Bama Game Thread: MBB Bama vs Zona - B’Ham Sat Dec 13 - 8:30 CST ESPN

[RollTide-YNWA]

And I know CNO wants guys to take open looks from 3, but when Sherrell is jacking up 3s and they are bricks, those are not good shots.

Sherrell actually has a pretty stroke most of the time, but the green light for Bol Bowen definitely needs to be taken away. He needs to be used in more of a slasher role, in my opinion.

 

[BhamToTexas]

We had our company Christmas party last night so I missed this one.

Biggest thing I see on the stat sheet is they had 28 more shots!! That was the difference.

 

[NoNC4Tubs]

We had our company Christmas party last night so I missed this one.

Biggest thing I see on the stat sheet is they had 28 more shots!! That was the difference.

They killed us on rebounding...is why.

 

[Cr1msonT1deKJ]

We got to get another big man that can rebound. It's my opinion 1 is not enough. When the shots do not fall we are exposed.

 

[cthorne22]

I would ask some of you to look beyond the stats. They don’t always tell the entire story

We are built to play our style. We won’t match up well with some teams. Some won’t match up well with us

The problem is we don't match up well with good teams because good teams rebound and limit turnovers even if shots aren't falling.
Give me 20 more shots and I'll beat anyone I don't care what % you shoot.

 

[edwd58]

Let me preface this by saying that I'm glad that Nate is our coach. There's much to like about his style of play and the results we've had since his arrival.

Unfortunately, his defense reminds me of the Gottfied era. Back then, defense was where we stood around and waited/watched the other team score, inbounded the ball, and raced down the court to fire off a shot. We were consistently outrebounded. This year's team is eerily similar thus far. In each of our losses we've lost the battle of the boards. Here's the rebounding numbers from those games:
Purdue: total rebounds 52-28, offensive 19-7
Gonzaga: total rebounds 48-36, offensive 20-13
Arizona: total rebounds 52-32, offensive 22-3

I've heard it said a thousand times, and back in my youth coaching days said it to my players the same, that rebounding is about desire/effort. Until Nate gets his teams, this team, to adopt a different defensive mindset we'll continue to win lots of games but not the tough games - not the games that get you into a Final Four.

 

[BAMAVILLE]

We are relying too much on Philon when we get into shooting slumps. Hes a great player but he unfortunately cant carry a team every game.

Last night we had several empty and wasted possessions where he took a shot and missed. There were no extra passes ... it was all him. Zona in returned made 2-3 passes and knocked down a 3. We broke the scoring drought when we had a possession with passes. So all the stuff us there, we just haven't figured out how to play "elite" consis.

Before last night, i felt like this was a legit elite eight team. Going into SEC play, I feel like this is a legit sweet sixteen team, they have room to improve to elite Eight status.

 

[jjv0004]

I would ask some of you to look beyond the stats. They don’t always tell the entire story

We are built to play our style. We won’t match up well with some teams. Some won’t match up well with us.

We are never going to match up with the good teams with any size. Nate did not do a good job this year with roster construction. It was obvious when seeing the makeup of this team that they would struggle to rebound and defend the interior. Nates needs to get bigger and more athletic down low next year.

 

[Bama Shoals]

I agree with your thoughts here, but it confuses me when CNO calls out guys for a lack of toughness. I mean, I get it, but he doesn't recruit guys who play that style. We are a run and gun team that needs to hit a high percentage of threes to be successful, and that is fine. It just seems shortsighted or hypocritical to recruit and coach that style and then act surprised when we get pushed around in the paint. I would tell coach to go recruit a couple of bangers if that is what he wants, but don't call out those guys when they can't step out and knock down threes. If he wants us to be able to do both, he needs to make some adjustments here and there. I think he has brought us to be a top ten program right now. I hope he figures out how to get us in the top five year in and year out. He certainly seems to have the fire. Roll Tide!

I agree with this totally. Like CNO keeps calling out Bol Bowen to be more dominant inside. Like dude, he's built like a toothpick and is a finesse player. You are asking him to do something he's not capable of doing and getting frustrated with it. As someone else said, build the roster better.