It is February 14th, 2023, and the Alabama Crimson Tide are ranked #1 in the AP Poll. No, this is not a team that plays in Bryant-Denny Stadium. This team is not led by Nick Saban and Bryce Young. This is Alabama Basketball.
Alabama is Ranked #1 (In Basketball)
The Foundation
Following the 2018-2019 college basketball season, Alabama fired head coach and former NBA Champion Avery Johnson after he compiled a 75-62 record over four seasons. Alabama decided it wanted to go in a different direction. They decided the program needed to be rejuvenated. What’s the best way to rejuvenate a historically mediocre program? Hire a young, inexperienced head coach, that has more high school teaching experience than college coaching experience.
Nate Oats is currently in his fourth season as head coach of the Alabama men’s basketball team. He was a surprising hire at the time as he was only 44 years old. He spent six years at Buffalo; the first two as an assistant and the final four seasons as head coach. Prior to that, he was a high school math teacher in Michigan. He’s proving the doubters wrong this season.
Coach Oats and his staff have Alabama firing on all cylinders. On offense, the Crimson Tide are 6th in scoring at 83.4 PPG. They are 1st in the country in total rebounds at 44.4 per game. Additionally, they rank 17th with 5.1 blocks per game. Diving into the advanced stats, Alabama ranks 1st in Strength of Record, 2nd in NET, 2nd in KenPom, and 3rd in BPI. Even more impressive, Alabama basketball is ranked #1 in the AP Poll for the first time since December 2002.
The Team
In order to explain Alabama’s success, it is necessary to become familiar with freshman phenom Brandon Miller. Miller is a 6-foot-9 forward that averages over 18 PPG and 8 RPG. Additionally, he shoots 43% from behind the arc and contributes almost a block and a steal per game. He is without a doubt the best and most important player for the Crimson Tide. On top of that, he’s on the Wooden Award Late Season Watch list and has a great chance to take home SEC Player of the Year. Furthermore, he is guaranteed to be a top-10 NBA draft pick in a few months.
Joining Miller in the frontcourt are Noah Clowney and Charles Bediako. Clowney averages 10 PPG and 8 RPG, while Bediako contributes 5.5 PPG and 5 RPG. Not to mention Clowney is 6-foot-10 and Bediako is 7-foot, which directly correlates to Alabama’s rebounding success.
The backcourt is full of many talented guards, as Alabama has five guards averaging over 7 PPG. Most notable is Mark Sears as he is averaging 14 PPG, 4 RPG, and 3 APG in conference play. Sears stuffed the box sheet essentially every game last year as an Ohio Bobcat and is able to coincide with Miller perfectly. Jaden Bradley also contributes over three assists per game as this Alabama team has many skilled passers.
The team has a perfect blend of top-level talent as well as depth, which is always important late in the season. When Miller is struggling, Clowney and Sears step right up. When Bradley struggles Nimari Burnett and Rylan Griffen step in off of the bench. A lot of teams have talented players and a lot of teams have depth. It’s rare for a team to have both talent and depth like this Crimson Tide team.
Looking Ahead
Upcoming on Wednesday, Alabama travels to Knoxville to take on the 10th-ranked Volunteers. Although Tennessee has been struggling as of late, they’re still ranked 3rd in the NET Rankings. A win over Tennessee would leave the SEC regular season title to be decided between Alabama and Texas A&M.
Taking a look further ahead, Alabama is easily on pace to get their first 1-seed in school history in the NCAA Tournament. The Crimson Tide have never made it past the elite eight and this year is arguably the best chance they have ever had.
