Are you ok with losing basketball games for now?

next year we should be decent. My only concern is that this “sending a message” bit should be over by this point shouldn’t it? Are the players unclear as to what the expectations are? Granted, every new coach inherits some problems, but seriously why is Grant still dealing with this crap? This is his program, the players seemed to buying in last year, we steadily improved last year, home streak and atmosphere was awesome….now more suspensions?!?!? wtf.

Our offense is a little concerning still. The schemes are decent, but what’s going on at practice that is making some of our shooters worse shooters than they were in high school (and yes I played ball in high school I get the difficulty of the bigger arenas vs the small gyms…still though).

Anyway, I’ll gladly take another non-dancing year if it gets us a solid decade with Grant (and some damn SEC titles and Final 4 appearance please). It’s hard to be Bama basketball fan, but I’ve always loved it ever since growing up with Wimp’s teams.

I think by the time this freshmen class are seniors we’ll be laughing at this year. Kind of like how we look back at the 2007 football season.

As for the timeliness of rooting out the old regime and old issues. Nick Saban had the advantage of Alabama’s illustrious football history, amazing facilities and being Nick Freaking Saban. CAG is still a young rising in the ranks coach heading a program with a pretty tepid basketball history with no recent trip to the Tourney. This year is rapidly turning into a reboot of the whole program and I’m willing bet we’ll be better off with it than without.

11 man scholarship roster. 2 guys screw up, you’re in huge trouble.
Think about football and how many games people have been benched that we haven’t even noticed. Mark Ingram and Marcell Dareus didn’t play two games at the start of the 2010 season. Marquis Maze missed two this year. And in football, with the huge roster, you go down the depth chart and life goes on.
It just so happens that with this team, at this moment, we’ve got a lot of “developing” and young players on a very small roster, so taking off the two oldest guys is a serious problem. It’ll be okay.

He’s a good coach, and I fully believe with time he’ll get the team to where it needs to be.

Really, the only thing that confuses me about him is that this team seemingly still cannot figure out how to react offensively to zone defenses. That is something that should never have given us much of a problem – especially this late in the season, and I think that has to be put on Grant’s shoulders to some degree.

However, he’s doing the right thing in disciplining these guys, and defensively the team is incredible. It won’t be long before they make the tourney under his leadership.

were not on the team this time last year?
Moussa, Cooper, Randolph, Lacey. Steele (injured)

1. Tough
2. Disciplinarian
3. Energetic
4. Great recruiter
5. Ambitious
6. Defensive minded whose scheme is not plain vanilla

However, in his career development he’s functionally equivalent to Saban at MSU. With Saban’s experience and track record and Alabama’s tradition and reputation, it’s easier for Saban to return Alabama football to the pantheon than for Grant to take Alabama basketball to the next level. Also, it seems like SEC competition is stronger in basketball than football. And Shula was a better recruiter than Gottfried, at least according to Rivals.

So, Grant deserves a pass. At least two more years.

i’m never ok with losing…unless, i guess, everyone else is cheating and we’re not. BUT, i’m absolutely FOR discipline and support Coach Anthony Grant completely.

These players don’t just wake up the next day and have character and discipline. For many of them this is the first time in their life where they’ve discovered there are consequences for their behavior. Reality.
I think Anthony Grant is the right man at the right place at the right job at the right time.
These kids and the University of Alabama will be greatly blessed by this man if we will be understanding and patient.
IMO.

Referring to 5026’s #1 in the original posting, I don’t think Releford, Steele and Green did anything illegal. We may never know but I have a feeling it involved drinking/curfews and/or skipping tutors or classes. All three are 21 years old, btw.

Believe it or not, most Alabama fans applaud Grant’s tough discipline despite the fact that it probably cost them wins vs. LSU and maybe Florida. Mitchell has missed 4 games – two more than Green did earlier in the year. I wonder if he is just being stubborn. I have a feeling that neither of these two will be back.

Personally, I was not excited about Grant’s hiring back in 2009. I like his discipline and the way he plays D, but not sure if he can get UA deep into the NCAA tournament. At the time, all the proponents were saying “wait til Grant gets his horses in there”. Well, guess what?…

Grant will get a pass this year although the Tide still has a good shot at the Big Dance – especially with their high RPI and getting screwed last year. They may need to get to 20 wins. That means winning 3 of the next 5 (incl. SEC Tourney).

But next year, I expect an easy invite into the NCAA Tourney. In other words, no bubble team getting in at the last second. 2012-2013 will basically be a complete Grant team. No more excuses. One concern is that AG has not signed anyone for the 2012 class and no real prospects. ???

FWIW: It is interesting to note that both Green and Mitchell were recruited by Mark Gottfried. Mitchell never played for MG but that is who he committed to. Steele also was a MG recruit but c’mon, like he was going to sign anywhere else. B)

Saban took 4 years at LSU and 3 at Alabama at established football schools. Yet, after winning the 2009 BCSNCG, he said he never had a timetable. Newton and Sanderson created Alabama basketball, but never won the NIT or NCAA. And Donovan and Grant took 10 years to win the NCAA at Florida. So I change my mind. No timetable for Grant. Just win and progress.

By the way, before these suspensions, I was ready to question Grant as coach. But I now feel we have the right man for the job. Give him time. Trust his judgement. It is going to pay off.

Something about this strikes me as strange. Just because he suspended some players doesn’t mean he’s going to be a good basketball coach. If you were questioning him based on the on-the-court product he has been putting out, then why should your opinion change?

Don’t get me wrong, I like Grant. I think he is a good coach. But I thought that before the suspensions. And as much credit as I think he should get for drawing a line, you also have to question how things go to this point in the first place.

but next year is going to tell us a lot about grant on a lot of fronts. its his 4th year. he will have a good stable of young, experienced guards. he will have another recruiting class. hopefully we can continue the defensive production, but we HAVE to show improvement and development on offense. next year will tell us the most about CAG, and whether or not to buy/sell his stock.

Seriously, only Mo Williams (left sophomore year) and Gerald Wallace (freshmen) have had any kind of successful NBA career. the lone exceptions would be Ronald Steele (injury) and Alonzo Gee (has been a journey man at the next level)

Look up Richard Hendrix, he was an amazing HS baller and a high rater recruit, after 4 years of Bama he’s playing pro ball in Israel (the great Erwin Dudley’s in Turkey btw).

Bama’s has long lost the luster of being a path to the NBA, another area Grant needs to fix, and can’t be fixed for a few years.

Coaching is more than winning. The real goal is to build men of character.

The problem is that developing men of character won’t get you a raise, or an extension. While there are many goals we set for our coaches, I think we would all agree, deep down, that a college athletics coach at most major programs gets paid to win games (and championships) without getting the school punished for cheating or otherwise embarrassing the school.