Notebook: Alabama men's basketball prepares for Monday's home opener

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama head coach Nate Oats wasn't bashful when asked if his team was ready to start the 2022-23 campaign.

"We're ready to play somebody else," Oats said. "Things are getting a little chippy in practice. We're tired of going against each other. It's time to get the season kicked off so we can play a few games and play somebody else."

The Crimson Tide will get its chance to do that on Monday when it hosts Longwood at Coleman Coliseum, but before the team's tip-off, here are three headlines heading into the team's home opener.

Ever since the team came back from its trip to Europe, Oats has raved about the benefits of playing overseas. The Crimson Tide played three exhibitions during its foreign tour, including a game against the Chinese National "B" Team.

While the game reps were important according to Oats, it was the practices that helped establish the team's identity coming into this season.

"I think we learned what we are capable of," Oats said. "We saw when we are playing our best, what we can look like. You see what your upside potential can be a little bit more since you've had more time in there with them. Most of the guys had a chance to play in some pretty good games overseas. ... You're able to start building the chemistry a little bit earlier."

The extra time also helped the team's new additions to get acclimated with Oats' system and show off their skill sets. Oats highlighted Noah Clowney, Brandon Miller and Rylan Griffen as the newcomers who really shined while in Europe and have brought that confidence back with them to the United States.

"It was big," Mark Sears said when asked about how the trip helped him get acclimated with the team. "We got to just be around each other 24/7 over in Europe and that just helped us really gel together. Everybody on the team gets along well with each other so that's very big."

The major takeaway from Alabama's charity scrimmage against Southern Illinois was its woeful shooting percentage from behind the 3-point line. The team shot 3 of 22, two of which came in the second half.

Despite the poor shooting, Oats noted it's a reason why the team has exhibition games.

"I hope we got the jitters out because 3-for-22 is not what I have been seeing in practice," Oats said. "I do think there is some credibility to the way that we do it with two competitions. I like to do a (closed and open scrimmage). I think there is some value to playing in front of a crowd before you play a real game."

Oats added the team shot more than 40% of its shots from behind the arc during Friday's practice and players continued to shoot afterward to continue to find their rhythm. Regardless of the shooting percentage, Griffen said he still has the proverbial green light.

"As far as me, (Oats) is always telling me that if I feel open, shoot it," Griffen said. "I took some bad ones in that game, but he wasn't really trippin', because as long as you're playing hard, he's not going to say nothing. We're going to clean it up in film, but he's not going to say anything during the game, because he doesn't want you to pass up on shots."

Against the Salukis, Alabama was missing three returning starters in Jahvon Quinerly, Charles Bediako and Darius Miles. On Friday, Oats said he hopes to get Miles and Bediako back for Monday's game while lifting the minutes' restriction on Nimari Burnett.

"(Charles has) been back practicing," Oats said. "Anticipate him being able to play if everything goes well here the next couple of days in practice. Hopefully, (Miles) is ready to go on Monday too. Should be almost full strength. (Jahvon) Quinerly won’t be back for a little while yet. We’re almost at full strength now.”