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Link: CECIL HURT: Tide seems to be missing its confidence

J

JustNeedMe81

Hall of Fame
Sep 30, 2011
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This is one of the issue with the team....

If the players stand aside and wait for Collin Sexton to do something, a frequent complaint in recent weeks, does that mean Sexton isn’t competitive? Or does it mean his role isn’t clearly defined 30 games into the season? If that affects team chemistry, which it seems to do, where is the mandate that either the other players accept Sexton’s role or, alternatively, that Sexton will be used differently?There is a difference in “not competing” and in “not having confidence in what’s going on.” But both can lead to paralysis. If it’s the latter case, then the coaching staff should have fixed it long before now, settling on a lineup, defining the roles, building a foundation on something other than improvisation.
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https://www.tidesports.com/cecil-hurt-tide-seems-missing-confidence/
 
These graphs give me the urge to find a bottle of Pepto.

There are psychological causes for seeming reluctant, too. That is what has afflicted Alabama. Nothing causes hesitation like confusion and for the better part of the last three games, Alabama has looked confused. What, after all, is the offensive identity? In a 14-minute stretch without a field goal (allowing for the fact that there were some makeable shots that rimmed out in that stretch), what fundamental play do you call, and who on the floor makes sure that play gets run? If the players stand aside and wait for Collin Sexton to do something, a frequent complaint in recent weeks, does that mean Sexton isn’t competitive? Or does it mean his role isn’t clearly defined 30 games into the season? If that affects team chemistry, which it seems to do, where is the mandate that either the other players accept Sexton’s role or, alternatively, that Sexton will be used differently?

There is a difference in “not competing” and in “not having confidence in what’s going on.” But both can lead to paralysis. If it’s the latter case, then the coaching staff should have fixed it long before now, settling on a lineup, defining the roles, building a foundation on something other than improvisation.

Avery Johnson said after the Florida loss that Alabama’s season is not over, which is true. A win at Texas A&M on Saturday could get Alabama back on the good side of the bracket. It’s a long shot, but still a shot. But it will take a plan that every player understands and has confidence in implementing. Just hoping it will happen isn’t going to do, not after 30 games.
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I'm certainly trying to see a bright side, especially with an A&M win which could go a long ways in putting the train back on a positive track. However, I can't help to think that if this team loses a blowout to A&M, there's going to be some question marks on "what went wrong so quickly"" even liquid paper can't erase. I'm certainly wishing for the best but this season is certainly having that been there done that feel to it. Lets hope for some improvement in team chemistry and some positive improvement going forward..RTR
 
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Didn't we go through this last season after the loss to Clemson? As I recall CAJ stated that after that game he threw out much of playbook to simplify things for the players.
 
Cecil brings up something that I've noticed for weeks... identifying each player's role. For some time now, AJ has had a very unusual subbing practice. At MANY times during the season, I've looked at the lineup coming out of a timeout and asked "where is our offense going to come from for the next 4 minutes?" Usually during those times, our offense went blank - and in times it didn't it was because guys were doing something they didn't normally do when other guys were in the game. On this team, the lion's share of offensive opportunities need to go to Sexton, Key, Petty, Ingram, and Hall. As such, you need to be utilizing a rotation that doesn't have at least two of those guys in the game at all times. What happens when you don't do this is you (1) go through dry spells offensively and (2) you confuse the roles of your players. In other words, when any of these 5 are in the game a player like Alex Reese says "I'm a complementary piece"... and when none of them are in he says "I've got to be a frontline scorer." If you want to improve as a team, you've got to clearly define the roles guys have on a team - and let them grow in that role as the season goes along.
 
This line said it all:

building a foundation on something other than improvisation
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If we're anything, "improvisation" is all we are. It'll fly in the NBA. I don't think it'll fly in college, unless, like UK in many years, you happen to have a lineup packed with future NBA players. We don't...
 
TIDE-HSV said:
If we're anything, "improvisation" is all we are. It'll fly in the NBA. I don't think it'll fly in college, unless, like UK in many years, you happen to have a lineup packed with future NBA players. We don't...
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Winner Winner Chicken Dinner.
 
BAMARICH said:
Cecil brings up something that I've noticed for weeks... identifying each player's role. For some time now, AJ has had a very unusual subbing practice. At MANY times during the season, I've looked at the lineup coming out of a timeout and asked "where is our offense going to come from for the next 4 minutes?" Usually during those times, our offense went blank - and in times it didn't it was because guys were doing something they didn't normally do when other guys were in the game. On this team, the lion's share of offensive opportunities need to go to Sexton, Key, Petty, Ingram, and Hall. As such, you need to be utilizing a rotation that doesn't have at least two of those guys in the game at all times. What happens when you don't do this is you (1) go through dry spells offensively and (2) you confuse the roles of your players. In other words, when any of these 5 are in the game a player like Alex Reese says "I'm a complementary piece"... and when none of them are in he says "I've got to be a frontline scorer." If you want to improve as a team, you've got to clearly define the roles guys have on a team - and let them grow in that role as the season goes along.
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Something last season that I don’t remember commenting on, because I’m hesitant to be critical of our players and coaches - usually looking for the best outcome - and hard not like CAJ - and I’m a fan, not a former coach or upper level player, but this still bugged me and never forgot it ... it was mic’d game, so we got to hear our huddle, critical timeout and I don’t remember if it was last shot at the half or end of game, but he looked around and asked something like “alright who’s going to take the shot?”

I’m only commenting now, since it applies to the defined role discussion. That call always felt really off to me, would have expected someone to have been identified, by CAJ knowing who can or can’t because of their role and ability to make the play, along with game situation, match up, etc etc. Reinforced recall that the play wasn’t successful.

I don’t know, maybe not big deal, many of you guys know way more than I do about the game, but can relate in work place where everyone, the team, works much more effectively and efficiently when the boss knows what everyone brings to the table and puts them in the best situation to succeed (or develop).

If that’s still happening, where the players really don’t have well defined roles on the floor (and a healthy respect for those roles), hopefully we’ll see CAJ adjust sooner than later.

That said, I’ve just been lurking and reading the last few weeks, at a loss for our abrupt slide. Not surprised we have a let down after a big win, but this looks and feels way different than the letdowns we’ve had so far this year...still looking for us to get back off the mat Saturday and get a much needed win.
 
The way I see it is that when we our shots are falling and we are able to run then the team plays with confidence and we look like a good team. When our shots are not falling and/or we are unable to run then our half court offense is non-existent. Most of the time we are either standing around waiting on Sexton to do something or we are trying to set screens which appear to me to be very ineffective most of the time. We become very easy to defend and the team loses confidence quickly because there is no real plan in place on how to fix the issue. That bleeds over to our defense and we start to see the types of losses that we've seen recently.
 
Interesting take by Avery Johnson today... Heard they've been practicing hard since the loss and the loss against UF contributed to the fact that players didn't always execute designed play when they were supposed to...
 
RTR91 said:
Avery said he didn't practice yesterday and is uncertain about today's practice.
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37d920fe8760d62f4779bad1082e2ce5.jpg
 
Personally I think some of the players are occupied, because their minds are not into playing college basketball but always thinking about the NBA and how they are gonna to cash in. If you played pee wee football one year and knew this time next year that you would make millions reguardless how you played in pee wee would you care? Not sure I would. Not a very good example but you
get my drift.
 
What is missing is/are shooters. Or at least shooters who are not a liability in some other facet of the game such as ball handling, defense, etc.

My opinion: This team really needed Norris, Davis, and/or the departed Nick King.
 
The freshmen were all given prominent positions even before the first practice.... might not have been the best strategy....
 
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