Some uncertainty around the Alabama men’s basketball program was cleared up on Monday when head coach Anthony Grant announced that junior forward Tony Mitchell had been suspended for the remainder of the season, and senior forward JaMychal Green had been reinstated to practice.
In his weekly press conference, Grant said that Green will not play against Arkansas Thursday night and did not elaborate on the reasoning for that decision.
“We try not to think about it too much,” redshirt junior guard Andrew Steele said. “We just have to worry about the people we’re going to have and focus on trying to go to Arkansas and get a win. Obviously, it would help us if we had him, but the good thing is we have a few games under our belt of not having him, so it isn’t anything new for us.”
Green’s future when it comes to playing time has yet to be determined.
“We’ll see how the week goes this week, and we’ll make some decisions after Thursday,” Grant said.
The uncertainty continued when Grant only said, “I don’t know,” when asked if he expected Mitchell to return to Alabama next year for what will be his senior season.
“It’s a disappointment,” Steele said. “Obviously he’s someone that can help our team with the talents he has, but we understand that it was [Grant’s] decision to make and we have to stand behind it.”
Mitchell took his 13.1 points and seven rebounds per game with him as his season officially ended.
The task of replacing his production fell on the corps of backcourt freshmen that were recruited to come to Alabama in Grant’s marquee class of 2011.
“They get an opportunity everyday in practice to showcase what they can do,” Grant said. “We have several guys that are seeing more consistent time that they haven’t seen before. It’s good to see them step up and do things that they are capable of doing and certainly help our team.”
Freshman guard Rodney Cooper has been one player called upon in this situation. In the last three games, Cooper has averaged 13 points on 29 minutes per game, compared to season averages of five points and 16.8 minutes per game.
Some individuals took advantage of having more playing time, but the team as a whole struggled. In the three games that both Mitchell and Green have been suspended for up to this point, Alabama is 1-2.
Before Green’s suspension, Alabama had a 5-4 record against Southeastern Conference opponents.
Even with the new challenges presenting themselves, Grant thinks his team has done well in the face of adversity.
“I think our guys have moved forward,” Grant said. “I think we understand, like everything else, you can only control what you can control. For our guys, it’s about trying to get prepared for the opponent ahead of us and trying not to deal with distractions, trying to eliminate them as much as we can.”
