Alabama Basketball's Veterans Keeping Positive Attitudes with Fewer Minutes
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Brandon Miller was once again named SEC Freshman of the Week Monday morning. It's the third time he's received the honor, which means an Alabama player has won the award in five of the seven weeks of the college basketball season with Noah Clowney also winning twice.
Jaden Bradley has also become a starter and big contributor as a freshman. Charles Bediako is back in the starting lineup as a sophomore. Needless to say, underclassmen play a huge role on this Crimson Tide team that has now reached No. 7 in the polls.
Transfer Mark Sears came in from Ohio and cemented himself in the starting lineup, and Dom Welch has now come back from injury to try and earn more minutes. This leaves three of Alabama's most experienced players within the program— Noah Gurley, Darius Miles and Jahvon Quinerly— averaging some of the fewest minutes.
Yet despite all that, according to Sears and head coach Nate Oats, there are no cancers on the team worrying about their own minutes.
"One of the guys you look to in particular when you think about that is Quinerly," Oats said Monday when previewing Alabama's game with Ole Miss. "He’s a kid that’s been the SEC Tournament MVP and has played really well for us for two years. He’s coming back off the ACL, and he got 11 minutes the last game. In the Houston game, he didn’t play particularly well, didn’t score that much, and he’s as happy as anyone can be for the team.
"He wants to get himself going. We want to get him going. But until he’s back comfortable playing the way he is, he’ll still be all in with the team being the best it can be, but whoever needs to play to win the game."
Quinerly was still working his way back from the ACL injury at the start of the season, and did not play until the South Alabama game. He is averaging 18 minutes per game off the bench. The senior guard scored 21 points in Alabama's four-overtime win over North Carolina, but is averaging just 4.5 points per game in the six games since then.
Oats also said Gurley has had a great attitude even with having up and down minutes. Welch, who has played just 10 official minutes in an Alabama uniform, said that's been one of the keys to this team.
"Everybody really knows their role and knows what everybody can do best," Welch said. "Everybody’s pretty much good with how things are going right now because we’re having a lot of success right now. It’s nothing anybody’s having hard feelings about or anything."
Welch said he's still trying to figure out his role with the team as he recovers from a calf injury. His first game was last time out against Mississippi State, and Oats hopes to get Welch more minutes against the Rebels.
"I think everyone’s all in on making sure the team’s playing the best it can be and lets the coaching staff do what we need to play the guys that are playing the best that particular night," Oats said.
No. 7 Alabama (11-2, 1-0 SEC) opens home SEC play against Ole Miss (8-5, 0-1 SEC) Tuesday night inside Coleman Coliseum at 8 p.m. on SEC Network.
See also:
How to Watch: No. 8 Alabama Basketball Home SEC Opener Against Ole Miss
Alabama Basketball Not Falling For The Trap Game Against Ole Miss
