Alabama men's basketball looks to continue strong offensive output -MONDAY

[2Stater]

I also wanted to give kudos to Jimmy Taylor. He had a career game tonight. Also, Levi has not missed a FT so far this year.

 

[SUPERCOACH]

I recorded the game and watched it a little while ago.  I'm not sure what to think about this team.  More observation is needed.  They are on TV again Thursday.

[Jamos]

It was a 180 degree turnaround from the game plan that Bama used in their first game. Last night the players were driving to the basket in a very fast paced game compared to game one. I don't know if this was the game plan or Western Carolina forced the issue. They were a very quick team and had an outstanding outside shooting threat that no one could seem to guard with any affect on him.

Kudos to Jimmie Taylor, where has he been with the style of play that he showed last night? It was good to see Kessens play last night, he seemed a little over anxious in the first half and a little gassed in the second half but he will help the team down the road as he gets more playing time.

Bama was their worst enemy last night by playing out of control so many times that caused turnovers and silly fouls. I'm not complaining too much about this though, I know those things will get better as the season goes along. The defense that WC showed last night really took the rhythm out of the outside side shots that Bama was taking, most of the shots looked like forced shots rather than them squaring up the shoulders as they should on their shots. Again, this should improve as well as the season moves along.

They play Southern Miss Thursday and this game should bring a bigger challenge to the team. I'm not sure how good Southern Miss is this year but they usually bring a pretty good team to T-town. I feel that last year's team would have lost the game last night and that is a positive but there is a lot of room for improvement for the team but at least they look more like a basketball team than they have for the past 2-3 years. There were way too many mental mistakes last night which made the game much closer than it should have been but the season is young and so are some of the players.

[2Stater]

Great observation, J.

It's still very early in the year and this team is still trying to forge an identity. WCU is a much better team than Towson. They handled the ball much better and shot very well. They did a good job of rebounding, as well.

The only real disappointment, IMO, was the mental mistakes and the poor 3 point shooting. We can ill afford another year of poor 3 point shooting. I think they will eliminate the mental mistakes as the year progresses, and the young players improve.

[pmull]

It is hard to evaluate our team when we don't know how good the opponent is. WC played Miss State last Friday and lost 66-56 in Starkville. Some of these mid majors are pretty good.

I am very concerned about our rebounding. We have not dominated the boards in any of three games. The teams we have played are all undersized by SEC standards. We will see much bigger and more physical teams and that could be a problem.

I like the balance in scoring. We have players that know how to score. Randolph, Hale and Tarrant were all in double figures. Jimmie Taylor had his first career double/double with 15 points and 10 rebs (5 off reb).

We showed some fight late in the game. Last year we would have folded. Two plays that stood out were Hale making a big steal for an easy basket and Coleman hitting a three pointer. We also hit our free throws down the stretch.

Southern Miss will be a tough game on Thursday. They are 2-0 with wins over William Carey and South Alabama. They have a new coach this year. The previous coaching staff did very well. They are not very tall with their tallest players being 6-7 but they have some big bodies.

[SUPERCOACH]

I agree with pmull and Jamos that last year's team would have probably lost last night.  I was very frustrated when they took the lead late in the game and was thinking "oh no, here we go again."  But our guys fought back hard and had it under control for the last couple of minutes.  Scoring 80 points is a huge improvement over prior years, and we needed all of them last night.

I'm not going to get my hopes up this year until I see how things progress through the non-conference schedule.  There are a lot of new players on the court and it may just take them a few games to gel.

[Marshal Dillon]

It is hard to evaluate our team when we don't know how good the opponent is. WC played Miss State last Friday and lost 66-56 in Starkville. Some of these mid majors are pretty good.

I am very concerned about our rebounding. We have not dominated the boards in any of three games. The teams we have played are all undersized by SEC standards. We will see much bigger and more physical teams and that could be a problem.

I like the balance in scoring. We have players that know how to score. Randolph, Hale and Tarrant were all in double figures. Jimmie Taylor had his first career double/double with 15 points and 10 rebs (5 off reb).

We showed some fight late in the game. Last year we would have folded. Two plays that stood out were Hale making a big steal for an easy basket and Coleman hitting a three pointer. We also hit our free throws down the stretch.

Southern Miss will be a tough game on Thursday. They are 2-0 with wins over William Carey and South Alabama. They have a new coach this year. The previous coaching staff did very well. They are not very tall with their tallest players being 6-7 but they have some big bodies.

Their coach seems to be a solid & they were well prepared. Once again I ask, how come we don't recruit some of these short (5'10"-6'1") white boys who can shoot? They had a kid from Enterprise who hit 3-3's. I my biggest concern was also the rebounding, they had 33, we had 37. We should have totally dominated them on the boards. Can't wait for Thursday. Justin Coleman is going to be a difference-maker and a go-to guy in the clutch, along with Hale. Levi was much improved on his shooting.


 

[SUPERCOACH]

I'm most excited about Taylor.  Not because I think he is the best player or anything, but because he has the potential to be a huge improvement in the paint over what we've had in recent years.  A big upgrade over 9FGB, in a position that has been a huge weakness for us.  If he can consistently get a double/double that will be huge and could be the difference between 13 wins and well over 20 wins.

[2Stater]

I'm most excited about Taylor.  Not because I think he is the best player or anything, but because he has the potential to be a huge improvement in the paint over what we've had in recent years.  A big upgrade over 9FGB, in a position that has been a huge weakness for us.  If he can consistently get a double/double that will be huge and could be the difference between 13 wins and well over 20 wins.

It's funny because when J and I were at the Towson game, and Taylor picked up 2 quick fouls, we all but wrote him off, thinking he was not going to be any better than he was last year. Then, he started picking it up and ended up with a solid game, followed up by last night's stellar performance.

[Marshal Dillon]

I'm most excited about Taylor.  Not because I think he is the best player or anything, but because he has the potential to be a huge improvement in the paint over what we've had in recent years.  A big upgrade over 9FGB, in a position that has been a huge weakness for us.  If he can consistently get a double/double that will be huge and could be the difference between 13 wins and well over 20 wins.

Agree. No doubt if Taylor (6'10") & Kessens (6'9") develop, we will be a force to be reckoned with under the basket. We have to get scoring & rebounding under the basket. Some major tests are just down the road.


 

[Jamos]

Actually I thought Bama did a much better job on the boards last night, effort wise. On my end of the floor they were very aggressive underneath the basket but WC was throwing up long shots and the rebounds were coming out long which made it easy for them to get the rebounds. I think there is a lot more effort to do the things needed to make this club better but only time will tell. By the way, WC wasn't that small, when you compare them size wise on the floor there wasn't much difference. Their team speed was equal to Bama's.

If you look at the schedule, I think CAG did a good job with the teams chosen on the early season part of it. He started the season with a decent team for the exibition in Montevallo which gave Bama a good battle. Then he came back with a team that matched up well with Bama in Western Carolina, speed and size. Now he brings in a very credible team in Southern Miss which should give Bama all they want. This is the game that should tell if Bama is ready for what is coming up next on their schedule, it gets a lot tougher because they hit the road for a tournament.

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