TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Good luck projecting Alabama basketball’s starting lineup against Missouri on Wednesday. Nate Oats and his staff might not even be done discussing how they are going to tinker with their first five to get better starts from the Crimson Tide.

Lately, Alabama has been rolling out with Mark Sears and Chris Youngblood as its two starting guards. The Crimson Tide has paired the two sharpshooters with a forward trio of Jarin Stevenson, Grant Nelson and Clifford Omoruyi to provide more length and defensive ability on the court.

Last week, that group dug its way into a 7-2 deficit at Texas before allowing Auburn to march out to a 9-0 run inside Coleman Coliseum. The Tide overcame its slow start against the Longhorns but found itself constantly chasing the Tigers during a 94-85 defeat over the weekend.

Now Oats is considering a change.

“We’ve looked at a few different analytic things that way since the Auburn game,” Oats said. “Shooters, creators, combination, we probably need two of the three.”

The problem with Alabama’s current setup is that Sears is the only real creator on the floor. Auburn exploited that over the weekend, often forcing the graduate guard into poor decisions while limiting the amount of quality looks he was able to get for himself.

Fixing the problem is a bit of a puzzle.

Inserting another creator alongside Sears could get the star guard more shots, but it could involve taking another shooter off the court. Someone like Aden Holloway excels at shooting and ball-handling, but pairing him alongside Sears might take a serious toll on the Tide’s defense.

“We’re going to experiment a little bit with that stuff,” Oats said. “Just making sure there’s enough guys that can create offense and also shooters out there to keep the floor open with the appropriate lineups in.”

Here are a few of the combinations Oats and Alabama can turn to moving forward.