When we think about the Alabama Crimson Tide and national championships, we’re usually thinking of Nick Sabam and his elite football program. The Alabama basketball program has improved in recent years, though, advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2021. Among SEC programs, the Tide have done well, second in total wins and conference tournament championships. They’ve finished in the final AP Top 25 rankings of the season 16 times, second-best in the SEC. The only program in the SEC with more of any of those is Kentucky. The deepest run the Tide have ever made in March Madness came in 2004, when they went all the way to the Elite Eight. From 2002 to 2006, the Tide made the tournament each year, in fact. Between 2007 and 2021, the school had a bit of a drought, making the tournament just two times and never getting to the second weekend. In 2021, the Tide looked to make a deeper run but lost to 11-seed UCLA in overtime in the Sweet 16.
Can they make the ultimate run this season? Don’t miss our online college basketball betting thoughts.
NCAA Basketball Betting: Can Alabama Win a National Championship?
Alabama Crimson Tide Info | Updated NCAA Basketball Odds
26-5 overall and 16-2 in SEC play – 1st
Conference: SEC
Venue: Coleman Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
They use three-point shooting to open up the rest of the offense
Falling to Oklahoma in the Big 12/SEC Challenge seems to have jump-started the Crimson Tide’s motivation to knock down shots from distance. They rolled over Vanderbilt and LSU with two of their best performances from distance. It helped that Nimari Burnett came back from injury and freshman Rylan Griffen figured out the college game. Burnett made more than half of his three-pointers in the wins over Vanderbilt and LSU, and Griffen made more than 60% of his shots in those games. It also helped that Noah Clowney and Mark Sears emerged from extended slumps. In the five games before the Vanderbilt win, Clowney went 0 for 20 from behind the arc. Between the Tide’s two games against Alabama, Sears was just 3 of 24 for distance. Both of them shot at least 50 percent from distance in the ten-point win over LSU. Brandon Miller, who has double figures in points in all of Alabama’s games except one this year, continues to plug away, even in the midst of off-the-court controversy. With multiple shooters knocking down big shots from distance, though, things get a lot easier for everyone on offense.
The Tide used the off-season to turn a good team into a deep team
Last year, Alabama knocked off five ranked teams, including three (Baylor, Houston and Gonzaga) who had made the Final Four the year before. However, their defense was flimsy at times, and there wasn’t a lot of depth, and the Tide found themselves bounced out of last year’s March Madness in the first round at the hands of 11-seed Notre Dame. The Tide bounced back by getting two key transfers and the third-ranked recruiting class in the nation. The rotation can run 11 players deep at times, and the team ranks in KenPom’s top 20 in both defensive and offensive efficiency. With that level of depth, the Tide are a dangerous team.
But are the Tide running out of gas?
Even with that deep rotation, the Crimson Tide have shown signs of trouble on defense. They had three wins in a row by no more than five points in their three games before the regular-season finale, and then things got even worse against Texas A&M, as the Aggies knocked off the Tide on Saturday, 67-61. In that loss, we saw the problems that can arise when teams feature the three-ball as a primary weapon. When the shots are falling, things are great, but when they’re not, it can be hard to change a team’s approach to crashing the rim. Against the Aggies, Alabama clanked 29 of their 36 shots from behind the arc, a sign that while shooting through a slump can work, refusal to change one’s approach at all can lead to unpleasant outcomes.
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