BOL Round Table

So then we ask ourselves: why the SEC is a below average basketball conference? IMO it directly relates back to the fact that it is hard to tell an 18 year old get that he is going to be the big man on campus, when a guy who is redshirting in football gets more attention than him as a 2 year contributor in basketball. And we are talking about a sport that attracts the most egotistical athletes in the world.

Billy Donovan is our model. You know what Billy Donovan had 2 of in his first 4 years that Anthony Grant doesn't have any in his first 4 seasons? 2 losing seasons. Guarantee our fans would have had him fired after that.

Its Grant's fault we don't have a big man! He's been here 4 years and he's signed a total of 4 big men, two of which were foreign players who were projects. One left after one season. Grant decided he didn't need to sign a post player last year when he knew we were losing Green. Going into this season with just Gueye, Engstrom and Jacobs was idiotic. There's a JUCO PF from Birmingham thats playing on another team in the league that could definitely help this team but Grant passed on him this past spring.

We would have a losing conference record if we played in the conference from 2000-2006. The league use to get on average 7-8 teams on a year to year basis in the tournament. Im no doubt for Grant getting another year after this one. I'm just saying lets don't act like winning 20 games a season in todays's SEC is something to really beat our chest about. College basketball is down as a whole this year, it's not what it was a decade or two ago. The NBA draft rule has somewhat killed it.

I knew it was coming....it's been hinted at by some posters already, but this guy decided to jump in head first. Absolutely ridiculous statement and proof that some people just have an agenda rather than a concern.

The only people "uncomfortable" are our players in this disaster of an offense. How many open shots do we pass because our guys are coached to hold the ball till less than 10 sec on the clock????

What good are 20 win seasons when you cant even make the tournament in the worst year I can remember in the SEC for my entire lifetime. I want Grant to succeed but I also want a program that is consistent and can make the field of 68. That is not alot to ask for. To be honest, do not care who is our coach as long as he puts a consistent product on the court and frankly I'm not seeing that in year 4 for Grant.

I am with the OP. I do not think we have seen Grant come close to his potential at UA. We will really see what he can do in these next two season when the cards are stacked in his favor.

I agree that we need to have some patience with our basketball program. There are some positive signs. It's tough and Bama basketball has been disappointing for quite a while now (even the good Gottfried years brought disappointing times), but we need to see this through. I believe Grant will show that he is capable of sustained success here. If by chance that he can't, we need to show potential coaching candidates that we are committed to giving our coaches every opportunity to succeed. Pulling the plug after four years when the best returning roster we've had in several years is coming back is not the right message imo.

I know if I was a player and my coach got a technical for calling the refs out for making those BS calls and fouls, I would play harder for him than if he just sat there with his arms crossed and mouth shut like nothing happended.

If I saw my team absolutely getting raped on the floor for 40 minutes, you can bet I'd be standing up for them. Whether that means jumping up and down, throwing a chair, politely calling an official over with your hand covering your mouth while you tell him exactly how his incompetence is destroying the game and your season....whatever it takes to show your team you have their back. This man has done absolutely NOTHING this season to demonstrate any real passion for this program or concern for his players' poor performance. Players take on the personality of their coach. If a coach has a ho-hum attitude on the floor, players will as well. I'm sure you use this same "yelling at the officials doesn't matter" logic every time Saban goes nuclear on some side judge, right? Of course not - you probably beam with pride like we all do when he flips out.

I don't want Bobby Knight out there. I want someone with class. But I also want someone who seems at least somewhat emotionally invested in his job. There are plenty of examples of coaches who desmonstrably stand by their team without acting like complete lunatics on the sideline. But toeing that line doesn't mean you have to have the personality of a corpse, either.

I am absolutely calling BS on the comment that the team played hard the entire game. Certain players play hard every game. Certain players play hard when they think it matters (end-game situations when it becomes a "holy s*** we're about to blow this" moment) and others put in a minimal amount of effort to stay in the playing rotation at all. Until we have a critical mass of guys who take personal offense to the hack-job that happened last night, we won't be anything more than an NIT team.

Also - your "we real basketball fans hate you haters" crap is laughable. I PAID to watch that crap last night. I was posting in the game thread from the fricking arena. I am paying today for getting home close to midnight (after working all day yesterday) this morning by consuming more coffee than any grown man should drink in a week. I got into a fight with my wife on the drive home after the game because I was so pissed that we played like crap. So forgive me if I tell you to shove off when you tell me you're more of a fan of this program than I am. I'm not any better than you, but I'm certainly not some bandwagon moron who logs on just to hate Grant.

Hard to be patient when you look at our roster, and our entire Freshman class is Pollard.