Oh Boy!!!!

Bama blasts a good basketball team...

Green shows extreme concentration

     Freshman are still freshman. That is unless your names are Jacobs, Lacey, Cooper, and Randolph. Last night at Coleman Coliseum the Alabama Crimson Tide put on a defensive show that even football fans would appreciate.  If you were at the game last night please check and see if you still have your wallet. It might be gone. I have never seen freshman play defense the way these kids played. It was in your face, overplaying the passing lanes, cutting off the lane, and generally causing as much havoc as Sherman did to Atlanta. Excuse Oakland if they seemed a little dazed and confused at the end of the game.


        Even the Oakland coach, Greg Kampe, acknowledged in the post game interviews that even though his team prepared just for Bama for one month he was still surprised at how good Bama was. Coach Kampe said his original game plan was to double down on JayMykal Green and Tony Mitchell. That was fine except for Trevor Releford and the new freshman players. "I can't teach defense like that," admitted the Oakland coach.  Coach Kampe made it crystal clear that the play of the freshman stunned him. After watching Alabama basketball for over a thousand games I have not seen freshman play D the way these first year players played. Their offense was just as good. 


     Here's a bit of advice for future Bama opponents - Double down on Green and Mitchell and you'll die. Don't double down on Green and Mitchell and you'll still die.If Nick Jacobs can develop into a 15 minutes a game player this Crimson Tide team will be very, very good. The only problem this team has is depth inside. Jacobs, who resembles a 6-8 concrete block only needs some experience.For all those who laughed when we said that Randolph and Cooper were as good as Lacey direct your acknowledgement in the comment section. 


     And then there was Lacy. He is not the most athletic player on the team. But I'd match his basketball IQ right up there with Releford.  Lacy has extraordinary court sense. Of course, he must be related to ex-NBA great "downtown" Freddie Brown. I'm not sure you can actually define his shooting range. Coach Grant can do that. All I'm saying is to see a freshman guard stop and pop off a break from 25 feet is pretty darn special. 


    Levi Randolph shoots a knuckle ball. Odd shot. Great results. Can he finish a play inside. Ask Corey Petros the 6-10 Oakland center who was a spectator when Levi slammed home a drive to the basket. Randolph has obviously been hanging around with Mitchell all summer. Cooper has improved so much from his junior year in high school it is amazing. His all around offensive ability from the outside and the inside is nice.  How about the little ten-foot fall away basket in the second half.  


    I'm not forgetting the play of Green, Mitchell, Releford, and Hankerson. All played well. I'm sure that Grant is going to point out to Releford and Mitchell that their 7 turnovers wasn't acceptable. And I'm sure the players are thinking to themselves, "yeah, but they were full speed mistakes and look at everything else we did." And that is true. Green sat out a large portion of the second half with a wrist injury. He's fine, but it did keep him from scoring 30 points and getting 10 or more rebounds in all likelihood. 


     This team is a gang of pickpockets on defense and a Crimson blur coming down the floor. Bama is like a new Maserati right now. They have all the pieces to go 200 mph but they are still tuning up the engine. Coach Grant will now embark on the theme of "we are small, and not very talented." He's got that half right. He merely will want to lower expectations. He's probably right in doing so, but what you see is what you get. Bet your last dollar the Tide won't go zero for the Caribbean this season. 

 I'd like to see the Maryland scouting report. LOL  


Back to Tider Insider