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Kentucky has made great efforts.
Alabama coach Nate Oats was keen to congratulate his side’s scrappy opponent on Tuesday night, as the UK was some kind of bad luck that had been lining up at the DMV for six hours.
“Lots of credit in Kentucky,” Oats said. “Obviously, they’re struggling. Thanks for competing as hard as them.
The UK, however, left its titles and reputation at home. Good luck finding them.
Can’t you just feel the love? It’s so pure.
And delicious.
The Alabama No.9 played terribly on offense and decently defensively against the Wildcats, Oats added, but the Crimson Tide still beat the UK 70-59. Big Blue is an emotion in Kentucky these days more than an alternate nickname for the SEC powerhouse that has more wins in program history than any other team in the country. Young and handy Kentucky is now 5-10 overall and 4-4 in the SEC.
Alabama’s latest home win pushed sports writers to fight for the record books. The Tomes of Knowledge tell us that this is the first time that Alabama has taken two from Kentucky in a season since the invention of the World Wide Web (1989).
Don’t be shocked. The Crimson Tide is finally realizing its potential. Some have tried to tell you that Alabama basketball has better days ahead. It just took a little longer than expected.
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At this point in the series of images from my mind, I imagine Oats walking through an empty Coleman Coliseum and whispering “How about those apples?” as the character of Matt Damon in “Good Will Hunting”. It’s Oats’ second season at Tuscaloosa, and former Detroit Airport High School coach Wayne County is proving he can forge winners at all levels.
Alabama basketball has now won 10 in a row, which is a bit unbelievable. This is the next Pistons for oats, right?
We could waste time and inches here in this space joking about how this all looks weird and upside down, and Alabama basketball is entering a golden age, or we could just get down to business. After all, we predicted it from Alabama months ago.
Alabama currently has the best basketball team in the SEC thanks to a combination of things, but mostly these reasons: Herb Jones and John Petty are great senior leaders, Alabama has length on the wings to put the defensive kibosh on teams late in the game and, coming in Tuesday, Crimson Tide led the SEC in almost every stat that matters.
I’m not kidding either.
Alabama raged off an 8-0 start in the SEC leading the league in all of those conference-only categories: attempts (243) and wins (528), three-point attempts (106), three-point marks (252) and three-point percentage (0.421), rebounds (329), assists (126), steals (76) and points (694).
And then Alabama won on a bad night against Kentucky and Oats attributed the victory to Alabama team culture. Good teams win on lousy nights. Great teams, however, know that winning the hard way is better than any record breaking blowout.
“We said we were going to win the game on defense,” Oats said. “Our attack was really in trouble.”
We already knew Alabama was an iron because Herb Jones demands it every night, but the Crimson Tide put that fact in place with this ugly win over the Testers. Oats called Jones the country’s top defenseman in the coach’s post-game Zoom session, and I won’t be the hack to disagree with that assessment.
Jones had gauze coming out of his left nostril from a bloody nose earlier as he finished the game with free throws. Its normal look, in other words.
It’s impossible for me to love a player more than this guy. He puts his body on the line every time. Humble Herb, One-Hand Herb, Keith Askins has reincarnated, whatever we call him, he’s writing a legacy this season that will last a long time in Tuscaloosa and in the courts of Alabama.
In many years to come, the Jones Alabama Memorial Figure will come with all manners of first aid and gym dirt.
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“I can’t say enough about Jones,” Oats said.
Don’t try me, Coach.
As Oats bragged after the game, Jones was a rebound and two less assists than a triple-double (13-9-8) despite having a sore back.
Alabama (14-3 overall and 9-0 in the SEC) now has Oklahoma’s No.24 (10-4, 6-3) on the road this weekend, and Oats mentioned that a victory without a conference on Saturday could help resume construction in March. The Sooners upset No.5 Texas 80-79 on Tuesday. No one is set to make Alabama a No.1 seed just yet, but the conversation for a high placement in the NCAA tournament is approaching with a few more wins.
In the end, this one against Kentucky probably won’t matter as much as a second brace against Auburn. The ‘Cats made a good effort, however.
Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group. He’s on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.
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