Tennessee’s Nashville For basketball fans in the South, the SEC Tournament is one of the most exciting weekends of the year. Thirteen basketball games over the course of five days, with each school in the league competing for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
There are a ton of opportunities for Alabama basketball this weekend.
Towards the end of the regular season, the Crimson Tide has seen a little decline. Alabama concluded the SEC season with a 13-5 record after losing three of its final five games after opening league play with an 11-2 record.
Despite this, the Crimson Tide won a number of tiebreakers against other teams to secure the #3 seed and a double-bye in the SEC Tournament. Due to the way the bracket was drawn, Alabama’s first tournament matchup will take place against Florida on Friday night in the quarterfinal.
Recall that Florida defeated Alabama by a score of 105-87 in Gainesville on March 5, just over a week ago.
The Crimson Tide’s second-to-last regular season game took place. After Alabama’s thrilling 15-point comeback victory over Arkansas in the season finale, head coach Nate Oats spoke candidly about his team’s earlier encounter with the Gators.
“We performed poorly on the field in Florida. At Florida, I felt the boys had a little quit in them,” Oats remarked. “We let them know, we’re not doing that again, this isn’t who we are.”
Those are forceful, harsh statements.
It is a harsh reality for Oats to disclose to his players and the public alike that his team gave up when faced with hardship. This should provide the club plenty of motivation for their match on Friday night, as they will have the opportunity to exact revenge on a team that embarrassed its own coach with its performance.
