Watch: Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats on opener vs UNC-Asheville
Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats discusses key issues for his team entering Monday’s season-opener vs. UNC-Asheville.
Time is running out to make bold predictions for Alabama women’s basketball as the Crimson Tide open up the regular season against New Orleans on Monday.
Coach Kristy Curry’s crew starts the year with its highest preseason ranking since 1998. With lofty expectations for the program early on, there’s no reason not to set the bar high for what Alabama can do when it nears the finish line in 2025.
Here are five hot takes on the No. 25 team in the country:
Eris Lester makes SEC All-Freshman team
Guard and forward Aaliyah Nye hyped up her rookie teammate at SEC Media Day in October and Lester lived up to it in scrimmage against Columbus State. The four-star capitalized on her ten minutes with 12 points, a couple rebounds and a pair of steals against one turnover.
Lester, a 5-foot-11 guard, was an McDonald’s All-American Game nominee coming out of Florida recruiting factory Monteverde Academy. Although she didn’t make the final cut for McDAAG or take Gatorade Player of the Year like former Montverde teammate Jaloni Cambridge (Ohio State), one of the country’s most highly touted freshmen, count on Lester looking to make her name in the SEC.
Sarah Ashlee Barker wins Cheryl Miller Award
The veteran’s fifth and final year should see her reap the fruits of her labor from the last few seasons. Alabama’s homegrown girl improved by 10 points to average 16.8 per game and lead the Crimson Tide to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
While listed as a guard on the roster, Barker is up for the Cheryl Miller Award, which goes to the best small forward in the country. She looked to be right on track in her trek to be one of the nation’s best, regardless of position, with a 20-point, nine rebound scrimmage performance last Wednesday.
Aaliyah Nye finishes as best three-point shooter in NCAA
Nye was heralded throughout the offseason as the best returning three-point shooter in women’s college basketball, succeeding Iowa’s Caitlin Clark. Keeping that billing with Alabama’s SEC gauntlet will be no easy task, though.
The vet shot 41.7 percent from the arc last season and led the Crimson Tide with 108 threes, owning the program record for most in a season.
LSU loses in Coleman Coliseum
Alabama leads the series, 14-13, in Tuscaloosa. With no Angel Reese on the floor for the Tigers this year, it’s going to harder for LSU to replicate the defense it played to hold Alabama to just nine points in the third period. Although the Crimson Tide ultimately lost 85-66, it led Kim Mulkey and company, 41-31, at halftime.
Alabama women’s basketball returns to Sweet 16
The 1998-99 Alabama women’s basketball team received its preseason ranking with the help of the roster before. Alabama last advanced beyond the second round in 1998 to reach the Sweet 16.
Curry has lauded this Crimson Tide team as one with some of the most depth and versatility that she’s seen in years, so the pieces are there for Alabama to put together the complete game needed and make its deepest run in her 12-season tenure.
Emilee Smarr covers Alabama basketball and Crimson Tide athletics for the Tuscaloosa News. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.
