Crimson Red Sports

Before pre-season practices had begun, Oats had been boldly optimistic. Speaking to Kyle Tucker for The Athletic, Oats said,

I could sit here and downplay expectations because that’s what coaches try to do. ‘We’d be lucky to get 20 wins’ and all that coach-speak garbage. I’m not going to do that…we’re going to be good. Anything less than a high seed in the NCAA Tournament, we’re going to be disappointed.

It is a long time until Selection Sunday and the Crimson Tide has played only one-third of its 18, regular season, SEC games. Plenty of work is left to be done. A major test lies ahead Tuesday night in Baton Rouge. Whatever happens against LSU, the Crimson Tide is in a strong position to finish January with at least 13 wins. If so, Alabama basketball fans can begin to embrace Oats being right about the NCAA Tournament.

Listening to national talk radio this morning I heard one of the sports commentators say something along the lines of, “Alabama won a national football championship six days ago and all anyone there is talking about today is Alabama basketball.”

That may be a bit of a stretch, but there is no question that the Crimson Tide has the attention of Bama fans. More than that, it is gaining nationwide attention.

Alabama is 11-3 overall and at 6-0 the only undefeated team in the Southeastern Conference.

Gary Parrish, the lead basketball writer for CBSsports.com (and perhaps the nation’s best), didn’t have Alabama in his top 25+1 last week. Today he has the Tide at No. 16.

Alabama (11-3, 6-0 in the SEC) has not lost in the calendar year and opened conference play with six straight wins for the first time since the 1986-87 season. Arkansas (10-4, 2-4) lost for the fourth time in five games.

Alabama played without starting forward Jordan Bruner, who will be out the next 4-6 weeks after sustaining a meniscus injury to his right knee Tuesday night at Kentucky. Meanwhile, Herbert Jones earned the start despite dislocating a finger in his left hand on Tuesday. Point guard Jahvon Quinerly came off the bench after missing the last three games with an undisclosed medical condition.

It’s going to take a lot more than a sore finger to slow down Herbert Jones. Heading into Saturday’s game, Alabama head coach Nate Oats said the senior forward would be used on an “as-needed basis.” Jones not only earned the start but played 22 minutes, recording 13 points on 3 of 4 shooting while adding four rebounds, two steals and a block.

One of his most athletic plays of the night came as he saved an overthrown pass from Petty at the baseline, tipping it back into play to Juwan Gary, who dished it out to Shackelford for an open 3 to give Alabama a 63-35 lead.

Per http://TeamRankings.com, Alabama’s bracketology projection currently sits at—

Make Tournament: 100%
Automatic bid: 17.9%
At large bid: 82.1%
Most likely seed: #2, (28.6%)
Final Four: 9.4%
NCAA Champs: 1.4%

All this good news is scaring me.






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 :tinfoil: :tinfoil: :tinfoil:

I'm not buying that level of hype yet.  It's possible the SEC sucks. 

I'm not buying that level of hype yet.  It's possible the SEC sucks. 

Alabama men's basketball is now the No. 16 team in the nation, according to the latest Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll and No. 18 in college basketball according to the AP Top 25.

The polls were released on Monday. Alabama was previously unranked in the AP, but received the most votes outside of the top 25 teams. The No. 18 spot is the first time the Crimson Tide has been ranked in the AP poll since 2017.