Alabama

March is here. Alabama basketball needs to wake up fast

Published

2 years ago

March 6, 2024

March is here. Alabama basketball needs to wake up fast

Two things can be true at once.

First truth: the Alabama basketball schedule of late hasn’t been easy; No. 4 Tennessee at home before No. 25 Florida on the road in a four-day span is nothing at which to scoff. Plus, Alabama has played three of its last four games on the road.

Second truth: The Crimson Tide isn’t playing its best basketball right now. It doesn’t matter the opponent, and it doesn’t matter the circumstance. Alabama is capable of better.

The combination of the two truths resulted in back-to-back SEC losses for the first time in two years. The latest was a 105-87 loss to the Gators on Tuesday in Gainesville.

It’s concerning to say the least. Is it time to panic, though? Maybe, maybe not. However, it is certainly time for Alabama to shake off these losses and right the ship. It’s not sinking, but it’s starting to take on some water, ultimately slowing it down.

A vessel that’s not full steam ahead in March isn’t going to stay afloat too long in the postseason.

“We have to bounce back and be ready to go on Saturday and see what seed we can get going into Nashville,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said.

The Crimson Tide can’t seem to get everything to line up lately. Just when the defense started playing better against Tennessee, the offense disappeared. That trend continued in the first half against Florida. With Alabama shooting 10% from beyond the arc, the defense kept the Crimson Tide in the game.

Until it didn’t.

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“We let some offensive frustrations lead to some defensive letdowns that led to them opening it up,” Oats said.

In the final five minutes of the first half, Florida scored 18 points to take a nine-point halftime lead. That continued in the second half with the Gators’ lead ballooning to 23 at one point. The Gators’ points per possession grew to 1.452 in the second half.

“You can play great defense for 4-5 minutes, offense isn’t going well, you have a couple turnovers, you miss some open shots, that can’t frustrate you if you’re really a defensive-minded team,” Oats said. “Right now, we’ve got too many guys getting frustrated and then having too many letdowns.”

Alabama gave up 27 fast-break points and only scored eight. Florida had 13 assists to Alabama’s six. The Crimson Tide only blocked one shot compared to four for the Gators. Alabama also had only half as many steals as Florida.

Turnovers were once again an issue for the Crimson Tide for a second consecutive game. In six of the past nine games, Alabama has reached double-digit turnovers.

Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide’s shooting from deep has slowed. Alabama has made 14 of 60 (23%) of its 3-point attempts the past two games. The Crimson Tide doesn’t have to hit triples at a constant high clip to win, but it needs to be better than that.

Some of this can be fixed, some of it might not be. But either way, rest would be a good first step.

“It looked like we were tired tonight to be honest with you,” Oats said. “We’ve got to do a better job. We’re off (Wednesday). Need to get rested, get in with the trainer, get a bunch of treatment, make sure we’re not going too hard Thursday, Friday, get their bodies and minds fresh ready to play Saturday, and then get ready to try to make a run in Nashville.”

All is not lost. Sure, the SEC regular-season title continues to slip away, but a good seed in the SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament are still attainable. Alabama just needs to find a way to stop slipping down this path and halt the losing before it becomes a losing streak.

Simply put, it’s time for the Crimson Tide to wake up. Otherwise, any dreams of a tournament run will most certainly disappear.

Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men’s basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

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Alabama

Kalen DeBoer, Curt Cignetti’s Alabama-Indiana coaching paths meet in Rose Bowl

Published

8 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Press Room

Kalen DeBoer, Curt Cignetti’s Alabama-Indiana coaching paths meet in Rose Bowl

BLOOMINGTON, IN – A self-professed film junkie, Curt Cignetti actually got an unintended head start on Alabama prep earlier this season.

The Crimson Tide played games during both of Indiana’s idle weeks this season, and Cignetti confessed he’s “always enjoyed studying coach (Kalen) DeBoer’s offenses.” So, without necessarily meaning to, IU’s coach managed to get eyes on the Hoosiers’ Rose Bowl opponent long before Cignetti know what would await him in Pasadena.

“They do a lot of really great stuff,” Cignetti said. “They’ve got a lot of great players, are extremely well-coached. They’re a really good team, and a tremendous challenge.”

That complimentary nod from one sideline to the other Monday afternoon reflected a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game steeped in intrigue, its two programs remarkably interwoven not least by the journeys of their two coaches.

Cignetti and DeBoer spent time during bowl-organized Zoom sessions praising one another’s success, and considering the similarities in their respective career paths.

