3 Things You Need to Know About North Florida Basketball

Alabama returns home tonight to face the North Florida Ospreys after a disappointing finish to the NIT Season Tip-Off tournament last week. This game will give the Crimson Tide an opportunity to add a much-needed win to its record and continue to improve before a tough non-conference stretch at the end of the month. 

There's a pretty good chance you don't know a thing about tonight's opponent, and that's fine. Let us fill you in on three things you should know about the Ospreys heading into tonight's matchup.

1. There is a lot of youth on the roster

While North Florida already has nine games under its belt, there's still a ton of inexperience on this roster. Of the four eligible upperclassmen, two are first-year players that transferred into the program. The team also starts one sophomore and two freshman and has a total of seven underclassmen. True freshman Dallas Moore, a two-time all-state performer in high school, is the team's second-leading scorer at 11.2 ppg.

2. North Florida's RPI is well over 200

As you know, RPI influences the selection committee's decision when tourney time rolls around. Alabama hasn't picked up a win against a top 100 opponent yet and won't have the opportunity to change that tonight. But adding a bad loss to the résumé might prove too damaging to overcome with the lack of strength in the SEC.

3. Head coach Matthew Driscoll loves gamedays

I could have gone into series history (Alabama leads 2-0), talked about the previous meeting in 2011, or that the Ospreys hung with Florida in the season opener, but I decided to go a different direction. This video fit perfectly for tonight's game, which coincidentally falls on a hump day.