{"id":68402,"date":"2025-02-04T20:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T20:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/alabama\/points-in-the-paint-and-bracketology-sec-play-has-seen-bama-improve-in-almost-every-area-almost\/"},"modified":"2025-02-04T20:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T20:22:10","slug":"points-in-the-paint-and-bracketology-sec-play-has-seen-bama-improve-in-almost-every-area-almost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=68402","title":{"rendered":"Points in the Paint and Bracketology: SEC play has seen \u2018Bama improve in almost every area \u2014 almost."},"content":{"rendered":"


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\u2018Bama has the bye this week, so no previews until Friday. But, we\u2019ll hit some bracketology today, as well as peek this week\u2019s installment of our semi-regular data roundup of the Tide.<\/p>\n

Tale of The Tape: Alabama 19-3 (8-1, 2nd)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

AP:<\/strong> No. 3 (last week 4)
Coaches<\/strong>: No. 3 (last week No. 4)
RPI<\/strong>: No. 2 (last week 2)
NET Ranking<\/strong>: No. 6 (last week 9, 6-3 Q1)
Best NET Win<\/strong>: No. 3 Houston
Worst NET Loss<\/strong>: No. 36 Oregon
SOS<\/strong>: 2nd<\/p>\n

Scoring Offense<\/strong>: 1st (90.2 PPG)
Asst\/TO ratio<\/strong>: 105th (1.29 to 1)
Bench PPG<\/strong>: 6th (35.53)
Effective Shooting<\/strong>: 33rd (.556)
Break Points<\/strong>: 23rd (14.64)
3PA PG:<\/strong> 11th (30.3)
3P%: <\/strong>198th (33.29%)
FTA PG<\/strong>: 4th (27.7)
FT%: <\/strong>212th (70.85%)
TO PG<\/strong>: 286th (13.2 PG)<\/p>\n

Scoring Defense<\/strong>: 305th (77.2 PPG)
FG% Defense<\/strong>: 64th (40.293%)
3PT Defense<\/strong>: 42nd (29.2%)
Def<\/strong>. Reb. PG<\/strong>: 2nd (30.82)
Off<\/strong>. Reb<\/strong>. PG<\/strong>: 11th (13.95)
Total Reb. PG<\/strong>: 2nd (44.77)
Opp<\/strong>. Reb<\/strong>. PG<\/strong>: 63rd (37.2)
Reb<\/strong>. Margin<\/strong>: 15th (7.0 PG)
TO Forced PG<\/strong>: 304th (10.49 PG)
TO Margin<\/strong>: 326th (-2.6 PG)<\/p>\n

Ken Pom<\/strong>: 6th (2 Off, 42 Defense, 1st empo)
Evan Miya<\/strong>: 4th (3 Off, 30 Defense, 1st Tempo)
Bart Torvik:<\/strong> 5th (2 Off, 35th Defense, 1st Tempo)<\/p>\n

This Week\u2019s Most Impressive Stat:<\/strong> Offensive Rebounding (13.9 \u2014 second in major division behind only Florida, with their two 7-footers. 11th overall)
Stat That Tells A Darker Story:<\/strong> Forced turnovers per game (10.4%, 311th); opponent-turnover percentage (17.9%, 346th).<\/p>\n

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The SEC is the hardest conference in all of basketball this season. As of this writing, there are nine teams in the Top 25, and four of the Top 6 hail from the SEC. As many as 13 teams are in play for an NCAA tournament bid, with the possibility of a 14th getting on the bubble. Even left-for-dead Arkansas went to Lexington and ran away a road win despite their depleted roster. <\/p>\n

How stacked is this conference? Georgia is 15th \u2014 a KenPom Top 40 team.<\/p>\n

At this point, you can only say that South Carolina is probably done for the year. Probably. <\/em><\/p>\n

Despite that, Alabama has seen its stats improve almost-uniformly across the board. Everything from free throw shooting, to perimeter shooting, to scoring allowed: The Tide are clicking. They have lost one <\/em>game since December started, and have ran their record to 13-1 since that uninspired loss to Oregon. <\/p>\n

The outlier though is a huge problem: Turnovers. <\/p>\n

Alabama simply cannot stop turning the ball over (they had 20 on Saturday), nor can they force turnovers. It is a two-headed monster that has gotten demonstrably worse as SEC play has begun. Perhaps an illustration is in order to show you the magnitude of the woe. <\/p>\n

Georgia is among the worst teams in the SEC in turning the ball over (about 13 per game), and UGA PG Silas Demary is one of the three most turnover-prone point men in the league (up there with Mark Sears and Zakaria Zeigler, in carelessness). On Saturday, Alabama had 20 total turnovers, forced just 9 all game \u2014 and Demary had zero <\/em>turnovers. None. <\/p>\n

The Tide simply cannot put pressure on the ball, nor can they stop giving it away. Sears and Grant have been especially brutal at times. The inability to force stops has resulted in losses, and almost resulted in several other embarrassing moments (North Dakota, Rutgers, etc). Conversely, \u2018Bama\u2019s unwillingness to actually think before they put the ball in play has directly led to losses before: Ole Miss, Oregon is that you? <\/p>\n

There is not a more critical issue (to me) than this tango of suck, and it is primarily originating in the UA backcourt. If Alabama falls short of its goals this year, which should be no less than a Final Four appearance, you can maddeningly script out how it\u2019s going to happen and why…and it will almost certainly originate with with the guards.<\/p>\n

This is not <\/em>what you want to see out of a 5th year senior, an NBA prospect PG, and a coveted senior transfer. Nor should Nate Oats accept it either.<\/p>\n

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BRACKETOLOGY<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Chris Dobbertean\u2019s <\/strong>Blogging the Bracket<\/strong><\/em>: 1-line, Midwest<\/strong><\/p>\n

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