Alabama hosts SEC-leading Texas A&M on Wednesday night at the Coleman Coliseum, and after losing four of their last seven games, the Crimson Tide desperately need to get back into the win column.
There’s a case to be made that Alabama, a team comfortable playing fast and one that doesn’t turn the ball over, is the nightmare matchup for Bucky McMillan’s aggressive and up-tempo style, which was coined ‘Bucky Ball’ at Samford before he replaced Buzz Williams at Texas A&M. However, McMillan’s respect for Nate Oats’s team goes a lot deeper than just a matchup.
On the ‘Aggie Hour’ on Monday, McMillen shared his feelings about the Tide, especially after adding former G Leaguer, Charles Bediako.
"They are a top 10 team in my opinion with Bediako. They have great guard play. Don't let a bad game vs Florida fool you, they can beat anybody. It's a hard place to win, but we have to focus on us."
Texas A&M head coach Bucky McMillan calls Alabama a 'top 10 team'
That “bad game vs. Florida,” as McMillan put it, was about as bad as it gets. The Tide got run off the floor, trailing by 10 at halftime and allowing that lead to balloon in the second half as the defending national champions rolled to a 100-77 win in Gainesville.
It was also a win that Florida head coach Todd Golden prophesied, stating in the lead-up to the game that “we’re gonna beat them anyways,” with regard to Alabama adding Bediako to the roster midway through the season.
McMillan is taking a decidedly different tack, praising the Tide as a “top 10 team,” with Bediako. Alabama fans certainly want to believe that’s the case. Oats got Alabama back to the Elite Eight last season and has a Final Four trip under his belt, but he’s failed to get over the hump with a national title, and this year, at least, his program appears to be headed in the wrong direction.
Bediako was a much-needed addition to shore up the front court that has seen injuries to Collins Onyejiaka, Keitenn Bristow, and, more recently, Amari Allen. However, McMillan’s claim that he makes them a top 10 team feels a bit far-fetched.
In the three games since Bediako returned to Tuscaloosa, the Tide are 1-2. And, with Bediako on the floor, the numbers aren’t much more impressive. Every five-man lineup that features Bediako has a net rating of -0.8, a defensive rating of 112.7 (37th percentile), and a defensive rebounding rate, the main problem Bediako was expected to solve, of 64.4 percent, a 10th percentile rate.
Even Bediako hasn’t been enough to salvage this Alabama season, and even if the Tide knock off the Aggies on Wednesday night, they’re a long way from being a “top 10 team” in anyone other than McMillan’s opinion.