No. 5 Alabama Basketball Not Taking Any Chances Against No. 15 Seed Iona

When it comes to getting comfortable as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Alabama basketball isn’t taking any chances.

Fresh out of quarantine on Monday afternoon, the Crimson Tide conducted a practice as soon as it was allowed on Tuesday. Despite Alabama being ranked as the second-best team in the East region, the team is preparing for No. 15-seeded Iona like its season depended on it.

That is, of course, because this late in the season, one loss and the season is over.

Sophomore guard Jaden Shackelford said that his team will not be underestimating the Gaels when the two teams take to the court on Saturday afternoon (3 p.m. CT, TBS).

“Not too long ago we started a standard where we’re just going to go 1-0,” Shackelford said. “Since that standard we haven’t lost so I feel like if our guys just lock in and not focused on any of the statistics or anything like that we should be fine. We’re not underestimating anybody. We’re going in, respecting our opponent and we’re just going to go out there and try to be our best on both sides of the ball and hopefully come out victorious.

“We’re not going in underestimating anybody and we’re just taking that pressure of our backs — we're just going in and playing our game.”

Iona finished the season 12-5 due to several pauses due to COVID-19. At one point, the Gaels paused all basketball operations for over 60 days due to multiple positive tests. However, the team was able to rally and win the MAAC championship despite being a No. 9 seed in the tournament.

Iona was able to practice on Sunday night since it arrived in Indianapolis early. While Alabama was unable to practice until Tuesday, the team studied film during its quarantine period and got a good look at its first-round opponent.

Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said that he was able to take in multiple Iona games and was impressed.

“I had a chance to watch quite a few Iona games,” Oats said. “They’re good. Talk about March with experienced guard play. They got two fifth-year seniors that’re both really good starting at the one and two. They’ve got a freshman big that’s got SEC size and he’s got significantly better throughout the course of the year. Obviously, they’re coached by Rick Pitino who’s gonna do a great job. He’s a hall of fame coach — one of the best coaches in the game — so the coaching staff is going to have to make sure we’re on top of our game as well.”

Pitino is one of the game’s legends, having won the tournament twice and made the Final Four on seven occasions. While one of his national titles and two of his Final Four appearances were vacated by the NCAA, the case for Pitino’s greatness for his presence on the court is unquestionable.

While Pitino’s Iona team isn’t to the same caliber as his previous title-winning teams, it’s still not going to be an easy win for Alabama. In many ways the Gaels mirror the Crimson Tide with their offense that tries to shoot a lot of threes.

That being said, Shackelford isn’t convinced that the two teams are all that similar.

“As far as Iona goes, we’ve gone into their sets and stuff like that and they do like to go up and down the floor,” Shackelford said. “They do like to shoot the three so I wouldn’t say a mirror because, you know, I feel like our team is just different as a whole but there’s some similarities that you can see in their game and their flow and how they play so it’ll be fun to see when we can get up and down the floor with them.”

While it is his job to coach his team through the tournament, Oats said jokingly that one of his biggest responsibilities is to not get in his team’s way.

“Don’t screw it up,” Oats chuckled. “I think we’re playing well for a reason. Let’s do what got us here. Let’s pump a bunch of confidence into them, let’s stay sharp, let’s have good practices and let’s not change a whole lot.”