post above, so is Nolan Richardson, as I noted yesterday. Maybe a second-chance coach with a long history of entertaining and winning basketball (and those suffocating "40 minutes of hell") would be the ticket for getting 'Bama basketball out of Grant's Tomb.

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He is 73, but Larry Brown is still coaching at 74. Maybe he has a second wind in him.

TitleWave said:

Yeah, and apropos the "plaque on the wall" in the post above, so is Nolan Richardson, as I noted yesterday. Maybe a second-chance coach with a long history of entertaining and winning basketball (and those suffocating "40 minutes of hell") would be the ticket for getting 'Bama basketball out of Grant's Tomb.

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Mr. Richardson is an aging time bomb, with a personality akin to leaking gun powder. At 73, he's at least 10 years past any semblance of his prime.

I don't have the answer to fix UA basketball, but NR surely isn't it. If we want relics, why don't we just draft Wimp? It will save on the moving van.

Hoot30 said:

He is 73, but Larry Brown is still coaching at 74. Maybe he has a second wind in him.

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And doing a pretty fair job of it too. And just as Nolan Richardson may be an "aging time bomb" trailing gunpowder (think the law of incendiary physics works in the opposite direction, Eyeshade), when it comes to putting some fireworks back into 'Bama basketball, if Bill Battle could resurrect or clone Ray Mears, that too would be far preferable to who's presently working the sideline...

Ldlane said:

This is our guy: David Arsenault at Grinnell College "The System".

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You know, speaking of systems, Grinnell's unofficial mascot, the grey squirrel, is quite suited to an adage I ascribe to 'Bama's "system" with Grant as coach: "Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while."

At the start of the season I was part of the keep Grant crowd. After watching the last few games I'm starting to go the other way. The games are slow and boring. People will not pay to see that. With the players we have they should be pushing the ball up the floor and playing strong full court defense. They started the year out that way but someting changed when we got into SEC play.

mark4tide said:

At the start of the season I was part of the keep Grant crowd. After watching the last few games I'm starting to go the other way. The games are slow and boring. People will not pay to see that. With the players we have they should be pushing the ball up the floor and playing strong full court defense. They started the year out that way but someting changed when we got into SEC play.

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Better opponents?

mark4tide said:

At the start of the season I was part of the keep Grant crowd. After watching the last few games I'm starting to go the other way. The games are slow and boring. People will not pay to see that. With the players we have they should be pushing the ball up the floor and playing strong full court defense. They started the year out that way but someting changed when we got into SEC play.

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Yes. Someone posted that the regression happened after the Xavier game. Since that game, we are scoring in the 50's and 60's (Ark. game is the outlier).

I am left to wonder what this may have been with a good coach having Jacobs and Lacey still on the team. I think both would have been seniors this year.

I said early in the year we'd make the tourney but Grant went back to his comfort zone and we've played a totally different style since the Xavier game. We now have no chance after losing to a winless in the SEC USC team side and a average Florida team at home. Looking at the schedule it doesn't bode well either, UK up next and we may not be within 40 of them. I am ready to start softball season. At least we win in that sport.