Everything you need to know about the Alabama Crimson Tide

There isn’t a single better story in college basketball right now than the Kentucky Wildcats. Ten days ago, literally less than two weeks, we wondered when/if this team would ever win again. As it turns out, all Kentucky had to do was add a little Dontaie Allen and a dash of Keion Brooks to their lineup, and boom, they are playing as well as anyone in the league right now.

But while Kentucky has been the best story in the SEC, the Alabama Crimson Tide aren’t far behind. Alabama’s narrative isn’t quite as dramatic as Kentucky’s is, but still compelling. The Tide started just 5-3 overall and seemed to be at a crossroads heading into SEC play after two players (John Petty and James Rojas) were suspended for the final out of conference game of the year. That decision seemed to completely flip the Crimson Tide’s season however, as they are 4-0 (all SEC games) since that decision, including a victory at Tennessee.

Now, after both programs have flipped in the past two weeks, they meet in Lexington on Tuesday night. And in a narrative no one could’ve predicted, the winner will sit in sole possession of first place once the final whistle blows.

Here’s what you need to know about the Alabama Crimson Tide, heading into their showdown at Rupp Arena.

Tell Us About Their Roster

Two things immediately come to mind when I think of this roster.

One, when Nate Oats arrived at Alabama, he let it be known very quickly what he wanted his style of play to be. He wanted to play fast and play similarly to the Houston Rockets, who try to only take three-point shots or layups at the rim. After all, three-pointers are worth more than two-pointers (which means you can shoot them at a lower percentage and still score lots of points) and layups are the highest percentage shots on the floor. What he didn’t want was long two-point jump shots.

Two, he needed the players to do it. While plenty of college coaches are known for roster turnover (maybe no one more so than John Calipari) it is a bit under-reported just how much Oats has flipped the Alabama roster in the 18 months since he took the job. Since the day he arrived on campus in March 2019 until now, Alabama has just three players left who were with the program at the time.

Of course with that said, that roster turnover has completely revamped this program as we know it. Now, the Crimson Tide have a team full of athletic wings and switchable bigs who can all shoot, the exact kind of roster Oats wants to play his style.

It also leads to a team that can put up points in a hurry.

In total, the Tide have four different players who average at least 12 points per game heading into this game – guards Jayden Shackleford, Jahvon Quinerly (who is injured and may not play in this game), Herb Jones and John Petty (yes, he’s still around). And as a team, they are averaging 79 points per game on the season and 83 per game in SEC play.

What’s important to note however, is that simply saying “Alabama has four players who average at least 12 points per game” is a bit deceiving, since the Tide have much more firepower than that. In addition to the four mentioned above, both grad transfer Jordan Bruner and five-star freshman Josh Primo are coming off 20+ point performances against Auburn this weekend, so it isn’t an exaggeration to say that this team has six or seven guys that can beat you if you let them.

Again, Quinerly is injured and questionable coming into this game (they’ve gone 2-0 without him). But the Tide still have no shortage of guys who can fill up the basket.

How Have They Been So Far This Season

Well, as mentioned above, it really has been a “tale of two seasons” for the Crimson Tide. Therefore, to fully understand who this team is and what they’re about, you need to dig deeper than just their 9-3 overall mark.

While Alabama’s roster turnover isn’t quite as dramatic as Kentucky’s was this off-season, they did bring in six new scholarship players this off-season, in addition to one sit-out transfer (Quinerly) and two other redshirt freshmen missed all of last season with injuries (Juwan Gary and James Rojas). So yeah, we’re talking about nine scholarship players who had never played a game in an Alabama uniform prior to this season.

And early on it showed. The Tide started just 6-3 in the out of conference, which included three losses to the three best teams they played (Stanford, Clemson and Western Kentucky). It also included a narrow, overtime home victory against Furman, not exactly a college hoops power. And it was before that Furman game that something happened in the locker room, as both Petty and Rojas were suspended prior to that game.

But clearly whatever happened rallied the team, as since SEC play started, they have been a completely different team. They are 4-0 with four impressive wins, with maybe the most impressive win of anyone in SEC play – a 71-63 win against Tennessee in Knoxville.

Finally and this is completely unrelated to anything above, but the actual, most “notable” thing that has happened for Alabama basketball this season is when Nate Oats crushed Coach K for his idea of postponing the season. It really was an incredible moment, and if you listen to the full message Oats delivered, it really is worth re-visiting quickly.

Here are Nate Oats' full quotes on Duke/Coach K. Here is the best part:

"Humans, they're not made to sit alone in isolation for weeks on end. We have to be careful on how we do life, but we still have to do life."

