Alabama played four games without Aden Holloway in the regular season, but that early-season stint couldn’t quite prepare Nate Oats and the Tide to enter the NCAA Tournament without their star guard. The season also, seemingly, did not prepare former five-star Jalil Bethea to play a big role in the big dance.
Holloway’s absence opened the door for somebody to step into the starting lineup and fill his 28 vacated minutes in the backcourt, but despite lacking depth in the backcourt and many expecting him to be the answer, Bethea didn’t get the nod from Oats. The sophomore played just five minutes in Alabama’s 90-70 first-round win over 12th-seeded Hofstra on Friday and was mostly a non-factor for the Tide.
Alabama continues to get nothing former five-star Jalil Bethea
Bethea transferred to Alabama this offseason after an underwhelming freshman year at Miami. Then, as he began to ramp up for his sophomore season, his summer was derailed by an untimely injury, and it seems that he’s just never gotten up to speed. The 6-foot-5 guard played in 23 games this year, but averaged just 4.4 points and 1.7 rebounds in 8.3 minutes.
Without Holloway, Oats, surprisingly, went big in the starting lineup, inserting 6-foot-8 London Jemison next to Aiden Sherrell and moving Amari Allen to small forward. Jemison and Taylor Bol Bowen, who starred off the bench with 15 points and three blocks in 21 minutes, kept Allen at the three, his ideal position, and allowed Oats to split time between Latrell Wrightsell and Houston Mallette next to Labaron Philon in the backcourt.
Oats’s lineup tinkering led to a strong defensive performance, but the Tide shot just 33 percent from three and relied heavily on Philon to provide on-ball creation. Ideally, Bethea would step in to play on the ball and ease the pressure on Philon, but in his five minutes, he went 0-1 from the field and had just one assist.
Alabama’s roster was always going to be guard-heavy once Philon decided to withdraw from the NBA draft and return for his sophomore season. However, Bethea’s lack of development as a bigger secondary playmaker who could play with Philon and Holloway or run the offense in their stead, forced Alabama to play 195 minutes with Philon, Holloway, and Wrightsell in a three-guard lineup this year, and leaves Oats out of options with Holloway gone.
Things are only going to get tougher for the Tide with No. 5 seed Texas Tech on deck Sunday, and if he didn’t trust him to play against Hofstra, I wouldn’t anticipate Oats turning to Bethea to play meaningful minutes in the Round of 32.