According to head coach Nate Oats, the Alabama men’s basketball team had a good month of practice. The Crimson Tide is more focused on 5v5 team concepts than at this time of year, due to a foreign tour to Spain and France from August. 5-14.
Summer practice gave Oats and his team a look at seven new players in Alabama uniforms, and they drew criticism, Oats told the Crimson Tide Sports Network.
Below is what Oats had to say about the freshmen participating in the program and transfers.
F BRANDON MILLER, FRESH
“Brandon Miller is really talented. Smooth, tall, athletic, great body control, can really hit, high basketball IQ. He’s a high rated kid and he deserves it. He’s a guy I think will stay in the NBA for a long time. He’s the kind of player they’re looking for at that size and skill level. He’s been a great kid. It’s all about Alabama. He worked hard. He endeared himself to his teammates. But he’s definitely one of the best players on this team, and he’s proven himself as one of the more talented kids we’ve come to through this program.”
G MARK SEARS, JUNIOR
“Mark was really good. I knew you could score well in Ohio. He was a much better playmaker than I thought could come. He’s really good at reading. He’s an Alabama kid really into Alabama basketball, and you can understand that. He wants us to be good. He is eager to learn. And then he shoots. In Ohio, it hit 42 percent from three. We needed a shoot. (Jahvon) Quinerly and Jaden Bradley haven’t practiced yet, so it’s getting tons of replays at this point. With how well he hits him, we will be able to play both inside and outside the ball. But I think it was good for his development that he had to practice playing the key every day while these two were out, and he really got better. He learns our offense quickly and I love the boy very much. He is strong, tough, and shows some determination in defense. So it will add a lot to our program.”
G DOMINICK WELCH, CLASS STUDENT
“Dom gives us exactly what we need when we sign him – he shoots big shots with experience. He knows how to shoot, he knows how to open and how to play. He has a high IQ on the defensive side. It has size and hardness, and it’s strong. And he shoots. It was exactly what it was supposed to be.”
F NICK PRINGLE, JUNIOR
“Nick is finishing a class he had to finish to get here. He hasn’t come here yet. I think he works a lot at home. We watched videos, we kept in touch with him. I love him as a person but we haven’t had a chance to coach him here yet.“
F NOAH CLOWNEY, TAZE ADAM
“Clowney was really good. Better than I thought, more athletic than I thought. He just plays hard. He doesn’t act as a guard like Herb (Jones), but he can affect the game in many ways on the defensive side, as Herb did. Block shots, like holding hands to steal, react quickly to games and take the lead to block the shot, protect teammates well. Then he shoots in practice. It can be a trio, or a child between 6-10 can do it. So we are very happy with him.”
G RYLAN GRIFFEN, TAZE
“He’s shooting. He had a day in practice, went from three to 5-6 in the live stuff. So he’s learning the game. He needs to learn to defend better, but he’s a sponge. He wants to get better. He works hard, he’s athletic and he can shoot, and we needed a lot of help with our shots this year. Between Sears and Nimari (Burnett) and Dom Welch and Rylan, we’re going to be a better shooting team. We have more efficient shooters and that’s what we needed to do and Rylan will be a big part of that. Nimari had a day where she went from 3 to 7 to 8. There was a day when Rylan went 6 out of 5. Now, you can’t do that every day, but if we can get some consistency in shooting from some of these guys, we’re going to be a lot better.”
In addition to the new players, Oats welcomed the new addition to the coaching staff in new strength and conditioning coach Henry Barrera, who has spent the last seven years with Liberty.
“Henry is great,” Oats said. “He is a basketball player. Can they use the movement, how they move, the power they add, turn them into better basketball players, not bodybuilders, weightlifters? And I love his energy. On top of your stuff. It is cutting-edge in everything it does. It also adds a lot to the culture. I think he values men a lot.
“We’re saddened to see (Mike) Snowden leave and we had a great run with Mike during our time in Buffalo and here. It was a family decision, but it gave us the opportunity to add Henry to the mix, and I’m glad I was able to do it because I thought he would be really good. It was better than I thought it would be. All of our players benefit from having him here and he has added a lot to the cast.”
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