Full-Court Press: Takeaways from Alabama Basketball at the SEC Tournament
NAHSVILLE, Tenn. — After a dominating weekend at Bridgestone Arena, Alabama basketball won another SEC Tournament championship on Sunday, leading to receiving the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Over the weekend, Alabama defeated 9-seed Mississippi State, 4-seed Missouri and 2-seed Texas A&M, all by double digit margins.
Here are some of my thoughts and takeaways from the Crimson Tide's second SEC Tournament title in three years:
1. Defense wins championships.
You've all heard the saying since you were kids, but it rings true after Alabama's defense is what carried it through every opponent it faced in Nashville.
The Crimson Tide held all three opponents it faced under 70 points, and got back to the root of what caused its midseason win streak.
Perhaps the biggest emergence of the weekend was center Charles Bediako, who put on a shot blocking clinic in every game. Bediako combined for 11 blocks across the tournament, making every rim attempt difficult for opponents.
Nate Oats mentioned after defeating Texas A&M that Alabama had done a fantastic job limiting the best players of opposing teams, and he was right. Missouri's Kobe Brown, a first team All-SEC selection, only scored six points on Saturday. Texas A&M's Wade Taylor IV, another first team All-SEC selection, didn't score a field goal for the first three-fourths of the game, and scored the majority of his 13 points when the game was already out of reach.
Not only did Bediako step up in a huge way, but Alabama's perimeter defenders did as well. Jahvon Quinerly, despite his small size, was a pest defensively on opposing guards, playing physical and tough with pure effort. Mark Sears did the same, while bigger forwards like Brandon Miller and Noah Clowney have the length and versatility to be able to guard multiple positions.
The length, athleticism, and effort of this team on the defensive end are some of the reasons that it ranks third nationally in defensive efficiency. When people think of Oats' teams, 3-point shooting comes to mind, but that's not this team's calling card.
When you have to face a defense this tough, you better pray their offense has a terrible game for you to even have a prayer at competing.
People say when Alabama is hitting threes that it's impossible to beat, but that's not just because of the threes. That's because while Alabama is approaching 85 or 90 points while drilling deep shots, its opponents are struggling to break 70 due to the stifling Crimson Tide defense.
2. Peaking at the right time?
Another old saying around college basketball is that you want to be "playing your best basketball at the right time." Because of the single-elimination tournament championship format, making a deep run in March is about building momentum over the course of multiple games in a row, because one loss sends you home.
A week ago, Alabama was playing far from its best basketball. The Crimson Tide went 3-1 over its last four games, two of which went to overtime and all of which featured significant deficits.
Alabama was dealing with slow starts, poor shooting, and poor defense all at the same time. Frankly, the fact that Alabama even went 3-1 in those games speaks to how good this team is.
But the Crimson Tide used Nashville as a reset button.
Now, Alabama has won three games in three days, and should have all the confidence in the world after winning the SEC Championship game by nearly 20 points.
The Crimson Tide won every game of the weekend by double figures with the final two games being against teams ranked in the AP top-25.
Against Texas A&M on Sunday, Alabama got out to a lightning fast start and played one of the best games it's played in weeks. Once the lead was built, the Aggies never got it closer than eight, and a massive Alabama run towards the end of the game featuring some hot shooting sealed the fate of Texas A&M.
Alabama has every reason to feel good about itself headed into the NCAA Tournament after decimating the team responsible for one its few defeats on the year.
The shooting wasn't other-worldly, either, with clips of 35, 29 and 33 percent over the three games of the tournament. And Sears, Alabama's second-leading scorer on the season, was abysmal offensively the entire weekend.
What that tells me is that Alabama just won a conference tournament without much competition, and can still shoot significantly better from three-point range than it did.
Yeah, good luck to the rest of the South Region.
3. Brandon Miller is an all-time Alabama great.
Before I get into Miller's outstanding weekend at the SEC Tournament, let me just list off some of his honors and awards from this season:
SEC All-Freshman, first team All-SEC, SEC Freshman of the Year, SEC Player of the Year, Naismith Award semifinalist, Wooden Award semifinalist.
He's also been named a first-team All-American by one of the four lists the NCAA recognizes for consensus All-American status. The other All-American teams haven't been announced yet.
Now, added SEC All-Tournament team and SEC Tournament MVP to the list.
He's averaging nearly 20 points per game, he broke Collin Sexton's freshman season scoring record, and he's hot on the heels of the season 3-pointers made record and potentially the season scoring record if Alabama keeps dancing for long enough.
In Nashville, Miller showed his incredible ability to take over games. He scored 18, 20 and 23 points over each game, and in the semifinals and championship when opponents would start to chip away and make the game close, there Miller was hitting a dagger 3-pointer to put the game away.
He has incredible physical tools, one of the best 3-point shots in the history of the program, and is built for the big moment.
Not to mention, he will in all likelihood be the first college player taken in the 2023 NBA Draft, whether that be the third overall pick or one or two picks later.
Miller has already lead Alabama to its first-ever 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament. If he continues his stellar play and brings Alabama to its first Final Four, it's going to be hard not to call him the best player in Alabama history.
See also:
Mr. March: Jahvon Quinerly and Alabama Basketball 'Not Done Yet'
Alabama Basketball Earns First NCAA Tournament 1-Seed in Program History
