“I don’t know if it’s a lag from the tough loss at Tennessee, our guys are just tired. I don’t know.” This is what coach Nate Oats said after his Alabama Crimson Tide lost their 4th game in the last 6 games. This time to the Florida Gators. The signs of frustration are evident. Just a month ago, fans were buzzing about the possibility of winning the SEC after their big win against Texas. But as we know in college basketball, things change quickly! From being the second-best team in the country, the Crimson Tide are now 7th, and bad news just keeps piling up.

Nate Oats and his team started the season with high hopes, aiming to go one step further than last year’s Final Four run. They began strong and were considered one of the biggest championship contenders, sitting at 21-3 with a comfortable spot as the second-best team in both the country and the SEC. But since their win against Texas, Alabama have only won 2 of their last 6 games. This has raised concerns for Oats, and now analysts may be looking at other teams as the favorites instead of Alabama.

John Henson shared his thoughts on The Field of 68: After Dark podcast, saying that Florida should be considered among the favorites after their impressive win over Alabama. He said, “When you look at the stats, it’s not a big discrepancy, Alabama shot it better from three, they got the same amount of field goal attempts, free throws wise it was kind of a wash, the 50 rebounds is the big difference.” He continues, “That right there shows me how good Florida is because their guards didn’t play their best and the big men just dominated the interior” 

When you look at the last game, you quickly realize that Florida out rebounded Alabama 50-35. Now this is something you don’t expect from an Alabama team. The Crimson Tide are actually the best team in the country when it comes to defensive rebounding, averaging a mighty 28 rebounds per game.

Their offensive rebounds are also impressive, ranking among the best with 11 per game. But against Florida, they struggled. After the game, Nate Oats expressed his frustration, saying,“To get out-rebounded by 15 – we knew they were a tough rebounding team, but we’re usually better than that we go into a game knowing we’ve got to rebound. It seemed like they beat us to about every 50-50 ball.”

When a team outer-bounds the best rebounding team in the country, they deserve to be in the conversation as one of the favorites. Henson adds to what he said by saying, “I mean this is shades of like a Carolina type basketball with the interior presence along with the guards, man its time to throw them in the national championship conversation.” 

Yes, Florida deserves to be in the conversation. But is it really over for the Crimson Tide? Fans know it’s far from over! Let’s take a look at why Alabama’s season is still alive and why they remain among the favorites to win the championship.

Is it really over for Nate Oats and his Alabama?

For anyone who thinks this recent slump spells the end of Alabama’s championship hopes, think again! Last season, Alabama made their first Final Four appearance. Any idea what their regular season form heading into the big dance looked like? They lost three of their last five games and even lost in the SEC quarterfinals to none other than the Gators. Heading into the NCAA tournament, they had lost 4 of their last 6 games. Sound familiar right?

With a similar form last season, Oats managed to rally his team to a Final Four spot, the program’s first in history. They eventually lost to the champions, UConn, but many expected them to run it back this season, and coach Oats himself believed that.“We’d like to get back here and win this whole thing, and I think that’s what our goal is going to be. We’re going to aim to get back here.”

There’s still a lot of basketball to be played. For Oats and his team, the focus will shift to the last game of the regular season. But it won’t be easy. They’ll be facing the best team in the country, the Auburn Tigers. Bruce Pearl’s Tigers were the ones who started Alabama’s run of bad form, and Nate Oats will want nothing more than to walk away with a win.

Auburn will enter this game after dropping a match to Texas A&M, but they’ll start as heavy favorites. ESPN gives the Tigers a 77% chance of winning. Only time will tell if Alabama can pull off a win, but as things stand, it won’t be the end of the world if they lose again. However, the pressure will be on Nate Oats to deliver. Even he knows that making a run like last year won’t happen again if they don’t improve. Stay tuned for more updates.