Alabama's in a hole today...

      When you watch a bad game, you want to pour another drink, and then another, and for good measure, make sure there's one shot left in the bottle. It's pretty obvious that the Tide has blown up or blown down, whichever is correct.   Alabama prides itself on outside shooting. The shooting is ok, the making shots not so much. Alabama could have laid a lovely brick home with what they did last night. (exception Mr. Keon,  2 of 7, thank you, Ellis). It was a night of airballs, ill-advised shots, forced shots, what the heck was that, and missed shots of unknown origin lay-ups. In short, Alabama couldn't walk to the edge of the Warrior River drop the ball in the water.

     In all fairness, Alabama was having difficulty getting an uncontested shot because the Wildcats were playing some good lockdown defense. Despite all the confusion and sloppy play, the Crimson Tide only allowed 66 points. The Tide held the 'Cats to 40% shooting overall, turned them over 15 times, the larger Kentucky outboard the Tide by only three, and a lot of those came in the last five minutes. Alabama had four blocks to two for the Blue. Jahvon Quinerly kept Sahvir Wheeler from scoring. Kentucky had 12 assists, and the Tide had 4.

      All of those numbers above are excellent. Heck, Bama even went to the free-throw line 26 times to the Cat's 19. Alabama didn't lose the game on the defensive end. They played winning ball with their defense. Alabama. It's hard to believe the Tide only shot 28% from the floor at home. They made 3-30 from downtown for 10%. And they made the boo-birds start posting again. Here's some truth serum, Nat Oats is not the worst coach in history, as some maintain, but he's not the greatest coach either. There is a lot of middle ground between the two, and the SEC is a tough league.

     I wondered if any Alabama player could have made the Kentucky starting line. I finally decided that Quinerly would, and perhaps Keon Ellis. Here's a difference to consider. Kentucky had nine players who probably could have started. There was little, if any drop-off, in KU substitutes. Alabama struggles to decide who starts at times. Let's take the time to give Charles Bediako some praise. He only allowed the KU center to score 10. The lanky Canadian scored 10 himself, captured eight boards, was given credit for 1 rebound but had 4. had an assist, and only 1 turnover. He also altered a few shots. Charles made some significant steps toward helping the team last night.

     Jusuan Holt, the freshman, got eight minutes. J. Holt pulled down 3 boards and kept his defense was very solid. I thought Holt played well and is deserving of more playing time. He rarely makes mistakes. Given a chance, he'll score some as well. That brings us to JD. He's getting better. Sure, there were some passes from the depths of a confused mind. But, here's what he did. His defense is perfect but is better. Due to  JD's athletic ability, he has to guard someone bigger. That happened to him last night. Still, he had 6  boards and 7 points. He nailed a three, and it seems he's catching on.

     Before the game, Shackleford was announced as sick but led the team in minutes, but his offense was sorely missed. Gurley pulled down four rebounds and played well. He only played only 17 minutes. I thought Oats did an excellent job rotating James Rojas (5 rebounds) and Bediako. Sad me lost when we played such good defense, and yes, we will start making baskets again. This one's over now we go to Oxford.