Crimson Corner: Alabama Basketball's Non-Conference Schedule Tiptoes Risk/Reward Line

In addition to a game at Memphis and the ESPN Events Invitational, the Crimson Tide will face three of last year's Final Four teams.

Author:
Joey Blackwell
Publish date:
Oct 7, 2021 2:00 PM EDT

On Nov. 9, Alabama men's basketball will begin its quest to repeat as SEC regular-season and tournament champions as well as make a deeper run in the NCAA Tournament than last season's Sweet 16 finish.

Yep, it still feels weird to say that.

Seven months after the Crimson Tide's loss to UCLA in Indianapolis, and the program is back for another season. Last year, Alabama finished 26-7 overall and a remarkable 16-2 in SEC play. In year two under head coach Nate Oats, the Crimson Tide showed dramatic improvement thanks to its quick pace of play and the mantra of 'blue-collar basketball' that Oats has become so well-known for.

In the 2019-20 season, Alabama finished with an overall record of 16-15. In non-conference play, the Crimson Tide finished 8-5. In 2020-21, Alabama finished 5-4 in non-conference play when you leave out the team's March Madness games.

This season, the non-conference challenges look to prove themselves even more difficult.

Heading into his third season as Alabama's head coach, Oats spoke to the media on Wednesday about his team's upcoming non-conference schedule.

“I don’t know, that might have been a little too much to bite off, to be honest with you,” Oats said. “The one thing I’ll say is we’re never gonna schedule light. I would rather get exposed in the non-conference. Figure out what we’ve got to fix. You look at last year, we were 4-3 after seven games and ended up going 16-2 in SEC play. Now, some of that was maybe we didn’t have our guys ready to play enough in the non-conference but I think some of it is you need a wake-up call at some point.

"It’s better to get the wake-up call in non-conference than it is to get it in SEC play when you’re trying to win the SEC so there are definitely some analytics."

Regarding having bitten off too much, Alabama basketball certainly has a tough non-conference schedule — arguably the toughest in the country. The Crimson Tide will host both Houston and Baylor as well as travel to Gonzaga — three of last year's Final Four teams. A trip to Memphis on Dec. 14 will definitely be troublesome and participation in the ESPN Events Invitational — with a field of Iona, Dayton, North Texas, Drake, Kansas, Miami and Belmont — will also prove challenging.

Additionally, the team's opener against a solid Louisiana Tech team will not be the easiest of openers.

"[Louisiana Tech is] a really good team," Oats said. "I think some people think we’re foolish to even be playing them. But you get past that game and they’ve got some really good players and picked to be at the top of their league if not picked to win it. You got three out of last year’s Final Four teams with Houston at home, Baylor at home in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, we’re going out to Seattle to play Gonzaga — those are three really tough teams. If we’re fortunate enough to make it to the championship in the ESPN Events deal then Kansas does, we play Kansas there.

"We’ve got Memphis who’s done as well in recruiting in the last month leading into the fall semester as anybody in the country did. I mean, they added two significant pieces so they’ve got a really talented roster with a great coaching staff. I mean, that’s going to be a tough game. You can kinda go down the list."

Oats has always preached the same ideology when it comes to scheduling non-conference games. To him, it's all about scheduling tough teams so that when conference play rolls around, his team can have some of its toughest opponents behind it and be playing solid basketball in January. By facing difficult challenges in the late fall and winter, it also typically translates to a team playing its best basketball in March provided the team remains healthy.

Just check how that worked out for the Crimson Tide last season. With a 16-2 record in the SEC, an SEC Tournament title and a run to the Sweet 16 in the program's second appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2012, I'd say Oats and his staff are onto something.

Just because it worked out for Alabama last year doesn't mean that it will again this year. That being said, Oats is confident in his program.

"We don’t have many easy games, if any at all," Oats said. "I think that was by design, but I also want to be playing our best basketball come March. I think if you got cupcake city in November and December, you don’t get exposed and you don’t get your weaknesses figured out, and you don’t better yourself like you need to do in the non-conference and be ready to play for conference games.”

The Crimson Tide's non-conference schedule will certainly not be an easy undertaking. However, should Alabama emerge with a winning record including victories over at least two of last year's Final Four programs, the Crimson Tide will most likely have already garnered enough recognition to punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

After that, then all that's left is the SEC schedule to worry about...

Here is a quick look at Alabama's non-conference schedule for the 2021-22 season: