Ready or Not Alabama Basketball, March is Here: All Things CW
The All Things CW notes column by Christopher Walsh appears in five parts each week, with the latest on the Alabama Crimson Tide. This is ...
Take 3
The Alabama basketball team is coming off a win against a very dangerous Arkansas team, and is finishing up the regular season against rival Auburn and at Texas A&M, which is second in the Southeastern Conference standings.
Who knew that the schedule would be like this at the end?
I'll help the Crimson Tide, though, even it doesn't sweep these final games.
Alabama, of course, is No. 2 in the polls, but is considered by most college basketball experts to be the top-overall seed in March Madness. In the process, it and the other elite teams in terms of tournament resumes have separated themselves from the next tier of teams, so it would take something monumental for the Crimson Tide not to be a No. 1 seed in its regional.
With that comes higher expectations, a bigger spotlight, and every opponent doing that much more to try and take it down.
Consequently, Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats is already working on the "pushing through to the finish" mindset.
"We're tying to get them to peek in March and it doesn't always happen that way all the time."
Last season, Alabama went winless in March, losing its final two regular season games, and then got quickly bounced from both the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.
The previous year it went 7-1. The Crimson Tide beat Auburn at home (70-58) and then won at Georgia, successfully navigated its way through the SEC Tournament including the 80-79 victory against LSU in the title game, and then made the Sweet 16 before bowing out to UCLA in overtime.
The dynamic of both was about as different as can be.
When the officially postseason starts, it's different. The venues are different. The cities and hotels are different. Everyone's reminded of it every minute of every day.
The only thing that stays the same are the players and coaches.
This team has already circled the wagons for obvious reasons, but today the calendar switched to March 1, which means one thing, and one thing only: Playoff mode. Oats will have a much better feel if this group is ready for it after this week.
"A lot of these guys have been playing basketball for 10, 12, 15 years," Oats said. "This is what they worked for. Let's not waste all the time we put in the gym for the last how-many-ever years, or even since we got together the last week of May. We can't waste all these hours we put in by not being prepared to play now.
"We're in March. We want to peek in March."
See Also:
Take 1: Alabama Basketball May Play Like a No. 1 Team, But Must Learn How to Act Like One
Take 2: What Alabama Fans Need to Know About the 2023 NFL Combine
