Alabama Eying a 2-0 Weekend at Emerald Coast Classic

The Alabama basketball team's schedule is stepping up in quality this weekend, but Nate Oats still expects positive results.

The No. 17 Alabama Crimson Tide basketball team is unbeaten through the early part of the 2023-24 season. The Tide has played four home games and enjoyed comfortable victories against opponents all ranked 95 or higher in KenPom's Analytical ranking.

This weekend Nate Oats takes his squad outside of Tuscaloosa for the first official time of the year and will compete in the Emerald Coast Classic in Destin, Fla. 

The Crimson Tide plays Ohio State on Friday night, a team that's 3-1 and ranked No. 51 currently in KenPom, making them the best competition Alabama has faced to date.

"We're playing well, we're 4-0, scoring the ball well defense needs to improve. We've got a chance against two quality opponents, whoever the second game ends up being against, to show that we're a capable defensive team, against a quality opponent. That's been our focus. Got to get our defense better, been our focus in practice," said Oats on Wednesday. "Ohio State's physical, typical BIG 10 team, tough, physical, going to put some pressure on our defense and on our rebounding both. They've got good, quality bigs, they've got good rim protection on their defensive end. We've got to make good rim decisions when we get to the rim because they've got some real shot blocking, they had 10 blocks in a game, and then they'll post it more than probably any team that we've seen so far. So our post-defense is going to have to be good. They've got good guard play. I mean, they've got multiple kids on their team that we recruited as well."

The Buckeyes make Alabama its second SEC opponent of the year, having already lost against No. 15 Texas A&M 73-66. 

The Crimson Tide has a quick turnaround from Friday night's contest as they'll take on either Oregon or Santa Clara on Saturday. The two winning teams will matchup and the two losing teams will matchup, simulating a bit of an NCAA tournament style weekend.

The Oregon Ducks enter the weekend as KenPom's No. 36 team and Santa Clara enters at 103, making the Ducks a heavy favorite. 

Oats has been able to utilize all 11 scholarship players on the roster this season in each of the first four games due to blowout victories. He's said the rotation will be trimmed as the season continues based on defensive effort and execution, but will that philosophy be challenged or changed entering a weekend with two games scheduled in under 48-hours? 

"It's not going to really change, because if you don't win the first one - you know our goal is to go 2-0 on this deal, you've got to win the Friday night game. Now, Saturday night, depending on how many minutes certain guys had to play maybe you've got to play some guys Saturday night that maybe didn't play as much Friday because of that, maybe," said Oats. "But we're going to put the guys out there that we think give us the best chance to get stops on Friday night against Ohio State, because I think that's where it's at with this team right now. I think we're going to have enough guys capable, bought into the defensive end by Friday night that we'll have a solid rotation of some guys that are serious about getting stops."

Former Alabama Guard Trevor Releford on The Joe Gaither Show