Alabama Basketball: Comparing the 2014-15 Stats to Last Year

After a big 12-3 start, head coach Anthony Grant's squad is in good position to make a run for an NCAA tournament appearance. With another victory, the Crimson Tide will match their total win count from last season. So what has Alabama done differently for this impressive turnaround?

The first glaring statistic that the common basketball fan wants to know is how many points does a team score? If you can't score in basketball, then it's extremely difficult to win games.

Well Alabama, how many points are you scoring? So far this season, the Crimson Tide are averaging 70.5 points/game, the first time the Tide have averaged over 70 points/game under the watch of Anthony Grant. While that is just 121st in the country, it is significantly better than the 2013-2014 squad, which only mustered 67.8 points/game, good enough for 259th out of 351 teams.

During Grant's tenure at The Capstone, defense has been the staple dimension of the game. Last season was the "worst" of his six seasons in Tuscaloosa, as the Tide gave up 67.2 points per game. In comparison, this year Alabama has locked down on defense (against formidable opponents might I add), allowing almost six points per game less, at 61.7 points/game.

Assists are a good measure to how well a team distributes the ball around. Primarily, it speaks to how made baskets are set up, but also shows, in general, the overall teamwork that the team produces. This season so far, Alabama is averaging 12.1 assists/game. While this number is low, relative to the rest of college basketball, it is up from 11 assists/game from last year.

Combining the two previous stats, one can assert that Alabama is much more efficient on the offensive end of the court. Adding to that, Alabama is on pace to match last season's shooting percentage numbers. Currently, the Tide are shooting 44.7%, up very slightly from last season's 44.4%.

Alabama is shooting the ball at the same rate, however, they are moving the ball around much better and scoring more. This is a tell tale sign of better shot selection, which is quite evident if one has watched the past 15 games.

Another telling statistic that explains how Alabama has flipped the switch from last season to this season is rebounding. Rebounding is the key to basketball. If a team can't rebound missed shots, then it loses those extra opportunities to score easy baskets.

While both teams average 10 offensive rebounds/game, this season's squad has improved on the defensive end, out-rebounding the 2013-2014 team 24.3 to 22.8. Grant's 2014-2015 team is preventing extra looks at the basket, and combined with higher efficiency on the offensive end, is on its way to the second NCAA tournament berth under Grant's leadership.

Alabama also has three wins against current RPI Top 100 teams, of which the Crimson Tide ranks 39th, and have opportunities to increase that number with match-ups with Arkansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Auburn coming up on the schedule.

My magic number for Alabama? 24.

The Tide will need 24 wins to make it to the NCAA tournament, barring any bad losses. With the lack of signature wins on the schedule, and a limited amount of games left to be called "signature games," Alabama cannot afford a let down this season and still go dancing come March.