Coach DeMeco, the Jalen Debate, and the Elephant in the Room Rampaged: All Things CW
This is the combined version of this week's All Things CW notes column by Christopher Walsh, which appeared in five parts this week, with the latest on the Alabama Crimson Tide.
106-66.
Remember that score a couple of weeks ago? It was the game in which everything went right for Alabama basketball, followed by the night when everything went tragically wrong.
That was Jan. 14 when the Crimson Tide absolutely destroyed visiting LSU, followed by the night when former teammate Darius Miles was involved in a shooting that resulted in the death of Jamea Harris, a 23-year-old mother from Birmingham.
It's unfair that the remaining players were left to deal with the aftermath in the middle of a season, but that's the reality. Fans don't want to talk about the subject, and opponents are taking advantage of the situation.
Just consider the four games since then:
- at Vanderbilt, W 78-66
- at Missouri, W 85-64
- Mississippi State, W 66-63
- at Oklahoma, L 93-69
Alabama ran into an emotional wall on Saturday, with head coach Nate Oats saying "We've lost our edge a little," and hadn't played well the past couple of weeks.
Like usual, he was right.
Discussing the psyche of a basketball team still seems insignificant when compared to the loss of life, but the season continues and no one's going to feel sorry for the Crimson Tide (18-3).
And now we know that it's impacting the team on the court (how could it not?) Alabama hasn't been the same, although there's been another obvious factor at work as well.
The shooting corresponded with the Crimson Tide closing in on No. 1 in the AP Top 25. Combined with other teams suffering losses, Alabama moved up to No. 2, the program's highest ranking in 20 years, and the kind of ranking that pretty guarantees every opponents' full attention.
So the players were continually being told how good they were, while actually doing less on the court, and not putting forth the same amount of effort.
Consequently, the Oklahoma game was probably inevitable.
This isn't a criticism of Oats, who found himself in a horrible situation and no clear path moving forward. On the court, he backed off the team, which was absolutely necessary. The coach needed to give his players some time to cope and try to get a handle on the situation, and their emotions.
Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide seemed to forget what made it so good.
Heading into Oklahoma, Alabama ranked first in the nation in rebounds per game and defensive rebounds. The unranked Sooners matched the Crimson Tide in the first (36-35 edge), and dominated the latter (30-20).
Alabama also led the Southeastern Conference in 3-pointers made. Yet it was 6-for-30 at Lloyd Noble Center, while the Sooners shot lights out. Oklahoma hit 13 3-pointers on 20 attempts, for 69.2 percent, and 57.6 percent overall.
It was somewhat reminiscent of the Gonzaga loss. The Zags made 74 percent from the field in the second half during their 100-90 victory back on Dec. 15, and 57.1 percent overall.
A common denominator in all three losses, though: assists. The opponents averaged 17.0 against Alabama. In comparison, the Crimson Tide had six against Oklahoma, and averaged 9.0 in those games.
But the most telling statistic with this team remains turnovers.
In the four games prior to LSU, the Crimson Tide had double-digit turnovers just once. It averaged 9.25 per game during that stretch.
In the four games since, Alabama has had 14, 11, 12 and 13, respectively, for a 12.5 average.
Put it all together and hard-hat elements that the Crimson Tide had prided itself on have been lacking: Attention to detail, focus, and effort.
“There was a point where we kinda thought we were untouchable,” freshman guard Rylen Griffen said.
Tuesday night will bring the next barometer with this team, just three days off the failed Oklahoma trip. That's not a lot of time to make a lot of corrections, but it can be enough to start a mental turnaround.
We already know what'll happen if it doesn't. Last year's collapse, when Alabama went winless in March hasn't been forgotten, and remains a reminder how quickly things can unravel.
One has to believe that this team's just too good, and has too much potential for a repeat. But fundamentally, it'll be the players who determine how this season will play out over these last two months and March Madness, and be remembered.
It's ultimately up to them.
Follow-Up: The Elephant Destroyed the Room
"They got the message," Oats said.
Yeah, that might be the understatement of the year.
It's only right, and fair, to acknowledge how well the Crimson Tide responded from the loss at Oklahoma, and absolutely destroyed visiting Vanderbilt, 101-44.
The energy was great Tuesday night. The team didn't let up even when ahead by 50-plus points. Alabama posted the largest SEC win in program history (previously 53 points over Ole Miss in 1947, 83-30).
“I thought our guys answered the bell after the Oklahoma game," Oats said. "It was a great way to respond. I was expecting a lot from us. It was just unfortunate for [Vanderbilt] that they were the team that followed the Oklahoma game.
Here's how well Alabama did in the statistical categories that were pointed out in Take 1:
Rebounds: The Crimson Tide had a 45-33 edge on the boards, including 35-18 on the defensive side.
