Commentary on CAG Not Being Fired This Year

[JDCrimson]

I can't access the link but I believe Erwin Dudley would have been on those teams. He is the last legitimate post player we have had.

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[1958againbear]

I can't access the link but I believe Erwin Dudley would have been on those teams. He is the last legitimate post player we have had.

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Yes and with the team that won the SEC under CMG and the next year was ranked #1 early in the season (our only #1 ranking I believe) before completely underperforming and totally messing up a promising season (cementing the trend of CMG teams).

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[imauafan]

I can't access the link but I believe Erwin Dudley would have been on those teams. He is the last legitimate post player we have had.

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Jamychal Green, in spite of his bad attitude, was a very good post player.

 

[Rama Jama]

Our biggest flaw was not having a " go to" guy when we were struggling to score. If we don't find someone who can score when we go into on of our patented drought, we'll be no better next year or ever. It doesn't necessarily have to be a big guy. It can be a guard ,a healthy Ronald Steele and Mo Williams come to mind, or a forward like Erwin Dudley or to lesser extent Richard Hendrix.

I wonder about the leadership on this team. This should have been Trevor Releford's team, but he didn't seem to take ownership until too late in the season.

 

[Arkytider68]

What he said!!! Please don't freak out Bama fans. Give this a chance and see if in the long run CAG can make it work. What do we have to lose??????

If we had had the patience, which at Bama, we often don't......

We'd start to find we can make a strong run every 3 years or so.....then the window shrinks 2 every two years, and then every year...... we stand to be a pretty dominant team next year.

PG - Releford - SR
PG - Lacey - JR
PG - Obasahan - SO
SG - Randolph - JR
SG/SF - Cooper - JR
PF - Jacobs - JR
C - Gueye - SR
C - The Swede - JR

Plus two bigs coming in --

We'll be just fine. I'm guessing we'll be preseason Top 25 - and picked to be in the Top 4 of the SEC>......

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Our biggest flaw was not having a " go to" guy when we were struggling to score. If we don't find someone who can score when we go into on of our patented drought, we'll be no better next year or ever. It doesn't necessarily have to be a big guy. It can be a guard ,a healthy Ronald Steele and Mo Williams come to mind, or a forward like Erwin Dudley or to lesser extent Richard Hendrix.

I wonder about the leadership on this team. This should have been Trevor Releford's team, but he didn't seem to take ownership until too late in the season.

I really think the go-to guy needs to be inside, despite the success we had with Steele and Mo. Jump shooters can always miss. A good inside guy like Dudley can always score or get fouled, or both. That's the true weakness of this team, whether it's because of injury or recruiting failures in evaluation or development. My opinion remains the same - they over-achieved. There were good reasons we were projected sixth...

 

[Ldlane]

Nail on the head! Whether you go Outside/In or Inside/Out there has to be an actual "INSIDE" that is a threat to do something! Right now it is Outside/Out.

I really think the go-to guy needs to be inside, despite the success we had with Steele and Mo. Jump shooters can always miss. A good inside guy like Dudley can always score or get fouled, or both. That's the true weakness of this team, whether it's because of injury or recruiting failures in evaluation or development. My opinion remains the same - they over-achieved. There were good reasons we were projected sixth...

 

[Alasippi]

I really think the go-to guy needs to be inside, despite the success we had with Steele and Mo. Jump shooters can always miss. A good inside guy like Dudley can always score or get fouled, or both. That's the true weakness of this team, whether it's because of injury or recruiting failures in evaluation or development. My opinion remains the same - they over-achieved. There were good reasons we were projected sixth...

Anyone who really understands basketball, as you do Earle, knows that it's an inside/out game. You can have the three best shooting guards in college basketball and if they're getting double teamed on the perimeter because there's no inside scoring threat then they don't have a prayer to consistently hit the outside jumpers.

