Scouting Report: Alabama Crimson Tide

Another Saturday, another tough road test for the Kentucky Wildcats. After losing at Auburn on January 22nd, and winning at Kansas last Saturday, the ‘Cats will travel to Coleman Coliseum for their third straight marquee road game. The Alabama Crimson Tide are currently 14-8 overall, 4-5 in the Southeastern Conference.

This evening’s game will cap off a brutal three game stretch for the Crimson Tide. They played #4 Baylor in the Big 12/SEC Challenge, travelled to #1 Auburn on Tuesday, and now face #5 Kentucky. Coach Nate Oats could really use a win as they currently sit in a five-way tie for sixth place in the SEC standings.

By now, we all know what to expect from Coach Oats and Alabama. They are going to play extremely fast, shoot a ton of threes, and attack the rim off the dribble. There is no in between. The Crimson Tide try to win by making the game a math problem. However, this season, that equation hasn’t been as easy to solve with their three-point shooting over two percentage points below the national average.

We’ve got a full scouting report prepared to get you ready for tonight’s SEC matchup. We will begin with a full personnel deep-dive, then break down the offensive and defensive schemes, and finally provide the keys to the game. Let’s dive right in and get to know more about the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Alabama Crimson Tide Personnel

Starters

#13 Jahvon Quinerly: 6’1″ 175 lbs, Junior Guard

14.8 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 4.3 apg

Point Guard. Extremely aggressive off the dribble. Right hand driver. NO RIGHT HAND DRIVES!!! Give him a step on the perimeter and be ready to get over and cut off the right hand drive. Will reject ballscreens to drive it right. Loves the left to right crossover. Very willing and capable shooter, but shooting just 25% from 3 this season. Much more dangerous as a driver. Start by going under the ballscreens and handoffs. Need to tag on him both sides of the screen and be ready to contest if he shoots it behind. We will make him make a couple before adjusting. Stay between him and the basket. Switch if you need to. Pushes the ball hard in transition. Get the ball stopped. Excellent passer. Don’t over help when he drives. Take away the right hand drives and stay between him and the basket. No layups!

#5 Jaden Shackelford: 6’3″ 200 lbs, Junior Guard

17.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.5 apg

Lefty. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! 37.3% on 185 attempts. Over 3 makes per game. Have to be tight to him at all times to take away the 3-point attempts. Pick him up from 30 feet. Will shoot them from deep. Tighten up as the ball comes towards you. Always thinking about shooting. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off downscreens and flares. Be VERY willing to switch ballscreens to take away the 3. He will run to set a lot of ballscreens but almost always slips. Switch if he ballscreens, but if there is no screen there is no switch. Stay with him. Make it hard for him to get a catch. Make him give it up when driving it left. 34 assists to 43 turnovers. Don’t help when he is driving it right. Much better going left. Your only job when guarding him is taking away 3’s. No 3’s!

#14 Keon Ellis: 6’6″ 175 lbs, Senior Guard

12.0 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.9 apg

SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! 119 of 184 shots have been 3’s. Have to be there to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. Be tight to him at all times to take away the 3. No help off him. Tighten up as the ball comes towards you. Chase off downscreens and handoffs. Switch if he ballscreens, but stay with him if he slips. Likes to use the shot fake on the perimeter. Will shot fake to drive it right. No right hand drives. We would rather him shot fake and drive it than take an open 3 though. Loves to cut along the baseline while the ball is driven. Don’t get back cut. Very good in transition. They will throw the ball ahead to him. Get back and protect the basket. Elite offensive rebounder. Will fly in the from the perimeter. Box out!!!

#4 Juwan Gary: 6’6″ 218 lbs, Sophomore Forward

8.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 0.3 apg

Undersized 4-man. Non-shooter. Just 7-30 from 3. You can closeout short to him on the perimeter. Much better as a right hand driver. No right hand drives! Stay between him and the basket when he is on the perimeter. Really likes to cut along the baseline as the ball is driven. Don’t get back cut. Help off of him when he doesn’t have it and then closeout short. Will ballscreen and roll to the basket. Right hand, left shoulder around the basket. Really likes to slip ballscreens. Excellent offensive rebounder. Be physical. Box out!!!

