Looking Back At Anthony Grant’s Recruiting Classes and Player Development

At my regular job, I am subjected to a personnel review to see exactly what I have accomplished , what I have improved on or what I need to improve. Depending on the positives, I could keep my job with the understanding that I improve. If things are negative and there are a lot of them, I could be attending my last meeting at that particular employer. I am an extremely nice person and try my best to treat others with respect but if I am not getting my job completed to the satisfaction of my bosses, I won’t be around much. There is no doubt in my mind that Coach Anthony Grant is a good man.I was pulling for him and still do but in my opinion, it’s just not getting done. Sure, we have some close games against some good teams but then the next time on the court, we will build up a big lead, only to lose it the second half. Sometimes we can hold on and sometimes we can’t. Coach Grant came to the Capstone in March of 2009. Since he has been in Tuscaloosa, his record is 94-85 with 42-34 for a conference record. He has hovered on either side of 23 wins for the three years after his 17-15 inaugural season. Only 1 NCAA appearance to show with a loss in the NIT Finals and one in the NIT Quarterfinals.

Are Alabama fans happy with that production on the court? I know some that don’t care but I want to see every Alabama sport succeed. I know Alabama basketball can. I’ve seen it. Coach Grant has always signed highly rated recruits according to the recruiting services. Is is a development problem? It could be. We had one leave the program citing that same reason. Let’s take a look at the recruits that played under Grant or was recruited by the staff to see what we are missing.

The class of 2013 added 4* center Jimmie Taylor, 3* SG Algie Key, and 4* PF Shannon Hale. Jimmie Taylor is averaging 2.1 PPG, with 27 blocks and averaging 3 bounds a game. Algie Key is contributing 2.6 rebounds a game with 4.7 PPG. Shannon Hale has added 7.3 points a game and 3.3 rebounds a game. This season’s team seems to go as Trevor Releford goes. If he is doing well, we are doing well and then you have the exact opposite. Most of the games we have lost, we have built up a pretty good lead around halftime only to lose that lead later on. It’s almost as the team loses their fire and tenacity as the game goes on. We must get that back.

The class of 2012 brought in 5* Devontae Pollard from Mississippi but as we all know he was dismissed pretty early on in his career. He could have possibly been a good one but he seemed to play timidly to me at first. I am sure that was just the youngster in him.

Class of 2011 signed 4* SG Levi Randolph, 4* PG Trevor Lacey, 4* SF Rodney Cooper, and 4* C Nick Jacobs. Trevor Lacey decided to leave the program because he felt that he could get better player development with another team. Levi Randolph is adding 8.5 PPG this season for the Tide with 3.4 rebounds. Nick Jacobs is in 4th in PPG and is bringing down an average 3.4 rebounds. The Tide also added Retin Obasohan in 2012.

The class of 2010 had the highlight of this season in the class: Trevor Releford. He is one of if not the best point guard in the SEC. He is averaging 18.3 points per game, shooting 39 % from the 3 point line, averaging 3.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. Another signee from this same year was Carl Engstrom.

So what is going wrong? As you can see going back to 2010, all players were rated a 3* or above with the exception of Obasohan and Engstrom. Grant hasn’t failed bringing in highly rated guys. I spoke to a friend that follows basketball more closely than I do and he believes it’s player development, particularly in the front court and also perpetually not using multiple scholarships. Here is part of that conservation.

"Unless you are recruiting a bunch of guys who will be on campus for a year or two before going pro like UK, Kansas, UNC, UCLA, etc. you have to develop them. The 60th best basketball player in the country is about like the 260th best football player. Chances are, he isn’t going to come in and be a beast from day one. You have to develop the kid. We haven’t done that with anyone. Releford is better because he worked his butt off to develop a consistent outside shot and it turned him from a 12 ppg guy into a 20 ppg guy. As far as coaching development, I see upperclassmen not have a clue what to do with the ball, make stupid passes, box out wrong if they even try to, and just generally exhibit poor basketball IQ. Jacobs has finally started to show teams a 17 foot jumper, but he still can’t ball fake left and spin right for an easy layup. That isn’t a very complicated move, and it’s completely inexcusable that no one on our staff has been able to teach it to him once it became obvious that every other team knew he was only going to go to his left. Randolph still doesn’t want the ball and is afraid to do anything until the clock is almost out. Coaches can’t teach confidence, but I get the feeling Grant doesn’t exactly encourage guys to take shots early in the clock. Even Releford is hesitant to shoot early."

He went on to say that he would like to see the team play “less stiff”. He also added that in his opinion that we shouldn’t rely heavily on isolation against teams that have superior players, but we should also allow the players the freedom to improvise when necessary. He noted that there is no use in recruiting the long, athletic, run the floor type players just to stick them in a slow half court offense.

Our defense always seems to do pretty well most games. It’s the offense that has left something to be desired. I know we played Florida really close but I don’t want to hold on to a moral victory. I know this is Alabama basketball and we are not a Duke. However, making a decent run in the tournament shouldn’t be too out of the question. I am hoping Athletic Director Bill Battle will hold a “personnel review” for Grant at the end of the year and they can come to an agreement on what needs to be done to get the direction of this program back into an upswing. Like I stated, Grant is a nice guy but sometimes tough decisions about nice people have to be made. Roll Tide.