Crimson Red Sports

This basketball season can not end soon enough for me. Since the end of last season Trevor Lacey and M Gueye transferred. Pollard got arrested in a weird kid napping case involving his Mother. We are 10-15 and one of the worse teams in the SEC. Now junior Nick Jacobs is taking a leave of absence putting us down to 8 scholarship players.

What else can go wrong?  :wall:

http://www.rolltide.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/021914aac.html

CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!  What is going on with this program? Is Grant in control or what? A season with so much promise has hit rock bottom and there has to be some changes and some accountability. I repeat, Coach Grant makes $1.9 MILLION a year. AD Battle can not be happy.



 :pullhair: :pullhair: :pullhair: :pullhair: :pullhair: :pullhair: :pullhair:

Jacobs was a force to be reckoned with as a freshman, but we've all seen how inconsistent he's been this year and last. I felt deep down that something wasn't right with him. And before anybody says that everyone but Releford has been inconsistent, they've ALWAYS been inconsistent.  :lol2:

On the bright side this should benefit Jimmie Taylor. He should get plenty of playing time the rest of this year.

He benefited from playing with Jamychal Green who threw the opposing teams best defender. I always felt he would be OK if we had another big man to help him out. He is only 6-8 and not a leaper. In fact his feet rarely leave the floor.

It surprised me that he lost weight last year and this year. He seemed to perform better as a wide body when he was a freshman. You're right about Green drawing the players away from Jacobs, but he did a better job of clearing out and was more aggressive to the basket than he is now.

(http://hungarianspectrum.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/sinking-ship.jpg)

LOL!! Excellent point. For Taylor it's called sink or swim. He has been showing some skill that last few games.


 :clap:

There's always next year.   :eyeroll:

Tell me again:  How many games are left in this year?  Including the one we will play in the SEC tourney.

 :lol:  :'(

Jimmy has improved the last few games, but his main problem is foul trouble. With the new rules he gets called for a lot of stuff that would have not been called last year. I really Like Coach Grant and he has recruited very good players to Alabama but after they get here something goes amiss except for Trevor Releford & Ronald Steel, I don't think we have had a senior play any significant time on the floor. :dunno:

It's called coaching & development.


 :dog:

I reckon so Marshall Dillon. You listen to the experts out there and they all say how well CAG can coach & recruit!! But I see your way of thinking too!!

The so-called experts NEVER criticize a coach. Some talk in abstract terms and you have to read between the lines. If he's such a "great" recruiter, how come he can't find someone who can hit outside shots, someone who can rebound and score under the basket, or pass the ball effectively? He's been living off Billy Donovan's skirts for years now. In 5 years, we not not have ONE SINGLE MAJOR VICTORY.


 :problem:

I'm losing count.  How many years in a row have we had something like this take place at this time of the year.  We've had players get suspended, we've had players just quit, transfer....
If it happens every year and with all kinds of different players, it must be on the other end that is causing the problem!
I'm sick of basketball season being over in Dec/Jan.  Hoops is my favorite sport and I do not like having to pick a new favorite team every winter just to be interested in the NCAA tourney.  FIX THIS CRAP BILL BATTLE!

I know it's frustrating and several of your fellow posters are big Tide BB fans, so this is killing all of us. Actually, there isn't much AD Battle can do except to fire Grant & that ain't happening with us owing $9.5 mil if he's fired. We are caught in a terrible crossfire in this situation. Whoever sought & approved a 5 year extension based on no real accomplishment is the moron in this scenario.


 :wall: :wall: :wall:








 :deadhorse:

I agree with everything you just said MD.  I also hate everything you just said!   >:(

Three years ago Grant appeared to be one of the best young coaches. He had just won 25 games and made a deep run in the NIT. We had what looked like a great group of freshmen coming in (Lacey, Cooper, Randolph & Jacobs) and the future of Alabama basketball looked bright. Grant was on every schools short list that was looking for a new coach. Mal Moore made the decision to lock him up in a long term contract.

I would not call Mal Moore a moron but hindsight suggests that was not the best decision. However, there are rumors Grant may not be safe even with the long term contract security. Paul Finebaum suggested recently he would be fired after the season. Finebaum is a windbag but he is well connected and gets these things right more often than not. Cecil Hurt wrote an article a week ago saying Alabama would not make the decision to keep Grant based on money alone. It appears to me Grant's seat is getting hotter with every loss. I don't think him being our coach next year is a done deal like I thought a few weeks ago. Grant needs to win a few games down the stretch or Bill Battle has a difficult decision to make.

Supporters of Grant will point to the 25 wins and NIT Final in 2010-11, 21 wins and NCAA bid in 2011-12 and last years 23 wins and NIT. However, this year is going to be the worst season of Alabama basketball since CM Newton was hired in the late 60's.

I understand both sides and will support the program which ever way the administration chooses to go. I just want to see our program relevant again and playing for championships.

Quality, not quantity.  

When you pad your preseason with DI patsies and DII teams it is easy to achieve 20+ wins.

-What were the significant wins from those years?
-Did BAMA make it past the second round of the SEC Tournament any of those years?  
-How many of those years did BAMA make it past the first round of the SEC Tournament?

