Jay Wright on Alabama's mindset against TAMU-CC 'the Alabama players are going to respect them'

Alabama is the number one overall team for this year’s NCAA Tournament. And with that honor comes the benefit of playing the winner of the play-in match-up between two schools vying for the final 16 seed. But according to former Villanova head coach Jay Wright, that benefit might be a disadvantage. According to the two-time national championship head coach, one-seeds watching that game might get the wrong impression of their upcoming opponent.

“I think about Alabama. I remember when we were one seed watching this game and knowing that we were going to play one of those two teams,” said Wright. “And I feared our players watching it because if the team didn’t look good, I knew no matter what I told them, they would be thinking of what they saw on TV.”

Fortunately for Alabama, Wright does not see this being an issue for them. Texas A&M Corpus Christi beat Southeastern Missouri in a highly competitive contest to earn the right to take on the nation’s top team. And given the amount of fight they showed on Tuesday night, he doesn’t see the Alabama players disrespecting them and not playing their best brand of basketball:

“If you look at Corpus Christi, that’s a good basketball team. Jalen Jackson stepped up big time. They’ve got other scores. So I think the Alabama players are going to respect them, which isn’t good for Corpus Christi going into the Alabama game.”

Alabama will take on Texas A&M Corpus Christi Thursday afternoon. That game is scheduled for a 1:45 p.m. tip-off and can be viewed on CBS. The Islanders are familiar with SEC play as they opened up their season against Mississippi State. That matchup did not end well for them as they fell to the Bulldogs 66-44. And given that Alabama demolished Mississippi State by more than that in their quarterfinal matchup in the SEC tournament, the Crimson Tide should walk into this matchup confident. But as long as that confidence does not turn into cockiness, they will likely avoid an unlucky first-round exit.