re: Tide Hoops | Recruiting

I don’t fully expect to win that game in Memphis now, but wouldnt be surprised if we did. I don’t think Penny can coach, but with talents like Duren and Bates and the rest of the roster he may not have too. Should be a fun one regardless

Five of the top eight players in the 2021 class are on our schedule this season.

Shaedon Sharpe cancelled his UK visit this weekend and is going to visit Arizona instead. Arizona is also considered to be a dark horse for landing Jaden Bradley. Could be nothing, but it's worth monitoring.

Jacksonville State at Alabama on Dec. 18 according to the JSU schedule

For some reason I thought we normally play 12-13 nonconference games.

You may be right, i'm not sure.

Looks like last year we were 5-3 before starting conference play.

Year before that we were 7-5.

And the year before that we were 9-3.

So maybe there is one more noncon game to be announced.

Nice detailed preview

Three Man Weave 2021-22 Preview : #8 Alabama

Outlook: As one of the loudest drumbeaters for the Nate Oats + Alabama basketball parade, last year was a combination of both enormous gratification and, perhaps to an even larger extent, tremendous relief. After the Tide’s shaky performance in Maui East and subsequent losses to Clemson and Western Kentucky, it seemed I had once again whiffed on my claims of Alabama’s arrival. So the 10-game winning streak that followed – which included demolitions of tournament teams like Florida (won by 15), Arkansas (31), and LSU (30) – was as much of a “phew” moment as it was a triumph.

That likely was not the case for those within the program, as Oats’ constant confidence portended the massive leap that the program took during his second season in charge. The pieces fit together, the players bought into the high-energy, up-tempo style, and the Tide ended up winning both the SEC regular season crown (easily) and the SEC Tournament championship (not so easily) en route to the Tide’s first Sweet 16 apperance since 2004. A dreadful shooting night from deep and the free throw line doomed Alabama against red hot UCLA, but that does not take the luster off what was clearly a breakthrough year for the program.

What I did not expect – and perhaps not even Oats saw this part coming – was that the turning of the Tide came via an elite defense that consistently frustrated opponents into poor shooting nights and sloppy turnovers. Alabama’s defense rose from 114th to 3rd in KenPom’s Adjusted Defensive Efficiency, exhibiting the exceedingly rare combination of hyper-fast tempo + elite points per possession defense.

The natural inclination is to expect some regression on that end following the loss of Herb Jones, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, and fellow lineup mainstays Jordan Bruner and John Petty. But though Jones was very clearly a weapon on that end, his frequent replacement, redshirt freshman Juwan Gary, is quite the defensive demon himself. The on/off splits certainly are kind to Gary:



Of course, there’s some beneficial shooting numbers in those Gary splits, and the defense thrived more as a result of the team’s collective length and effort than any one individual (all the more reason to think it won’t fall off a cliff without Jones). Keon Ellis gives Oats another lanky wing defender to go with Gary, and the addition of Nimari Burnett adds another option to help replace Petty and Josh Primo.

The perimeter group may be a little smaller with more minutes for Jahvon Quinerly and incoming guard dynamo JD Davison, so expect the Tide’s defensive 3P% to regress some (29.1% last year, 10th in the country), but as long as the commitment to rotations and close-outs remains, Alabama will continue to be formidable.

Big men like Bruner and Alex Reese – guys that can guard multiple positions while still adding value on the boards and stretching the defense on the offensive end – are also paramount to the Oats philosophy, and nabbing Noah Gurley from the transfer portal is a perfect addition. He can defend multiple positions while also being bothersome at the rim, though he’ll be a little undersized against more bruising centers if that’s where Oats choose to play him. Young big men Charles Bediako, a top 40 recruit, and French redshirt Alex Tchikou offer copious upside with true center size/length, but both are somewhat raw and may not be immediately ready to contribute for long stretches (Tchikou missed last season with a torn ACL). Plus, neither is a proven perimeter threat like Gurley. The energetic but undersized Keon Ambrose-Hylton will need to provide some minutes if neither youngster is ready right away, especially with James Rojas having torn an ACL during the offseason (Rojas might play later in the season, per reports, but that is dicey).

Notice in the above on/off splits that Alabama actually suffered on the offensive end without Jones. He was a tremendous driver and finisher, capable of using his length to beat smaller defenders and his quickness to get by forwards. That kind of “beat the man in front of you” ability is pivotal to the way Oats wants to generate shots.

Winning in isolation forces help, and the Alabama offense is an absolutely devastating machine when it can repeatedly drive and kick against scrambling defenses. Oats employed one of the highest rates of isolation in the country last year, picking on mismatches to put foes in uncomfortable positions: per Synergy, nearly 12% of the Tide’s possessions included a strict iso, the 8th-highest reate in the country.

To that end, Oats has an electric group of perimeter players, all of whom are capable of getting into the paint, finding open shooters, or hitting open shots themselves. Chief among these weapons are Quinerly and Jaden Shackelford, a smooth southpaw and the team’s leading returning scorer. Quinerly was arguably the team’s best offensive player down the stretch last year, entering the game as a 6th man and immediately confounding defenses. Both guys have an arsenal of dribble moves with which to get by defenders, with Quinerly being downright magical at times in a system that truly fits his talents.



Shackelford is more of a bomber from beyond the arc, and the smooth lefty is a perfect fit in Oats’ attack thanks to his limitless range and quick release. He flirted with the transfer portal this offseason, but he ultimately returned to Tuscaloosa - a wise choice in our eyes, considering how snugly the system fits his game.

In addition to those two, Davison is a certified athletic dynamo, playing the game above the rim in a way that few other 6’2 players can. He also has plenty of sauce off the dribble, and his abilities to finish at the tin and play in transition must have Oats drooling.

Been waiting on this. Three Man Weave always has the best team previews. They do great work.