For years, Alabama has been the very definition of an average basketball program. Before last season, Alabama was rarely good, rarely bad, and seemed to tread water no matter who they put on the sidelines. Consider this— for over 25 years, they only had three seasons of sub .500 basketball, but just two seasons of single digit losses. A combined win-loss record over those years of 205-211, and half of them with a record in the .400 - .600 range. Basically, they were just okay.
But things changed last year. Nate Oats brought in a new approach, and used (mostly) Avery Johnson’s players to run through the SEC with a 16-2 record, go 26-7 overall, and land a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.