After being a fan of Alabama basketball for five decades I can give you a pretty good idea of what realistic expectations are for our program. It is not well defined by anyone in power, but the lack of public response to fan concerns by the AD makes it crystal clear what we can expect. If you want or expect Alabama to compete for national championships don't hold your breath. If you want the Tide to annually compete for SEC Championships you better take the biggest deep breath you've ever tried. If you want the Tide to just avoid embarrassment then you are in pretty good shape.

Don't expect the special…

The main thing here is don't expect anything special. Don't expect a Tennessee or Florida type commitment from the University. Don't expect the Tide to be the next Kentucky, which in the 1990's the Tide verged on becoming. Don't expect us to return to the Wimp and C.M. Newton standards. Expect more than David Hobbs. You can see where this is leading of course. Expect Mark Gottfried and all the frailties that come with him as our head coach for at least three more years, and then

Expect Ole Miss and Mississippi State to become our daddy. Expect a top one half finish in the SEC West to be a banner hanging event. If you get anything out of this column as well as increasing fan discontent is that the University of Alabama doesn't give two flying flips about Men's basketball. At least they are slightly above the women's program. Would I rather have Mark Gottfried or Wendell Hudson as men's coach? That's a tough one. I do know one thing – if Davidson College can make it to the NCAA and the Elite it can't be that big a deal. Only joking. The best thing that might ever happen to the NCAA would be if Davidson won the NCAA. Dick Vitale and Billy PAACker would also kill themselves.

After watching the opening two rounds of the NCAA only serves to make me understand how many great coaches are out there. Out there doesn't include Alabama. Mark my words – despite having great talent for next season, the only signal sent by the record will be what happens to Bama after Richard and Ronald graduate. If they stick around to play at all.

Like Moses in the desert…

Bama has elected to allow its basketball program to thrown into the desert to wande once again. Count David and Mark's collective coaching eras and you'll come up with almost two decades mediocre basketball overall. You wonder why I worry that the damage may irreparable by then? How could it not. I'm selfish here. I'm too old to wait another two decades for improvement. Ask yourself this question – is Bama's program really any better now than when David was in his last season? I won't even bother to get the truly pregnant Mark Gottfried fans to answer the same question about Wimp and C.M. You think I overstate the problem. Has Bama football recovered from the departure of Gene Stallings. For all the hope and fervor of Bama fans the Tide was only a five hundred team last season. But at least they have a coach to build on.

All that being said it at least takes the heat off my heart. I have said all I can say, and done all I can do. I have been praised by some and vilified by others. No one has told me that I wasn't telling the truth, however. I respect our readers in saying that no one said I don't love my school. Our basketball program is a yard dog. Our basketball program is a bastard child that can't be truly acknowledged by the school. Our school spends more than three million dollars a year in dragging fat alums to big games. Heaven forbid that we try to improve basketball.

So what do we do?

So what's a fan to do? I'll buy my tickets, yell for the kids, and send in my money same as always. My love for Alabama basketball reminds me of the old Johnny Carson monologue. Johnny tells Ed he's gotten this letter and it says, " you are the scum of the earth, you are sickening to me carrying on so. You should be embarrassed. If there was an atomic war you'd crawl out from under a rock and be the last living thing on earth, just like a roach."

"Wow," says Ed. "How does it end."

"Same as always, Love Mom."

That's me. Hate me if you will but I'm just a Mom trying to tell the truth.