Cecil Hurt: State doesn’t have as many great players as before

RTR91

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This year, there’s an excellent prospect, Trendon Watford of Mountain Brook. Watford was expected to visit Tuscaloosa for the Alabama-Auburn game on Tuesday night (this column was written prior to tip-off for deadline purposes) and is being pursued by Duke, among other national schools. He’s skilled and has been coached well, although some recruiting services have stretched him a bit.

He appears closer to 6-7 than 6-9 and while he is considered a five-star prospect by most of those services, it’s worth noting that not all five-stars are created equal and not all are Zion Williamson five-stars, or one-and-done players. In some ways, that makes Watford more of a long-range value, likely to be a contributor for three or four years wherever he plays collegiately.
This is something to consider when discussing how some top 50-75 players aren't making an immediate impact. In hindsight, the basketball rankings look silly when so many guys take longer to become the player the rankings indicated they would be.
 

imauafan

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My guess is most of the players that are ranked in the top 100 participated in AAU basketball and there are good players that are not in AAU so they do not get the same exposure. Plus there are always guys that peak early and other guys are late bloomers. It seems like over the past several years that in the NCAA tournament there are almost always players from Alabama that we did not recruit and was not consider a top 100 prospect but they contribute quite a bit for their teams. I'm not saying we should have signed them but there is more talent in this state than we realize. They are not all concentrated in the Birmingham or other large metro area as in years gone by.
 

Bama Shoals

1st Team
Jan 17, 2007
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Killen, AL
I don't see how anyone can watch the game last night and see the way the offense is being run for large stretches of the game, 30 ft. from the basket with no threats going to the goal, listless dribbling around, players looking clueless, and defend the way the team is being coached. For the amount of money being doled out, you have to expect and demand more. And then the lack of block outs and effort on a lot of rebounds with your season on the line is just mind blowing. And the lack of inbound plays. The list goes on. Some of the blame lies on the players: lack of effort and want-to and they are all very flawed as basketball players with seemingly no real effort to correct those flaws. But a good coach with a good plan still can take average talent and have a team that plays hard and together and accomplish great things. I would take that, average talent that is relentless and a team you can be proud of. Bama does not have that at all and it needs to change.
 

UAH

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I don't see how anyone can watch the game last night and see the way the offense is being run for large stretches of the game, 30 ft. from the basket with no threats going to the goal, listless dribbling around, players looking clueless, and defend the way the team is being coached. For the amount of money being doled out, you have to expect and demand more. And then the lack of block outs and effort on a lot of rebounds with your season on the line is just mind blowing. And the lack of inbound plays. The list goes on. Some of the blame lies on the players: lack of effort and want-to and they are all very flawed as basketball players with seemingly no real effort to correct those flaws. But a good coach with a good plan still can take average talent and have a team that plays hard and together and accomplish great things. I would take that, average talent that is relentless and a team you can be proud of. Bama does not have that at all and it needs to change.
Not being an avid BB fan at all I have been reluctant to comment. As I have watched over this season it is difficult to believe that anyone but the most avid BB fan would watch a team that performed this poorly if they did not have Alabama printed on their jerseys. I have remained confounded as to why the discussion has continued about the team going to the dance when they have not managed to show up and give a consistent effort in any game down the stretch.
 

RTR91

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Nov 23, 2007
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My guess is most of the players that are ranked in the top 100 participated in AAU basketball and there are good players that are not in AAU so they do not get the same exposure. Plus there are always guys that peak early and other guys are late bloomers. It seems like over the past several years that in the NCAA tournament there are almost always players from Alabama that we did not recruit and was not consider a top 100 prospect but they contribute quite a bit for their teams. I'm not saying we should have signed them but there is more talent in this state than we realize. They are not all concentrated in the Birmingham or other large metro area as in years gone by.
Looked at 247's basketball player rankings since the 2010 class. 86 players were ranked, which is an average of 8.6 players a year. That's not ideal, but it's not horrible.

Top 100 recruits: 14
Top 200 recruits: 30
Top 300 recruits: 42
Top 400 recruits: 58
Top 500 recruits: 75

Not sure why it is, but the state just doesn't have the basketball talent.
 

Mystical

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Not to mention the NBA only has 2 rounds of drafting. 60 players. Even if all the top 100 guys played out untill their Senior year, year over year, only 60 get drafted. Then reduce that number by International players. Your best bet is to go with the thought of graduating unless your one of the kids who could go straight out of high school.
 

BAMAVILLE

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Jan 9, 2014
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Looked at 247's basketball player rankings since the 2010 class. 86 players were ranked, which is an average of 8.6 players a year. That's not ideal, but it's not horrible.

Top 100 recruits: 14
Top 200 recruits: 30
Top 300 recruits: 42
Top 400 recruits: 58
Top 500 recruits: 75

Not sure why it is, but the state just doesn't have the basketball talent.
I wonder if part of it is most of the players that are good in the high school level also play football and in most cases chose to pursue football on the collegiate level instead of basketball?
 

RTR91

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I wonder if part of it is most of the players that are good in the high school level also play football and in most cases chose to pursue football on the collegiate level instead of basketball?
I'm sure that's part of it.

I know of at least one player on the football team that could have been a collegiate basketball player.
 

BamaMoon

Hall of Fame
Apr 1, 2004
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I think it's a cultural thing. For the most part you grow up in Alabama dreaming of running into BDS not Coleman.

I was a basketball player (and loved it) but I still dreamed of playing for the Bear!
 

Tides_of_Change

1st Team
Sep 27, 2012
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With all deference to Cecil Hurt, I don't believe this is the time for this article. This is a "just missed on a local big recruit" article during late summer for a program on solid footing possibly on the rise.

Likewise, the timing is completely off for discussing tournament projections from the moment it was realized there would be no appreciable improvement from previous years on some of the program's biggest character flaws earlier this year. (I.E. - Who cares if we sneak in as a 10 or 11 stumbling over our own sneakers if we can't make a bigger statement as a 5 or 6 seed?)

More recently, we've gotten beyond the point of complaining about free-throw shooting, how to manage the last four minutes of a game, how to rotate and manage foul trouble, how to run a half court offense while trailing, how to run a fast break without knocking each other down, etc.

Now, we're at the very scraped-off core of the program where only questions such as: "Can we get a group of guys who act like they visibly care about playing the game of basketball together?", "Can we get a staff that can possibly improve their skills?" and "Can the inherent will of the program be inspired to get out of the 'going through the motions mire' they we are regularly seeing?" are only relevant.

We have Shula discipline/soft psyche meets Dubose tone-deaf preparedness and in-game coaching on a court.

I wish the "not as many talented players in Alabama" refrain was appropriate here.

Just my beyond despondent two cents.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk
 

day-day

Hall of Fame
Jan 2, 2005
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I wonder if part of it is most of the players that are good in the high school level also play football and in most cases chose to pursue football on the collegiate level instead of basketball?
In an interview with Jones during a story on his childhood disease, he stated that his preference as a kid growing up was football. He said that he didn't grow out only taller so football was not really an option.
 

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