Is Alabama Ready for a Basketball Run in the SEC?
Avery Johnson will be in his second year in Tuscaloosa
Of course the first thing we think of with Alabama is football. It simple. (Actually if you are an SEC program NOT named Kentucky or Vanderbilt, you are that way). The Tide rolls in football, like it or not. However, something is brewing in T-Town just a few blocks away from Bryant-Denny Stadium.
And that is Alabama basketball.
Laugh all you want. The Tide have been more or less average in the college basketball world. Save for producing the likes of Latrell Sprewell and Robert Horry, Alabama hasn't factored much on the hardcourt. However, after last year when my good friend and I road-tripped to Tuscaloosa to see a Kentucky/Alabama basketball game. My friend is a Kentucky die-hard while I have been inclined for Alabama since I spent a portion of my life there. That said, I never had high hopes for Alabama basketball nor did not expect Tuscaloosa to be jumping like they do on Saturdays in the fall. And I also expected a huge Kentucky following as the Wildcats have always had a strong and great supportive fan base.
Bama fans can pack unique Coleman Coliseum
Turns out, I was wrong on both accounts. Yes, Kentucky fans showed up for the game, but nothing to what I thought it would be. And Secondly, Coleman Coliseum was packed and the Bama fans showed up to support the Tide. And bear in mind this was the Saturday before the football team was playing Clemson for the national championship. Now, I don't think many were expecting Bama to win the game, and even myself wasn't expecting upset either but the fans were VERY supportive and most stayed late when the game was well out of reach and cheered for their 12th man Lawson Schaffer as he came in and went nuts when he hit a 3-pointer near the buzzer.
Obviously, the 2015-16 season for Alabama didn't result in an NCAA Tournament bid (18-14) and got tossed in the first round of the NIT, and have made the tournament once in the last 5 years, but there seems to be hope for Alabama (that said, also hope in places like Texas A&M, Georgia, and Alabama's in-state rival Auburn but now I am off topic).
Colin Sexton joining Alabama is a huge step for the program.
Off the heels of landing 5-star point guard Colin Sexton and 4-star shooting guard John Petty, Alabama is starting to get talked about as a team that could make noise in the next two or three years. Adding those two has made people talk about Alabama, turning some heads. Yes, they are not Kentucky and pluck 5-star players anywhere they can like they do in football, but this is still big in a conference where it is Kentucky and 13 other teams.
Johnson is trying to build a strong program in Tuscaloosa
Obviously this has to do with Avery Johnson, the former NBA star and the NBA head coach. As a great communicator and a decent guy, Johnson can lure some big time prospects to T-Town and have begun doing so. When I went to that Kentucky game and while it is unfair to compare any John Calipari Kentucky squad to any collegiate team that isn't Duke, North Carolina, Michigan State, Kansas, or Villanova, it showed where Kentucky was (as my friend said, 2016 was a major off-year for the Wildcats) and where Alabama was. The Tide had little depth, couldn't rebound, didn't pass, and pretty much ran around, dribbled, and took up a crummy 3-pointer in the loss while Kentucky went down low in the paint and attacked at will. And after seeing more Bama games in the 2016 season, it felt like it was more of the same on a consistent basis.
The hope is that Sexton and Petty will bring a strong backcourt for Bama starting in 2017-18. The hope is, Dazon Ingram and Corban Collins will lead the backcourt for this season and hold things down. And both are solid players, but nothing to what it might be down the road. After 1 game against Coastal Carolina, not a whole lot looks changed. They were outrebounded 43-39 and were still taking an excessive amount of 3-pointers (10-26 as opposed to 11-22 inside the arc). But after a strong 2nd half where they shot well over 50% the Tide rolled. But that stuff needs to start changing. They have to play more of a balanced style ball and get their big men going if at all possible. If they can get that happening, the Tide might be knocking at the very least of a tournament berth.
But right now if we want to see Alabama really make noise, it might have to be another year.
-Fan in the Obstructed Seat
