BOL Round Table

I was a big Grant fan when we hired him. I would love for him to get us nationally competitive again. But, the performance of this team is not acceptable and the excuse making by some of our fans is getting embarrassing.

Bama hoops has a history of being competitive nationally. UA hoops is not a deadend job where losers go to make excuses. UA is #30 in the nation in overall number of wins, #2 in the SEC. We have had coahces who won here. We have had coaches who recruited well here. We have produced good hoops talent for the NBA here. We have been a consistent top 25 program. We have had good fan support here. This CAN be a good hoops program. It has been! I have seen it.

A good coach can make the UA hoops program something to be proud of. Will we win national titles every year? No. But, we sure as heck don't need to accept being pushed around and laughed at as a bottom dweller. UA hoops is better than this and the players and fans deserve better.

Mitchell was gone and Cauley-Stein signed in the fall. We had scholarships available and he failed to address our biggest need, to argue otherwise is absurd.

I understand. I do. This past class was a let down for sure. Going into the season however, he expected 11 scholarship guys back for this years team. That leaves two spots. He filled one with a McDonalds All-American.

I completely understand what you are saying though. Coach Grant has since signed two front court players and with Engy coming back, we have addressed our front court needs.

I think the above will be huge for us. Not only will we be able to play two bigs at one time, we won't have to play Cooper and pollard out of position.

The positive on Taylor is that he can actually dunk. Gueye and Engstrom can not do that.

I think Engstrom was coming along. He had 26 points in 208 minutes his sophmore season and had 23 points in 88 minutes this season while making 9 of 13 shots. I thought we were going to get decent production out of him this season.

That is why you are not getting the big bucks. Doesn't that tell you something??

I think y'all are selling Engstrom a but short. From my previous obs he's an upgrade from gueye both in athleticism and coordination (feet and hands). I'm not trying to make him out to something he's not, but at a minimum I'd feel a lot better about him receiving those dishes under the basket and him being able to catch it and go up strong.
I love Moose and his efforts to acclimate to this game but if we can save him as a sub and some muscle/fouls we'll be better off

2 things:

1 - Philosophy mistake of going with a short bench. If he can't recruit better...he can't get out of this.

2 - We have a couple of assistants that are subpar for our level of program. Period...

Comparing these two situations is the best example of why our fan base is delusional. Alabama football was arguably still the most prestigious program at the time of firing Shula. Alabama basketball isn't anywhere close to being considered a traditional power. We can become like Florida, but it's going to take some patience and maturity from our fan base and administration.

If you were a Florida fan in the mid 90s, you would have called for Billy Donovan's head too after 2 LOSING season in 4 years. We aren't talking just not making the tournament, we are talking losing more than you win. Grant hasn't even had one season that low. I do realize that many people on this board don't realize that 4 years in football recruiting and coaching is not the equivalent to 4 years of basketball recruiting and coaching, but I'm tired of hearing a fan base so utterly ignorant about what it takes to nurture a successful basketball program for the long-term. Grant is doing things the right way and is making very cerebral decisions with his program. Our fan base might not understand every decsion, but he has made a lot of excellent decisions that many coaches wouldn't have the balls to make that need to be made.

W's and L's aren't the point. It's the pure style of basketball we are seeing, and the lack of "product" that motivates and excites a fanbase that is at issue.

Hell, right now UAB has the best, most marketable style of basketball in the state. They are fun to watch, win or lose.

Alabama's got to get its basketball "Mojo" back.

Well that poster thinks that CMG signed Eblen when Eblen was a spring signee that Grant signed after he got here that he had recruited for VCU before taking our gig as HC. So why would we expect research from that poster.

But let's wrap our minds around Grant's ability to evaluate, recruit, and most importantly manage roster spots, Eblen was his first signee when Grant didn't have to sign any additional players that year, Eblen, who turned out to be a 7% career 3 point shooter, and averaged less than 1 rebound, assists, and ppg. Fast forward 4 years and Eben is one of the excuses as to why we didn't sign a big last year. Truth is Eblen should have been the warning siren to all of us that Grant has no clue how to manage and recruit a whole roster of useful players

Teddy, I agree 100% with what you said. I don't post very often on this board. But several times I have had to come on hear And post something about Coach Grant. I coached high school And JC basketball for over 30 years. I am not sure why this team does not have more post players on the roster or why they don't shoot the basketball better. I do know this, Anthony Grant is a Hell of a basketball coach. I also know, that in todays College basketball, to build a program the right way takes TIME. Coach Grant is doing it the right way. We are all very proud of the way our Football program is run. We need to be just as proud of the way Coach Grant is running this program. I truly believe, in time, with Coach Grants leadership, this program will be a top 15 program.