Gobbler Country: For those of us who don’t watch enough SEC basketball, could you take us through and describe Alabama’s season thus far? What were the highs and lows that landed the Crimson a tournament berth, especially since the team was only 8-10 in SEC play but managed to play well in the SEC tournament?
Brent Taylor: Man, this is the kind of question that could leave you with an entire novel of an answer. A little backstory: for the last decade, Alabama basketball has been stuck in a sort of mediocrity that is just good enough to keep coaches from getting fired too often, but not good enough to leave fans with anything other than a mostly-bland, slightly-bitter taste in their mouths. Coach Avery Johnson brought a spark to the program 2 years ago when he was hired, and then signed a recruiting class this year (with Collin Sexton) that is probably the program’s best ever, and brought all kinds of expectations with it. The Tide started strong out-of-conference, and nearly took down the then-ranked #14 Minnesota despite playing with only 3 players after nearly the entire team got suspended mid-game for leaving the bench when the weren’t supposed to.
What’s Going To Happen
Alabama has the guy in Sexton, but can he carry a mediocre team that makes a whole lot of big mistakes? The defense is great, and it’s able to clean up every rebound, and that has to be the way this works.
Virginia Tech has the offense that Bama doesn’t, and it can get back in any game with the three, but is it tough enough to hang on when it doesn’t come up enough key rebounds?
The Hokies don’t commit fouls, and Alabama does. The Hokies hit their free throws, and the Crimson Tide don’t. Get ready for a fun 8-9 fight that comes down to the line, and that’s where Virginia Tech pulls it off.
Fearless Prediction & Line
Virginia Tech 75, Alabama 71
Line: Virginia Tech -2, o/u: 141.5
He offers $1M for a perfect Sweet 16 bracket -- and still hasn't given it awayI honestly have no idea what will happen with Alabama in this tournament or any team for that matter. It seemed harder to pick teams this year than any other year. I think Warren Buffet’s billion dollar offer (is he still doing that?) is safe again this year.
Any confidence would have to be pretended or naïve. Many great wins, but 15 losses, so, how can anyone know ? Also, the status of Hall - even if he plays, how effective will he be ?No one is going to have confidence in this team unless they go on a run in the playoffs. Even Alabama fans don't have confidence right now.
Nope -- Petty better have his stroke on -- and then hope for the best for Saturday
How? I’m curiousI'm calling a Bama win, but this game is a coin toss. I believe we have more raw talent and we have a definite size advantage. However, from what I've observed, VaTech is typically better coached and more fundamentally sound than we are. I'm taking us because they don't have a player on the court who can match Sexton if he's on his game. A guy like him can completely change your fortunes after March 1. Still, both teams are so streaky that I wouldn't put money on it either way.
“Typically” was probably the wrong word to use. I’m stating my opinion based on what I’ve observed, which admittedly is a limited sample size. I’m basing it though on a couple of things.How? I’m curious
Got ya, good points“Typically” was probably the wrong word to use. I’m stating my opinion based on what I’ve observed, which admittedly is a limited sample size. I’m basing it though on a couple of things.
One is my knowledge of Buzz Williams’ coached teams. He’s found decent success everywhere he’s been. He usually hasn’t had world-beater talent, but his teams are consistently in the tournament conversation. He had several good runs at Marquette in the Big East days, and now he’s taken a mediocre VaTech program and kept them in the better half of arguably the toughest conference in America. He’s no Bill Self, but Williams is a solid coach who gets a lot out of his teams.
Secondly I’m basing it on what I’ve observed the couple of times I’ve watched them play. Their guys have good fundamentals. They have some really good shooters and they move the ball well. All in all they seem to have a good scheme.
As I said, we have more talent than they do, and I think we will win. However this is a 20+ win ACC team who has beaten UNC, Duke, Clemson, and UVA. They even held tough against Kentucky at one point. To be where they are without having the top level talent as some in their conference leads me to believe they are a very well coached, albeit streaky, team.
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I see this as the issue, particularly after the monster submarine by the AU player. His confidence has been fragile this year, plays great when it's high and disappears when it's low, which has been often. I regard his play as more central to our winning than Sexton's...Any confidence would have to be pretended or naïve. Many great wins, but 15 losses, so, how can anyone know ? Also, the status of Hall - even if he plays, how effective will he be ?