In college basketball, scheduling is more art than science. It’s also a philosophy. Ever since Nate Oats was the head coach and math teacher at Romulus (Mich.) High School, he hewed to the formulaic belief that the harder the competition, the greater the lesson. “Sometimes you almost need a loss, to be honest with you,” he said.
If that’s the case, then Oats got what he needed Friday night, when his No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide was knocked off by No. 13 Purdue, 87-78, in a predictably pitched environment inside Mackey Arena. There should be plenty of learning ahead because Alabama has now embarked on a seven-game nonconference gauntlet that may be unprecedented in modern college basketball history.
On Wednesday, the Tide will play Illinois in Birmingham. Six days later, Alabama heads to Las Vegas for the inaugural Players Era Festival, which includes predetermined games against No. 8 Houston, Rutgers and Notre Dame. On Dec. 4, Alabama plays at No. 10 North Carolina as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge. And on Dec. 14 the Tide returns to Tuscaloosa to face Creighton, which is returning the home-and-home series which the Bluejays won, 85-82, last season.
Oats has no regrets about taking on all comers, but the actual dates of those games are for the most part out of his control. This may be one case where he got more than he bargained for. “The seven in a row wasn’t the plan,” Oats told me when we spoke by phone after the game Friday night. “It might have been better to mix them up, but it is what it is. We’ve got to win the next one now. We can’t start off oh for two.”
The Crimson Tide played a similarly tough schedule last year. Though they lost five out of seven and three in a row in November and December, they ended their season in the Final Four.
If that’s going to happen again, the Tide will have to play better than they did on Friday night. That begins, as it usually does when it comes to Alabama, with three-point shooting. The Tide was 9 of 29 from behind the arc, including 1 of 9 in the first half. Purdue, by contrast, was 9 of 16 (56.3 percent). The Boilermakers also carved up Alabama’s defense on the inside, with 6-foot-9 junior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn putting up a career-high 26 points to go along with 8 rebounds and 4 assists.
This was somewhat surprising given that the Boilermakers had to replace two-time national player of the year Zach Edey at center and Alabama had supposedly fortified its rim protection by bringing in Clifford Omoruyi, a 6-foot-11 super senior center from Rutgers who ranked third in the nation in blocks last season at 2.9 per game. Oats and his coaching staff came into the game Friday night under the assumption that Omoruyi would be able to guard Kaufman-Renn one-on-one. When that strategy went belly up, they realized they had no plausible alternative.
“Kaufman-Renn wasn’t supposed to be that good,” Oats said. “Last year we knew we had to double the post, but this year I assumed we wouldn’t. We assumed Clifford would take care of those issues, so part of that is on us. We’re going to have to go back to the drawing board a little bit. We need to have a Plan B.”
Another thing Alabama learned on Friday night is just how heavy that Final Four crown can weigh. Purdue has been the dominant program the last few years and is coming off a Final Four appearance of its own. Yet, when the game tipped off, the Boilermakers and their rabid fans were brimming with the energy of an underdog eager to knock off a top dog. “Oh yeah, for sure,” Oats said when I asked if he felt like the hunted. “We’re going to get everybody’s best shot.”
That manifested itself in the uneven performance of 6-foot-1 super senior point guard Mark Sears, Alabama’s consensus preseason All-American. Sears was badly outplayed by Purdue’s 6-foot junior point guard Braden Smith, who had 17 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds and 1 turnover. Sears had 15 points and made just 1 of 6 from three-point range. He also had four turnovers to go along with six assists and four rebounds. “I thought he pressed a little bit, like he was trying to prove he’s the best guard in the country,” Oats said. “I think he needs to calm himself a little better and get the ball out of his hands a little quicker. There were times he had guys open and didn’t hit ’em.”
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Following a historic trip to the Final Four, the Alabama Crimson Tide are ready to hit the ground running — again.Oats did learn something good about his team Friday night – namely, that he has a special freshman in 6-foot-4 guard Labaron Philon, who seemed totally unfazed by the magnitude of the game and the hostility of the enviroment. Philon led the Tide with 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting (3 of 4 from three). He also had 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 turnover. “He’s been great – way better than we thought,” Oats said. “He’s a great two-way guy and he’s making all the right reads and getting downhill. He might be one of our best guards, to be honest with you.”
When I spoke with Philon after the game, he insisted that he felt as calm on the inside as he looked on the outside. “I didn’t feel any nerves,” he said. “I was just out there having fun. When you have great preparation and you know what you want to do, you’re not afraid of the moment.” Philon added that he liked the fact that the Tide had so many tough games in a row. “I think it’s good because we’re really getting battle tested,” he said. “We’re taking it one game at a time, but all these games are lined up, so we’ve got to be ready.”
Alabama may be coming off a Final Four, but every season presents a fresh start and new challenges. The Tide also has new faces like Omoruyi, Philon, sophomore point guard Aden Holloway (a transfer from Auburn) and freshman forward Derrion Reid. Oats put together this rigorous schedule to he could see his team’s flaws. Friday night’s result aside, he still believes in the philosophy – not to mention the art and science – that produced the road ahead. Now it’s up to his team to walk it as best they can.
“It’s a tough stretch, but I hope at the end of these seven games we’re better off,” he said. “It’s worth getting exposed a little bit early if it means you’re better in March. I wish we had played a little better tonight, but we’ll get it figured out.”