From 10,000 feet, Indiana vs. Alabama in the Rose Bowl will be billed as a clash of new and old money. Of Southern establishment against Midwest revolution. History and heritage colliding with so many of modern college football’s overturned conventions.

On the ground, though, it presents a fascinating case study into the binding ties of a sport that’s never quite as far removed from itself as it thinks. And it pits against one another two programs that have never met on the field, yet remain unusually influential on one another today.

Curt Cignetti, Kalen DeBoer mirror one another’s coaching paths with stops at Alabama, Indiana

Their respective histories with one another’s current employers are the only meaningful points of intersection, career-wise, between DeBoer and Cignetti.

DeBoer spent one year as Tom Allen’s offensive coordinator, helping Indiana reach its first Florida-based January bowl game (at a time when that still carried greater meaning) in 2019.

And Cignetti spent four years as part of Nick Saban’s first Alabama staff, coaching wide receivers and coordinating recruiting for the program Cignetti eventually helped win a national championship.

But they’ve both distinguished themselves in their profession through their willingness to climb the coaching pyramid: From outside Division I, through lower levels as either a head coach or coordinator, all the way up to the sport’s biggest stage.

“Knowing coach Cignetti and — you referred to it — his path, nothing but respect for how he’s done it, how he’s gotten to this spot,” DeBoer said.

Cignetti’s path is well documented at this point: He left Tuscaloosa for Division II Indiana-Pennsylvania (IUP), coaching six years at the same school where his father built a hall-of-fame career before moving up through Elon, James Madison and Indiana. He routinely cites that experience as formative now.

DeBoer’s own arc is not that different.

The former Sioux Falls wide receiver won three NAIA national titles with his alma mater before taking coordinator jobs at Southern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Fresno State and Indiana, then landing his first head job back in Fresno.

In just five full seasons since — Fresno State only played six games in DeBoer’s first season due to COVID-19 — he’s won 54 games, guiding Washington to the national championship game and now Alabama to the playoff.

In an era when breaking into Power Four coaching without Power Four bloodlines has become increasingly difficult, each of the men captaining a Rose Bowl sideline come New Year’s Day will have earned his way to that moment through his willingness to walk the less-traveled road.

“I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” DeBoer said. “I think all of it goes into just being built for these moments.”

Kalen DeBoer is a historical marker of IU football’s growth

If their experiences have indeed built them that way, then what on their paths is shared has built the programs they bring with them.

DeBoer spent just one season at Indiana, but he has with him on staff several faces familiar to Indiana and its fans.

Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack and co-offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan were on staff in Bloomington with DeBoer. Director of sports performance David Ballou worked in Bloomington before joining Nick Saban’s staff, and DeBoer held him over through the coaching change. Rick Danison, a longtime member of IU’s strength staff, now works with Ballou in Tuscaloosa.

Even DeBoer himself still represents something increasingly important in Bloomington.

When Tom Allen hired him from Fresno State, IU handed DeBoer what was then the richest contract given to one of its coordinators. By the time his one season at Indiana finished — inclusive of bonuses and incentives — DeBoer landed just short of becoming the Hoosiers’ first million-dollar coordinator.

That number seems small now, when compared to the eight-figure salary Cignetti now commands, or the new three-year contract Bryant Haines signed this month expected to be worth in the region of $3 million annually.

They all represent the same basic idea: Indiana spent the best part of two decades spending meaningfully on football with the ultimate goal of eventually climbing to the place it occupies today.

“I felt like when we were there, there was a growth, an investment that was happening, and there was success,” DeBoer said. “Coach Cignetti has done a great job providing the spark, which really leads people continuing to be all in. As you get more people all in, you get the moments that you’re in right now.

“It works off each other — the energy and the commitment to the success.”

Curt Cignetti’s Indiana football a flavor of Nick Saban’s Alabama

Cignetti knows Alabama even better, in some ways, than DeBoer knows Indiana.

It was his last stop (of several) as an assistant before beginning his head-coaching career. It was where he won a national championship under Saban.

And it offered Cignetti an experience he refers back to now, almost daily.

“I probably think about it every single day,” Cignetti said.

Cignetti is not shy about referring to his blueprint — an all-encompassing philosophical approach to running his program he adheres to religiously. He even has a self-published handbook on many of its fundamentals to use like a sort of program bible.

Ask Cignetti about the mentors and experiences that helped him build that structure, and he’ll take you on a journey through his football life. From growing up watching his father, Frank Cignetti Sr., to his time at Pitt with Johnny Majors and Walt Harris, through to his time working under Chuck Amato at NC State.

