• Look, I appreciate the kind sentiments of the oranges at 3sib about Phillip Pearson, and I'm sure he's a nice guy who may wind up a very good coach someday. But in the few games I've watched him coach since he took over the standing role on the sidelines in Tuscaloosa (only head coaches are allowed to stand up permanently during basketball games) I've seen nothing to indicate anything resembling improvement over the previous two months. In this recent "win streak," they survived an incredible 2OT game at home vs. Mississippi State, got hot from 3 in consecutive games (something that hadn't happened all season and hadn't really happened in two seasons) and was exceedingly lucky against a disinterested Tennessee team. Further, they looked hopeless in the lone loss of that streak — Jeff Lebo worked Pearson like a speed bag in the second half last Tuesday. At no point did the set offense improve, or did the team improve from a defensive standpoint. At no point did I see anything to make me believe any other than Alabama needs a fresh start, from the head coach on down.
• As weird as this sounds, Alabama could probably be a 20-win team — even as bad as they are — if they could simply finish fast breaks and make foul shots. For all its faults defensively, the Tide does have exceptional size (and "length," to steal a term from Jay Bilas) and is capable of forcing turnovers and getting out in transition. Unfortunately, it doesn't do them any good because they simply can't finish in transition — I can't count how many times this team screws up easy 3-on-2s, 4-on-2s and so forth. They're basically free points, and we find ways to screw them up all the time. And the free-throw shooting is beyond upsetting. If next year's head coach pulls a "Trent Johnson at LSU" type turnaround — not saying it will happen, just "if" — remember we had this conversation.
On then, with today's links ...
— Rapaport has the story of Anthony Brock, and how it may have been the divine will of the Living God that drove in that half-court heave.
"I called it. I said, 'Anthony's going in the game, he's wiping his shoes off, he's going in the game. He's going to make it. He made it. and I called it."
—This is just hilarious: Julio Jones was apparently written in for an SGA Senate Seat, and said, "Ya know what? I accept!" The Machine won't like this one, and I'm secretly hoping they try pulling some of their scare tactics from the past — anonymous threats, vandalism and so forth — against Jones and his teammates, so they a) permanently turn the tide of public sentiment against them and b) get beat down and possibly killed. That would make me exceedingly happy.
— Elsewhere on campus, the SGA is now attempting to revoke football tickets from people who don't show up. Apathetic students outraged. And they would totally protest, if they had the energy.
— Alabama apparently hired the offensive coordinator from Virginia ... as a GA. You figure it out.
— Among the outstanding blogs finding creative ways to keep people entertained during the offseason and making me feel like a slacker for NOT doing so: BSR. Here's the latest in their outstanding series of signee profiles: AJ McCarron.
— Finally, RBR has the world's unhealthiest sandwich. Well-done, gentlemen.
— UPDATE: Two good columnists I left out: Cecil dissects the NCAA situation (expletive deleted) and Scarbo looks at Auburn's NCAA chances through LSU's eyes.
1 comment:
I would pay to see the final standoff between the cloaked Theta Nu Epsilon brethren and the entire University of Alabama football team. I would pay a lot. A lot.
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