Bama

[Jason94]

The run of very good teams continues with Alabama coming to Memorial on Tuesday. This is probably the best Bama team in decades, one that is both very good on offense and defense; a team that has not only managed to avoid getting beat by anybody bad, but also has knocked off some excellent teams so far. This team has played the #2 ranked schedule according to kenpom, but it doesn't take a computer to know that they have been tested, and have generally done quite well overall.

This Bama teams plays very fact, and that tempo suits their depth and personnel. As a team offensively they don't do anything spectacularly, but are a tenacious team that grabs offensive rebounds and gets to the line. While these attributes are typically indicative of very athletic teams, they are one of the best three point shooting teams in the conference as well, and lead the league in three point shooting in conference play. They will also take a lot of threes - almost half of their attempts will be behind the arc typically. Their only weakness is the propensity for turnovers, which is indicative of having a relatively young team on the floor. Defensively they really makes things difficult for teams to shoot both inside and outside the arc. Turnovers are again their weakness as they don't really create many of them on defense. They are not as bad as we are in this regards, but they are nowhere near as good as UT or ARK.

They are lead by Fr Brandon Miller, a 6'-9" stretch forward who has hit 46% of his threes while also making 84% of this FTA. He is also a good rebounder and has done a good job of not turning the ball over and keeps teams honest by being able to score inside the arc. Guard Mark Sears can also knock down the three and get to the line and converts at over 81%. Very difficult duo to handle as you have to respect their outside shot but they can hurt you in other ways. They have a good amount of size in the frontcourt, and they all convert their shots at a high rate but probably shoot from outside way too often for their respective conversion rates. Basically anyone on the court will attempt threes except their 7' center. Jahvon Quiverly has seen his role diminish after missing the first couple of games of the season and with Fr Jaden Bradley performing well at the point.

This is a young Bama team with three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior in the starting lineup and receiving the most minutes, but they have good experience coming off the bench. If we can hit our shots we have a chance against them. Their starting center is foul prone and gives up 30 lbs to Robbins - if Robbins is able to avoid foul trouble we have a way we can attack their defense. In both games they've lost this season opposing centers had very good games against them. They will be difficult to defend because so many of their players can score. If we play like we have in the last two games we do have a chance. This is another game where Dort could have some stretches of dominance as he physically overmatches Bama's frontcourt.

We don't have a great chance to win, but it isn't non-existent. It probably is as good as 20% and we should be able to keep the score wtihin 10 points. They are really good, but the matchup against UT last week was a more difficult game than this one is on paper. Right now Robbins is the best center in the league, he just isn't playing as much as some of the other centers. If he puts it together and plays 30 minutes, we can beat anybody at home.

[Vandy187187]

agreed. Bama is really good. We can play up or down to our competition. I suspect we will play up.

On the other hand we are coming off our best half in many years. Highly doubtful we repeat that kind of effort.

[charlestonalum]

Their best player, Miller. is a freshman from Tennessee: here's hoping our students give him a very warm homecoming and give the team enogh assistance to show why Memoeial Magic translates to home team victory. Stack will get 'em ready to play with a good gameplan. Wish I could be there.

[Nashmann]

Brandon Miller is from Nashville(Antioch). Can you imagine if he came to Vandy how things would have been so much different? Signing ONE kid with that kind of talent would change the whole record! A shame we let a local leave town.

[VUaskew]

Brandon Miller is from Nashville(Antioch). Can you imagine if he came to Vandy how things would have been so much different? Signing ONE kid with that kind of talent would change the whole record! A shame we let a local leave town.

We "let" him go? I don't know the young man personally, so I wasn't involved. People choose a school for a number of reasons. Some of them aren't even for money.

[dore74]

Gotta figure that 'bama is a national championship contender this year (and the next year too, so long as that team stays together). Very interested to see if our guys can honestly compete with them for 40 minutes. Will take concentration and the toughness that we showed for a good bit of the Arkansas game and the first half of the UT game by our entire rotation. While a win would be exceptional, I'll be happy if we can go toe to toe with these guys the whole way through (although a win would be much, much better).

I share the sentiment of others that this game is the first basketball game in along while that I was excited to watch. Go 'dores!!!

[charlestonalum]

Brandon Miller is from Nashville(Antioch). Can you imagine if he came to Vandy how things would have been so much different? Signing ONE kid with that kind of talent would change the whole record! A shame we let a local leave town.

When I looked him up to see who recruited him, VU was not on his top list but some others in state and region were. Not sure if he spurned us or if he was the kind of player admissions won't admit. Either case is valid and he is a great player who we have to contend with. Go Dores.

[vu2003rpl]

I believe Miller‘s father played football for Alabama in the 90s. I doubt there was much chance he was going somewhere else.

[dallasdore]

Bama is my pick right now to win it all this year. They have the type of team that seems built to run the table in March.