Bama game plan complete for Vanderbilt...

Miss. State, Vanderbilt, then Kentucky. What no Lakers?


And the freshman shall lead them... 

     Look, it is what it is, or says my teacher each we meet. This stretch of SEC games was brought to you by the same people that gives every other SEC team a by week before playing Bama in football. Not fair. Contrived? I doubt it. Suspicious? Highly. 

     Let me tell you about how Anthony Grant is approaching these three games. We need to win all of them. We can win two of them. Grant is selling his team on the opportunity to beat Vanderbilt and then Kentucky on the national television and getting some lost respect back. 

Here's how the Tide is going to play Vandy:

1. They are going to play physical inside and take Festus Ezeli out of the game. In other words we are going to own the paint.  

2. We are going to use Levin Randolph to lock down John Jenkins, who leads Vandy in scoring at 19.8 per game. How is a freshman going to do that? First, Randolph has length and quickness. He is going to depend on Green and Mitchell to own the lane. If they can then Levi doesn' t have to offer any drop down help. Think Superglue. This is going to experience vs. effort. Levi wins this battle if he can keep Jenkins below 15. 

3. Tony Mitchell is going to shut down Jeffery Taylor. They are almost the same size and Taylor can score in buckets. He is at 17 ppp. Taylor hasn't had anyone who is 18 inches taller when they both jump.  Jenkins and Taylor are going to get some points. The goal here is to not let either have uncontested shots or a career "Mark Gottfried" offensive night. The goal for both the defenders to cut down the touches of both. In other words, don't help them become All-Americans.

To do that they will pick the pair up man to man 94 feet away and try to steer the ball away from them. Vandy will counter by placing them on opposites sides of the floor. One defender will steer as the other denies. 

4.  Bama has to cut about 10-12 points off the Vandy scoring average to win. Look for loads of substitutions tonight to keep the defense as fresh as possible.

5. Mitchell, Green, and Randolph must dominate the middle on offense. They have to make the 'dores double team down low and then we will watch our guards, who shoot well at home knock down the threes. Count on that. 

6.Trevor Releford has mission - Attack the lane. Drive, draw fouls, throw up a few bricks but get in it Ezeli's face. And dish it off the outside players. Green should be very proactive insider. Forces some but make the Vandy inside players become involved. Make the Vandy perimeter players come down to help.

7. We all know Mitchell can shoot it outside but in this game we need him to go inside and not worry so much about the human high light reel stuff. Bama can't dominate inside unless Mitchell plays inside to use his extraordinary offensive rebound skills.

9. Steele needs more minutes to play the swing role. He can help get Ezeli and Jenkins in foul trouble. He can make Goulborne try to take some heat off Green and Mitchell. Steele's play may just win this game for Bama.

10. Keep those super fragile Vandy players off the line. Make them play physical from the start let the officials know tell are 97 lb. weaklings that need protection. And Bama needs to shoot at least 20 free throws. You do that by keeping the heat on the interior. Bama needs to steal time off the Vandy offense and make them take shots they normally don't want to take.

11. Play man but show them some two-three match up. I'd play four guards on a lot of series. Wear the Commodores down. 

12. Bama showed remarkable poise and hustle in coming from 7 down against State. That is unlikely to work against Vandy. Get the lead, keep the lead, and force Vandy out of their preferred offense

13. Anything else? Oh Yeah, make a lot of outside shots which we will, and the freshmen are going to be leaned on to do that. Let 'em rip coach. I think they won't let us down. 

Final Pick:  Alabama by 4. 


Trivia Question for the Flash: who are these guys, What did they do to Bama in '72?        

    

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