A question needing an answer is whether Alabama Basketball is a legitimate Final Four contender. Alabama's flaws, magnified by the Auburn Tigers, suggests that Alabama is not. The good news is there is enough time to remedy the Tide's flaws if Nate Oats chooses bold action.
Six games against ranked teams is not the normal scenario for a reset. With 21 wins against the nation's toughest schedule, Alabama Basketball is an NCAA Tournament lock. If unsuccessful, too much change could lead to a rash of late season losses.
Throughout the season Nate Oats has been coaching to win championships, including and especially the championship no Alabama Crimson Tide has ever won. That is why he relegated Mark Sears to the bench in the LSU game. In that instance, Oats' boldness worked.
Alabama Basketball and Ball Movement
Alabama had two main problems against Auburn. After the game, Nate Oats said, "... we've got plenty of stuff we can clean up starting with our ball movement. Part of the reason you shoot 48 percent at the rim is you don't move the ball. You get seven shots blocked, and we only had eight assists. It's a season low by far. The other time we were low was Ole Miss when we only had 11 assists. A little bit of similar issues, where the ball didn't move, too much iso."
Oats is not looking for more ball movement by more dribbling. He wants opposing defenses to be spread by crisp passing. Can that be accomplished without reducing Mark Sears' lead guard role? Sears is good at drawing fouls with dribble penetration. Eight of his 18 points against Auburn came from 11 free throws. But Sears made just two of six lane shots against Auburn. On the season, his two-point make percentage is only 45.5%. Should Nate Oats adjust the Crimson Tide offense to Labaron Philon and Aden Holloway rotating at the lead guard role? Many Alabama basketball fans are hoping Oats will make that bold decision.
Mark Sears is Alabama's second-best three point shooter statistically. Holloway is by far the team's best. Holloway was limited by foul trouble against Auburn, but the team's best long range shooter with only four attempts negated a main offensive threat.
The other main problem, evident throughout the Auburn game was Alabama had no answer for Auburn's screen game. Nate Oats prefers drop coverage to prevent easy shots at the basket. Cliff Omoruyi and Grant Nelson are capable defenders near the basket. But the drop coverage too often leads to Omoruyi a step or two inside the foul line and covering no one. Aggressively attacking screens must improve for the Crimson Tide. Auburn outpaced its normally good three-point shooting against Alabama by making 12 threes; too many of which were uncontested.
Whether it is adjusting the lineup and playing Sears as an off-ball guard, re-tooling drop coverage, or something else, Nate Oats may have no choice but to make bold adjustments.
Note: Player and team stats provided by Sports Reference