After an easy season-opening rout of North Dakota, Nate Oats and Alabama basketball will begin a four-game gauntlet on Saturday against Rick Pitino and St. John's. Not many expect the Crimson Tide to have much of a chance on the road in Madison Square Garden this weekend, but that's a-okay for Oats.
Oddsmakers have installed the Red Storm as 6.5-point favorites. ESPN analytics give Alabama a 32% chance of winning the game. KenPom has Alabama's win probability at 31%.
None of that matters to Oats. Neither will actually losing the game. Because the result is a lot less important than the process. Oats will put his team through the ringer because he believes they will come out of the other side of it better. Even if that means losing the next four games and starting the year a disheartening 1-4 overall.
St. John's is on the shortlist of Final Four contenders this year. The Johnnies took a massive leap in Pitino's second season in charge, as expected. He's one of the best basketball coaches of all time, and everyone knew it would take him no time to turn the program around. In year three, St. John's looks like a legitimate title contender.
Pitino was active in the Transfer Portal, bringing in Bryce Hopkins (Providence), Dillon Mitchell (Cincinnati by way of Texas), Oziyah Sellers (Stanford), Ian Jackson (North Carolina), and Joson Sanon (Arizona State).
St. John's has an inherent advantage over most in this new era of college athletics because they don't have to divert any revenue-sharing money to football since they don't have a team. The university made a significant investment to up the talent level for Pitino this offseason, and it's almost certainly going to pay off.
We'll find out a lot about Alabama basketball against St. John's
This is the perfect immediate test for Oats and the Crimson Tide. Alabama is still a pretty significant unknown this season. It lost a ton of production from last season's team, but it is certainly talented. Labaron Philon is one of the best guards in the country, and Alabama's backcourt might just be the best in the nation when healthy.
After sitting out the season-opener against North Dakota, Alabama should have both Aden Holloway and Latrell Wrightsell this weekend. Oats needs both to play and play well.
St. John's was one of the best defenses in the country last season. That's not likely to change this year, even with a lot of new faces. The Red Storm will consistently pressure the ball, and they're not going to be out-toughed. For a program that prides itself on blue-collar basketball, Alabama better bring its lunch pails and hard hats with it to Madison Square Garden.
If Alabama doesn't play with high energy and effort on Saturday, it is apt to get blown out. One thing is always certain of a Pitino-coached team: they are going to play hard for 40 minutes, no matter what.
If Alabama can't match that, this trip to New York City will be a humbling one.