Cignetti’s years at Alabama, which he spent watching perhaps the best program builder in college football history, remain among his most formative.

“Philosophically, the program we run here is probably a lot more the same than different at Alabama,” he said. “There’s probably not a day that goes by where I don’t draw from those experiences.”

He will carry them onto the Pasadena grass in less than two weeks’ time, his program’s first Rose Bowl victory and a place in the playoff semifinal on the line.

That game will come with all kinds of outside noise and meaning. It will be cast as representing many things, some more legitimate than others.

Few more so than the fundamental truth that both Indiana and Alabama will arrive to that moment in a remarkable number of ways because of one another, the connections that bind them together defining their respective journeys to Jan. 1, 2026.

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Alabama

Alabama D-lineman LT Overton cleared to return for playoff quarterfinals

Published

20 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Press Room

Alabama D-lineman LT Overton cleared to return for playoff quarterfinals

Alabama defensive lineman LT Overton has been cleared to return from an undisclosed illness, sources confirm to BamaOnLine. Overton will play in the Crimson Tide’s Rose Bowl matchup with Indiana on New Year’s Day. CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz first reported the Overton news.

Earlier on Tuesday, Overton stated, “Back like I never left,” on his Instagram story.

On Monday, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer provided an update on Overton’s progress.

“LT, just continue to monitor him,” DeBoer said. “Definitely not ruling him out right now, but we’ll continue to evaluate him and see how things go here in the days ahead.”

Overton has missed the last two games because of an illness. The senior started the first 12 games of Alabama’s 2025 season before being ruled out for the SEC Championship Game. He is second on the team in sacks (4) and has recorded 35 tackles and six tackles for loss.

Overton’s return will be a boost for an Alabama defense that recorded a season-high five sacks in its 34-24 playoff win over Oklahoma. One of Overton’s backups, Keon Keeley, had one of the five sacks. The senior was missed in the Crimson Tide’s SEC title game loss to Georgia.

DeBoer said on Monday that Alabama was “as healthy as we’ve been in a long time.” The Tide offense was nearly at full strength in Norman. Now, the defense is healthy with Overton back.

Alabama will play Indiana in Pasadena, Calif., on Thursday, January 1, at 3 p.m. CT (ESPN).

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Alabama

Alabama in the NFL: Former Heisman winner among best from Week 16

Published

1 day ago

December 23, 2025

Press Room

Alabama in the NFL: Former Heisman winner among best from Week 16

Yet another week of NFL action has passed, and once again, it was a huge slate for Alabama Crimson Tide football.

A slate of games in which multiple teams clinched playoff berths, former Alabama players were back in action this past weekend at the professional level, with many going on to make significant impacts in their respective games. Some of those same names were also recently named to the 2026 Pro Bowl, only adding to what has been a solid overall season for the Crimson Tide in the NFL.

With the likes of Jalen Hurts, Malachi Moore, and Bryce Young among the names who also enjoyed a big week, here are five of Alabama’s top performing former players during Week 16 in the NFL.

Derrick Henry, Running Back – Baltimore Ravens

The former Heisman Trophy winner was likely Alabama’s top offensive performance of Week 16, even despite losing a fumble in the Baltimore Ravens’ 28-24 loss to the New England Patriots. In all, Henry rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns on 18 attempts, translating to an average of 7.1 yards per carry.

Jonathan Allen, Defensive Tackle – Minnesota Vikings

In a week loaded with impressive defensive performances, there were likely none greater than that of Allen during a 16-13 win for the Minnesota Vikings over the New York Giants. Allen finished the game with eight total tackles, four of which were solo, along with one sack, two TFL, and one quarterback hit.

Will Reichard, Kicker – Minnesota Vikings

Another member of the Minnesota Vikings who made an impact in their 16-13 win over the New York Giants was the former Alabama kicker. Also making his lone extra point attempt, Reichard finished 3-for-3 on field goal attempts, a trio of makes that came from 43, 31, and 30 yards.

Jordan Battle, Safety – Cincinnati Bengals

Battle enjoyed a huge performance during the Bengals’ 45-21 win over the Miami Dolphins, leading Cincinnati with a total of 10 tackles. Of those 10 tackles, six from Battle were solo.

Marlon Humphrey, Cornerback – Baltimore Ravens

Rounding out Alabama’s top performances from NFL Week 16 was Humphrey, who enjoyed a solid showing despite the Baltimore Ravens’ 28-24 loss to the New England Patriots. Humphrey finished with six total tackles, all of which were solo, two pass defenses, and an interception.

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