Alabama men’s basketball tips off its regular season in 75 days in Coleman Coliseum against North Dakota. From then until the end of December, the team will undergo yet another heavy-hitting schedule of nonconference games to prepare itself for SEC play.
Below is the nonconference slate as of Wednesday:
- Oct. 16 — vs. Florida State, exhibition
- Oct. 26 — at Furman, exhibition
- Nov. 3 — vs. North Dakota
- Nov. 8 — at St. John’s
- Nov. 13 — vs. Purdue
- Nov. 19 — vs. Illinois, at United Center in Chicago
- Nov. 24 — vs. Gonzaga, Players Era Festival
- Nov. 25 — vs. UNLV, Players Era Festival
- Dec. 3 — vs. Clemson, SEC/ACC Challenge
- Dec. 7 — vs. UTSA
- Dec. 13 — vs. Arizona, C.M. Newton Classic
- Dec. 17 — vs. USF
- Dec. 29 — vs. Yale
What stands out immediately is the volume of high-caliber opponents. This is nothing new; head coach Nate Oats said that this year he is aiming to have the “best schedule in the country again,” and it is a philosophy he has employed at Alabama for years.
The team will hope the opening game against North Dakota proves easier than last year’s matchup, which took place on a chilly mid-December night in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Former Fighting Hawks guard Treysen Eaglestaff, who has since transferred to West Virginia, scored 40 points and brought North Dakota to a near-upset in a 97-90 loss.
From there, the Crimson Tide will travel to the famed Madison Square Garden to face St. John’s, led by legendary head coach Rick Pitino. The Red Storm was a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament last season and finished No. 13 in the NCAA NET Rankings, and it replenished any lost production with five top-100 transfers.
High-ranking teams are a theme in this nonconference slate.
In the NET Rankings — a metric that accounts for all games up until the NCAA Tournament — Gonzaga finished No. 8, Arizona was No. 12, Illinois was No. 17, Purdue was No. 19 and Clemson was No. 22. Yale, a consistently competitive mid-major school that just two years ago upset Auburn in the tournament, finished No. 72 in the NET last season. Alabama finished No. 6.
Furthermore, the two games listed for the Players Era Festival are only half of what Alabama will play. On Nov. 26 and 27, a third-place game and championship will be played with teams determined by the results of the first two days. The Crimson Tide finished second in the Las Vegas-based tournament last year, falling short in the final against Oregon.
The matchups against UTSA and USF are also notable, not specifically because of those teams’ competitive stature but rather because of their coaches. UTSA is led by former Alabama assistant Austin Claunch, and USF is under the command of former assistant Bryan Hodgson.
Three months out, this two-month stretch is undeniably daunting. However, such fearlessness in scheduling has been a staple of Oats’ tenure, and it has paid dividends. The 2022-23 squad went 10-2 in the nonconference en route to the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. The following year, the team struggled to get wins against its high-quality opponents but used the preparation to eventually make its first-ever Final Four.
Oats wants his teams to be equipped for the dog days of conference play and then March Madness beyond. However hard this style of nonconference scheduling may be, this is a proven effective way to do it.
