Alabama Exults $800,646 Million Player As They welcome Him…

What occurs on Saturday, January 6th, do you know? It’s not a football Saturday, other than the fact that the winners of the College Football Playoff semifinals will have flown into Houston ahead of Monday, January 8, the national championship game. In the sense that league teams will be playing each other for the majority of the following three and a half months, the Southeastern Conference basketball season has begun. However, that is still roughly three weeks away, and in the interim, the majority of SEC teams are packing their schedules with victories.

Not all, but some.

Today Ole Miss is leading the SEC with a 10-0 record. It would not be a surprise if the Rebels go into conference play (at Tennessee) with a 13-0 record.

However, after playing Arizona in Phoenix on Wednesday (10 p.m. CST on ESPN), Alabama is likely to be 6-5 after finishing third among SEC teams in non-conference play at 6-4. Despite Purdue’s victory on Saturday, Arizona remained the top team in the country. Prior to defeating Alabama in Toronto and Arizona, Purdue was ranked fourth in the country. The Tide has fallen short against No. 8 Creighton while traveling between Purdue and Arizona.

Alabama Coach Nate Oats is on record as intentionally playing a tough schedule to see where his team measures up. So far, just a little short, a six-point loss to Purdue (92-86) and a three-point loss at Creighton (85-82). This is, of course, an almost completely rebuilt Alabama team, eight new players and all three of the assistant coaches new.

Although there is no assurance that playing a demanding schedule will pay off, former Tide Coach C.M. Newton believed that “you have to play the best to be the best.” Conversely, Wimp Sanderson, who was also extremely successful, rejected a theory that could lead to a few losses. (I once told him that neither his record nor ticket sales would suffer if he scheduled bad basketball teams from good football schools.) Success doesn’t have a single formula, with the possible exception of recruiting.

There also is no guarantee that Bama won’t be punished at NCAA Tournament selection time for those pre-conference losses, but in recent years just playing a tough schedule was looked upon favorably by the selection committee.

Alabama will open the season at an historically difficult place to play, Vanderbilt’s quirky Memorial Gym, at 2:30 p.m. CST, Saturday, Jan. 6, on SEC Network.

The Vanderbilt Commodores were formerly among the best basketball teams in the SEC, but they have recently struggled and are currently 4-6.