After a third straight confusing and frustrating loss to Texas A&M that seats Alabama at ninth place in the SEC, many UA men’s basketball fans have decided to unbuckle their seatbelts. The team cannot seem to create open looks on offense and allows nothing but open looks for the other teams on defense. Fast breaks are slow. Play is sloppy. Coach Avery Johnson promised in 2015 that he could take the team to a Final Four, and so far it has only made the tournament once. Is this as good as it gets?

Last year, Alabama had one of its best basketball seasons in recent history. The team made the NCAA tournament and advanced to the second round. John Petty shot the three like we’ve never seen. In Collin Sexton, the University had the best point guard at the collegiate level who was drafted in the first round in the NBA Draft. Overall, the team looked like it enjoyed itself. Last season, the team only lost one starter – Sexton – to the NBA or graduation. His replacement was also a four-star recruit and one of the most highly touted guards in the country, Kira Lewis Jr. Any other team in the country would be a near lock to make the tournament with these players. Why can’t the Crimson Tide?

This season has had its ups, but has mostly been filled with downs. Sure, the team beat Arizona and Kentucky, and almost beat Tennessee, but that does not excuse the blown leads it has suffered against decent but not great teams like Texas A&M, nor does it excuse games where it never stood a chance, like Florida. The men even led Georgia State 52-31 at halftime and still lost. Sure, this team is not a North Carolina- or Duke-level team, but that’s what Johnson wants it to be, and frankly, it’s nowhere close. Good teams don’t blow 20-point leads to mid-major schools.

Johnson’s game planning has been terrible this year, and during some games, he never seems to change up the plan when it’s not working. The players just blindly follow the course Johnson has set for them, as they continue to get pummeled on the court by more adaptable teams. The real problem is that nobody has done anything yet to stop him. Johnson is becoming the University’s own Gus Malzahn: huge promise with one or two relatively good years, but nothing to show for it, and we all “love him too much” to say anything about it.

The UA basketball team will never be anything like our football team. But men’s basketball is the second most watched sport in college, and there’s no reason why the team shouldn’t be much better. There is so much great talent in the lineup, and Johnson so far is wasting most of it.

Ironic how Johnson’s classic quote, “Buckle up,” can have a different meaning than just the one he portrays. He uses it as if we’re joining a race we’re going to win. Right now, “Buckle up,” seems more fitting to the absolute car wreck of a season the team has had, and there’s only one thing that can be done about it. If we don’t see immediate improvement, then it’s time to move on from the Johnson period at the University. Once again I’ll ask: Is this as good as it gets? Because it’s not good enough.