Alabama Basketball came into the season with some pretty high expectations, new coach and some talented returning players, transfers and freshmen, but now it might be time to panic.
Alabama Basketball has played three games so far this season, the teams they have played are a combined 6-4 and yet the Crimson Tide are 1-2. In three games Alabama has let up 81 points, 59 points and 93 points, following a season where they let up an average of a little over 70 points a game the Tide is now letting up almost 80.
Now, this is in part because with new coach Nate Oats, Alabama is playing much quicker and not using up as much of the shot clock as they did last season with Avery Johnson. However, in order to be successful, you have to be able to stop the ball and Alabama has yet to do that.
Not only is Alabama 1-2 after playing Penn, Florida Atlantic and Rhode Island, but they also have upcoming games against an undefeated Furman team, North Carolina who is currently ranked No. 5, either Michigan or Iowa State, another Battle 4 Atlantis game, an undefeated Stephen F. Austin team, undefeated Penn State, a very good Belmont team and undefeated Richmond and then SEC play starts.
They also have a game against Samford somewhere in the middle there which should be a win-able game. So what does this mean?
Well with the only remaining November games being Furman, UNC, Michigan or Iowa State and another Battle 4 Atlantis game, there is a very good chance that Alabama finishes the opening month with between one and three wins for at worst a record of 1-6 and at best a record of 3-4.
Then if you add the games in December in, it looks like Alabama might have six to eight losses heading into SEC play. At best it looks like the Crimson Tide might be 5-7 by the time January and SEC play rolls around, which obviously is not good at all.
I believe realistically, Alabama will be 4-8 heading into January and SEC play. So what has gone wrong in Tuscaloosa?
As mentioned earlier Alabama’s main problem is the fact that they’re having trouble stopping the ball on defense, but they also have several other problems as well. Alabama is averaging 18.7 turnovers per game… If you are turning the ball over 19 times a game, you probably aren’t going to fare very well, especially when you’re playing some decent teams.
However, Alabama’s problems do not end on the court, off the court they have gotten destroyed as well with Jahvon Quinerly‘s transfer waiver for immediate eligibility being denied twice, James Rojas tearing his ACL and Juwan Gary tearing his as well.
All three of these players are guys who one would presume would’ve been a pretty big part of Alabama’s roster, unfortunately, however, they are not.
This being said, Alabama’s aspirations for the 2019-20 season were damaged quite a bit before the season even started, but they have since been almost killed and we are only three games into it.