Alabama Basketball Preview 2009-2010
December 14, 2009
Alabama Crimson Tide
2008-2009 Record: 18-14 (SEC 7-9)
Head Coach: Anthony Grant
Key Losses: Ron Steele, Alonzo Gee, Yamene Coleman
Key Returnees: JaMychal Green, Senario Hillman, Mikhail Torrance, Justin Knox
Last basketball season mercifully wheezed to a close when we lost to Tennessee in the SEC tournament. Dwindling crowds and issues on and off the court led to Mark Gottfried’s resignation in mid season. Assistant Philip Pearson finished the season credibly, but we were all ready to move on.
Anthomy Grant has brought new energy to the team and to its fan base, which has always wanted to be excited about basketball. He arrived on the scene too late to do much recruiting (he personally recruited many of the players on Florida’s national championshiop teams when he was an assistant there) so of the current team only point guard Ben Eblen is a Grant recruit.
Circumstances kept me from doing this preview earlier, but that isn’t all bad. We were paying close attention to that other sport all fall anyway, and by now we’ve gotten a look at our players and the new style of play.
Any preview of our team has to start with JaMychal Green. He is a superior athleete, who at 6′9″ he is a terrific shot blocker and defender, as well as an inside scoring threat. Last year he was prone to foul trouble, but he seems to be doing better about avoiding the cheap fouls that plagued him as a freshman. Another issue he needed to improve from last year was upper body strength and bulk. He is a little bigger than last year, though he could easily put another 10-15 pounds on his lanky frame and not lose any quickness.
Senario Hillman is the best all around athlete we’ve had as a basketball player since Gerald Wallace. His vertical leap, speed and quickness are the stuff of which legends come. He has used these skills to develop into a strong perimeter defender, and has used his quickness to good effect in our pressure defenses. As a freshman his offense was mostly highlight reel dunks. He showed some improvement in his mid range and perimeter game last year, but he needs to continue to develop as a scorer for us to have a big season.
Mikhail Torrance took over point guard duties last season when persistent injuries finally led Ron Steele to call it quits. He responded well, with some double digit scoring. He is an effective penetrator and a decent perimeter shooter. Once he started seeing the court on a regular basis he was a deadly free throw shooter as well. His size makes him a mismatch with many of the point guards he lines up against (he is 6′5″). His weaknesses, up to know, are defensive quickness and handling the ball against defensive pressure.
Justin Knox is our “banger” inside. At 6′9″ and 240 he has the strength and bulk not to be shoved around in the paint. Justin has a decent mid range jumper and has some strong low post moves. He needs to be more of a force on the defensive boards though.
Senior Anthony Brock has been a sometimes starter this year. He has quick feet and a nice outside stroke. At 5′9″ he is on the small side even for a point guard, which makes for some tough match ups. We usually have to play him with a bigger two guard for this reason. He needs to work on being a better distributor and taking better care of the ball under pressure.
Andrew Steele, Ron’s younger brother, showed some promise as a freshman last season, though he is a totally different type of player. Andrew’s offense came from slashing to the basket. His outside game defintely needs improvement. He has a strong body (6′3″, 200 pounds) that made him a football prospect out of high school as a strong safety, at least until he made it known that his college interests were on the hardwood. This strength and good agility makes him an effective defender. He has been plagued with a stress fracture in a foot all season and has seen only limited duty so far. This really hurts our depth.
Tony Mitchell leads our newcomers. He uses his length and athleticism very well. He is an unusually good defender for a freshman, and has excited crowds and commentators alike with exciting dunks and blocks. He has been a bit out of control at times, but as he settles in to the college level of play he will no doubt become a star.
Charvez Davis came with a reputation as a great three point shooter out of junior college. So far he has live up to his reputation. He spots up well and moves well without the ball. When he gets hot he can turn a game around in a heartbeat. Defensively he hasn’t yet adapted to the speed of the D-1 game, and has been careless with the basketball at times.
Chris Hines, another newcomer from junior college, was recruited as a small forward. At 6′8″ and 225 pounds he would have been big at that position. Circumstances (the transfer of Yamene Coleman and the pre-season injury to Demetrius Jemison) have forced Hines to the inside. His early play has been mixed. He has been all right defensivelybut hasn’t adapted to playing with his back to the basket on offense, at least not yet.
Ben Eblen, as mentioned above, is the only Grant recruit on the team. So far he has had some good moments, but has also had some of the problems you’d expect a true freshamn to have in adapting to the size and speed of the players in the college game. He is a work in progress, but should be a solid contributor by season’s end.
The team has adapted enthusiastically to Grant’s style of play, and the attacking style on defense has energized our fans. We have had some good moments so far this season, such as the wins over Providence, Baylor and Michigan. Our losses, especially the ones to Purdue and FSU, have exposed some problem areas as well.
FSU basically defended us with height and took away our inside game, forcing us to score from the perimeter. Although I think we are a bit better than a year ago we still don’t shoot well enough from the outside to keep other teams from “packing it in” against us. Davis helps, but we need at least one more effective outside shooter to combat this defensive style.
The Purdue game was a different matter. They play pressure (half court) man to man, and they play it very well. Their ball pressure, especially in the last ten minutes of the game, took us out of our offense. Torranc had some success with penetration early but by crunch time his legs were gone. We have not handled ball pressure well this year, though again it is better than a year ago.
Depth is another issue. We were already down to 11 scholarship players when Jemison tore up his achilles tendon. Steel has missed the last three games as well. We all love the new pressing and trapping style on defense and the up tempo on offense, but going only nine players deep (for now anyway) will limit the effectiveness of this approach.
I’ll venture a prediction at this point: we will be favored in all our remaining non conference games except the one in Mobile, and should reach SEC play with a 10-4 overall record. Mississippi Stae and Ole Miss are a cut above the rest of the SEC West, but we have a good shot at third place. I’ll say 9-7 in the SEC, and one win in the SEC tournament, putting us at 20-12 overall, and most likely in the NIT.
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