The biggest week in the history of Alabama basketball is here. Not just for the Crimson Tide, but for the state.
Alabama and Auburn will meet in the Iron Bowl of basketball, but the stakes are different than they were before the days of Nate Oats and Bruce Pearl. Final Four banners now hang in Coleman Coliseum and Neville Arena, and the Crimson Tide may supplant Auburn as No. 1 in the national polls this week.
Seats are sold out. ESPN’s “College GameDay” crew is bringing their own. Which team comes out on top will be remembered as the first ruler of a newly-minted basketball state.
More than any previous game in the rivalry on the hardwood, the hard-hat wearing kids in the Alabama student section watching next weekend will remember the result for decades to come, just like the longtime fans who have waited to see the dream of Alabama and Auburn facing off for a national championship become a very real conversation.
With a win at Arkansas for Alabama, plus Auburn’s loss to No. 6 Florida, plus Clemson’s upset of No. 2 Duke earlier in the day, Alabama is positioned as the top team in the nation. The question is whether the Crimson Tide is ready to live up to it and hang on to it.
NEW NO. 1? What Nate Oats said about Alabama basketball possibly gaining No. 1 ranking
INJURY UPDATE: Nate Oats expects Latrell Wrightsell Jr. to return for Alabama basketball, and here’s how
Simply put, the answer is no. At least not if the Crimson Tide, ranked No. 3 going into Saturday, plays against Auburn the way it did in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Was the 85-81 win awful? Not totally. At one point, Alabama got up by 18 points in the second half. That lead, however, was chopped down to just two points with five seconds to the buzzer by an Arkansas team that shot 43.1% (28-for-65) from the floor.
Biggest week in Alabama basketball history has arrived: Will Tide be ready for it?
It’s easy to get lost in the glory of potentially being No. 1.
Oats, the Alabama coach, said he saw that Auburn lost before tipoff against the Razorbacks in Bud Walton Arena, so one can only figure that the news found its way to players. It’s not fair to argue that bragging rights were what caused the carelessness that nearly cost the Crimson Tide as Arkansas rallied late, though.
Week after week, Alabama has struggled to close. Week after week, Alabama has mounted double-digit turnovers. This season, that song has been a broken record that was overplayed before it started to skip.
Crimson Tide faithful would probably like to forget the sounds of jangling keys that followed Auburn’s 99-81 shutdown of Alabama last February. They probably didn’t forget Alabama’s 15 turnovers – compared to five for Auburn – that conducted the chorus.
Like the first half of its last showdown against the Tigers, Alabama had nine turnovers in the first 20 minutes against Arkansas, which had turned it over just three times to trail by six points heading into the locker room.
Alabama’s defense had forced the Razorbacks to 11 turnovers by the end. Still, if Alabama hadn’t corrected its miscues, the turnover ratio may have resulted in another loss like those to Purdue, Oregon and Ole Miss, and potentially even the chance to win the SEC regular-season championship.
Now, Alabama has to focus on beating Texas on Tuesday so the air isn’t let out of the tires before the race begins when Auburn comes to town.
All of that being said, if the initial question is reworded to ask whether Alabama basketball is capable of living up to a No. 1 ranking, the answer is a resounding yes.
So far, when Alabama has gone down to other teams, it’s only happened because the Crimson Tide has defeated itself first.
Emilee Smarr covers Alabama basketball and Crimson Tide athletics for the Tuscaloosa News. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Will Tide be ready for biggest week in Alabama basketball history?
