CECIL HURT: Tide’s journey to Alaska a learning experience November 29, 2004
http://www.tidesports.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041129/NEWS/411290329/1067
The University of Alabama basketball team was feeling the sting of a close 79-76 loss to Washington on Saturday night, but UA head coach Mark Gottfried insisted that the Crimson Tide’s first loss of the season wouldn’t leave a lasting scar.
“Games like this don’t hurt you," Gottfried said, taking the long view. “I tell that to my peers. These games help you in the eyes of the [NCAA] Selection Committee, and they teach you something about your team."
It’s a little too early to determine what the NCAA field is going to look like in March, although it does seem pretty safe to assume that Washington, which ran through Utah, Oklahoma and Alabama in three days in Anchorage, will make the field of 65. The more immediate concern, though, is what Gottfried learned, exactly, about his team while playing so far from home.
The first lesson is one that Gottfried didn’t really need, because he already knew it: last year’s seniors are being missed.
That was most obvious in the game’s last 1:45, when the Tide, which had fought back to make it a one-possession game, never scored again. Worse, in the final 38 seconds, the Tide never got off a legitimate shot to potentially tie the game.
Now, there is no guarantee that Antoine Pettway would have made a game-tying shot, although his track record as a senior suggests that he just might have been able to do it. But Pettway would certainly have taken control of the team, as he did so often down the stretch for Alabama, and either gotten a shot in the air or found an open teammate to do so.
That burden shouldn’t fall entirely on his freshman replacement, Ron Steele. He’s going to eventually develop into one of the Tide’s all-time point guards, and will win his share of games before he’s done. Earnest Shelton tried to assert himself in the last seconds, as a senior should, but isn’t always able to create his shot. Kennedy Winston, the other likely option, struggled in the last two games in Anchorage, as Gottfried acknowledged.
“There was a lot of contact on Kennedy tonight, and I think it frustrated him," Gottfried said. “He’s got to learn to fight through it. We’ve got to get him playing at a higher level, there’s no question about that."
Again, there was a missing senior that might have alleviated some of the problems. Emmett Thomas could have come in for a struggling Winston, or a foul-plagued Shelton, and held down the fort. This year’s top substitute on the wing, Jean Felix, struggled even more mightily in Alaska than Winston did. Poor shot selection was the primary culprit, making Gottfried reluctant to play Felix in the second half of tight games against Minnesota and Washington.
“We need Jean Felix," Gottfried said. “We’ll work him back in there."
That’s a quick glance at some of the negatives from Alaska, but there were positives as well.
Chuck Davis, for example, bounced back from being bounced around by Minnesota’s bouncer-sized post players and had a big-time game against Washington, scoring 23 points, grabbing nine rebounds, and keeping the Tide alive when Washington threatened to pull away midway through the second half. He needs more help from Jermareo Davidson, who scored just one point in 22 minutes against the Huskies, but Davis will be a viable inside scoring threat against most opponents.
Steele and fellow freshman Albert Weber didn’t dominate the game, but they were matched against some seasoned, talented guards – especially Nate Robinson – and held their own.
Perhaps the best thing for Alabama, though, is that despite a good bit of adversity, from Shelton’s foul trouble to Washington’s 11-of-17 3-point shooting, the Tide never waved a white flag.
“I was proud of our guys," Gottfried said. “Every time [Washington] made a run, we responded. We just couldn’t stop them as often as we needed."
No one seriously thought Alabama would make it through the season undefeated. The fact that the first loss came against Washington is no disgrace. The loss stung -- but it doesn’t have to linger, if the Tide can work out some of the shortcomings that were exposed.
-- Roll Tide!! Rick
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