We really need to focus on finding the next Antonio McDyess or Eddie Phillips, somebody who commands attention because he can score every time he gets the ball inside. We find that guy and Releford, Lacy, Randolph, Cooper, Obasahan etc will finally be able to demonstrate their true shooting ability.

Until we find him however, they're going to look like average or poor shooting guards and there's nothing they can do about it.

Lacey was the second rated shooting guard in America coming out of high school. He narrowed his choices to Kansas, Kentucky and Bama.

He didn't get to Tuscaloosa and suddenly forget how to shoot, he just faces an almost impossible situation because of the lack of the inside game.

So all the people who are saying, "We need a guy who can score" are way over simplifying the matter.

Yes we need a guy who can score but we need him to be anywhere from 6-8 to 7 feet tall.

That will enable the 6-1 to 6-5 guys to be able to score as well.

sip

 

[Ldlane]

This leads into the way things are flowing for this year's team.

Last year the way to beat Alabama was to "pack the Zone" and have the guards shoot because we couldn't hit the ocean from outside. It wasn't for fear of the post game, but our inability to shoot the perimeter shot.

This year you notice since TR has moved his 3-pt shooting over 40% the way to beat Alabama is to push the guards out to around 1/4 court. Everyone doubles on TR because he is the only credible threat to take someone off the dribble. Nobody guards the Post because 1.) if he catches in the HP, he is not a credible threat to shoot the ball and everyone else is covered. 2.) If he is in the LP he is too far away from the ball to catch a pass. Everyone else is screening and cutting very high.

When they push the guards out high the refs are letting the defensive players hold, tackle, clip, etc..... as if it was a Jr. High Girls JV game!

 

[RTR91]

When listening to analysts discuss possible teams to win the tournament, I hear "experience" or "they have old guys" as a reason Miami can win it. I heard Bill Raftery say New Mexico might win it because of their experience.

Do you know what Miami and New Mexico have in common? They both lost to Alabama in the 2011 NIT. I looked at the 4 teams Alabama played in the 2011 NIT; three of the teams are in the tournament. Going in order of how Alabama played them, look at the four teams this season.

Coastal Carolina finished with a 14-15 record while having 5 upperclassmen, which made it the 105 least experienced team in the nation.

New Mexico is a 3 seed after going 29-5 with 7 upperclassmen and the 181 least experienced team.

Miami won the ACC regular season and tournament championship while going 27-6 and earned a 2 seed. The team has 8 upperclassmen and is the 340 least experienced team (or 7th experienced team).

Colorado received a 10 seed after going 21-11 with 5 upperclassmen and the 39th least experienced team.

Now, look at Alabama. The team went 22-12 with 6 upperclassmen and the 47th least experienced team. The 2011 Alabama team had a pretty decent big man in Green (was better last year) and Tony Mitchell. While Tony was a problem for CAG, this team would have benefited from his basketball ability.

From looking at the experience level of this team, fans have to be excited about next season if Releford returns. Pollard played well last night, which gives some hope for his improvement next year.

Here's the website where I found my information if you're curious to see other teams.

 

[AlexD]

Lacey was the second rated shooting guard in America coming out of high school. He narrowed his choices to Kansas, Kentucky and Bama.He didn't get to Tuscaloosa and suddenly forget how to shoot, he just faces an almost impossible situation because of the lack of the inside game.

If I remember right Lacy was not that good of a shooter in high school but a great driver. So I think he is more or less learning how to shoot.

 

[RTR91]

If I remember right Lacy was not that good of a shooter in high school but a great driver. So I think he is more or less learning how to shoot.

Here's his scout recruiting page. This says he was a shooter in high school.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Here's his scout recruiting page. This says he was a shooter in high school.

He shot about 34.5% on his 3 pts his senior year - not bad but not really eye-catching...

 

[BamaMTA06]

Lacey was the second rated shooting guard in America coming out of high school. He narrowed his choices to Kansas, Kentucky and Bama.

According to Rivals Trevor was the #6 SG, Levi was the #8 SG, and Rondey was the #12 SG in the nation. Interesting...

