Alabama basketball is in Las Vegas this week to participate in the second annual Players Era Festival. The Crimson Tide was in the inaugural event a year ago, earning wins over Houston and Rutgers before falling by two points to Oregon in the championship game.
If Alabama wants to make a run at winning the MTE this year, it will have to get by one of the top teams in the field on Monday night. The Crimson Tide opens with Gonzaga, which is 5-0 and No. 3 in KenPom early in the season.
Alabama opens with Gonzaga on Monday and then plays UNLV on Tuesday. The championship game is on Wednesday, with consolation games playing on Wednesday and Thursday. Oats is entering this event with the expectation that the Crimson Tide will play three games in three days, a nice precursor to the SEC Tournament in March. These events are an immediate test of depth, something Oats is keenly aware of.
“Playing one of the best teams right out of the gate, it takes a lot out of you, but you’ve got to win the game,” Oats said. ..."If we’re fortunate enough to win the game against Gonzaga, we’re going to have to get into our depth, use it. Maybe we’ve got to use it a little bit more against Gonzaga at appropriate times, but we’re for sure going to have to use our depth on Tuesday. And then Wednesday, depth’s going to really come into play.”
Nate Oats says depth will be a major factor this week in Las Vegas
Alabama is still dealing with some injuries, but with the return of Keitenn Bristow, it should have 11 scholarship players available for the tournament. Alabama will still be without Miami (FL) transfer Jalil Bethea and freshman big man Collins Onyejiaka.
Alabama has found some quality depth early in the season. Oats is always calculated in how he does things, especially early in the season. That's why so many young players have seen big minutes early. But against Illinois, we probably got a pretty good idea of what the rotation will look like, at least until Bethea gets back on the court.
Alabama played 11 guys, but Noah Williamson, Davion Hannah, and London Jemison all played five minutes or less. That's a good indicator of what the rotation will probably look like throughout the season, though there will be games where those three are needed for more minutes than they got against the Illini.
Oats will certainly call on them for more playing time in Las Vegas. The rotation might be a bit shorter against Gonzaga because, as Oats said, you have to win the first game to have a shot at winning the tournament anyway.
Winning the first two games isn't a guarantee you will qualify for the championship, however. With 18 teams, there are a lot of tiebreakers around margin of victory, points scored, and points allowed.
While a big cash prize is nice, just getting a quality win or two would be nice to boost an already impressive resume for the Crimson Tide. Alabama has already logged wins that will travel all the way to March by beating St. John's and Illinois away from home. A neutral site win over Gonzaga on Monday night might give Alabama the best resume of any team in the country in November.