Alabama Basketball: Worst Case Scenario 2016-17
Wednesday, we gave you the best case scenario for the Alabama basketball team. Unfortunately, there’s a flip side to every story.
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Earlier this week, Bama Hammer published the best case scenario for the Alabama basketball team. It’s defintitely enjoyable to speculate on the ceiling for the upcoming season. However, there is also a definite floor as well. There are many ways that this season could easily go off the rails for the Crimson Tide.
If the best case scenario for Alabama basketball is a top-tier SEC team with a NCAA tournament berth, then the worst case scenario is the opposite: a lower-tier SEC team with no hope of making the tournament in March.
Mar 11, 2016; Nashville, TN, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Avery Johnson in the first half against the Kentucky Wildcats during the SEC tournament at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
The path to this finish is fairly clear. The easiest way for this to play out is that the entire team suffers without Retin Obasohan. He was a key player last year; the offense must learn to function without him or the team could be in serious trouble.
Veterans Jimmie Taylor and Shannon Hale appear to be primed for successful seasons. Unfortunately, if they drop off from expectations, or if Riley Norris doesn’t shoot well, more key pieces will be falling apart. To add to this gloomy projection, it is also entirely possible that Dazon Ingram doesn’t play well this year. Ingram is perhaps not fully recovered from last season’s injury.
Given Avery Johnson’s accomplishments thus far, expecting him to fall off seems unlikely. However, it is possible that he isn’t able to get the most out of this roster this season. If the talent isn’t there, and Johnson can’t maximize the potential, the Alabama basketball prospects suffer significantly.
If everything goes wrong, Alabama could easily lose several of its early, non-conference games. Limping into SEC play with a record of 7-6, or worse would put the Tide’s tournament hopes in serious jeopardy. It is also possible that Alabama struggles in the conference portion of the schedule Worst case, the team finishes with an overall record around .500.
This finish wouldn’t be the end of the world. Ending the season with around 16 wins would not be anything close to the earth-shaking finish here that would shock programs like Duke or Kentucky. After last season’s successes though, finishing this far out of contention would be a serious disappointment.
However unlikely it may be, this seems like the most reasonable worst case scenario. Fortunately, the final finish will most likely be considerably better than this.
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