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The Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team recently unveiled a new jersey incorporating throwback elements of their past jerseys with a clean look that excited Bama fans.
The reveal on Instagram was well-appreciated by Crimson Tide fans, who flooded the post with positive comments about the alternate jersey with white side stripes and prominently featured A logo.
"Bringing my victory cigar," a fan posted.
Alabama basketball has a mixed week
Ahead of the Alabama Crimson Tide's clash against the Tennessee Volunteers, the mood was positive around the team, with ESPN's "College GameDay" camping in Tuscaloosa for the clash.
Controversial Alabama coach Nate Oats noted the program's growth since becoming head coach.
“First time in program history that 'College GameDay' is here for Alabama basketball," Oats said. "The program’s come a long ways that they want to come here for a game.”
Rece Davis, the host of "College GameDay" and Bama alum, also pointed out just how far his former team had come and praised coach Nate Oats:
"I think there are some similarities in that regard. The one thing that is really impressive about this era is that everybody’s at full strength in the SEC right now. And they’ve been really impressive in the way they’ve been able to compete consistently.
“He’s (Oats) one of the finest coaches in the country. He’s really bright, he’s innovative. He doesn’t let his players play with freedom—he insists on it. They play a style that’s fun to watch, and he gets his players to buy into it.”
After all the pre-game positivity, the Tide lost 81-74 to the Vols, which dropped them to No. 2 in the conference table, needing Tennessee to lose to allow them a chance to win the regular season title.
Oats admitted that the regular season championship was out of Bama's hands after the loss to the Volunteers.
“We have no shot of winning if we don’t come out and go 2-0,” Oats said. “So we gotta come out ready to play, give it a championship-level effort and let the chips fall where they may with Tenneseee’s two games this week.”
Nate Oats revealed the motivation that he's using to fire up his team despite the loss to Tennessee.
“I also told them, we gotta be playing our best basketball,” Oats said. “I talked to them about UConn last year. UConn did not with the Big East. They didn’t win their regular season or the tournament and then went and won the national championship.
“There’s things teams are playing for beyond just the one game in front of them, but we’ve gotta get momentum going into March. The SEC Tournament, the NCAA Tournament, we need to be playing our best basketball.”
Whether or not the Crimson Tide can go on to repeat UConn's heroics, they will have to get over their inconsistency issues before the NCAA Tournament begins.
