'Get Back Tour': Alabama has opportunity for redemption in SEC Tournament

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama basketball team earned the No. 3 seed and a double bye in the SEC Tournament, which means the Crimson Tide won’t play until Friday, March 15.

Alabama will face the winner of tonight’s Florida-Georgia matchup in the quarterfinal round of the league tournament in Nashville and could potentially face 2-seed Kentucky in the semifinals and No. 1-seed Tennessee in the championship game if it was to win and advance.

The Crimson Tide (21-10, 13-5 SEC) lost three of its final five games to close out the regular season, and the Gators, Wildcats and Volunteers handed out those losses. Which is why senior forward Nick Pringle spoke up at practice this week about the opportunity ahead.

“Pringle was the first one that brought it up,” said head coach Nate Oats after Wednesday’s practice. ‘I think he called it the ‘Get Back Tour’ or something.”

Back on Feb. 24, Alabama lost on the road at Kentucky, 117-95. Two games later, in front of a raucous home crowd, the Crimson Tide dropped a hard-fought game against Tennessee, 81-74. That loss carried over to the next outing, a road trip to Florida and a 105-87 defeat.

Alabama lost five games in conference play this season, and all five of them were to teams it could face this week at Bridgestone Arena. It will be a challenge for the Tide, but the potential slate of opponents over the next three days also presents a chance at redemption.

“Florida embarrassed us, Kentucky embarrassed us and we lost a tough one at home to Tennessee, but they kind of embarrassed us at their place,” Oats said. “… So we’ve gotta play a lot better than we did the last time against these teams. But I think there’s a chip on their shoulders. 

“Any competitor, after you get embarrassed, wants to come up and show, ‘I’m not that bad.’ As bad as we looked at Florida. As bad as giving up 117 to Kentucky, our defense isn’t that bad. We need to come back and compete a lot harder on these next go-arounds with all these teams.”

As Oats said, Pringle was the first player to speak up and mention what lies ahead for UA. As someone who was twice suspended earlier this season, Pringle has stepped up as a leader late in the year and played well down the stretch. He’s coming off a double-double in a career-high 36 minutes in the regular-season finale and is making his voice heard.

“He’s gotten a lot better over the last month,” Oats said of Pringle. “He’s been really good, talking, being a better leader for us, getting his teammates to kind of buy-in. You guys have gotten to know him over these last two years. He’s got a great personality. He’s upbeat. He’s definitely not afraid to talk. It’s been good, and he’s been really good.

“I told him that. I told the team that. You see people can change. Me being a high school coach, you’re able to see it in certain kids. You work with them. You get a little frustrated with some stuff. But people have the capability to change. It doesn’t matter how old they get, people can always change, and I think he’s changed a lot. 

“He’s always been a leader, it’s just whether he’s being a positive leader all the time, and he’s been very good for the last month. He’s been one of best, more vocal leaders, and he’s obviously willing to, eager to speak up. We need him doing the right things, saying the right things, and he’s been doing that for the last month.”

Alabama is a perfect 10-0 in games played in Nashville during Oats’ tenure as the head coach, and he made note of that as he previewed the 2024 SEC Tournament on Wednesday. But more than the Tide’s recent track record, he preached the importance of his team being ready to play from the jump as it gets set to cap Friday’s action in the quarterfinal round.

“I think the more important thing is our guys are locked in and ready to go,” Oats said. “I thought we’ve had a couple of really good practices here these last two days. 

“… We felt like we could have won the league, had a share of it. So now we’ve gotta regroup, and I think our guys have done that. Get their heads back in the right place and try to go for a tournament championship because the league hands out two champions every year. Tennessee’s got one, and then the tournament champion is yet to be determined. 

“We’re gonna try to do what we can to get this thing done here.”

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