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By Alex Byington Sports
TUSCALOOSA —Wrapping up his second season, Alabama basketball coach Avery Johnson made one thing clear — the work toward getting to to the 2018 NCAA tournament is already well underway.
“We want to go somewhere,” Johnson said last week after a season-ending 71-64 loss to Richmond in the first round of the NIT. “I like the success our football team has had — I like their swagger, I like their confidence, I like the expectation of winning when I walk into the football stadium.
“We’re not there yet. We’re (still) chasing greatness.”
Johnson's second season with the Crimson Tide could be described as inconsistent, as his team won more than two games in a row only one time.
As he answered questions about the season that was and what is coming next, Johnson didn’t hesitate when talking about the obvious expectations in Year 3.
“Our whole program has been pointed to Year 3,” Johnson said. “But we’re still on schedule. I’m as encouraged with what we’re doing with the program as I was on Day 1.”
Alabama (19-15) improved in Year 2, especially late in the season when it won back-to-back SEC tournament games before losing to Kentucky in the semifinals.
It’s that sort of progress that has many around the program excited for the program's future.
“This thing is — I really believe — (we’re) in a position, and the timing is really good, for Alabama to get back to where it used to be in the past,” first-year assistant coach John Pelphrey said.
Taking the leap forward to becoming a conference power and perennial NCAA Tournament contender will take work from the eight or nine scholarship players returning and the five additions arriving this summer.
“The guys that are returning, they got to get better,” Johnson said. “The guys that are coming in, they got to give us a huge boost in some of the areas that we’re weak.”
Two issues plagued Johnson's second season — careless mistakes and shooting droughts. Alabama clearly lacked a go-to offensive threat. When it needed someone to create a spark offensively, there was often no one to turn to.
Johnson made that point after the Richmond loss. pointing to the team’s lack of “that eye-of-the-tiger” mentality early in the game.
“Our players just have to have more confidence and more swagger and more pride in defending their home court,” Johnson said. “And then just trying to figure out 5, 7, 10, 11 guys that really just don’t like to lose — they don’t want to lose a minute in the game.
“The really, really good players, there’s an edge about them, a confidence and a swagger," he continued. "And we have to get a lot more of that for us to go to the next level.”
The expectation is Alabama won’t be without those kind of players for much longer.
Highlighting a top-5 signing class are McDonald’s All-American guard Collin Sexton, a top-10 player who chose Alabama over national powers Kansas and Kentucky, and fellow five-star guard John Petty of Huntsville's Mae Jemison.
Kentucky coach John Calipari expects bigger things from the Tide going forward.
“I will tell you, the guards — we tried to get the guards they recruited and they beat us on them,” Calipari said at the SEC tournament. “They're really good players, and the guys that they have coming back — the size, the skill — I think they're going to be really good.”
Sexton is considered a game-changing playmaker who can score. He averaged nearly 30 points and 7.5 rebounds at Pebblebrook High in Mableton, Ga. He's the type of player Alabama needed this past season
The 6-foot-5 Petty arrives as the top-ranked player in Alabama and a consensus top 30 player nationally after averaging nearly 20 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists while leading Mae Jemison to the Class 5A state championship.
Among the other members of the five-member signing class include 6-9 forward Alex Reese of Pelham and 6-7 wing Herb Jones of Greensboro — the second and fourth-ranked players in Alabama, according to 247Sports.com’s composite rankings. Also on the way is 6-9, 220-pound center Galin Smith of Clinton, Miss. — the third-ranked player in Mississippi.
Johnson didn't make any promises for next season, but he hinted at the potential for a breakthrough season while pointing to Duke and its 2014 national championship team as an example of the sort of turnaround a couple of world-class freshmen can provide.
“We’ve tried to recruit in a way that the players that are returning next year, they’re going to have some experience, but the guys that are coming in (are) ready to go,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. ... I’m still encouraged.”
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“We want to go somewhere,” Johnson said last week after a season-ending 71-64 loss to Richmond in the first round of the NIT. “I like the success our football team has had — I like their swagger, I like their confidence, I like the expectation of winning when I walk into the football stadium.
“We’re not there yet. We’re (still) chasing greatness.”
Johnson's second season with the Crimson Tide could be described as inconsistent, as his team won more than two games in a row only one time.
As he answered questions about the season that was and what is coming next, Johnson didn’t hesitate when talking about the obvious expectations in Year 3.
“Our whole program has been pointed to Year 3,” Johnson said. “But we’re still on schedule. I’m as encouraged with what we’re doing with the program as I was on Day 1.”
Alabama (19-15) improved in Year 2, especially late in the season when it won back-to-back SEC tournament games before losing to Kentucky in the semifinals.
It’s that sort of progress that has many around the program excited for the program's future.
“This thing is — I really believe — (we’re) in a position, and the timing is really good, for Alabama to get back to where it used to be in the past,” first-year assistant coach John Pelphrey said.
Taking the leap forward to becoming a conference power and perennial NCAA Tournament contender will take work from the eight or nine scholarship players returning and the five additions arriving this summer.
“The guys that are returning, they got to get better,” Johnson said. “The guys that are coming in, they got to give us a huge boost in some of the areas that we’re weak.”
Two issues plagued Johnson's second season — careless mistakes and shooting droughts. Alabama clearly lacked a go-to offensive threat. When it needed someone to create a spark offensively, there was often no one to turn to.
Johnson made that point after the Richmond loss. pointing to the team’s lack of “that eye-of-the-tiger” mentality early in the game.
“Our players just have to have more confidence and more swagger and more pride in defending their home court,” Johnson said. “And then just trying to figure out 5, 7, 10, 11 guys that really just don’t like to lose — they don’t want to lose a minute in the game.
“The really, really good players, there’s an edge about them, a confidence and a swagger," he continued. "And we have to get a lot more of that for us to go to the next level.”
The expectation is Alabama won’t be without those kind of players for much longer.
Highlighting a top-5 signing class are McDonald’s All-American guard Collin Sexton, a top-10 player who chose Alabama over national powers Kansas and Kentucky, and fellow five-star guard John Petty of Huntsville's Mae Jemison.
Kentucky coach John Calipari expects bigger things from the Tide going forward.
“I will tell you, the guards — we tried to get the guards they recruited and they beat us on them,” Calipari said at the SEC tournament. “They're really good players, and the guys that they have coming back — the size, the skill — I think they're going to be really good.”
Sexton is considered a game-changing playmaker who can score. He averaged nearly 30 points and 7.5 rebounds at Pebblebrook High in Mableton, Ga. He's the type of player Alabama needed this past season
The 6-foot-5 Petty arrives as the top-ranked player in Alabama and a consensus top 30 player nationally after averaging nearly 20 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists while leading Mae Jemison to the Class 5A state championship.
Among the other members of the five-member signing class include 6-9 forward Alex Reese of Pelham and 6-7 wing Herb Jones of Greensboro — the second and fourth-ranked players in Alabama, according to 247Sports.com’s composite rankings. Also on the way is 6-9, 220-pound center Galin Smith of Clinton, Miss. — the third-ranked player in Mississippi.
Johnson didn't make any promises for next season, but he hinted at the potential for a breakthrough season while pointing to Duke and its 2014 national championship team as an example of the sort of turnaround a couple of world-class freshmen can provide.
“We’ve tried to recruit in a way that the players that are returning next year, they’re going to have some experience, but the guys that are coming in (are) ready to go,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. ... I’m still encouraged.”
Decatur Daily—Continue reading...