THANK YOU

Oats/Torres, 2024 🇺🇸🇺🇸pic.twitter.com/EoBIs3BVrW

— Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) December 10, 2020

What Do They Do Well? 

People, I can’t make it any clearer: They shoot a ton of threes, and increasingly as the season goes on are hitting them at a higher clip. This is what Alabama does, and who they are. Last year they led college basketball in three-point attempts and this year they are No. 12. And even that number is deceptive, because they’ve played two and even three games fewer than many of the teams ahead of them.

Just as a little fun experiment, consider this: They have six different players who’ve attempted at least 30 three-point attempts this season. For comparison’s sake, Kentucky has two players who’ve attempted more than 30 (Davion Mintz and BJ Boston). In total, their top nine scorers have attempted at least 10 three-pointers this season, which averages out to at least one attempt per game. Kentucky has five.

So, when your top nine scorers have all attempted at least 10 three-pointers, let it be a lesson to Kentucky: Every guy on the floor can hit a three if you leave them open. Everyone needs to be picked up defensively at half-court.

It’s also worth noting that this team has continued to shoot better as the season has gone on. While their 32 percent three-point percentage seems abysmal, and makes you think “Hmm, maybe they should take fewer,” like everything else, the Tide’s percentages have gone up drastically in league play. They are shooting closer to 37 percent from beyond the arc since SEC play began.

In addition to three-point shooting, the Tide rebound pretty well, grabbing 41 per game (many of those, of course off long three-point misses). And they turn you over quite a bit, forcing over 16 turnovers per game.

Finally it’s worth noting that their defense has also improved exponentially since SEC play began. Prior to Saturday’s game at Auburn (and everyone knows just how tough it is to win at Auburn) the Tide had given up 64, 63 and 71 points in its first three SEC games.

Again, this team is playing extremely well heading into Rupp Arena on Tuesday.

What Don’t They Do Well? 

First and foremost, for a team that has so many guards, they turn the ball over more than you’d expect. Now admittedly, part of that is the pace the Tide play, but this is one of the few stats that hasn’t really changed all that much since SEC play started. On the year they’re averaging 13 turnovers a game and are coming off a game where they had 17 against Auburn. They had 13 against Florida the game before that.

This is also a team that isn’t a great free throw shooting team, shooting just 69 percent across the board. Which again, is surprising, because of all the guards that they have.

Outside of that though, they really are playing crisp basketball. You can pick apart their defensive metrics, specifically guarding the three-point line (where they rank 127th nationally) but that is really more of a reflection of how they were playing a month ago, as opposed to how they’re playing now.

Beyond that, this isn’t really a thing they “don’t do well” as much as it is a byproduct of their personnel, but they aren’t very physical in the paint. Their big guys are more fluid, athletic and versatile than they are bangers, and the Tide’s success on the boards again is a byproduct of how many three-pointers they shoot.

Which I guess leads to the important question: Can John Calipari get Oscar Tshiebwe eligible by tip-off?

What Does Kentucky Need To Do To Win?

I said before the Florida game that the No. 1 key for Kentucky was to defend the three-point line. And for the most part, they did that well. The stats say that the Wildcats weren’t good, allowing Florida to shoot 9 of 20 from three. But if you watched the game (and I know everyone here did), most of those threes either came early or late, after Kentucky had taken control of the game. The Wildcats got the stops they needed to.

Well, take that same concept – three-point defense – and ratchet it up a notch here. Kentucky needs to get elite defense from everyone on the court.

Additionally, this again feels similar to the Florida game in the sense that Kentucky once again needs to control the boards. Again, Alabama isn’t physical down low, so this is a great game for Lance Ware, Keion Brooks and Jacob Toppin to throw some elbows and get dirt under their fingernails.

Maybe most importantly though, Kentucky needs to play similarly offensively to the way they did Saturday. No one is saying you have to shoot 56 percent from the field or 46 percent from three (since that may be unrealistic) but you have to keep scoring and keep defending for 40 minutes.

Alabama – maybe better than anyone else in the SEC right now – is able to put up points and do it in a hurry. Not only does Kentucky need to keep scoring to keep pace, but because at some point, the Tide will likely go on a little run and Kentucky will need some wiggle room.

Still, with that said, this is a game that Kentucky absolutely can win if they come out as locked in as they did against Florida.

By the end of the night on Tuesday, Kentucky can be alone in first place atop the SEC. It’s up to them to make it happen.