GLENDALE, Ariz. — Nick Pringle spent hours in the training room trying to heal up ahead of Alabama’s Elite Eight game against Clemson. He walked off the bus with a boot on his left foot but played 32 minutes, scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to help lift Alabama to its first Final Four in school history.

He had one man to thank for why he was on the court that night.

“Shoutout to Clarke Holter, man,” Pringle said. “It’s been an unbelievable last 15 days. I’ve been dealing with my heel. It's just been night in, night out, all day just straight treatment. Just taking it seriously. Being professional about what I do, and it's good that you can have a great relationship with an athletic trainer like that.”

Holter, who is in his seventh season at Alabama, has been helping players like Pringle get right for over a decade. Now, he’s making sure the Crimson Tide is healthy on the biggest stage of them all.

Any coach, pundit or seasoned fan will feed you the same phrase during March Madness, “No one is healthy at this point of the season.”

Alabama is certainly no exception. The injury bug has bitten the Crimson Tide hard at times this season. Yet, heading into its Final Four clash against UConn on Saturday, Alabama is expected to be close to full strength. That’s in large part because of the efforts of Holter and the rest of the Tide’s support staff, who work diligently to create as much routine as possible amidst the travel and turnaround in the Big Dance.

“If they're a little nicked up I’m just trying to get them as recovered as possible with returns and short turnarounds and doing smart things in terms of preparing with travel, hydration, meals,” Holter said. “ So we make sure we're monitoring all that.”

Holter’s job goes beyond assisting with rehabilitation and keeping an eye on his players’ physical well-being. Whether an Alabama player is nursing a serious injury or trying to avoid one, they naturally spend a lot of time with the support staff. That gives Holter a chance to set the same standard established by Nate Oats and the on-court staff.

“We've usually got a pretty good feel on how these guys are doing physically and mentally,” Holter said. “I think that it's our job to also help enforce from the ground level the type of culture that Coach Oats wants.”

Building trust is also a huge key for Holter. He can’t do his job properly without players and their families knowing he has their best interests in mind for their treatment and keeping them on the court. He has former players from UA and Ole Miss — where he served as its athletic trainer for six years — who sought advice. He stays in touch with former Alabama stars Herb Jones and John Petty Jr. as they try to carve out professional careers.

“You can't get anything done unless these guys trust you from a medical standpoint,” Holter said. “So, when they leave and they still value your opinion on that. I think that’s important.”

With that trust established, Holter knows he’ll get a better assessment of how a player is feeling, a crucial step in a faster road to recovery. He and his team get some technological help, too. Alabama strength coach Henry Barrera tracks players' heart rates. The staff has devices that progressively monitor a guy’s road to recovery and place an objective percentage on how ready to go they are.

“They want to be the best version of themselves on the court,” Holter said. “I think that based on the trust that you build with these guys over time they know what that looks like. It's all a collaborative approach, too between myself, Henry, [Director of Olympic Sport Performance] Amanda [Branson]. We’ve got a lot of objective data and means, and it helps with a staff that’s so receptive to that data, it helps in terms of return to play.”

Branson had a plan in place months in advance.

When Alabama was recruiting forwards Mouhamed Dioubate and Mohamed Wague, Branson already knew how she would approach their nutrition when the pair fasted during their Ramadan celebrations.

“Amanda started talking about it months before it came,” Wague said. “She was ready for it and really taking care of us, making sure we get all the food we need.”

When the NCAA Tournament rolled around Branson and Holter executed Branson’s calculated nutrition plan. They communicated on the sidelines to alert Wague and Dioubate when it was time for them to break their fast.

“She's obviously got a ton of great experience on her previous stops dealing with athletes during Ramadan,” Holter said. “So I think we have a solid plan and all credit to her for that because she's really been on those guys and making sure they're getting done what they need to.”

Thanks to Branson’s detailed plan, Wague and Dioubate each racked up six points and four rebounds in Alabama’s first-round win over Charleston. Dioubate played a crucial role with nine points and five rebounds — most of which came in crunch time — to help Alabama past Grand Canyon. Like Pringle, they were both thankful to Branson, Holter and the rest of the staff for putting them in the best position to succeed. They also shared Pringle’s sentiment that Alabama’s long-time trainer is more than just the man who gets them physically healthy.

“He’s definitely close with everybody,” Wague said. “So you can just talk to him about anything.”

“It’s bigger than basketball with him,” Dioubate added.

Holter’s role in Alabama’s success doesn’t show up on the box score. But he’s had just as big of an impact on the Crimson Tide’s historic run as Pringle’s Elite Eight double-double, Rylan Griffen’s hot shooting and the Tide’s bench stepping up. As Alabama prepares for its toughest test of the season, it has him to thank for being locked in both physically and mentally.