Alabama Basketball's total meltdown

Before we delve into tonight's "game," I want to take a look back to a year ago tonight.

It was around this time last year that I was sitting on the floor of the Georgia Dome, watching the roof flap violently, the lights and scaffolding shake, and the side of the Dome blown open.

One year ago, Alabama was playing Mississippi State in the very same time slot as they played in tonight, but no one was told of the severe weather outside the Georgia Dome or the fact a tornado formed right on top of the Dome.

As I mentioned earlier this week, Mykal Riley's shot to send it to overtime not only saved my life, but about 15,000 others as well. You can see me jumping around like an idiot (nothing new with me at a basketball game) at around the 13-second mark off to the left.

Once the game was back underway, Alabama went on to lose the game, but who knows what would have happened had the game been uninterrupted.

Tonight, though, the Crimson Tide showed very little fight and looked like a team who didn't want to show up to the gym for the game.

The game did not reflect an Alabama team who wanted to move on and fight for a postseason spot. It was more like a try-out tape for Extreme Makeover: Alabama edition for the next head coach.

Everything that had gone wrong over the course of the season reared its ugly head once again tonight, and the Crimson Tide once again looked like a team running around with its head chopped off.

So, to Mr. Potential Head Coach, here are all the things you need to work on once you get on the job...

• Blocking Out. Alabama has been decent this season at rebounding, coming in at second in the league with 39 rebounds per game, but their rebounding margin was only plus two this year. The Crimson Tide were also second in offensive rebounds per game. Tonight, though, Alabama got out-rebounded by ten and allowed four more offensive rebounds than they pull down themselves. All season long, Alabama has hardly put a body on the opposing team, and it really showed tonight.
• Help Defense. Tonight, Alabama scored 62 points compared to Tennessee's 86. The Vols had 60 points in the paint. In other words, Alabama could only muster two more points total than what they allowed from within a five foot range. That comes from the previous point of blocking out, but also Alabama has got to play help defense. The Tide are really bad at watching the other team drive instead of rotating over to have their teammate's back. This has to change if a coaching change will have any affect.
• Fast Break Performance. This applies to both sides of the ball. On offense, the Crimson Tide need to run the floor a bit more. Alabama has their moments in the open court, but too often those moments come off of individual steals. Alabama hardly runs the floor with multiple guys and almost never has more than ten points in fast break situations. On defense, Alabama never manages to get back to defend in fast break situations. Teams get out on a break easily on Alabama and have for some time.
• Assist-to-Turnover ratio. This is a stat where you want to be above a one-to-one ratio, but just under is nothing to fret about. To be eleventh in conference and have a point-seven assist to turnover ratio is horrid. Tonight, Alabama had 18 turnovers compared to only four assists. For those keeping score at home, that is a .22 assist to turnover ratio. Ouch. Bruce Pearl said after the game that Alabama is difficult to guard because of how they can create in one-on-one situations, but this is a team sport. Alabama should be moving on offense, a totally different rant in itself, instead of clearing, sitting, and watching as one guy tries to carry the team.
• Three-point shooting. This is why Anthony Brock was brought to Tuscaloosa, but he always isn't on, and he can't do it by himself. Alabama shot 21-percent from downtown tonight, and that is never a good number. Once again, the Tide is eleventh on the season in this category, shooting just over 31-percent for the year. These are just like free throws, which was another problem but has been worked on. With practice, this percentage could improve, but this will also require the players to want to get better in this regard.

With this many gaps, a transformation will obviously not come overnight in the 2009-10 season.

There are plenty of things this team can improve on, and whoever takes over for next season will be sure of this after watching tonight's game. All I can ask as a fan is pick two and beat the horse to death until there is a noticeable change in the Crimson Tide for next year.