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aztarheel · 01-21-2007, 07:07 PM

Steve Victory JOURNAL – Season 2016-17 (Victory's 14th!!)

Coach Victory’s 14th season as a head basketball coach is kind of a blur. Maybe he never recovered from last year’s NCT snub. Maybe he’s just cashing in mentally now that it looks like he won’t make his 15-year goal. Or maybe his players just decided to be big-time underachievers.

But the Tide is nothing short of mediocre in a year in which pundits labeled their overall talent “Good” and their freshmen talent “Very Good.” Although the game challenge level is listed as “moderate,” Alabama finishes the 2016-17 season with a 16-16 record – topped off with no post-season berths. The Tide just can’t seem to get over the hump!

There isn’t much to write about with this one, unless you want to rehash the third year of the Injury Plague That Ravaged Tuscaloosa: Senior SG Cliff McWilliams falls in game four against Northeastern and misses more than a month. He returns for five games, then tears his ACL and is gone for the year. Sophomore PG Michael Slater (a starter) goes down with an injury in game five against Wisconsin and misses the next 17 contests. Sophomore SF Traves Pearce (starter/sixth man) also goes down – in game eight – and misses eight games or so. At this point, coach Victory just decided to stick a fork in the season – it’s done…

Actually, Alabama stabilized a bit after the injury sniper stopped his work. A 2-6 start was followed by a three-game win streak over Stanford, SW Missouri State and Kansas State. ‘Bama lost its first four SEC games but then salvaged a 9-7 conference record. They won eight of their last 10, including another upset of Mississippi State while the Bulldogs held a #1 national ranking (78-72 triumph on the road)…

Alabama took a #7 seed into the SEC tournament (not a bad turnaround) and topped #10 Auburn in Thursday’s opener 77-61. They then upset #2 Georgia (ranked #21 nationally) in the quarterfinals 84-72. But the magic ended there. Vanderbilt KO’d their season 71-54 in the SEC semis. The two tournament wins pushed Alabama to .500, but the ACT opted to go in other directions when fielding its 32-team bracket. In his 14th year of trying to win the NCT title, Victory was left with no post-season trips to make at all!!

01-21-2007, 07:07 PM	#98
aztarheel High School JV Join Date: Sep 2006	Steve Victory JOURNAL – Season 2016-17 (Victory's 14th!!) Coach Victory’s 14th season as a head basketball coach is kind of a blur. Maybe he never recovered from last year’s NCT snub. Maybe he’s just cashing in mentally now that it looks like he won’t make his 15-year goal. Or maybe his players just decided to be big-time underachievers. But the Tide is nothing short of mediocre in a year in which pundits labeled their overall talent “Good” and their freshmen talent “Very Good.” Although the game challenge level is listed as “moderate,” Alabama finishes the 2016-17 season with a 16-16 record – topped off with no post-season berths. The Tide just can’t seem to get over the hump! There isn’t much to write about with this one, unless you want to rehash the third year of the Injury Plague That Ravaged Tuscaloosa: Senior SG Cliff McWilliams falls in game four against Northeastern and misses more than a month. He returns for five games, then tears his ACL and is gone for the year. Sophomore PG Michael Slater (a starter) goes down with an injury in game five against Wisconsin and misses the next 17 contests. Sophomore SF Traves Pearce (starter/sixth man) also goes down – in game eight – and misses eight games or so. At this point, coach Victory just decided to stick a fork in the season – it’s done… Actually, Alabama stabilized a bit after the injury sniper stopped his work. A 2-6 start was followed by a three-game win streak over Stanford, SW Missouri State and Kansas State. ‘Bama lost its first four SEC games but then salvaged a 9-7 conference record. They won eight of their last 10, including another upset of Mississippi State while the Bulldogs held a #1 national ranking (78-72 triumph on the road)… Alabama took a #7 seed into the SEC tournament (not a bad turnaround) and topped #10 Auburn in Thursday’s opener 77-61. They then upset #2 Georgia (ranked #21 nationally) in the quarterfinals 84-72. But the magic ended there. Vanderbilt KO’d their season 71-54 in the SEC semis. The two tournament wins pushed Alabama to .500, but the ACT opted to go in other directions when fielding its 32-team bracket. In his 14th year of trying to win the NCT title, Victory was left with no post-season trips to make at all!!