Is Fifth in the SEC Too High or Low for Alabama Basketball? Just A Minute
Is Fifth in the SEC Too High or Low for Alabama Basketball? Just A Minute
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00:00 Welcome into Bama Central's Just a Minute with Austin Hannon.
00:02 I'm Katie Windham and Austin, we're in the throes of football season.
00:06 But also, basketball is literally right around the corner now.
00:09 Wednesday was SEC basketball media days.
00:12 The SEC basketball preseason media poll came out on Tuesday,
00:15 which as media members, we were both a little surprised cuz we don't remember
00:18 getting anything about voting for it.
00:19 So it did come out on Tuesday though.
00:22 Alabama was fifth behind Tennessee, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Kentucky.
00:27 What's your reaction to that?
00:28 Alabama too high, too low, or just right?
00:31 >> Just right, I'm gonna say just right because that's what Nate Oates said.
00:34 And I think, from what I heard, like you said, we weren't there.
00:38 I think going back and reading some of the stuff, Bama was picked fifth
00:42 every year he's been there, maybe other than the first year.
00:45 Is that right, I think?
00:46 But at least the two championships they've won, they were picked fifth.
00:52 And then of course this year they were picked fifth in the SEC.
00:56 And it's not surprising and some fans on the outside might say,
01:00 why is that three?
01:02 I mean, they were the number one overall seed in the tournament last year and
01:04 they won the SEC double.
01:05 And why would they be picked fifth?
01:07 Well, Alabama lost a lot of talent from its team last year.
01:11 That's Brandon Miller, Noah Clowney, Javon Quinterly, Charles Badiaco,
01:15 Jaden Bradley, Noah Gurley, Namaari Burnett.
01:17 I mean, you remember all these guys that literally makes up the entire rotation
01:20 from last year that I'm saying, and they're all gone.
01:23 And so it's kind of a refresh this year for the team.
01:25 And I think the people that voted on this, like you said, I'm not sure who it was.
01:29 But they looked at the other teams around the conference and
01:33 you look at Tennessee and Texas A&M and Arkansas and Kentucky, the four in head.
01:37 And all those teams, other than Kentucky who's just got a new fresh set of five
01:41 stars, the top three have a lot of returning players, including Tennessee and
01:45 Texas A&M, who have a couple guys, Zaki Zeigler.
01:50 Tennessee still got, I'm forgetting the point guards name, but he's back again.
01:56 Vescovi, so the guys that you feel like have been there for years and
01:59 years and years are still returning.
02:01 And Texas A&M's got Wade Taylor back.
02:04 So Alabama's a little behind those teams in terms of experience.
02:07 But they're getting Grant Nelson from North Dakota State who was voted to
02:10 the first team.
02:11 And they're bringing back Mark Sears, who at times last year showed that he could be
02:15 a pretty good scorer for Alabama.
02:17 So there's still some guys that you could feel confidence in, but
02:20 it's a lot of, for Alabama at least, the Rylan Griffins and the Nick Pringles.
02:25 And there's a lot of players on the team that are gonna play bigger roles this year
02:28 that are gonna need to take a big step forward.
02:30 Because they weren't the big time guys last year, but
02:33 they're gonna have to be this year.
02:34 So I don't think being fifth in the preseason order of finish is that big of
02:38 a deal, like Nate Oates said.
02:40 I mean, that's the case last year, that was the case two years ago.
02:44 So we'll just see how the things get going and
02:45 the season starts in a couple weeks.
02:47 >> Yeah, not to be too boring, but I think I'm gonna go with just right too.
02:52 Now, yesterday, me and you were not at a basketball media days, but
02:56 I was watching a little bit of it on TV.
02:58 And when Aaron Estrada was on SEC Network,
03:01 the reporter asked him about them being fifth.
03:03 And he said that was adding fuel to his fire about being picked fifth in
03:07 the preseason.
03:08 But I agree with you that it's kind of a good spot for
03:12 Alabama in the sense that you did lose almost your entire team.
03:16 So there are a lot of unknowns, a lot of question marks.
03:18 Obviously, Nate Oates brought in some highly rated recruits,
03:21 some good transfers.
03:22 But it's still, you don't know what you're gonna get yet.
03:26 So fifth is kind of a good landing spot.
03:28 You're right outside that, if the season, the double bye for the SEC tournament.
03:32 So I think it's a fair place for Alabama to be at this point.
03:36 And obviously, it's just a preseason poll.
03:39 >> Yeah, right.
03:39 >> It's all gonna be determined on the court.
03:41 They can move up.
03:42 Now we've seen in the past, like Nate Oates said,
03:44 they move up past that expectation or projection.
03:48 And so it's maybe a good, you would think a year after you're the number one overall
03:52 seed in the NCAA tournament, you're gonna have these sky high expectations.
03:56 But kind of with the nature of basketball and all the turnover you have,
03:59 it's not necessarily like that.
04:00 But even them being fifth just kind of shows what Nate Oates has built.
04:03 That's the expectation for Alabama now to always be on top half of the SEC,
04:07 always be an NCAA tournament team.
04:09 But yeah, even though we got big football game this Saturday,
04:13 Alabama versus Tennessee, before you know it, we'll be back in Coleman Coliseum.
04:18 Some Baymister court side, but for today, that'll wrap up today's Just a Minute.
04:23 Thank you so much for watching.
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