So, after 5 years of coaching BAMA is worse now than when Grant took the helm?

How many years was Shula given?

I had not heard of that article by Cecil Hurt. That was a HUGE shot across-the-bow of Grant that he had to get the team going or else. I think that means that Grant is toast. The best we can hope for is 3 more wins. Plus, I don't think anyone is going to be justifying keeping Grant based on 25 & 23 win seasons and trips to the NIT. The NIT is a total joke. Finally, you never give a long extension based on going to the NIT, that is idiotic, maybe 2 years, but no more.



 :dog:

Those were three good years IMO. We had several non conference good wins. We had wins against Miami, Colorado, New Mexico, Maryland, Wichita State, Purdue, VCU, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Villanova, Texas Tech and Stanford. We finished very high in the SEC each of those years and made it to the third round of the SEC Tournament (receiving a first round bye) each year.

I remember those as pretty good years myself.

I also remember being on the bubble for the NCAA at least two, possibly all three, of those years.  The two being the NIT years.

One year BAMA was totally shafted.  Ole Piss or MS State got the bid one one year, and it seems like 10ussee got the bid another year.

What I see is regression in Grant's 5th year.  That is bad.

That coupled with the off-court behavior issues, and ship jumping, points to something is wrong.

This is the mind-set which we must change. Going to the NIT is NOT a "good year." Also, how many of those "good" wins were teams listed in the Top 10 or Top 15. I think the answer is ZERO. I'll look it up later, but I am pretty sure we have not beat a team in the Top 20 or even 25 with Grant. Unacceptable after 5 years and over 150 games.


 :dog:

I don't know how you can call those good years.  Bama has not had a good year under Grant.  No NCAA Tournament success.  One NCAA invitation.  One run in the NIT.  Those aren't good years.

Gottfriend got Bama to the NCAA Tournament 5 years in a row.  He made it to the Elite 8.

Bama has had less post-season success, and a lower winning percentage, under Grant than Gottfried.  All you folks who were calling for Gottfried's head should have long jumped off the Grant bandwagon.  Gottfried's teams might not have played tough defense, but at least he could draw up an offensive play, call an appropriate timeout, score a game-winning basket.  Grant seems totally inept at these tasks. 

This year was supposed to be the year.  Grant has his guys, years in the system, juniors and seniors, but there has been no player development.  Instead, players are jumping ship. 

I think it is time for him to go.

I don't think anyone on this forum fits that bill. I was asking for Gottfried's firing 3 years before his actual firing. It was obvious to me he had lost interest in the program, no defense, no player development, etc. Sound familiar?


 :dog:

The million dollar question that I would like some of you to answer is-Why was Grant able to be somewhat successful at VCU and not at Bama?  I have loved how Grant's teams give more effort on defense and hustle compared to the Gottfried teams, but I don't understand how some of the this hasn't translated to more success on the court.

VCU isn't playing in the SEC and nt playing the type of non-conference schedule we are. Grant was at VCU 3 years but his successor has surpassed what he did there.


 :dunno:

I Google Nick Jacobs and there is all kinds of stuff about him there. I am a stunned point right now. RTR!

It is debatable whether the VCU program is more successful under Grant or Smart.

Grant took over a program that had finished 5th in the Colonial League. He lead them to a record of 76-25 (45-9 Colonial) and won the conference each of his three years. Grant took VCU to one NIT and two NCAA's with his big win being beating Duke in the NCAA Tournament.

Shaka Smart has also done a good job at VCU. He has an overall record of 131-43 and a conference record of 58-23. He finished 5th, 4th and 2nd in the Colonial League. VCU moved to the Atlantic 10 last year where they finished 2nd. Smart has not won his conference yet. Smart does have a very good NCAA Tournament resume. He made it to the Final Four in his second year and the second round twice.

It should be noted that Smart took over a program that was in much better shape than the one Grant inherited. Grant recruited the key players on Smart's Final Four team.

I can not answer why Grant's teams are not consistently getting NCAA Bids. An argument could be made that his two NIT teams should have made the NCAA. Until this year his SEC record has been good but he has not put together a good non conference and SEC season during the same year. Grant has not recruited a dependable big man and that has hurt. His (on paper) stellar recruiting class of Lacey, Randolph, Cooper and Jacobs has not panned out as expected either. We lost one whole recruiting year when our only signee was Pollard who left school after one year due to weird legal issues involving his Mother. It is 50/50 whether Grant will get another year. I think we have some really good new players coming into the program next year.

I just Goggled Nick Jacobs and do not see anything new. Please explain?

He's probably reading about the mass murderer Nick Jacobs or Nic Jacobs of LSU.


 :facepalm:

No guys it was our Nick Jacobs who plays basketball for Alabama. What I was bringing to you all attention that Google had it all listed. It may be all same old news. I was just checking. RTR!

I do not like to speak ill of the dead, and I don't suppose you do either,  but that would be "Moore-on"

We all make mistakes.

 :-[

Actually, I think Dave Hart might have been responsible for this screw up, since he was supposed to be the basketball guru.


 :dunno: