The surest solution to the shortcomings of Alabama Crimson Tide Basketball is bringing in better shooters. For all the promise the Alabama Crimson Tide showed at some points in the season; in the end, the Tide was woefully inadequate in three-point shooting.
Nate Oats’ team finished its season as the No. 300 team in Division One in three-point shooting accuracy at 30.9%. Another 50 teams in Division One were worse and a couple of them actually made the NCAA Tournament. One of them, Arkansas (30.4%) made it to the Elite Eight. While the Tide and the Hogs were almost equally bad at making threes, the Hogs were better at other important components of the game. Defense is one example.
Basketball is complex enough just jacking threes, even making them at a high percentage, is not enough. Only two teams among the 350 teams made threes above 40%. Colgate at 40.4% and South Dakota State at 44.4% rode the long ball to NCAA Tournament berths. Both teams lost their opening games in the Big Dance.
More important than team averages is whether a roster has two or three dependable, three-point makers. Measured across the entire season, the Crimson Tide had none.
This season, 33 guys in Division One made threes at 40% accuracy or better. None of their teams are in the Final Four.
It seems obvious to most Tide hoops fans that Nate Oats should lure at least one of them to Tuscaloosa for next season.
The luring part is where it gets tricky. Even in this almost ‘no-rules era’ of college sports, poaching players and tampering with rosters of other teams is viewed negatively. However it is viewed, insiders state the practices are rampant.
Speaking of it from a college football perspective, former Alabama and current Central Michigan head coach, Jim McElwain spoke about the pursuit of the Chippewas star running back,
"Really, I’m coaching at junior college now."
McElwain was just accepting the reality that Group of Five programs are often feeder teams. Another unnamed person close to the CMU program told Dennis Dodd, he believed every SEC school had reached out to the star running back.
Nick Saban saw all this coming years ago. He spoke out that college sports need a rule of civility, like the NFL to protect against tampering.
The process begins before a player hits the Transfer Portal. ESPN’s Alex Scarborough explained,
"They know if they wait for a quality player to enter the transfer portal to begin recruiting him, they’re too late. So they’ve been reaching out to third parties and using players as go-betweens."
All these maneuverings were widespread in college basketball before the Transfer Portal. Apparently, it has exploded more since.
What is Nate Oats and Alabama Crimson Tide Basketball to do?
The issue is too complicated for a short, simple answer. But whatever the answer is, Nate Oats must bring in better shooters.
Because of Nate Oats’ style of play, Tuscaloosa can be a shooter’s paradise. Maybe the hotshot incoming class is enough but an already proven college shooter would be better. Princeton transfer guard, Jaelin Llewellyn has been in Tuscaloosa the last couple of days.