The season is just around the corner, with the Tide winning both of its tune-ups before the regular season begins, and the excitement among fans is starting to be palpable for this upcoming season of Alabama basketball.
The Tide played two exhibitions and won both, against Florida State on October 16th, 109-105 in Birmingham, and defeated Furman on the road in Greenville, South Carolina on October 26th, 96-71.
Head coach Nate Oats continues to raise the expectations of the basketball team by being ranked 15th in the first AP Poll of the new season.
The Tide were able to play all 13 scholarship guys, and the Tide looks to be deep and will be interesting over the course of the first few games of what the rotation looks like.
1. One of the best outside shooting teams in the Nate Oats Era
“I think we’ve got potential to be the best shooting team we’ve had here,” said Oats.
In the two exhibitions, the outside shooting capabilities of this team were being flashed right in front of our eyes with 12-34 from beyond-the-arc against the Seminoles and 9-26 against the Paladins despite an 8-18 first half.
The Tide will be able to have elite spacing on the floor, being able to have all five guys on the floor, being able to pass, dribble, and shoot; even the bigs, Aiden Sherrell and Noah Williamson, can get out and shoot from deep.
2. Labaron Philon is the Alpha of this Team
Last two years it has been Mark Sears carrying the load scoring wise for the Tide, but the torch has now been passed on to Labaron Philon in year two with the Tide and had an explosive first exhibition with 28 points shooting 3-4 from beyond-the-arc and was all over the floor and can elevate this team to a whole different level with performances like that. Against Furman had only 16 points on 6-10 shooting, but his “Robin” and guard duo Aden Holloway picked up the slack with 18 points.
If Philon can lead this team in scoring and can show a consistency of doing so, he could be hearing his name called early in the NBA draft in June.
3. Rebounding will be an issue
In the two exhibitions, Alabama gave up 23 offensive rebounds against the Noles, which led to 24 second-chance points, and then did better against the Paladins, but allowed 19 offensive rebounds with only 10 second-chance points.
Alabama will need Williamson and Sherrell to step up in the rebounding in the front court, with Freshman Amari Allen and Davion Hannah being bright spots as guards, being able to crash the glass and start the fastbreak.
With the SEC being a very physical league and the Tide playing a very tough non-conference schedule, it will be tested on the glass against the likes of St. John’s, Purdue and Illinois, and will have to toughen up and be “blue collar” on the boards.