At Oklahoma, the teams were nearly even.
3-Point Shooting: The Crimson Tide was 19-for-41, while Vanderbilt was just 3-for-30.
Alabama was 6-for-30 at Oklahoma, while the Sooners were 13-for-20.
Assists: Against the Commodores, the Crimson Tide had a 29-6 edge. It was the second-most assists in a game in program history (30 vs. East Tennessee State in 2004).
In Alabama's three losses, opponents have had a 17.0-9.0 average.
Turnovers: The Crimson Tide had 12 despite the blowout. Vanderbilt had 16. Alabama had a 27-6 advantage in points off turnovers.
Over its previous four games, Alabama had 14, 11, 12 and 13, respectively, for a 12.5 average.
Meanwhile, no one fouled out. No one had a negative +/- ratio. Alabama had a 27-2 edge in fast-break points.
The 42-15 halftime score was even more impressive when considering that Vanderbilt scored the first five points of the game. That was also its longest scoring run of the night. When notching its next points, a 3-pointer about 10 minutes in, the score was 21-5.
Before everyone gets too excited again, it needs to be noted that at 10-12 overall, 3-6 in league play, Vanderbilt is a lot closer to the bottom of the SEC standings than the top. So is the next opponent, LSU.
Alabama (19-3, 9-0 SEC) will still need to maintain this kind of intensity and make sure that this wasn't a one- or two-game response. Teams that continue to improve in February are often the ones to make the biggest noise in March.
But for one night, the Crimson Tide looked like a team that had re-established itself as the one to beat in the Southeastern Conference, and was back in control of its season.
"They really coached each other over the last three days, to be honest, they're a great group that kind of talked amongst themselves," Oats said. "This is who we want to be, this is what we got to do to get better. They did just about all that tonight. We were obviously aided by good shooting night and they didn't shoot it well, which happens. And I think for the most part we played pretty hard and locked into the defensive end tonight. So, it’s good to see the improvement.”
Debate on Which School Can Claim Jalen Hurts Focused on Wrong Things
Those who are suddenly weighing in on which school should be able to claim Jalen Hurts as a player are a couple of years too late as the issue was settled long ago
Hurts himself has said he claims both. That's the end of it.
Now that he's a starting quarterback for a team playing in a Super Bowl should have nothing to do with it, and quite frankly fans need to start getting used to players being associated with multiple college programs. Thanks to the changes in the transfer rules it's becoming pretty common.
It's not like wide receiver Jameson Williams suddenly forgot about his time at Ohio State before he played at Alabama, and the same holds true about Landon Dickerson and Florida State. But no one is arguing this week about whether the offensive lineman is really a Seminole just because his team, the Philadelphia Eagles, will play in the Super Bowl.
In 2020, when BamaCentral did its initial Saban Top 100 (which will obviously have to be revisited soon considering the wealth of talent Alabama continues to have), Hurts was No. 17.
Here was his Crimson Tide resume:
- 2016 SEC Offensive Player of the Year
- 2016 All-SEC
- First freshman quarterback to start under Saban
- Finished fourth all-time at Alabama in winning percentage at 92.9 percent (26-2)
- Owned the all-time record for rushing touchdowns by an Alabama quarterback with 23 through his 42 career games
- Ranked second in career rushing by a quarterback with 1,976 yards and finished second in program history touchdown responsibility with 71
- Accumulated 7,617 yards of total offense, third in Alabama history. Totaled 48 career touchdown passes, third most all-time
He even appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated three times.
Hurts, of course, finished his collegiate career at Oklahoma and finished second for the 2019 Heisman Trophy. He not only left with Saban and Alabama's blessing, but they helped him go. Crimson Tide fans subsequently not only cheered for him from afar, but hoped to see him in the National Championship Game (both teams lost in the semifinals).
Hurts also got his degree at Alabama, an important distinction that for some reason is being overlooked.
But it's not the biggest thing that's being ignored in this debate.
Alabama's 2018 quarterback room of Hurts, Mac Jones and Tua Tagovailoa is already legendary as all three quickly became starting quarterbacks in the NFL. But only one could start, and Tagovailoa won the job.
By the end of October he was leading the nation in passer efficiency and on pace to set a new NCAA record in the category it uses to determine the annual passing champion.
Alabama was shattering school records left and right, and at times seemed nearly unstoppable. For example, of the first 61 possessions the Crimson Tide had with Tagovailoa at quarterback it scored 41 touchdowns and five field goals (74.2 percent). He was averaging a touchdown pass every 6.1 attempts, or 6.4 for his career.
With the overall production off the charts by Alabama’s standards, the Crimson Tide finished October leading the nation in offensive scoring and was second in total offense by averaging 564.3 yards per game.
