#25 Ole Miss 74, Alabama 67: Initial Impressions
by Matt Dover on Feb 7, 2010 7:15 AM CST
15 comments
Here's all that you need to know: Alabama blew a 23-point second half lead. That's my only initial impression. In the words of our very own Forrest Gump, "that's all I have to say about that."
There's no need to rehash what happened. The only thing that matters after something like this is how we move forward from here. In that regard, we'll continue to update you in the coming days with quotes from Coach Grant and the players as it relates to their mindset at this point. We will also have our usual extensive game preview for the upcoming game against the #4 Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday as well as a possible Q&A piece.
As for where we are now, the NCAA tournament is completely out of the question, and the NIT is starting to look more like an uphill climb. In assessing the team's performance thusfar however, the challenge is to reconcile our accumulation of losses with the fact that we are good enough to earn leads--often big leads--against quality opponents late in games. I for one am struggling to reconcile the two.
In Alabama's six SEC losses, we have led at the half every single time. Five of those six losses came against teams with winning records in SEC play. Three of those six losses came against teams that are currently ranked.
I'll leave you with a rundown of all six of our conference losses, and you can decide for yourself where you think we stand.
- On January 13th Alabama lost at home to #18 Vanderbilt. Alabama led by 7 at the half. Alabama led by as many as 10 in the second half. Alabama had the lead in the final ten seconds of the game.
- On January 16th Alabama lost on the road to Arkansas. Alabama led by as many as 6 points. Alabama led by 2 at the half.
- On January 19th Alabama lost at home to #14 Tennessee. Alabama led by as many as 6 points. Alabama led by 1 at the half. Alabama was within one possession in the final two minutes.
- On January 30th Alabama lost on the road to Auburn. Alabama led by 3 at the half. Alabama led by as many as 7 in the second half. Alabama had the lead in the final 20 seconds of the game.
- On February 4th Alabama lost at home to Florida. Alabama led by as many as 8 points. Alabama led by 4 at the half. Alabama had the lead in the final 20 seconds of the game.
- On February 6th Alabama lost on the road to #25 Ole Miss. Alabama led by 20 at the half. Alabama led by as many as 23 points in the second half.
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that game was STUNNING
and i had to quit watching it with about 8 minutes left. it honestly hurt my heart to do so but i just couldnt watch the inevitable. it literally was making me sick to my stomach. i hate losing as much as anyone else but blowing a 23-point lead was plain ole excruciating.
I am choosing to focus on 3 positives:
1) Bama basketball will emerge from this shit-storm and become a force in the SEC. I am confident of that.
2) RBR readers love their football but thanks to Bama07 we are starting the wave of support that the program needs.
I am proud that the love of The Capstone is beginning to cross-over to sports other than football.
3) Coach Grant is the absolute best man for the coaching job. After the game, 38 minutes passed before he made
himself available to the press and the team was STILL in the locker room 10 minutes later. He has challenged our
boys character and will and it is obvious that he will not quit until he figures out how to fix what is broken. Lets hope
someone on the team steps up to help him do so.
"You have to create 6 seconds of hell each play..."
Coach Nick Saban
THE. WORST. PERFORMANCE. EVER.
Daniel Moore sould paint the scoreboard from this game, so our team can always remember this one…completely unacceptable. Period.
"You're Dixie's Football Pride, Crimson Tide - Roll Tide, Roll Tide!"
by Whistlin' Dixie on Feb 7, 2010 10:18 AM CST reply actions
This can be a stepping stone to better chemistry...
…or it can be the straw that broke the camel’s back. This team has to learn how to finish a game and sometimes losing is the only way. As the football players said many times this year, losing to Florida and Utah made them know how bad it hurts to lose and pushed them even harder in the offseason. We have to make some SERIOUS noise in the SEC tourney (make/win the final game) as well as winning out. Too bad we couldn’t hang on against these teams that we should have beat. Hope our guys figure it out very quickly.
by Tider1701 on Feb 7, 2010 10:41 AM CST via mobile reply actions
Before we lost to Florida and Utah . . .
the football team lost 6 of its last 9 regular season games. Most of those were close games that the team didn’t have the will to finish. Coach Grant seems to understand that the biggest problem is not talent, though there are issues here. The biggest problem is a culture of mediocrity that accepts competing in the SEC West as good enough. Grant wants to build a “Make his ass quit” program but he’s got to get the players to buy into the process.
by M. Johnson Defender on Feb 7, 2010 11:14 AM CST up reply actions
Bama07, I have something I've been meaning to ask
Before I begin, let me say that I’m a huge fan of Coach Grant, and by no means “bashing” him, but there are some things that I have questions about. Although I’m a basketball fan, I’m by no means an expert…and I just wanted to bounce my questions off of someone with an informed opinion.
