I wrote a blog a little over a year ago criticizing the coach of the Alabama men's basketball team (Mark Gottfried) after there dismal start of SEC play. Ironically, after writing that, the team started playing better and winning even without one of the star players. Well, here we have another season with a terrible start to SEC play. In fact, they are doing even worse this season. The following is a letter I wrote to the editor of The Crimson White. Maybe it will work to get our team on track again.

“Mark’s Madness” – what an appropriate term for the current state of our basketball team. “Mark’s Disappointment” or “Mark’s Frustration” come to mind as well. All of these phrases certainly sum up my feelings toward our team this season. What happened to the pre-season Final Four favorite and top 10 team of a month ago?

Watching the Alabama/Auburn game Tuesday night was an extremely frustrating experience. Halfway through the second half, I was forced to turn the channel for fear of throwing my remote into the TV or having a heart attack. Who knows how high my blood pressure was. I actually feel sorry for the TV in taking the wrath of my verbal abuse.

Those who follow SEC sports know it’s hard for an SEC team (regardless of sport) to win on the road. This has plagued Alabama basketball for several seasons and doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon. Losing to Arkansas in Fayetteville was tough to swallow, but it wasn’t completely unexpected. I had high hopes when the Tide traveled to Vandy, but another road loss followed the team back to Tuscaloosa. And then there was the debacle at Auburn.

The fact that they have lost four games or lost three of the last five game isn’t really the issue here. The issue is the giant point deficits the team has consistently found themselves in. I don’t really care that they lost four games. I understand that they can’t win every game and anyone expecting them to be undefeated is incredibly quixotic. I expect our team to be competitive. The margin of defeat of their four losses is 21.5 points. They don’t just lose; they get smacked around like Wile E. Coyote chasing the Roadrunner.

Based on the gameplay over the last five games, I can clearly see why the margin of defeat is astronomical. Where’s the defense? Is it required in every SEC game they play to have a double-digit deficit? Let’s be honest; if Georgia hadn’t fallen apart in the last 10 minutes of the game on Saturday, Alabama would have lost another game. The game against Auburn was full of sloppy passes and lethargic ball movement. It was as if the team came into the game thinking “Ho-hum, it’s Auburn. Yawn!” instead of thinking “THIS IS AUBURN! NO MERCY!”

The team operated like a well-oiled machine before and during the Christmas break with the exception of the Notre Dame game. That machine suddenly hit a steel wall when SEC play started. I don’t know what it will take to wake the team up, but I hope they come to life before Alabama becomes the joke of the SEC this year.