#10 Charles Bediako: 7’0″ 225 lbs, Freshman Center

6.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 0.7 apg

Long, athletic 5-man. Post player. Will ballscreen and roll to the basket. You can help off him when he is on the perimeter, but you need to get out to him when he has the ball so you are ready to guard the ballscreens and handoffs. Need to be willing to switch off him and you have to be out there to take away the 3 when you switch. Will slip ballscreens on the perimeter. If there is no screen there is no switch. Right hand, left shoulder inside. Be physical on his left shoulder. Mostly scores on dump off passes and offensive rebounds. Don’t help up off of him at the rim. Be physical when the shot goes up. Box out!

Bench

#3 JD Davison: 6’3″ 195 lbs, Freshman Guard

8.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 4.1 apg

Extremely explosive backup guard. Very aggressive right hand driver. NO RIGHT HAND DRIVES!!! He really wants to get downhill to his right. Need to stay between him and the basket. Go under the ballscreens and handoffs. Tag him on both sides of the screen and be ready to contest if he shoots behind it. Will reject the ballscreens to drive it right. No rejects! Closeout a step short to him on the perimeter to stay between him and the basket. Have to get the ball stopped when he is bringing it in transition. Shooting over 60% from 2-point range because he gets to the rim so well. Make him score over you. You can stunt off of non-shooters, but he is a very good passer. Do not leave shooters to help on the drive. See how many 3’s you can make him shoot. Absolutely no layups for him.

#0 Noah Gurley: 6’8″ 215 lbs, Graduate Student Forward

7.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.5 apg

Athletic backup 4/5 man. Capable shooter, but better as a right hand driver and around the basket. No right hand drives! You can closeout short to him on the perimeter. Be ready to close that space when he gets into a ballscreen or handoff. You have to be up there to be ready to switch and take away 3. Help off of him and then closeout short. Will ballscreen and roll to the basket. Be ready for him to slip ballscreens. Right hand, left shoulder around the basket. Don’t help up off of him at the rim. Excellent offensive rebounder. Be physical when the shot goes up. Box out!

#2 Darius Miles: 6’6″ 185 lbs, Sophomore Forward

6.7 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 0.7 apg

Lefty. Shooter! No 3’s! Need to be there to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s! Be tight to him at all times. Tighten up as the ball comes towards you. No help off of him. Will drive it left once you take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. No left hand drives. Will slip ballscreens into a pop on the perimeter. Switch if he ballscreens, but if there is no screen there is no switch. Crashes the offensive glass from the perimeter. Box out!

#33 James Rojas: 6’8″ 220 lbs, Senior Forward

4.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.5 apg

Pick-and-pop 4/5 man. Shooter! No catch-and-shoot 3’s. 13 of 22 shots (6 games) have been 3’s. Be there to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. Be very willing to switch when he ballscreens. If he slips stay attached to him. If there is no screen there is no switch. Box out!

Alabama Crimson Tide Offense

The formula for Coach Nate Oats and the Alabama Crimson Tide is pretty simple. Take a bunch of 3’s, get to the rim, and eliminate everything else. All of that is no secret at this point. However, despite shooting as many 3’s as anyone in the country per KenPom, the Crimson Tide have not connected on as many as years past.

This season Alabama is making just 31.4% of their 3-point attempts which ranks 282nd overall in college basketball. As always though, context is important. Jahvon Quinerly, who shot well over 40% last season, is shooting exactly 25% from beyond the arc this season. When you take out his poor shooting on high volume the Alabama team percentage raises to nearly 33%. Obviously all made and missed 3’s are counted equally, but it gives some perspective to the perceived shooting woes. Also, despite the “poor” percentage, Alabama is still in the Top 40 nationally with over 9 made 3’s per game. Kentucky should still spend every second on the court scared of the 3-point shot.

