Unacceptable.

There’s no other way to describe the play and coaching of this iteration of the Alabama basketball team. Alabama can’t win on the road and it can barely win at home.

What are the causes? Inept defense. Inept defense. Inept defense.

“We didn’t defend well at all” in the second half, Gottfried said, according to an AP story on MSNBC.

Here’s the boxscore in case you want a closer look at the sickening statistics.

Now is not the time to fire Mark Gottfried. He’s a good coach.

But Alabama must examine the state of its program. What has Gottfried accomplished at Alabama? What were his signature wins?

Obviously, it was the run to the Elite Eight, but with what might be the most talented team in the state since 1986, Gottfried has underachieved.

In what was a body blow to the Shula regime, Cecil Hurt wrote a column in the Tuscaloosa News asking the question: Does Alabama have the best coach it could have?

That same question could be asked about Alabama basketball.

The honest answer, is that Yes. Alabama probably has the best basketball coach it could have.

Right now.

But that evaluation constantly changes.

And with each lopsided loss to conference rivals, Gottfried gets closer to being a David Hobbs rather than a Wimp Sanderson.

Gottfried can save the season, but what could have been a special season is rapidly becoming a bad distraction from the more important tasks of recruiting and spring football.

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