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Alabama still does not know how to play loud for 40 minutes.
Unless a Sunday miracle in selection, this basketball season is over for coach Avery Johnson's team, and his players remain, it seems, completely disconcerted by the level of energy needed to play any game. the duration of a basketball game.
It's inexplicable and mystifying.
On Alabama's last chance to impress the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee at the SEC Tournament, the Crimson Tide played with the determination and fire of the matches in the rain. It was as if Kentucky was the team that was playing for this last place in the tournament.
Kentucky had nine blocks in the first half of its 73-55 win. New. Alabama just was not prepared for this kind of fight against such a good team. I have stopped trying to make sense of this Alabama team because it gives me a headache, but the resilience it has shown in the second half against Ole Miss on Friday at Nashville has completely disappeared in less than 24 hours.
And now, Alabama must wait to see if he can return to the NCAA tournament. Will they sneak into the field of 68? A record of 18-15 in general and 8-10 in conference feels the NIT, but Alabama has victories against five quality teams: Tournament: Liberty, Murray State, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Kentucky.
Anything could depend on how the selection committee values the level of competition in the SEC this season, but the injuries inflicted on goalies Dazon Ingram and forward Daniel Giddens could be taken into account in the committee's decision.
If Alabama is one of the last four teams in the tournament, it does not seem that they are ready to withdraw from the first weekend. In four years in Alabama, Johnson has failed to establish a winning culture. It's as simple as that, and it's also overwhelming.
Johnson has a $ 8 million buyout, so letting him go now would take some effort. Alabama is committed to basketball, however, making a change is not out of place if the team does not participate in the tournament, according to a source who is directly aware of Alabama thinking.
His players love Johnson, of course, but they do not respond regularly enough to his training. He is organized and professional, and is a better strategist that people want to understand, but his players did not buy for what he sells.
In his post-game interview after losing to Kentucky, Donta Hall, an Alabama senior, was outspoken in his assessment of the team's inconsistencies when he told her blamed "the attitude, among other things." Commitment."
Hall was the teammate par excellence during his stay in Alabama. He bleeds crimson and white, while he blames Alabama's commitment for his misfortunes discouraged the direction of the program.
"Honestly, I was expecting a little more in fourth grade," admitted Johnson, "but when you're out of position and you lose tight games, I do not know how many teams have lost as many tedders as we have lost this year, and close games, and games in the last four minutes.
"Just to be able to close the games and learn from these situations, there is still room, but we are not as far as many teams across the country, I think we are close, we just have to overcome the bump. . "
How much longer is Alabama ready to give to Johnson? Patience is getting lower and lower in a SEC landscape where quality basketball practice now rivals football. It's also a basketball conference, and Alabama desperately wants to be among the best teams in the league. Sports Director Greg Byrne has focused on improving Alabama basketball. He did not hire Johnson, a top coach because of his NBA experience, but struggled to adapt to college football.
There is no money to motivate the players, so it's up to the coaches to understand it. Johnson is not a great motivator. He is, however, a top coach. In the current climate of college basketball, this should make sense. Does that mean enough?
"The bottom line is that I think our kids are great kids and I think that's more of the attitude we have for basketball," said Johnson, trying to explain the criticisms of Hall on the commitment of the team. "It 's about diving for a loose ball or spacing on the ground, just understand that you must have the right state of mind. When we play a play, the five guys must be on the same page. "
Johnson then said that his team's "energy levels" were something "we must watch."
Take a look at? The season is over. Energy is a hard-won and learned skill, like shooting in a shot in the air. You do not look at it just after being eliminated from a conference tournament.
Two days before the selection on Sunday, I asked Johnson for a full report of his first four years in Alabama.
"I think that needs to be continued," he said.
Maybe not.
Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group. He's on Twitter @ JoeGoodmanJr.
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