Why Basketball Is Hopeless in the State of Alabama

Growing up in the state of Alabama, it doesn’t take too much to realize a very important point:  Alabama is a football state.

There are no two ways around it.  Heck, you don’t have to grow up in Alabama to know this fact.  It’s as if there should not be another sport at either of the major colleges in the state.

But it wasn’t until last Saturday that the notion really hit me for the first time in a long time.

Over the past month or so, Alabama Basketball coach Mark Gottfried has been under a lot of heat.  The Tide finished this season with a 5-11 conference record and a 0-8 record on the road in conference. 

There have been rumors flying rampantly about his job security and whether or not he will return next season.  You know, the usual with Alabama fans.    

But Saturday, Alabama was in great shape to finish off a top-20 Vanderbilt team in regulation.  This would be Alabama’s third victory this season over the top 50 RPI and only the first over a team not in the 40-50 range. 

The thing that made me realize this very true point was that even after every basket, there was no increased applause as time began to wind down.  No one really stood up.  No one really tried to get behind this team.

Maybe the feeling of wanting Gottfried gone was too overwhelming and no one wanted to recognize that he now has a chance to return.  However, there was no cheering for the players, which led me to this point:  Alabama fans view Vanderbilt in the same sense as they do in football, a pushover.

After every three, every basket, every defensive stop, it was as if Bama was playing a non-conference game.

There was no realization that this basketball team was No. 16 in the country.

There was no appreciation for how this underachieving team was somehow playing to potential finally.

There was only a feeling of, “This is Vanderbilt, we are supposed to beat them.”

This point even reared it head this morning in the campus newspaper, The Crimson White.  You see, when Alabama beat Auburn this season, it was front-page news.  When Alabama beats Vanderbilt on Senior Day with the lone senior scoring 13 points in overtime, there is nice little story on the back page. 

So while Alabama fans continue to view basketball teams as football teams, they still want the head coach gone, even though they don’t see basketball as a separate sport.  

Whether or not he deserves to be gone remains to be seen by the powers that be, but if he is fired, there is hardly any hope for whoever takes his place. 

Alabama is a football state.  Always has been, always will be.  And we all knew that, as much as some of us want to try and believe otherwise.