mark gottfried's "star theory" applied in general


it pains me to write about alabama basketball. it really does. writing anything usually brings me great pleasure, but talking about alabama basketball usually brings me great heartache. "why?", you may ask. aren't they in the top twenty? yes, yes they are. but that's all they'll ever be, because to reach the highest levels of basketball, your coach has to be able to coach, not just recruit. and believe me, mark gottfried can recruit. rod grizzard, gerald wallace, mo williams, kennedy winston, ronald steele and richard hendrix all have come through tuscaloosa during his tenure. all of them top 50 players in the nation. all of them lacking two things. a guy behind them threatening to take their playing time away. and a coach that can coach.

alabama got raped on the road again tuesday night by a good but not great auburn team. each of their four losses this year have been on the road to good but not great teams. in each loss, they have given up a minimum of 81 points. this tells even a casual fan that the defense is lacking. talk radio was aflutter yesterday with questions of "what is wrong?" with alabama. every game you watch, you hear about how "wonderfully talented" their starting five is. every game you watch, you see this "wonderfully talented" starting five playing very soft defense. the best theory i heard yesterday evolved into what i now will call mark gottfried's "star theory". he has been content over the last nine years to go after one stud guy per year in recruiting, and it's paid off. but if you look back at his classes over the last five years, you see one guy that has stuck around and played, and the others realizing that they will be sitting the bench and leaving for playing time elsewhere. i wrote about one of these cases this time last year. what this has left alabama with is zero depth and zero accountability. the "wonderfully talented" starting five knows that two true freshman and a crappy back up point guard are the only guys waiting to come in off the bench. would they give more effort? maybe, but at this point in all three of their careers, they aren't going to do anything to change the results of these sec road losses. and so alabama is stuck. no depth. no competition for playing time. no motivation to play harder on defense because you know you aren't coming out of the game. no accountability. and thus, alabama may be headed to the nit this year with a starting five "wonderfully talented" enough to make a run to the final four but one without spine.

i think we all can probably relate to the "star theory". we've all worked or known people that are in certain positions, whether it be at work, church or at the country club that take their positions of power for granted. they know that there aren't any "real" consequences for their performance not being as good as it could be if they gave their all. what happens to a church pastor that is losing numbers or young families if the "old money" is still keeping the budget where it needs to be to coast? not much. what happens to a store manager that feels like his job is safe even though his employees are begrudgingly doing the lion's share of the work? nothing. what happens if you are an incredibly incompetent children's minister at a baptist church in pinson that sucks up to the right people? you get a raise.

the "star theory" is tough to deal with. especially if you feel like you are giving your all and still being shit upon. whether that shit is not moving up the ladder as fast as you would like, or being frustrated when you see something that used to be great not living up to it's true potential or if you are a fan and don't have your team of choice playing hard when they are getting to travel the country and a free education for playing a game.

what we do with that frustration, though, will always help to define us. we could give up. become apathetic and miserable. convince ourselves that we are destined to be unhappy for the rest of our waking lives.

or we can fight. become more passionate and invested in that church you love. keep working harder than everyone else and know you will reap the rewards soon enough. keep rooting for alabama basketball so you can stand at the front of the line when they make those oh-so-special runs to the elite eight.

for the moment, i choose to fight.