How Alabama Basketball is Treating the SEC Tournament
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— When you really think about it, No. 5 Alabama men’s basketball doesn’t have a crazy amount of pressure to perform well in the SEC Tournament.
Unless the Crimson Tide wins it, head coach Nate Oats and company will not be a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and if Alabama loses in the quarterfinals on Friday, there’s a decent chance it’ll maintain the current 2-seed projection on Selection Sunday.
The Crimson Tide doesn’t care.
“We’re going to try to win it,” Oats said during Wednesday’s press conference. “You know, we’re trying to win championships. We’ve won more championships in the SEC than anybody else since I’ve been here. This is a championship we’re trying to win. If, you know, we don’t end up winning it.”
Oats has ensured that his team is on the same page about the approach in Nashville for the next few days and Alabama forward Mouhamed Dioubate is very much on the same wavelength.
“Oats is a winner, so we try to win every game we play despite the team or the competition,” Dioubate said. “Us, we’re competitors, so we try to win every game we can. We’re coming into this tournament to win the tournament. Even if it takes a load on our bodies, we’re just trying to win it all.”
Of course, doing well in the conference tournament doesn’t always translate to going far in the NCAA Tournament. 2023-24 Alabama is the prime example of this as the Tide lost in the SEC Tournament quarterfinal to Florida but ended up making its first NCAA Tournament Final Four in program history.
“There will be some positives that we’ll try to sell our guys on,” Oats said. “But that’s not the goal. The goal is to go in there and win three in a row, win a championship and have ourselves playing on a run going in the NCAA Tournament.”
Alabama currently has 13 scholarship players, including three redshirts (Latrell Wrightsell Jr., Naas Cunningham and Houston Mallette). Eight of 13 were not with the Crimson Tide last season and either committed or transferred to Tuscaloosa.
Besides guard Aden Holloway, who played at Auburn last season, none of the Alabama newcomers are used to the SEC Tournament. Dioubate, one of the Crimson Tide’s five returners detailed his message to the inexperienced bunch.
“Just take care of your body,” Dioubate said. “Try to stay off of social media. Stay locked in. I just told the guys that we’ve just got to stay focused during a time like this. There are going to be a lot of games and it will be a lot of load on our bodies. Taking care of our bodies is like the most important thing. Watching film and stuff [too].”
Oats’ message to the Dioubate, Alabama forward Aiden Sherrell and the rest of the Crimson Tide is pretty similar.
“He just told us to worry about the next game,” Dioubate said. “We try to win every game we play. We’re not on our feet as much so he just tells us to watch a lot of film and we’ll just try to prepare for every game.”
“He’s been saying like whatever the opponent, just be ready to be the hardest-playing team on the floor,” Sherrell said. “Have the most ‘Mudita’ and do whatever it takes to win.”
The aforementioned Latrell Wrightsell Jr. was a key player for the Crimson Tide last season, as his three-point shooting helped Alabama reach the Final Four. However, Wrightsell ruptured his Achilles earlier this season against Oregon and has watched every game from the sidelines since. But before this season started, Wrigtsell spoke at SEC Media days about the team’s expectations.
“Our expectation is we’re trying to win four championships: the Players Era Festival, the SEC regular season, the SEC Tournament and the National Championship,” Wrightsell said. “Those are the expectations. We don’t really look into the numbers, mainly just winning each game every day. Win the day. We’re not really worried about next week, tomorrow and the day after that.”
Two days before SEC Media Days, the Preseason AP Top 25 was released. Alabama was ranked No. 2––its highest preseason placement of school history. But Wrightsell didn’t care about the early ranking as winning championships was all that mattered.
The same applies today for the Crimson Tide as although it has practically cemented its place and seed in the NCAA Tournament, hoisting a trophy is a top priority––especially since Alabama didn’t win the Players Era Festival nor the SEC regular season title.
The Crimson Tide locked up a double-bye for the SEC Tournament and is the No. 3 seed. 6-seed Kentucky will face 14-seed Oklahoma on Thursday and then whoever comes out on top of that game will go head-to-head with Alabama on Friday in Nashville.
