Alabama Basketball: Double Dose of Championships for Crimson Tide

Alabama Basketball: For the first time since 1987 the Crimson Tide has won the SEC Regular Season and Tournament Championships.

It has been 30 years since Alabama Basketball last won an SEC Tournament. The Crimson Tide added its seventh SEC Tourney win Sunday, outlasting LSU for an 80-79 nail-biting victory.

The player of the game might have been Trendon Watford of LSU, scoring 30 points on 56.5 percent field goal shooting. He was certainly LSU’s best player. Watford also had eight rebounds and two assists. In the game’s last 15 minutes, Watford scored 17 points and missed only three field-goal attempts. The last one was a long three, strongly contested by his friend, Herbert Jones. It came up well short of the basket.

Alabama Basketball had stars of the game as well. Jaden Shackelford scored 21 points. Jahvon Quinerly and Keon Ellis had 14 points each for the Tide. Herbert Jones added 13 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and four blocks. In 17 minutes of play, Juwan Gary had eight points and eight rebounds. The Crimson Tide outrebounded the Bengal Tigers, 50-43.

During the post-game celebration, Nate Oats was asked about Alabama being a basketball school. Check out his response.

As every Alabama basketball and football fan knows these two programs share animosity for each other. Trendon Watford has Crimson Tide friends. Will Wade has none. The third meeting between the two schools this season was a great game. It was well officated and fiercely contested. LSU players did not deserve to lose but Will Wade certainly did, for his corrupt recruiting practices. The pre-game shouting match, that began with assistant coaches, might well have been triggered by comments about Wade’s flaunting of NCAA rules.

Nate Oats was certainly demonstrative immediately after the final whistle. If, as some tweets claim, he shouted at LSU to get off the court, hopefully, it was in the ear of Will Wade.

Nate Oats said something else in a post-game interview. He said when the Alabama Crimson Tide is playing its best it can beat any team in the country. He could be right. Alabama basketball fans love his confidence and boldness.

What’s next for the Crimson Tide? Early Sunday evening, Crimson Tide fans will know what 15-seed team Alabama Basketball will open with in the Big Dance.

As Nate Oats said in the above video, Alabama is a Championship school. It sure is fun when basketball is included.