The Alabama Crimson Tide have a lot of work to do to get to the NCAA Tournament. They gave away a lot of games in the fall before Southeastern Conference play began. They let a game against Penn State slip away which would look good on their resume right now.
By Matt Zemek
They lost their home opener to Pennsylvania, which is a dent on their profile. Even when they got to the SEC portion of their season, they let a huge lead evaporate in a stinging loss to Florida. Alabama has frittered away several chances to produce a strong NCAA nitty-gritty report heading into the teeth of its season. There are results on the ledger sheet the Tide might regret a lot in a few months.
Yet, give them this: They have shown considerable resilience and still have enough time to make a run at an NCAA bid. Their 19-point thrashing of previously unbeaten Auburn on Wednesday shows what this team can become under first-year head coach Nate Oats.
Alabama plays Oats’ attacking style carried from the Buffalo Bulls. Learning to become more effective and seamless on defense is the key challenge for the Crimson Tide. Against Auburn, they put the pieces together. None of Auburn’s talented scorers were able to shake free of Alabama’s defense. The Tide forced a tidal wave of Auburn turnovers. Their energy was far greater. Auburn – which had not lost a game but hadn’t played especially tough opponents – looked exactly like a team which had never been punched in the mouth all season, and therefore didn’t know how to respond when shoved around. Alabama kept shoving, and now the Tide have a high-quality win on their portfolio which can catapult them through the rest of the season.
Let’s see what the Tide need to do when they welcome Missouri to Tuscaloosa this Saturday:
1 – No letdown
This is easy to say, not as easy to do, but it does need to be said. Alabama under Anthony Grant and Avery Johnson would sometimes play great games and then lose focus the next time out. The Crimson Tide have often played to the level of the competition. This is a good test for Oats, who is trying to create a new culture in which Alabama displays a more responsible and dependable way of proceeding. Mature teams will clobber Missouri at home in this situation. Let’s see if Alabama is necessarily ruthless in this game.
2 – More than Kira
Kira Lewis was sensational against Auburn, scoring 25 points and hitting 57 percent of his field goal attempts. Lewis played like a star. You know that opponents will try as hard as they can to take away Lewis in the coming weeks and months. The Tide need to make sure that secondary and third scorers can regularly – not occasionally – step up and provide the balanced needed to make this offense as strong as it can possibly be.
3 – Plenty to work on
Alabama was great against Auburn but still showed many areas which need further improvement. The Crimson Tide committed 15 turnovers, hit only 6 of 21 threes, and collected only six offensive rebounds. Beating Auburn by 19 proves Alabama is better. It doesn’t prove Alabama is a finished product. The Crimson Tide can grow in many areas. Let’s see if that growth occurs on Saturday.
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