Calm Down Bama Fans, the Basketball Team Will Be Fine

Alabama fans- after everything you’ve been through, this is how you’re acting?

The No. 6 Crimson Tide, soon to surely fall in ranking and potentially the top 10, lost a tough one to the No. 20 Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville Wednesday night. The stat that sticks out is the disparity between the fouls called for the Razorbacks versus the Crimson Tide.

Get our free mobile app

‘Bama finished with only eight free throw attempts, three of which were made, while the red-hot Razorbacks attempted a whopping 43 shots. Arkansas finished with 27 made free throws.

This was the third loss in seven games, two of which were conference losses in opposing teams’ gyms, which doesn’t look great for the Crimson Tide faithful, especially this late in the season, but ‘Bama fans, I’m telling you,

You’ve got to calm down!

First, we’ll address the elephant in the room. The referees, while they may have called more fouls last night than usual, are part of the game. Like an umpire’s personal batter’s box in baseball or a wide receiver tripping over a tuft of loose turf, the referee’s calls are part of the game. Basketball isn’t officiated by Watson, the IBM robot, and because of this, human error will forever be a part of sports.

Secondly, how lame is this? Do you know how you look blaming the referees?

Stop being a sore loser!

While the Oklahoma loss in the Big XII-SEC Challenge and the Missouri loss in Columbia might have their own troubles, we’ll focus on the Arkansas game, specifically. Behind the arc, Alabama shot 33.3%, going 11-for-33. If the referees even called the game Alabama fans claim they should have, Alabama’s three-point shooting would still hinder the Tide. In the paint, Alabama shot a miserable 37.7%.

Trust me, the fouls and Arkansas free throws were not the only problems Wednesday night.

Finally, Alabama fans, have you forgotten your roots? Was it literally not just last year that Alabama finished with an 8-10 SEC record. The year prior, 2018-19, the Crimson Tide was bounced by Norfolk State in the first round of the NIT tournament in Coleman Coliseum.

Yeah, Alabama might have had a good tournament run in the 2017-18 season with a good victory over Virginia Tech. They then ran into the buzzsaw that was Villanova, the team that eventually went on to win the national championship. So let’s face it, the Tide wasn’t going to win that year.

The bottom line is this- Alabama basketball isn’t Alabama football. It isn’t “joyless murderball,” as much as ‘Bama fans want it to be. The Crimson Tide will most certainly lose a game or two, especially in the SEC. The last time an SEC team went undefeated in conference play was the 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats. Even this feat was extremely rare.

As I conclude, Alabama fans, I leave you with this. I’m not trying to bash you. In fact, this is the opposite. The Alabama Crimson Tide is having a phenomenal season, something that has become extremely rare in Tuscaloosa. Cherish the great season, thus far, keep in mind that the Tide will have another shot on Saturday to clinch the regular-season conference title against Mississippi State in Starkville, and get ready for the “Big Dance.”

The season isn’t over yet, and as the Crimson Tide’s very own Nick Saban once said,

“This is not the end. This is the beginning.”