Meanwhile, there was Hurts.
A lot of players in a similar situation would have been a negative influence in the locker room after being replaced in the National Championship Game, or left the team and gone elsewhere with two years of eligibility remaining.
Hurts didn't. He stuck around and kept working.
And he continued to make strides as a quarterback.
“Those two push each other to go harder,” cornerback Trevon Diggs said at the time. “He’s grown a lot. I see a lot of improvement from him.”
Diggs was talking about Hurts with the latter part of that comment, who was the SEC Offensive Player of the Year in 2016, and while notching 26 wins as starter led Alabama to title games. His passer rating rose so much that he was second behind Tagovailoa in the SEC. Had he enough attempts to qualify nationally Hurts would have been third.
Tagovailoa later admitted that he never envisioned a scenario in which he was the starter and Hurts was behind him on the depth chart.
“You got it, it’s your team,” Tagovailoa said Hurts told him when the starting job was announced. “I said no.
“To have someone like Jalen stick with it, knowing that I’d been the starter for two years and to have someone come in front of me now ... the kind of character that he has, and the kind of maturity that he’s shown throughout the year within our team, I think that’s something special.”
They both played.
They were both successful.
They both became better quarterbacks.
“Jalen has certainly improved in the pocket,” Saban said during the 2018 season. “There's no doubt about that. There's never been any question about his arm talent. It's always been making decisions, choices, second reads, that type of things, which I think he's really made a lot of improvement on.
“When he's done those things, he's had really good success. And I think consistency in continuing to do those things is the key to him in the future.”
It’s just that Tua … well, he was that good.
Even Saban said that the quarterback exceeded his expectations, to which Tagovailoa told reporters that he must have been joking with them.
He wasn’t. But it helps explain the context to what happened in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia, when a battered Tagovailoa wasn’t able to continue due to ankle injuries and Saban had to call on Hurts down 28-21 with roughly 11 minutes to go.
Eleven months after he had been pulled from the national title game — against the same team, and in the same location, Atlanta — Hurts threw for one touchdown and ran for another, to lead No. 1 Alabama to a 35-28 comeback victory over the No. 4 Bulldogs.
"I've probably never been more proud of a player than Jalen," Saban said at the time.
He later, looking back on the season, commented: “I've always said how much respect I have for both the guys. How you handle things when you're in a difficult situation I think speaks volumes of who you are.”
That's what everyone should focus on about Hurts, and why Alabama fans will also claim him regardless of what he may have done after leaving Tuscaloosa and what anyone else thinks.
Texans Hired a Great Coach, Even Better Person in DeMeco Ryans
The last time I saw DeMeco Ryans on the University of Alabama campus was April 14, 2011.
I didn't know he was suddenly going to walk into the media room that day, but something was obviously up when two of my favorite Alabama Crimson Tide assistant coaches, Joe Kines and Joe Pendry, showed up as well. Neither was on the staff at the time, which tells you what kind of respect Ryans had even then.
Ryans subsequently announced a scholarship gift of $300,000 to endow a full scholarship in his name for a deserving football student-athlete studying in the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration.
“This means a lot to me, to be part of the legacy here at Alabama is huge,” he said. “Having a scholarship here that I knew a young kid will benefit from, that’s so special to me. I’m just so happy to be in this position to do this.
“Maybe this will inspire some other guys to do the same thing.”
That's the kind of person Ryans was, and is, and why so many people are thrilled that he's having so much success in the National Football League. After devising the league's No. 1 defense this past year with the San Francisco 49ers, he was hired by the team that drafted him back in 2006, the Houston Texans, to be the head coach.
Ryans is only 38.
Despite his young age, a lot of Crimson Tide fans don't appreciate just how good of a player, or person, he was at Alabama.
During his senior season, the linebacker led the Crimson Tide with 76 tackles including 9.5 for a loss, en route to being named first-team All-American, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, and Lott Trophy winner as college football’s best impact defensive player. Impact is actually an acronym for: Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community, and Tenacity.
Outside linebacker Will Anderson Jr. became just the second Alabama player to win the honor this past season. However, when Ryans won the award it was the first major national honor for a Crimson Tide defensive player since Antonio Langham won the Jim Thorpe Award for best defensive back in 1993, and one of just three for a front-seven player, joining 1988 Butkus Award winner for best linebacker, Derrick Thomas, and 1986 Lombardi Award winner for best lineman, Cornelius Bennett.
Off the field, Ryans was a cum laude graduate who received his business marketing degree in December 2005, and received one of eight NCAAVIII Awards recognizing outstanding achievement in athletics, scholarship and community service.
Consequently, it was stunning when Ryans fell out of the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft, and was promptly snatched up by the Texans with the first selection of the second round.
