Kentucky’s next basketball opponent seemingly can beat anybody and lose to anybody
When asked if Saturday’s 87-78 victory over then-No. 4 Baylor was a turning point for his team, Alabama Coach Nate Oats smiled before answering.
“Based on this team, I think we’ve got to wait and see what happens . . . ,” he said. “The proof is in the pudding, as they say. We’ll see what our actions are.”
Three days after beating Baylor, Alabama lost 100-81 at No. 1 Auburn. The Tide’s next opponent is Kentucky on Saturday. Given UK’s No. 5 ranking, the track record — Auburn aside — suggests that beating the better version of Alabama will be the challenge.
Alabama has beaten three of last year’s Final Four teams. All were ranked at the time of this season’s games: then-No. 3 Gonzaga (91-82), then-No. 14 Houston (83-82) and then-No. 4 Baylor (87-78).
Alabama has six victories in Quad 1 games. As of Thursday, only five Division I teams have more. Auburn, Baylor, Kansas, Wisconsin and Marquette each have seven.
Yet Alabama has also lost to the only two Southeastern Conference teams with losing overall records: 92-86 at Missouri and 82-76 at Georgia. It was Georgia’s only victory since Dec. 20. It was Missouri’s second victory since Dec. 18.
Huh?
“If you look at our better wins, we look like we’re one of the best teams in the country,” Oats said. “If you look at our losses, we look rather pedestrian (and) average. I like to think these guys don’t want to be average. They want to be great.”
Guards Jaden Shackelford and Jahvon Quinerly are among the SEC’s top scorers in league play: Shackelford at No. 4 (18.44 ppg) and Quinerly No. 11 (14.44).
But Alabama has not shot well in league play. The Tide ranks last in field-goal percentage (40.4 percent) and next to last in three-point percentage (28.3 percent).
It might seem difficult to appraise Alabama.
As of Thursday, stats savant Ken Pomeroy said his numbers put Alabama at No. 18. That rating is subject to change.
“Obviously, at their best, they’re better than that,” Pomeroy said. “But at their worst, they can be much worse than that.
“They’re pretty unusual in the sense they can seemingly get about any sort of result that’s possible.”
ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi referred to the Tide as “a roller coaster of sorts.”
Lunardi has had Alabama as high as the best three-seed in his bracket. In the bracket he updated on Thursday, he had the Tide as the best six-seed.
“I probably tend to see teams more at their upper end of performance,” Lunardi said. “And I think that rings pretty true to life with the (NCAA Tournament selection) committee.”
When asked to name a team in the past with such an up-and-down resume, Lunardi all but shrugged. He suggested that Alabama winning both the SEC regular-season and tournament championships last season made this season’s roller-coaster ride stand out.
“The precedent is it happens all the time . . . ,” he said. “If they were Ole Miss instead of Alabama, we’d be going, yeah, good SEC team that could get hot (in the NCAA Tournament). We wouldn’t be having all this hullabaloo.
“They’re a round-of-32 team by every measure.”
Lunardi saw early-season losses to Iona (72-68) and Davidson (79-78) as understandable.
“Look, Iona is legitimately good,” the bracketologist said. “Iona is going to be a 12-seed. Like the kind of 12-seed that wins a game all the time. . . .
“They lost to Davidson. Same deal. Davidson is good enough to play in the second weekend.”
As of Thursday, Lunardi had Kentucky as a two-seed.
“If I had to pick a Final Four today, they would be in it,” he said of the Wildcats.
When asked why, Lunardi chuckled and then said, “talent.”
A moment later, he added what he called a “full disclosure” to this assessment.
“I picked them in the Final Four last year,” he said. “And we saw how that worked out.
“Maybe, they’re just due.”
This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 1:55 PM.
