7-22 Free Throw shooting was one of the reasons Bama lost this game and it makes me sick to my stomach..This many close last possession losses has nothing to do with fate or luck. They are the result of the coaching currently at the Capstone. Feel bad for the kids but how long do the real fans of Alabama basketball have to tolerate this torture? How many ways can a team lose close games? 15 missed free throws and 51 percent from the line? Just unbelievable- and it never ends. It is time for a change- even if it a wrong change.
But I have to question Coach Grant's substitution patterns. The turning point of the game was this:
Early in 2nd half, Bama was playing really good and up by 5 (Retin, Levi, Shannon, Jimmy and Coop), this 5 was playing good offense and defense and rebounding the ball and I thought about to pull away. Hale was hot from outside with back to back good looks. All of the sudden, Kessens and Norris enter the game...Grant takes out Hale and Taylor. Bama then cant make a shot, cant rebound as Kessens was getting pushed around. Before you know it, Bama is down by 8. Grant realizes too late and makes a sub to get Taylor back in for some inside support. Bama then had to make too much of a run to get back in it...they did, but my point is they should have not had to.....that substitution was at a bad time in the game and that is on Coach Grant. Ifs ands and buts, but if that sub pattern didnt happen so early in that Bama run...this game would have been won even with the poor FT shooting. I scratched my head when he made the changes when he did. Norris was playing good and I know he wanted to get him back in the game, but Kessens wasnt and his team was making a run and a push, and you dont make changes at that point, just to make a change...and Coach Grant screwed that up IMO.