Jahvon Quinerly: State of Alabama program strong as ever, 'best program in the SEC'

Alabama‘s season came to a surprising and stunning end on Friday night when it fell to San Diego State in the Sweet 16. But the state of the Alabama program is as strong as ever, guard Jahvon Quinerly said after the game.

Speaking to reporters in front of his locker, Quinerly dodged questions about his personal future but spoke willingly about the state of the Alabama program.

And he left no doubt about his feelings.

“I think it’s the best program in the SEC if you ask me,” Quinerly said. “I think we proved that the last three years. To all the recruits out there, if you want to win, come to Alabama.”

The Alabama program earned the top overall seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament, leaving coach Nate Oats to point out rightly that unless the Crimson Tide won the national championship they were always going to lose to a lower-seeded team.

The point?

Credit San Diego State for being the better team on the night. it was really that simple. That’s part of the message Oats left his guys in the locker room.

“(He was) just very proud, proud of this group,” Quinerly relayed. “Each and every guy in here, we all played a part. Just disappointed with the outcome, as we all are. He was just disappointed.”

There will certainly be plenty of time in the days to come to dissect exactly what went wrong for the Crimson Tide, but the state of the Alabama program will be determined by the next moves after that.

Do players remain bought into Oats’ system? Do some key guys stick around?

The Crimson Tide are all but certain to be without forward Brandon Miller going forward. He’s considered an NBA lottery pick lock if he comes out for the 2023 NBA Draft.

That’s where Quinerly and some of his teammates turned their focus in the locker room after the game. There were a lot of memories that will be cherished, knowing this team won’t ever play another game together again.

“Got a lot of memories with these guys,” Quinerly said. “I think just coming to practice every day, see everybody’s face and being able to compete against these guys and do what we did this whole year. Go on the road together; we do a lot of things together, that’s what I’m going to miss.”