I’ve watched several games this year, and listened to a few others…including the one’s where we’ve blown substantial leads. And the one thing I’ve noticed is that we almost never call a timeout before we lose the lead, only afterward. I’m wondering if a) this is a correct impression and I’m not just seeing things, and b) why this would be a good strategy if it’s occurring as often as I think it is.
Our struggles with scoring droughts are well know by all of us who wacth the games: the 5-8 minute periods where we can’t get anything going offensively. I just don’t understand why we’re not able to recognize one when it’s occurring, call timeout, draw up a set play for a high percentage shot, and execute.
I’m open minded enough to accept the fact that I might simply be ill-informed about my impression, but I would like to hear y’alls opinions…
Have noticed the same.
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
Coach Bryant
use to say- “When you are ahead, play like you are behind, and when you are behind play you are ahead.” I think our guys are good enought that when we get up by 20 if we would forget we are up by 20 and play like we down by 10, we could win it by 30.
And, when we get down in these games late it seems like we can never even get a shot off- see Auburn and UF. Obviously you don’t hold it and wait for a foul when you are behind, but if we felt we were ahead, or at least felt like we were going to win, we would not be under such pressure that we choke it away.
The football team had 5 games this year (VT, UT, LSU, AU, Tex.) where it all came down to the 4th qt., often late in the 4th and not once did we panic. We just got the job done. That is the exact opposite of Saban’s 1st year where we choked games away late. Do you realize the last home game we have lost was ULM? From that low point we have gone 27-3. Who would have predicted that after that game?
It is a matter of mental toughness now and I believe it will happen in Bball too.
I hate the NCAA more than UT & AU combined. At least with UT & AU you got a fighting chance.
well...
a) I think this is the correct impression. Grant does not call timeouts for momentum purposes as frequently as most other coaches do. Not to say he never does it, because he does on occasion, but you are correct that he doesn’t do it as often. We mostly try and save our timeouts for loose-ball situations and late-game situations from all appearances. He calls probably one per game or so on average for purely momentum purposes if I had to guess.
b) As with most things in life, there is a cost and a benefit involved, so you have to determine which outweighs the other. You mentioned the cost, and I mentioned the benefit above (more left for loose balls and late-game situations. A general balance I’d like to see is using two in the middle of the game for momentum purposes, having one-two for loose-ball/5-second situations, and leaving one-two for late game situations. The key is to be really smart about how you use the ones in the middle of the game. Preferably like you said, at times when you are on a big scoring drought and the opponent is just beginning to chip away at the lead, or build a lead depending on the situation. So yeah I’d probably like to see us use maybe one more per game like you said to try and jump-start the offense with a set play. Then again, we haven’t had a tremendous amount of success on set plays this year, so…
Agreed . .
The frequency and use of timeouts has to do with your personnel. Grant just doesn’t think that timeouts help these guys on offense. And the evidence support that conclusion. If you look at the times we have had scoring spurts it it is usually in the rhythm of good defensive stops. Stopping play when we have the ball just doesn’t do much for us.
by M. Johnson Defender on Feb 7, 2010 12:40 PM CST up reply actions
Thanks for all the info on these
I’m really unfamiliar with basketball so I feel like a little kid asking a million dumb “why…” questions with my friends who’ve come into my dept in the university (they’re from UNC). But it’s nice to keep getting some more on our team here, and to find someone to commiserate with after these gut-wrenching games.
Injuries...
…have been the problem after all IMO. Losing Jemison and Steele meant there were two bodies that could give 10-20 minutes and be productive for this team. Give Torrence some rest from being a whirlwind with the ball in his hands and he’s there for key shots and drives during the end.
Can’t say the record would be better/worse, but clearly this team’s depth is a problem to begin with and now it’s even more glaring with warm bodies unable to play. In the end there are no excuses for losing games like this.
BTW, first post, stumbled across this place a few weeks ago in the lead to the NC game. Love the atmosphere.
It's not what you've done, but what you are doing that matters.
Where did the defense go?
Matt, explain to me how the defense decided to come out and let Ole Miss drop 54 on us in the second half. Were we giving up a lot of second chance points, giving up easy looks, or was Ole Miss just on fire?
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