Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Alabama Post-Game Open Thread

Your thoughts welcome

26 comments:

N. P. said...

Winning ugly still means we won. I imagine that CKS will have them doing a few thousand FTs but for us to be down huge at their house and fight our way back with little production from AJ and Festus is comforting. Depth is the buzzword for this team.

J.B., M.D. said...

Pacing my apartment listening to Joe Fisher has become quite a common occurrence in the JB household.

Free Throws are giving me heartburn.

Turnovers were held in check (only 8, I believe). A solid sign on the road in a hostile environment.

Andrew Smith said...

Festus: Huge effort. Great rebounding. Great presence, but the scoring !!! He needs to spend about 60 hours a week working on shots from inside three feet -- keeping both hands clutching the ball until the point of release. The ball seems to be greased for him and him alone because any time he moves it quickly in any direction it goes shooting out at an odd angle. He also seems to need a hypnotherapist to hammer home the idea that he is both very tall and able to dunk, so he might as well do that when standing next to the basket.

Rest of team: I wouldn't go crazy with the free throw thing. College teams -- unlike NBA teams -- fall prey to weird mental streaks. If I were Stallings, I'd instead praise the effort and aggression, especially in the second half. There were stretches there where we played with actual intensity, which we never do.

VandyGold28 said...

wow, i gotta say i couldn't pay 100% of my attention to the game b/c i was playing hoops myself and walking out to the TVs whenever i could to check the score but hot damn. i watched the last 4 or 5 minutes.

first of all, was that game horribly called or not? like i said i missed so much of the game maybe not but every time i looked it seemed like we would get hammered and nothing called but then on the other end of the court everything got called. could be my homer views or the fact i wasn't paying enough attention.

also, it seems like we played really, really bad and still beat in my opinion a great team. i stand by my opinon that this was a must win b/c in my opinion this team should be sweet 16 material and they aren't getting there w/out a win like this. 'bama is getting no respect come ncaa tourney time so far and i hope they start b/c all 5 teams they've lost to are good. i hope we don't catch them in the sec tourney.

south carolina is next. in my opinon, another must win. 4-0 in sec play seems doable as well as needed as @ uk and @ ut are probably losses to drop us to 4-2 (as long as we win these next two).

usc is nothing to smirk at but they have had a lot of injuries and troubles already. i know we can win that game but will we. can't wait to see us at home again. hopefully saturday isn't another heart attack. go dores!

Anonymous said...

Nice win even though our ft shooting sucked like american idol.

Goulbourne made some knucklehead plays that will cost him minutes in the next few games I predict. That's a shame. D. McClellan may get some of those minutes?

Douglas James said...

What did Lance do that was knuckleheaded? I was too busy yelling at Beal for taking retarded shots, Taylor and Jenkins for missing free throws and AJ for not being able to do anything right.

Also this might be a slight exaggeration but I'm pretty sure this team is the worst team in the first 5 mins of a game in the history of organized basketball.

Anonymous said...

We shouldn't have won that game, but I'm so glad we did. Bama couldn't score down the stretch when they could have sealed the deal. We hung around barely. All those missed free throws should have cost us the game but I'll take a stolen W in conference play any day of the week. I'm a huge Festus fan but he needs to make more in the paint and from the charity stripe, 1 for 5 from the line will make any team with a good coach take on the "hack a shaq" philosophy when he gets the ball.

Anonymous said...

yall p a can say neg. about BEAL'S play all day but u know vandy is dead wihtout him. BT is scared. Too bad Beal doesn't have the same support that he's given to seniors when he was not. They are jealous and selfish. Deny him the ball then you better do something with it bt, cry baby. Beal needs another front court guard as good as him in the game. 6 games little contribution but started them all from bt daddy calling the shots.
bone head colin, vandygold28,andrew,douglasjames shut the b..up

Stanimal said...

Anonymous who is a Beal lover....dude, I just have to ask, and let me reiterate that you're opinions are welcome....but are you Beal's mom or something? You certainly don't care when anyone hassles AJ

The kid is a talented player and even though some deliver criticism, we all recognize he is a vital part of this team. Relax a little bit, that's all I'm saying.

Slimbo said...

If AJ hit and Festus hit half their layups, that game is not even close. They were big on the boards though, as was Andre... quickly becoming my favorite guy on this roster.

As JB noted, the fact that we were able to keep control of the ball on our end and capitalize on Bama turnovers was huge. Tinsley, who as Beal's mom stated "played scared" at some points this year, looked great. 3-5 for 8 w/ no turnovers and confident passing.

Anonymous said...

the only thing that beal needs to work on is his shot selection...He shoots more than any other point guard in the league...if he can use better judgement of when to shoot and give it up more than we will play a little better but beal defintely is a very big part of this team and when he is making his shots well then let him shoot but when he is pullin up from three every other possesion we are in trouble

Anonymous said...

the only thing that beal needs to work on is his shot selection...He shoots more than any other point guard in the league...if he can use better judgement of when to shoot and give it up more than we will play a little better but beal defintely is a very big part of this team and when he is making his shots well then let him shoot but when he is pullin up from three every other possesion we are in trouble

Chuck Heston said...

