On what it means to win the SEC Championship over Texas A&M…
“I mean, look, Buzz does an unbelievable job. You look at how he's turned that program around. It's not necessarily special to get against them, we're just 0-3 against them since I got here. Haven't played that many games. It's the only school since I got here that we have a losing record against. We made sure we really prepared for this. I thought our coaches did a really good job on both sides of the ball. We didn't do a great job preparing our guys for the game at their place last week I didn't think. It's a lot more special to win the SEC. The SEC's a really good basketball league. Got some really good basketball programs in this league. I mean, obviously Kentucky's Kentucky, everybody knows. You kind of go down the list. Auburn has been to a Final Four. It's our rival school. Arkansas’ got great talent. You look at the four teams that were in this semifinals, Missouri, Coach Gates has done a great job. Stackhouse has done an unbelievable job. To beat the teams we had to beat to get here was not easy. So proud of the guys, proud of their effort, proud they were able to get really focused. Got a lot of mental toughness. To sweep it regular season and tournament twice in three years, with a totally different team, Quinerly is a big part of both, speaks to the level of players who have been able to get in here. You can't win these games without players. We're fortunate to have the best player on the floor this year every time we walked out with Brandon. Quinerly has been unbelievable for us. Seems like he shows up in March. We have the March version of Quinerly for sure. Happy for the team but particularly those two.”
Benny’s Breakdown: Nate Oats checked off two boxes on Sunday. He picked up his second SEC Championship and got his first win against Texas A&M. It was a dominating performance from start to finish but what the entire tournament showed was the great basketball that’s now being played in the SEC. Gone are the days when Kentucky ruled the conference and everyone else played for second place. The SEC flexed how strong of a conference it is on Sunday as Alabama was crowned champions once again.
On what Charles Bediako means to Alabama’s defense…
“With the way we've designed our defense, Charlie Henry, my assistant that runs the defense, came from the NBA. We're third in the country in defensive efficiency two years ago without a rim protector like him. We did it differently that year. This year with Charles at the rim, we're trying to send everything -- run them off the three-point line and run him downhill to the rim. Charles anchors the defense when he's in. He affects a lot of shots. I'm looking, they shot 16 threes. They shot 26 non-rim twos. They were 3 for 26 on non-rim twos, 5 of 16 from three. They shot under 30% from the floor. A lot of that is due to Charles. Obviously our guards have to do a good job sending the ball down into the lane. Those guards from Texas A&M, most guards didn't want to go into the rim against Charles, so they take a lot of non-rim twos. 3 of 26 they were today. That's 11%. Great defense for us when you can force midrange twos. If you don't have Charles at the rim to block 'em, those end up being more at the rims. Your at the rim percentage is going to be a lot higher. They finished 46% on the active rims; they didn't get nearly as many of them. They only got 24 of those. Without Charles anchoring it, it's not going to be what it is. We have a lot of other guys that are good on defense, too. Pringle is getting better. Backup center. Backs up Clowney. Neither of those are quite Charles, but they're both getting better in their own right.”
Benny’s Breakdown: Oats wasn’t shy when he said Bediako “played his best game in an Alabama jersey.” The stats back up that statement as the sophomore finished with his second double-double this season. The rim-protector tallied five of the team’s seven blocks in the win while leading the team in rebounds with 13. Bediako’s play was infectious as he was one of three players to finish the game with 10 boards or more as Brandon Miller and Noah Clowney finished with 12 and 11 respectively. It was a defensive masterclass on Sunday.
On his three keys to winning the national championship…
“I think we've got a really good chance to win it. If you're going to give me three keys, I'm going to go back to what has kind of bothered us a little bit this year. Turnovers. If we can consistently take care of the ball, not turn it over where we get shots up, that's number one. Number two is just our defensive intensity. I think you saw it today. It was a lot different than it's been. Our Texas A&M game in College Station, then look at what it was today. Quinerly's intensity. It's not a specific thing, but how hard do we want to play on D? When our defensive intensity is up, locked into a scouting report like we were today, we're one of the best defenses and teams in the country. The last thing I'd say is can we generate enough we call margin plays? Can we win the second chance? Today I'm looking at second-chance points. We won it 14-11. Can we win the free throw deal? We didn't today. They were 20 of 24, we were 16 of 22. Can we win the transition points. We call them margin plays. We were 17-8 today. Can we win the margin games? Can we take care of the ball, come with a defensive intensity? If we can do that, we're going to be playing hopefully three weeks from tomorrow and having a chance to do that. It's not easy. You got to do it six games in a row. What I won't say is we've got to shoot it well. We've tried to build a team that can still win when we don't shoot it well. Can we be great on defense, rebound the ball well, take care of the ball. If we do that, even if we shoot it poorly, I think we can generate enough free throws, rim shots to win. I think we've got a chance to win the whole thing, like you said.”
Benny’s Breakdown: With the NCAA Tournament on the horizon, now comes the time of the year when teams that play the most consistently, will make the deepest runs. For Alabama, it has played fairly consistently all season long but Sunday was a new level for the group. That level of play will help Alabama win a national title. The question is will it play at that level all postseason long? If it does, then start booking flights for Houston.
On his message to the team when media attention is going to be on off-the-field situation…
“Obviously we never lose sight of the tragedy that's kind of marked our season. It's always there. Today, with the team, we're going to celebrate this win without losing sight of that. Moving forward, we're going to try to keep the team focused on the task at hand, just like we have, without ever losing sight of the fact it's an unbelievably sad situation. Our guys have been able to do a pretty good job of that, I think. Love to celebrate today what we were able to accomplish together as a team.”
Benny’s Breakdown: With everything Alabama has gone through, this title win has to feel amazing for Oats and company. The Crimson Tide’s off-court issues were brought back to light in Nashville as national reporters grilled Oats, Brandon Miller and Jahvon Quinerly about the Darius Miles capital murder charge and Miller’s involvement. Despite repeating the same answers over and over, the questions kept coming. But on Sunday, there was a reprieve as it felt in Tuscaloosa after Alabama beat Auburn for the regular-season title. For a few hours, Alabama can celebrate this win before needing to get ready for its first-round matchup in Birmingham.
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