Trevor Lacey Transferring
- Thread starter RTR91
- Start date
I received an infraction on the message board back in March of 2012 by the administrators. I was very critical of Anthony Grant back then and his inability to connect with the personnel he was coaching. Looking back I think the precedent was set for the future with regards to Grant. Nothing personal and I think my opinion is objective. Lacey will transfer and prosper at another school. UConn and others offered Lacey and he chose to stay home at Alabama. Have to respect the kid for that decision. Unfortunately I respect Lacey even more for leaving the program and Anthony Grant. In my opinion a coach like Kevin Ollie suits todays player better. Tough minded and fair with the ability to connect.
Alabama deserves better. My unbiased vote is for his immediate termination. Just my humble opinion.
Alabama deserves better. My unbiased vote is for his immediate termination. Just my humble opinion.
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I've been on the fence with Grant most of his tenure. It is definitely concerning that he's had so many suspensions in-season and defections from players who were key cogs to the team. At first, I figured it was the process of separating the wheat from the chaff but it has continued with players he has recruited into the program. I feel like he has sold some of these guys a bill of goods on the kind of mentality we were going to play. They thought Alabama was going to play in something similar to what VCU used under Grant and continued under Smart: a lot of press, fast tempo, athletes getting their chance to produce against numbers. Instead we've been a plodding half court team that tries to limit possessions.
People can say buu-but injuries. It doesn't matter, no college basketball prospect these days wants to play in the Hoosiers [movie] b-ball style. And you don't win college basketball without good players. We aren't going to get good players by playing this style.
People can say buu-but injuries. It doesn't matter, no college basketball prospect these days wants to play in the Hoosiers [movie] b-ball style. And you don't win college basketball without good players. We aren't going to get good players by playing this style.
RGW, we've already seen Grant's team play uptempo, and it was impressive. Go back and look at the NIT games from several years ago when we trapped and ran and dunked Miami and others off the court.
I'm not a CAG disciple, and I think he must be held accountable for several obvious mistakes, but let's be fair: because of injuries and departures, we had one point guard last season. We had no size. With the exception of TR, we had no consistent shooters. We play the style we play, not only because of numbers but because of talent. We've gotten our share of big-name recruits. But some of their ratings appeared to come straight out of the Jack Doss Guide To Player Assessment.
Our style got us to the cusp of the tournament. That's no longer good enough. Grant has been backed into the corner of a show-me year. He's got whom he's got. No excuses.
I'm not a CAG disciple, and I think he must be held accountable for several obvious mistakes, but let's be fair: because of injuries and departures, we had one point guard last season. We had no size. With the exception of TR, we had no consistent shooters. We play the style we play, not only because of numbers but because of talent. We've gotten our share of big-name recruits. But some of their ratings appeared to come straight out of the Jack Doss Guide To Player Assessment.
Our style got us to the cusp of the tournament. That's no longer good enough. Grant has been backed into the corner of a show-me year. He's got whom he's got. No excuses.
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Thank you for your "humble" and "unbiased" opinion that your head coach is better suited than our head coach.
I won't try and defend by saying injuries. Will say, though, Bama didn't have the numbers to run the uptempo this year. When it did run it, the team was at its best. Unfortunately, that style tires guys out, and Bama didn't have the bench to replace guys like it needed to. Easy fix for that though - better strength and conditioning.
I've heard the excuse "We don't have any shooters" before and I do not agree. We have kids that can shoot, but the system is not designed to let kids play in their comfort zone. We pass up good shots on almost every half court possession in order to bleed the clock. Players need to take open shots no matter where we are in the shot clock. We cut the kids lose at the end of the Ole Miss game and look what happened. It turned out to be to little to late, but you can be efficient on offense and still play good defense. We seem so concerned about playing defense, it seems we forget you have to score enough points to beat your opponent. Almost every year we hear we have shooting help on the way, but when they get here, they never are able to shoot. Maybe it is Coleman, maybe it is the players themselves, or maybe just maybe it is the system that doesn't put them in the right state of mind to shoot consistently. All the recruiting experts can't be wrong on these kids.
Two years of statistics are hard to argue with. And recruiting experts, particularly in basketball, are often wrong. Besides, if our system is so anti-shooting, RJ, how do you explain Releford numbers that have improved every year?
And I think it safe to say that every player transitioning to the college game must redefine their comfort zones, now that every game they face bigger, stronger, faster players whose job it is to make them feel uncomfortable.
Releford and Lacey both shot 40% or better from behind the arc...much better then "shooter" Marshall Henderson...
That's what I noticed. He just doesn't seem to be that explosive. Watching the NCAA tournament really made me see the difference in the ability of teams to get to the rim from our ability. I know we have other reasons for that but we don't seem to have any guys who play above the rim at this point (though I think Pollard could get there).
Releford can create his own shot. Lacey needs transition shots and screens from the bigs to get open. Randolph turned down numerous open shots as did Lacey during the year sowe could run the clock down. My point is that having a good system that the kids feel comfortable with usually results in better shooting. If kids are turning down shots to show they are disciplined instead of taking shots in rhyth, that is a problem. In sports, confidence is the great divider between average and great players.
i absolutely agree with your point on confidence, which may have been the biggest reason our kids turn down shots.
By year's end we had two kids who could put the ball on the floor and get to the basket -- TR and RO. For all the legitimate posts about the absence of a productive big man, our inability to create offense off the dribble was the second nail. The lack of a big man allowed defenses to overplay the perimeter. Like to try that approach on Louisville? Their guards would blow right by you.
Ours couldn't. They either were poor ball-handlers (Lacey and Coop), lacked a pull-up game (Lacy, Coop, Pollard and to a lesser extent Levi) which made them all human charging fouls.
That doesn't leave many options.
That's a very good point. Trevor wasn't exactly Flash Gordon off the dribble.
If they make a bad shot choice, they get pulled aside when they leave the court...
That happens with a lot of coaches, many of them with far more bullets on their resumes than CAG.
Anyone who has really played Basketball in their life, or been around it in a big way, knows that when a shooter (or your star player for that matter) is missing shots (good or bad) the best thing to do is let him keep shooting... If you start messing with his head, pulling him out of games or pulling him aside, he'll never find his rhythm...
I agree. But there's a big difference between taking a good shot, and missing, and taking a bad shot.
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Sometimes, and sometimes not. If you yanked a guy out for every bad shot he took, then you'd end up with scared shooters...which sounds familiar.
My high school coach did this all the time. We could never establish any rhythm on the court because we messed up an assignment or missed a shot, he was yanking us out even if it was only a minute or two. You gotta give guys the opportunity to play in the game and find out where their opportunities are going to be. I dont know what the issue is but I have sensed the last 2 years that there is not much chemistry between the coach and the players in that the players naturally understand what he expects on the floor offensively and they deliver that.
These days, you pay a coach a lot of money to know the difference. Heck, Pitino was blowing up on the sideline during the championship game about the shot selection of Russ Smith.
One other note: It's not as if our kids forgot to shoot when they got to Tuscaloosa. As I recall, with the possible exception of Cooper, none of them were great shooters in high school either.
So let's review, we're small, not very deep and we don't shoot particularly well. So what do we do? We slow the game down, reduce possessions and play to our strength, which is defense. Under that approach, bad shots are kryptonite.
It's troubling that four years into his tenure, CAG doesn't have enough players to loosen the reins. Hopefully we'll see something different in year 5. I think we have to.
By the way, this a really good thread. Lots of folks participating who know hoops and care about our program.
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