Not sure if anyone complimented Brad Tinsley or not, but he was the leading Vandy scorer for most if not all of the 1st half. He made baskets at key points in the game to keep it w/n reach. For the first time in a while I didn't cringe when he substituted in and out with Jenkins. We're getting good performances off the bench when we need them, such as Jenkins, Walker, Ezeli, Steve T. (in the FL game).

I agree that with a stretch coming up including TN, KY, MS ST, we needed that win, and would be in a good position to take the next 2.

Anonymous said...

Remember, there is more than one anonymous. The anonymous who DOESN'T say american idol sucks might be a Beal fanatic - the american idol sucks guy is equal in his critique of our players.

A big shout out to Chuck Heston. Looks like Michael Moore got your goat in Bowling for Columbine.

ROTFLMAO!!!

Andrew Smith said...

Given that I have lambasted Tinsley here on several occasions, fairness demands that I echo Chuck's point: Tinsley was very good against Alabama. That's easily the best game I've seen him play. Even when he stopped shooting in the last quarter of the game, he made good decisions with the ball, including several excellent passes.

As for the anonymous Beal-lover, I think you misread some of the Beal critiques leveled on this blog. I don't think anyone denies his talent or that this team cannot win without him. He draws criticism not because he's bad but because he's inexplicable.

Three quarters of the time he runs the offense well, distributes the ball effectively and takes smart shots. But then for the remaining one quarter of his floor minutes, he goes nuts, throws the ball to random places, dribbles off other players, and hoists up left-handed fall away jumpers in triple coverage from half court. How can someone who is often so smart and capable do things like that?

Anonymous said...

I would have to say that the comments about are star players being bad are warranted, but Alabama played better man to man defense than anyone we have played this year (except maybe Cincinnati). It bothered us, but we turned up the intensity and got the win.

I am ecstatic that we won that game, because I think Alabama is probably the second best (maybe the third best) team in the west.

VandyGold28 said...

I never even said one word about Beal or any other single player. Why is anonymous hating on me? Hate on I guess.

Douglas James said...

Anonymous (non-American Idol hater), at no point did anyone solely blame Beal for the problems of this year. While his play has been frustrating at times I think everyone who reads this blog has also talked about BT, AJ, Festus, Taylor and even Jenkins struggles. And the reason for the comments is because all those players mentioned are some of the most talented players in the history of Vandy. Beal has been a great PG throughout his time in school but everyone on this board would like to see him distribute more and shoot the ball less. Not necessarily because he can't hit shots, he obviously can, but because the offense runs better when others are getting involved. I'm of the opinion that the PG should always be the 5th scoring option on the offensive end. Beal should get all the credit in the world for the last shot he hit. That was a gutsy shot to take. The problem was it was not a "SMART" one. There was still plenty time on the shot clock.

But whatever its a huge win. We need all the victories we can get.

Jason said...

Beal's injury (which requires that he play with a cast on his right lane) seems to be really affecting him. It's a shame, because he cannot really dribble with that hand or rely on it for in-the-lane scoring opportunities. Personally, I think that injury is responsible for his erratic play this year.

As for Tinsley, one game does not a season make. If this is the turning point for him, great. But, until I see how he fairs against top-flight SEC competition, I cannot remain anything but cautiously optimistic.

Anonymous said...

Andrew,Staminal,anonymous:First and foremost I don't believe that Beal's mom would partake in any conversation with young boys on a trashy cite as this that berates the very team that tinghey profess to be fans of. I don't know her that well but from all appearaance it seems not her thing.I do believe that yall get off on conversations of this nature. Yes you have been one sided on pointing fingers and making excuses for others. I'm sure when Beal is gone you'll find another to blast...who may or maynot deserve it in your little minds.just another anonymous

Anonymous said...

Andrew,Staminal,anonymous:First and foremost I don't believe that Beal's mom would partake in any conversation with young boys on a trashy cite as this that berates the very team that tinghey profess to be fans of. I don't know her that well but from all appearaance it seems not her thing.I do believe that yall get off on conversations of this nature. Yes you have been one sided on pointing fingers and making excuses for others. I'm sure when Beal is gone you'll find another to blast...who may or maynot deserve it in your little minds.just another anonymous

TheCrocDownUnda said...

anonymous - are you actually jermaine? from your posts, you seem extremely defensive of just beal (yourself). just take it as constructive criticism for the team. we're behind you guys... until you lose again.

Anonymous said...

thecrocdownunda... I know that he has better things to do than read the trash being written by a bunch want to be...s

Anonymous said...

yall need an outstanding ? so yall can have something positive to talk about.

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