On Wednesday night, Nate Oats' Alabama basketball team put the rest of college basketball on notice. In the first half, against Mississippi State, the Crimson Tide showed that its best is good enough to compete with any team.
In a 63-point first half, Alabama took 34 shots. All but three came from outside the arc, and 16 of the 27 threes produced 48 points. Perhaps more impressive is that five Alabama players made two or more threes. Amari Allen was sensational, going 5-for-5, but the Bulldogs could not focus on slowing Allen because the Crimson Tide had too many long-range weapons.
Certainly, the Bulldogs are not a top defensive efficiency team. Ken Pomeroy's model has State at No. 86 among all Division 1 teams for that stat. But the Crimson Tide rained threes with its third-best three-point shooter watching from the bench. Labaron Philon was rested to give him more recovery time before the Tennessee game.
As Nate Oats said after the game, Alabama's ball movement in the first half was its best of the season. On Saturday in Knoxville, against a much better defensive team, ball movement execution will be tested.
The Crimson Tide appears to be a solid 4-seed for the NCAA Tournament, with a chance to move up to a 3-seed. Alabama basketball fans have wondered all season what the Tide's Big Dance ceiling will be. One solid source projects that an Elite Eight berth is a fair expectation.
Alabama Basketball Elite Eight Projection
Bart Torvik's computer model projects 20 teams with a greater than 11.2% probability of reaching the Elite Eight. Five SEC teams are at 16.5% or higher. The Florida Gators are at 50.6%, Vanderbilt 22.5%, Tennessee 19.2%, Alabama 18.6%, and Arkansas at 16.5%.
Nate Oats and his players don't buy into an Elite Eight ceiling. They believe the Alabama Crimson Tide is a 'for real' national championship contender. For 20 minutes on Wednesday night, they provided some proof for that claim. And at least, Wednesday night showed that an almost healthy Crimson Tide roster can be a team no Big Dance team wants to play.
Note: Game stats provided by Stat Broadcast