2006 Alabama Draft
Round, Pick, Overall, Name, Team, Position
2 1 33 DeMeco Ryans, Texans, LB
2 11 43 Roman Harper, Saints, DB
3 21 85 Brodie Croyle, Chiefs, QB
5 26 158 Charlie Peprah, Giants, DB
5 27 159 Mark Anderson, Bears, DE
Ryans responded by leading the league with 126 solo tackles, and all rookies with 156 tackles, the most tackles by a rookie in 20 years.
He was named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, edging former Tide teammate Mark Anderson with the Chicago Bears, and also named the Alabama Sports Writers Association Professional Athlete of the Year.
In 2008, he set up the DeMeco Ryans Foundation, and two years later signed a six-year, $48 million contract. He was working out and rehabbing a ruptured left Achilles’ tendon (suffered while in pass coverage during a game) in Tuscaloosa during the NFL lockout when he set up the scholarship.
“It was perfect timing for it,” Ryans said.
“This is something that we’ve talked to a lot of former players about and have had a lot respond throughout the years, with different gift levels that have supported this department,” athletics director Mal Moore said that day. “Certainly DeMeco was eager to help us and we’re so very appreciative.
“It just makes you so proud.”
A couple of weeks later, when the tornado hit Tuscaloosa, Ryans was back. Not only did he volunteer while still recovering from surgery, but softball coach Patrick Murphy saw him make an “unreal” financial donation.
That's the kind of person who is now running the Texans.
As for the football part of the job, here's what Ryans said about those defensive players he was working out with prior to the start of the 2011 season: “I expect the defense to be the strength, the way Alabama football is supposed to be. It’s all about defense and I expect this defense to carry them to a national title.”
Actually, it was two national titles.
Here's hoping he has that kind of success himself as a head coach.
Where Alabama Basketball is in Projected NCAA, SEC Brackets
Since we did a look at where the Alabama basketball team stood in terms of postseason projections last week, it only made sense to do an update following the blowout win over Vanderbilt.
In terms of March Madness, Sports Illustrated's latest Bracket Watch has Alabama the top-seeded team in the Midwest Region, where rising Texas is the No. 2 seed. Virginia is third, and the region includes No. 10 North Carolina, which Alabama beat when it was No. 1 back on Nov. 27.
The projected pairing we can't get over in the region is this one: No. 6 Auburn vs. No. 11 Clemson.
As for some of the other projections:
• ESPN: Joe Lunardi has Alabama the top seed of the Midwest Region and playing in Birmingham for the first weekend. The potential second-round matchup is the winner of No. 8 UNC and No. 9 Northwestern. Also in the region are No. 2 Kansas, No. 3 Gonzaga, and No. 10 Arkansas.
• Andy Katz on NCAA.com hasn't updated his bracket projections this week, but he has Alabama at No. 3, behind Purdue and Tennessee (this before the Volunteers lost to Florida), in his latest power rankings. Last week he had the Crimson Tide the top-seeded team in the East. Of course the Crimson Tide will visit the Volunteers on Feb. 15.
• CBS, which of course broadcasts March Madness, had Alabama the top seed in the Midwest and playing the first weekend in Birmingham. Also in the region were No. 2 Kansas, No. 3 UCLA and No. 8 North Carolina (playing No. 9 Memphis).
Jerry Palm noted on Monday that the Crimson Tide's margin for error for being a top seed disappeared at Oklahoma, and it "might not stay there with another bad loss."
However, at 9-0 in the SEC, Alabama is the only Power 5 team still unbeaten in its conference. That's the kind of statistic that can carry a lot of weight with the selection committee.
Going back to the SI Bracket Watch, Alabama's going to be playing a Florida team that's squarely on the bubble next week:
Last Four In: Kentucky, USC, Oklahoma State, Nevada
First Four Out: Penn State, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Florida
As for the SEC Tournament, which will be played at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville from March 8-12, here's how the bracket is on target to look:
Projected SEC Tournament Pairings
March 8
Game 1: No. 12 seed vs. No. 13 seed; Ole Miss vs. LSU
Game 2: No. 11 seed vs. No. 14 seed; Vanderbilt vs. South Carolina
March 9
Game 3: No. 9 seed vs. No. 8 seed; Mississippi State vs. Arkansas
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. No. 5 seed; Florida
Game 5: No. 10 seed vs. No. 7 seed; Georgia vs. Missouri
Game 6: Winner Game 2 vs. No. 6 seed; Kentucky
March 10
Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. No. 1 seed; Alabama
Game 8: Winner Game 4 vs. No. 4 seed; Auburn
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. No. 2 seed; Tennessee
Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. No. 3 seed; Texas A&M
March 11
Semifinals
March 12
Championship
