TideSports.com has reported in this article (here) that the Alabama Men’s Basketball team has signed a JUCO point-guard out of Mississippi. Anthony Brock, only 5′9″ still brings a spark to the Tide. In his two year career at Itawamba Community College, Brock helped his team to a combined 57-10 record and back-to-back league championships. His numbers are impressive: 18.5 points per game, 4.7 assists per game, and 3.4 steals a game.
One of the major concerns going into next season (besides the futures of Richard Hendrix and Ronald Steele) is replacing 3-point sharpshooter Mykal Riley. Riley led the team in 3-pointers last season, and while streaky, he is a major loss for the Tide. So who does Alabama turn to next season for the 3-pointers? Not Rico Pickett. He’s gone. Not Justin Tubbs, he’s gone too. Who’s left?
Well if Ronald Steele decides to come back and is fully healthy as everyone says he is, then he will obviously carry some of the load for shots made behind the arc. His younger brother, Andrew Steele, will also have to make contributions too. However, after that there really isn’t anyone on the current roster that can consistently make decent efforts on 3-pointers. Alonzo Gee has the ability, but is a drive-to-the-hole-first kind of player.
Brock’s addition will only help in the 3-point production for next season. Last season Brock shot an amazing 47% from behind the arc. He’s also an excellent free-throw shooter, which is something else Alabama desparatly needs to improve on.
Brock’s size is a bit of concern, however. At only 5′9″ and 165 lbs. there are a lot of guards in the SEC that tower over him. It will be very tough for him adjusting to not only the speed of the game at the SEC level, but also the more physical game play. With that in mind, there are several guys of his height or less that have been successful in both college and in the NBA. For instance, Drew Lavender from Xavier has enjoyed some success at the point-guard position and he can’t be anything over 5′9″.
Time will tell if Anthony will be any good in the SEC. However, he does seem like an excitement waiting to happen. Welcome aboard Anthony, and Roll Tide.
(I couldn’t find a picture of the guy except his team photo. Brock is in the middle on the front row (#5).
UT is familiar with undersized JUCO point guards after the reign of terror that was Shannon Bobbitt. I think the analogy is relevant even if the two differ in gender; Bobbitt played with terrific energy and was an absolutely phenomenal ball handler. She played defense by using her size to her advantage, creating lots of steals and risking a lot of overcommits (in general, short people can stop and turn faster than tall people). It worked and she was 62 inches of fury on the court.
That’s not to take the focus off your guy; rather, it’s possible UA has found the equivalent for their program. If he is willing to play all-out, can handle and distribute the ball very well, can outlast opponents (fatigue), and has a good shot, he might be incredibly frustrating to those trees trying to keep up with him.
Hey, Spud Webb wasn’t exactly small potatoes either. ;)