The four suspended players may return for Florida...
No Final decision is reached after today's meeting with the players involved, however
A meeting was scheduled this afternoon between Coach Anthony Grant with the three recently suspended players. I have been told the meeting did occur and that the players met individually with Grant. The meetings lasted approximately 2 1/2 hours.( According to someone I've known for three decades and is close to the Athletic Department) It is unknown if the players will play against Florida on Tuesday night. A couple of people who are close to the basketball program have told me what they think happened. It was more was more complicated than just missing bed check, but was a violation of a routine rule known and understood by all the players. It would be unfair to offer rank speculation at this point, but it seems to have been the a missed bed check which led Grant to ask the players more questions. I am told it is being treated as a routine punishment that has pre-determined penalties, to which the entire team is subject to following. I don't know if the rule violation carries a mandatory number of games. It seems logical that such a violation would be at the discretion of the head coach. Perhaps Coach has some type of prior offense rule in effect. Perhaps first time offenders get off light so to speak. At any rate, whatever the Coach decides is fine with me. If the suspension last three games the season is over as far as making the field for the tournament. This week Florida and Tennessee come calling in Coleman Coliseum. There is no guarantee that 'Bama would beat either at full strength. It would seem hard to believe that 'Bama could win two key games without the starters. I would hate to look back on this season and know that losses to South Carolina and LSU, two teams which are not as good as the Tide cost us the NCAA. I can understand what happened in Baton Rouge. What happened in Columbia was a shocker even if it was a road game.
So let's do a little bit of thinking out loud. The Tide is now 16-8. The SOS is good, and the RPI is still very good as well. Those are big factors in Alabama's favor. Two wins next week would take the Tide to 18-8. A win over the Gator's would be huge. A win over Tennessee will be good, but not as record enhancing. Disregard the fact that Tennessee beat Florida in Gainesville like a rag doll. It wasn't that Tennessee beat Florida that was so surprising. Any team in the SEC can beat any other team. But it was how they beat the Gators that was impressive. Tennessee showed that playing hard down low and pounding the boards is the way a team can beat them.
After next week's games the Tide travels to Fayetteville and then come home for Ms. State. Arkansas will be tough to win. Alabama and Arkansas are both hovering around the edges of the tournament, and whoever wins can say "we beat them". Bama has a chance to sweep this year's series with a win. The State game is crucial. I am almost at the point of saying that if Alabama can beat State and Florida we are make the field. Win all three and we start talking about seed. All of this is great fun to speculate but the only speculation that matters is what is going on in the mind of Coach Grant tonight.
He probably knows what he is going to do, but I'll almost guarantee he'll think about it for another night to be absolutely sure his judgement is correct, and let the players sweat it out for a little bit longer. Coach Saban says that everyone, including the fans, are part of the team, and the process. So even the fans get to worry another night or so. I just don't think that two additional losses with our without the starters can be overcome without a strong run in the SEC. Such as reach the Finals. Or beat Kentucky or Vandy in the process.
How about the performance of Rodney Cooper? That was the Rodney Cooper I saw play in high school. In fact, when Bama signed all four of the freshman, I thought Cooper had the most upside. All things considered Levi Randolph and Jacobs have led the freshman pack. Lacey started slow, picked it up, and now has slowed down again. Randolph probably summed it up when he said playing at the Division One level is about "finding a comfort level". If you notice, all the freshman make good instinctive plays. You have to think about shooting. Cooper has never seen a shot he wouldn't take and didn't like. It's not surprising that he would be the one who had the first red hot night. He's a shooter. I bet when he walked off the floor he was upset about not taking more shots in the first half. He could probably tell you to the minute how long it is before tip-off for Florida. It was a brilliant performance by a freshman. It would have been a brilliant performance by a senior. Without checking I think that was the season high for any Tide player.
The thing that makes Cooper so valuable is his versatility. He can drain the long ball, hit the medium range jump shot, and can take it to the hoop. Imagine him next season with more power and twenty more pounds on his frame. Jacobs is just as wide load in a narrow lane. He is going to be very good in the future. The good thing about our freshman, and I include Gueye in that group is that they held their own on the road. I think they would have beaten LSU with either Lacey or Hankerson had been able to hit a few baskets.
So this weird week is over. First, the Tide annilates Auburn. Then the starters kill themselves, and then the freshman make us proud. Somehow Anthony Grant handled all of that with a lot of humility and poise. I bet he's glad the week is over. So this week we got to see the good, the bad, and not quite so ugly. It was pretty wild. My bet is the starters return on Tuesday and seek hardwood redemption. Just my feeling.
Final Shot: How good is to have a freshman come off the bench and play like Cooper played? Overheard walking out of the Maravich Center: "Who the hell was that # 21?" and "well, if their first team had played they would have beat us by 20." Probably, but that if is the key word.
So how about this - If the starters all return, and if they obey the rules, and if Tony Mitchell decides he can play GrantBall,we are going to make life pretty miserable for someone in the future. I hope the future is Tuesday night.
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No Final decision is reached after today's meeting with the players involved, however
So let's do a little bit of thinking out loud. The Tide is now 16-8. The SOS is good, and the RPI is still very good as well. Those are big factors in Alabama's favor. Two wins next week would take the Tide to 18-8. A win over the Gator's would be huge. A win over Tennessee will be good, but not as record enhancing. Disregard the fact that Tennessee beat Florida in Gainesville like a rag doll. It wasn't that Tennessee beat Florida that was so surprising. Any team in the SEC can beat any other team. But it was how they beat the Gators that was impressive. Tennessee showed that playing hard down low and pounding the boards is the way a team can beat them.
He probably knows what he is going to do, but I'll almost guarantee he'll think about it for another night to be absolutely sure his judgement is correct, and let the players sweat it out for a little bit longer. Coach Saban says that everyone, including the fans, are part of the team, and the process. So even the fans get to worry another night or so. I just don't think that two additional losses with our without the starters can be overcome without a strong run in the SEC. Such as reach the Finals. Or beat Kentucky or Vandy in the process.
The thing that makes Cooper so valuable is his versatility. He can drain the long ball, hit the medium range jump shot, and can take it to the hoop. Imagine him next season with more power and twenty more pounds on his frame. Jacobs is just as wide load in a narrow lane. He is going to be very good in the future. The good thing about our freshman, and I include Gueye in that group is that they held their own on the road. I think they would have beaten LSU with either Lacey or Hankerson had been able to hit a few baskets.
Final Shot: How good is to have a freshman come off the bench and play like Cooper played? Overheard walking out of the Maravich Center: "Who the hell was that # 21?" and "well, if their first team had played they would have beat us by 20." Probably, but that if is the key word.
So how about this - If the starters all return, and if they obey the rules, and if Tony Mitchell decides he can play GrantBall,we are going to make life pretty miserable for someone in the future. I hope the future is Tuesday night.
Return to Tiderinsider
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