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Takeaways from Nate Oats' Zoom call Friday

Travel plans have been altered some 4,500 miles, but Nate Oats and the Alabama basketball team are still set to compete in an elite invitational tournament this November.

According to a report from CBS Sports, the Crimson Tide will take part in this year’s Maui Invitational, which is set to take place in Asheville, N.C. from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2. Alabama will be joined by Davidson, Indiana, North Carolina, Providence, Stanford, Texas and UNLV.

Wednesday, the NCAA announced the 2020-21 men's and women's college basketball seasons can begin on Nov. 25. Alabama was previously set to open against Jacksonville State on Nov. 10 inside of Coleman Coliseum before the pandemic pushed back its schedule. The Maui Invitational was originally set to be held from Nov. 23-25 at Lahaina Civic Center on the island of Maui.

“I would rather that not be our first game, and it definitely looks like it’s being moved to Asheville,” Oats said during a Zoom call with local reporters Friday afternoon. “I’ve heard it’s a great place. It’s not Maui though, so it’s a little disappointing that we’re in (the Maui Invitational) the one year Maui’s not played in Maui. Hopefully, we get back in it here soon.”

Oats said Alabama is still in a “holding pattern” as it awaits clarification from the SEC on what its non-conference schedule is going to look like. Ideally, he said he would like to schedule an opponent on Nov. 25 before his team sets out for North Carolina.

According to the NCAA’s new ruling, Alabama can begin preseason practices on Oct. 14 and is allowed 30 practices between then and Nov. 25. The NCAA also approved a transition period that allows teams to participate up to 12 hours per week of strength and conditioning and skill instruction beginning Monday up until the start of preseason practices.

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Maui Invitational

Official Preseason Alabama Basketball Preseason Thread

Starting five might not be the best five 

Before arriving at Alabama last season, Oats was a part of three NCAA Tournament teams during his four years at Buffalo. Still, the head coach is quick to admit this is by far the most talented roster he’s ever coached.

Of Alabama’s 13 scholarship players, 11 were ranked as four-star recruits or above, including five-star talents John Petty Jr. and Jahvon Quinerly. The two players excluded from that list, Keon Ellis and James Rojas, both came to the Tide as NJCAA All-Americans.

Wednesday, Oats said there are anywhere from 8-10 players he may think about starting this year — a vast improvement from Alabama’s depth problems last season. Although, with that luxury comes some hard decisions.

Oats said that those would likely include playing a few talented players off the bench.

“What I’ve told the guys — and again, go back and look at our Buffalo teams and even when I was a high school coach — I rarely start the five best players,” Oats said. “I haven’t done it. I think you have to have punch off the bench. I think there’s chemistry involved.

“If you put your five best scorers on the floor to start the game, that doesn’t always work the best. There’s got to be guys that are willing to set other guys up, screen. There’s got to be a mix of everything in all of your lineups.”

During his time at Buffalo, Oats coached forward Nick Perkins, who won the MAC’s Sixth Man of the Year award three times. The head coach said he expects to have bench players who provide a similar impact for Alabama this year.

“When we figure out who’s going to start, it’s going to be the five guys who give us the best chance to start the game well while also having really good options to come in and play,” Oats said. “I mean, it’s a 40-minute game… You’ve got to have starters. You also have to have closers. We’ve got to figure out who’s going to finish games for us. That’s more important than who is starting the game.”

Welcome back

Alabama’s influx of depth is a welcomed relief from last year when the Crimson Tide was forced to play the season without three of its scholarship players. Former McDonalds All-American Javhon Quinerly failed to receive an NCAA waiver after transferring to the program from Villanova. At the same time, James Rojas and Juwan Gary both suffered season-ending ACL injuries during preseason practice.

Wednesday, Oats provided injury updates on both Rojas and Gary, stating the former is farther along in recovery.

“Rojas and Juwan are in two different spots,” Oats said. “Rojas’ injury was not as bad as Juwan’s, and it happened about a month before Juwan’s, so he’s more advanced. Rojas is in. He’s no longer limited to anything. He’s practicing full-bore, getting back in shape, getting basketball conditioning, getting his mind used to “Does my knee hold up?” Rojas has come a long way. He’s ready to go.

“Juwan’s still not in anything live. Juwan’s doing skill workouts, shooting. But his injury was worse and it happened later, so he’s been out.”

As for Quinerly, Oats said he’s already seen how effective the five-star talent can be through his time on the scout team last year and expects him to be one of the Tide’s biggest contributors this season.

“He’s been really good here over the last week or two,” Oats said. “I think he’s going to help us tremendously. We needed him. That’s why we got him because we were anticipating Kira (Lewis) having a pretty good year. He’s going to be good for us.”

International House of Hoops 

Alabama added some international flair to its roster this offseason, bringing in two Canadians in Joshua Primo and Keon Ambrose Hylton as well as French forward Alex Tchikou. Here’s what Oats had to say about each of the imports.

On Alex Tchikou: He’s really raw but really skilled. He spent a lot of time in the gym working on his individual skill level. He’s all of 6-11. He’s the tallest kid on the team and long and athletic for his size. He can make 3s, handle the ball. He’s just got to get a lot of reps in live action, going against defense, having to make decisions, having to make those reads, and that takes time. I think he’s going to be a pro when it’s all said and done. Is he a pro right now? No. He’s got to get action in games, action in practices. He’s just got to play. We’re going to keep playing him. He’s got an unbelievable attitude, work ethic’s great, wants to be in the gym all the time. We love him, and his upside is ridiculously high.”

On Joshua Primo: Primo is a 6-6 point guard, combo-guard who can make shots, handle the ball. Weighs about 190, got great size to him. He’s like really good for being as skilled as he is for his size, and he’s going to help us a lot. JQ’s going to play the point guard, but Primo’s going to be more than capable of playing the point, allowing JQ to play off the ball some too. Then also, Primo can make plays, put him in a lot of pick-and-rolls, playing in combo-guard and that type of thing . I think he’s probably most ready to play right away. He’s played on the Canadian national team and all that.

On Keon Ambrose-Hylton: A little bit raw. He turned himself into a shooter here in the last year. I saw him when I was in Buffalo. We’re obviously right across the border from Canada. I saw him when he was younger. He’s always active, athletic, goes hard, great energy. He’s added a shot to his game here recently. So it’s still not the best thing he does, but he’s more than capable of making a shot, making a 3. He’s all over the energy stuff. The offensive rebounding, running the floor hard, getting his hands on balls, deflections. He’s got good size and athleticism for doing that, so he’s going to help us with that and then build his way into more of the skill-level type stuff as we move on.

Proud father again

Oats broke a bit of news on the day as he announced senior guard John Petty Jr. fathered a son earlier this week. Petty was already the father of a two-year-old daughter, Aubrielle.

Last month, Petty announced his decision to pass up the NBA draft and return to Alabama. The 6-foot-5, 184-pound guard led the SEC and ranked No. 9 in the nation in 3-point shooting last season, averaging 44 percent on shots from beyond the arc. He also averaged 14.5 points and led Alabama with 6.6 rebounds per game.

“His goal is to play his way into the first round and get a multi-year guaranteed contract,” Oats said. “We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that happens.

“As far as our team goes, I think it’s huge. We’ve got all these guys playing really well in practice right now, and they look really great. But they haven’t done it in an SEC game yet. He’s done this in however many SEC games he’s played. He’s done it at a high level. Second-team All-SEC players don’t grow on trees.”

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