So much of what Alabama does is predicated on transition. They are going to take the first available open shot on every single possession. There are very few set plays, but they do a great job of putting their best players in a position to play to their strengths. To get a feel for it you just need to see it. Let’s go inside the film room.

Transition

It is no secret that the Alabama Crimson Tide are going to come at us fast. Their guards are going to get it and go as fast as possible end-to-end. Davison goes the length of the floor and lays it in within just four seconds in this clip. You have to get all the way back and protect the basket first and foremost. Run to the arc of the charge circle. If you turn around too early you are toast.

Protect the basket, stop the ball, matchup beginning with the next most dangerous guy. That is the mantra of transition defense and it could make or break today’s game. We can’t have two guys on the ball like Baylor does here. Communication is key. Once somebody calls the ball you have to start matching up. Giving up these 3’s in the first five seconds of the shot clock can be back-breaking.

Drive and Kick

Even when Alabama doesn’t have something directly out of the fast break, they still put a ton of pressure on you early in the possession. Here, #13 Quinerly attacks downhill and puts Auburn into a scramble situation right away. We are going to be in scramble situations like this, but you have to make good scouting report specific decisions in a hurry. There is no reason to have two guys running at #4 Gary. In fact, nobody should be closing out to him anyway. In this clip you should just stunt at #4 Gary and immediately run at #5 Shackelford. If Auburn would have gone straight to Shackelford they wouldn’t have been in the closeout situation that gave up the 3.

Guard-on-Guard Slip Ballscreen

The Crimson Tide loves to have #5 Shackelford run into ballscreens and then slip them into a pop. We want to switch any ballscreens that Shackelford sets, but if there is no screen there is no switch. Stay attached to him and take away the 3!

Ballscreen w/ Backscreen on Roll

There won’t be many set plays called tonight, but when Coach Oats does call something it is usually some sort of ball screening action. Alabama likes to backscreen for the roll man to try and occupy the help defense. You can see here #13 Quinerly back screening for #10 Bediako on the roll. That frees up #3 Davison to drive it right to the rim.

Ballscreen w/ Downscreen

Here is another called ball screening action, but this time they downscreen out of it. After setting the ballscreen, #0 Gurley goes to screen for #5 Shackelford who fires the three coming off. This is a good example of the types of rebounds we will see tonight too. Our guards and wings have to box out on the perimeter and go get the ball. You can’t run towards the rim or the ball will go over your head. If they do offensive rebound you have to immediately fan out and get to your man. Do not stare at the ball! It is getting kicked back out for a 3.

Alabama Crimson Tide Defense

After having one of the best defenses in college basketball last season, the Alabama Crimson Tide have struggled defensively this year. Just take a look at KenPom’s “Four Factors.” Alabama ranks 170th in effective field goal percentage defense, and then no better than 224th in turnover percentage, allowed offensive rebounding percentage, and opponent free throw rate. A lot of that is due to poor perimeter defense.

Coach Oats will primarily stick with a man-to-man defense. The guards simply aren’t very bought in to guarding the basketball. We should have driving opportunities all night long. Attacking the rim off the dribble could work to get some of their guys in foul trouble as well. You can expect them to “ICE” some of the ballscreens, but again the guards aren’t very good at it. We just need to attack downhill and make the big man play you. We need to score 90 points on these guys.

Keys to the Game

• Take them away from 3! No 3’s for #5 Shackelford, #14 Ellis, or #2 Miles. Have to be tight to them at all times. Switch when you need to. Limit Shackelford to two 3’s or less.
• Transition defense. Protect the basket, stop the ball, matchup beginning with the next most dangerous guy. Sprint back every time. Have to limit their easy transition baskets.
• Contain #13 Quinerly and #3 Davison off the dribble. As dangerous as Shackelford and those guys are from 3, these two are equally as dangerous driving it. No right hand drives! Stay between them and the basket.
• Gobble up the long rebounds! You can’t turn and run to the rim. Guards and wings have to get a body on their man and go get the ball. Win the 50/50 balls. Go and get it with two hands. 10 or fewer offensive rebounds.