 

[Ldlane]

In keeping with the topic, I think Coach Cal's woes from his press conference is very relevant to this discussion:

As a Coach, I gained a bit of respect for Cal in his post-game interview:

WDRB

"What I can tell our fans, I felt there were a couple (players) that wanted to end this and I didn't fight them much," Calipari told Tom Leach on his postgame program from IMG Sports. "I'm proud of how we fought hard to get back in the game, but we shouldn't be in this position."

"This is a humbling experience for me in a lot of ways and believe me I tried everything from dodge ball to everything to try to connect and I didn't," Calipari said.

"The biggest lesson you have is you've got to have competition, we've got to have more players, you can't do it and then you get hijacked by a player or two. You get hijacked, because you think you have to play them and you don't have a choice, and then you accept what they want to give you, surrender, and now the program is -- you can't do it.

I told Earle that it looked like he just wanted that game over when they were down by 11. I could see it in his eyes.

I know the feeling. I don't care if you're Michael Jordan, you ain't taking over my team! You can be Michael Jordan on the playground and not on the Court.

These quotes make me think back to some of ours players like DJ Hall, Tony Mitchell, etc..... I'm glad so far that CAG and CNS haven't given in to the players and fans.

 

[Alasippi]

In keeping with the topic, I think Coach Cal's woes from his press conference is very relevant to this discussion:

As a Coach, I gained a bit of respect for Cal in his post-game interview:

WDRB








I told Earle that it looked like he just wanted that game over when they were down by 11. I could see it in his eyes.

I know the feeling. I don't care if you're Michael Jordan, you ain't taking over my team! You can be Michael Jordan on the playground and not on the Court.

These quotes make me think back to some of players like DJ Hall, Tony Mitchell, etc..... I'm glad so far that CAG and CNS haven't given in to the players and fans.

His talk reminded me of Coach Saban after the Louisiana-Monroe loss in year one. "If I have to tear down this program and start it from scratch I will" and "The players who aren't buying in are not going to be here". Very similar to Coach C's.

 

[BamaMTA06]

In keeping with the topic, I think Coach Cal's woes from his press conference is very relevant to this discussion:

As a Coach, I gained a bit of respect for Cal in his post-game interview:

WDRB








I told Earle that it looked like he just wanted that game over when they were down by 11. I could see it in his eyes.

I know the feeling. I don't care if you're Michael Jordan, you ain't taking over my team! You can be Michael Jordan on the playground and not on the Court.

These quotes make me think back to some of players like DJ Hall, Tony Mitchell, etc..... I'm glad so far that CAG and CNS haven't given in to the players and fans.

This is the one thing football fans we never understand, IMO. It's easy to kick a WR, LB, or RB off them team when you have four 4/5 star players waiting in line behind them. One bad player can cost a college bball coach his job. You have to have a strong gut to kickoff, suspend, or bench those type of players. We could have really used a Cat Barber on this team, but there is no way CAG could have signed him and maintained control of the team.

 

[Rama Jama]

I really think the go-to guy needs to be inside, despite the success we had with Steele and Mo. Jump shooters can always miss. A good inside guy like Dudley can always score or get fouled, or both. That's the true weakness of this team, whether it's because of injury or recruiting failures in evaluation or development. My opinion remains the same - they over-achieved. There were good reasons we were projected sixth...

Just for clarification purposes. I was not saying we don't need an inside guy. I was saying a "Go To" guy can be a guard if he is good enough. If we can get a balanced offense, we'll be much better, but we have to be better in our half court sets. We are not crisp with the ball in our hands. We hesitate way too much before making our moves, often allowing the defense to catch up.

Hopefuly Shannon Hale with be the answer along with an improved Jacobs. Jacobs needs to spend the summer rebounding with Chris Hines. He'd learn to rebound. Chris had no vertical, is shorter, and weighs far less than jacobs and could out rebound him with one arm tied behind his back. How many put backs would Jacobs have had if he just rebounded effectively?