Tony's takes: Alabama basketball is back as an SEC title favorite

Three months ago that’s how it was viewed. The media picked Alabama to win the SEC and tabbed Mark Sears as its preseason conference player of the year. To top things off, the Tide slotted in at No. 2 in the Associated Press preseason top 25 — its highest-ever ranking to begin the season.

From there, an up-and-down November caused the hype around Alabama to dissipate.

The Tide slept-walked through its early games against inferior competition before failing its first test of the year in an 87-78 defeat at then-No. 13 Purdue. A convincing win over then-No. 25 Illinois followed by two more impressive victories against then-No. 6 Houston and Rutgers in the Players Era Festival helped stir up some confidence. But the Tide eventually busted in Las Vegas, falling to Oregon in the final while losing starting guard Latrell Wrightsell for the season in the process.

Sears shot just 15 of 52 (28.8%) from beyond the arc during Alabama’s eight games in November. Meanwhile, Rutgers transfer Clifford Omoruyi didn’t look like the bully he was billed up to be when the Tide plucked him from the portal over the summer. Alabama was also still waiting on South Florida transfer Chris Youngblood to recover from a lingering ankle injury.

November now feels like a long time ago as well.

Alabama hasn’t lost since dropping the Players Era Festival final to Oregon on Nov. 30. Saturday’s win at No. 10 Texas A&M makes eight straight for Nate Oats and company. Three of those victories came against ranked opposition, including two on the road.

Sears? He’s back to playing like the potential Naismith Award winner we thought he was. Since his November slump, the sharpshooting guard has knocked down 41.3% (26 of 63) of his 3-point attempts while recording 20 or more points in 7 of 8 games. That included 27 crucial points to help Alabama hold off a late Texas A&M comeback.

While Sears helped close out the Aggies, Alabama hasn’t had to rely solely on its star man during its recent run. Grant Nelson saved the Tide from embarrassment with a double-double (23 points, 10 rebounds) during a trip back to his home state of North Dakota. Then Aden Holloway dropped 26 points on eight 3s off the bench against South Dakota State.

Saturday’s win over Texas A&M saw Omoruyi tough out a rolled ankle to record 7 points and 10 boards over 16 minutes. Youngblood is also beginning to look more comfortable in crimson and white, as evidenced by his season-high 14 points against the Aggies. And I haven’t even mentioned Labaron Philon, who has earned three SEC Freshman of the Week honors and appears on his way to becoming a lottery pick in this year’s NBA draft.

The scary thing is, all this success seems sustainable. Alabama leads the nation averaging 91.2 points per game despite shooting a pedestrian 32.2% from beyond the arc. Oats’ teams are never going to be shy about letting it fly from deep, but this season’s Alabama doesn’t live and die by the 3.

The Tide ranks second nationally, averaging 45.4 rebounds per game. Alabama has outscored its opponents 132-112 in the paint during its three SEC games — a pretty impressive feat coming off road games at South Carolina and Texas A&M.

Don’t get me wrong, Alabama still needs to sort out its 69.5% success rate from the free-throw line. The same goes for the Tide’s SEC-worst -1.56 turnover margin. However, both of those flaws are fixable.

Now about that hype — Alabama deserves to see a lot more of it moving forward.

After this past week, I’d take the Tide over either of the two previously perceived SEC frontrunners.

No. 1 (at least for now) Tennessee lost by 30 points at No. 8 Florida before squeaking out a 4-point win at Texas this weekend. No. 2 Auburn should usurp the Volunteers atop the rankings on Monday. However, the Tigers narrowly avoided an upset against South Carolina on Saturday and could be without star forward Johni Broome for an extended period of time.

Heading into this past week, Oats admitted that he was enjoying his team’s rare overlooked status. He shouldn’t get used to it though.

Alabama (14-2, 3-0) is now one of three undefeated teams in SEC play. The Tide will have the opportunity to cut that number to two when it hosts No. 23 Ole Miss (14-2, 3-0) on Tuesday. From there Alabama will face another top-10 road matchup when it travels to No. 6 Kentucky (13-3, 2-1) next weekend. Wins in both those games could see the Tide in the SEC driver’s seat by this time next week.

You know, just the way we media folks saw it a few months ago.

Drink of the week — The Helping Hand

This week’s drink goes out to a special Crimson Tide fan. Our friends at Session Cocktails are partnering with Curefa.org to honor Suzannah Earnest, a 10-year-old Tuscaloosa resident battling Friedreich’s ataxia, a genetic, progressive neuromuscular disease that is life-shortening and affects an estimated 5,000 individuals in the United States and 15,000 worldwide. Proceeds from the cocktail will go directly toward treatments for the disease.

The tasty drink is made up of 2 ounces of vodka, ¾ of an ounce of lime juice and ¾ of an ounce of grenadine topped with Sprite. Those participating in Dry January can also support the cause, as Session is also stirring up a version that replaces the vodka with CleanCo non-alcoholic gin.

If you’re in town, make sure to stop in and lend a helping hand to a fellow Tide fan.

Cheers!

(Commercial break: My drink of the week section is now sponsored by my friends at Session Cocktails in Tuscaloosa. Session has been a mainstay in Tuscaloosa’s cocktail scene since 2019 and offers some of the tastiest drinks in town. Stop by and tell them I said hi!)

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