Alabama Basketball: A roster needing to heal and Herbert Jones honor

Alabama Basketball: Nate Oats says his frontcourt is ‘decimated’ as the Crimson Tide seeks SEC Championship while pushing past injuries.

Alabama basketball leader, Herbert Jones received a well-deserved honor this week. Jones was selected by the Atlanta Tip Off Club as one of 30 members of their Midseason Team from which the Naismith National Player of the Year award will be chosen. In January, Jones was selected as one of 15 players in contention to be the National Defensive Player of the Year. Jones is one of only five players on the two prestigious lists.

Herbert Jones has earned every ounce of recognition he has received. It is hard for Alabama basketball fans to identify any player throughout Crimson Tide hoops history who has worked harder than Jones. Jones is a quiet team leader, but what he does by example on the court is equivalent to shouts.

Jones has had to overcome injury setbacks in his Alabama basketball career. The most recent interval over the last three weeks has included a dislocated finger, a bruised hip and lower back pain. Crimson Tide fans will forever remember Jones shooting free throws last season with his ‘other’ hand due to a broken finger.

The problem now for Jones and the Alabama basketball team is he should be watching rather than playing. No one doubts Nate Oats and the Alabama basketball medical team are being careful with Herbert’s health. If playing carried a clear risk of worsening the injuries, Jones would miss more than Crimson Tide practices.

He is, however, playing at something less than 100 percent. A guess is 75 is the percentage. Maybe in terms of elevating, he is even more limited. His offensive output has dipped and his propensity to foul has increased. He still helps his teammates. While shooting just 1-for-7 in the win over South Carolina, he contributed seven assists and five rebounds in 29 minutes of play.

The flip side, as the Missouri game showed, is Herbert is less of a ‘go-to’ guy taking the ball to the rim. He appears to currently lack some jimping ability.

Nate Oats said on Wednesday he does not plan on “sitting Herbert anytime soon.” With Jordan Bruner out and Juwan Gary injured early in the South Carolina game, Oats said his frontcourt has been “decimated.”

There is an SEC Regular-Season Championship in play. The Crimson Tide has shared three of those championships this century but has not been the sole SEC Champion since 1987. It has a good chance to be the sole champion this season, but work is left to be done.

Nate Oats and his Alabama basketball team want a ‘sole’ SEC Champion banner. There may come a point when getting Herbert Jones healthy takes precedence.