How Did the SEC Season Prepare Alabama for Duke?

Newark, N.J. - Alabama finished the SEC regular season third in the conference with a 13-5 record in conference play. While 13-5 is not a record many Alabama fans expected, the competition level in the SEC made 13 wins an impressive number. Only Florida (14) and Auburn (15) had more wins than the Crimson Tide during the SEC regular season.

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The SEC also broke the record for the number of teams in the NCAA tournament, with 14 teams out of a 16-team conference making the field of 68 teams who played in the NCAA tournament.

The grind of the SEC schedule was no joke in 2025, and for Alabama, it's paid off. The Tide has yet to face a team top-20 in Kenpom in the NCAA tournament. Eight SEC teams populate the top 20, and Alabama played seven of them during the regular season (Alabama is the eighth team).

However, that will change on Saturday night, as Alabama will face the No. 1 team in the country according to the Kenpom rankings - the Duke Blue Devils.

"Especially our last seven games in the SEC really prepared us for games like this," Alabama guard Mark Sears said on Friday. "The SEC is really talented, and this team is really talented. Like I said, the conference it really prepared us well, and I feel like we're battle-tested."

Yeah, just to piggyback off of what Mark said, we've played in a lot of meaningful games against a lot of good teams," Chris Youngblood said. "We understand what it takes to win it. We've lost some close games, too, so we understand the value of each possession in high-level games like this. So we'll be ready."

Even though the SEC schedule prepared Alabama for the matchup with Duke, head coach Nate Oats is still ensuring his team is locked in and prepared for the matchup.

"Duke causes issues on both sides of the ball. They're top 5 in the country in offensive and defensive efficiency. We've got to be really locked in on both sides of the ball," Oats said on Friday during media availability.

"They've got multiple first-round picks, multiple lottery picks, so there's plenty of matchups we've got to be concerned with."

"Obviously, everybody is going to look to Cooper, and he's a super-talented player and really good. We're going to have to try different things and see who kind of becomes maybe our best matchup there and see what we can do."

"But they've also got some other really good players that are going to play in the NBA a long time. They have one of the best rim protectors in the country in Maluach- But he's extremely good."

"It's hard to score them at the rim. They've got Knueppel, who shoots it really well, and Sion James and Proctor, who shoots it great. They're good, got length everywhere. That's why they're good on defense. We're going to have our hands full."

"But we've played against tough teams all year. I think we've played pretty well. In our last regular season game, we were on the road at Auburn. Auburn played these guys tough; we played Kentucky, and Kentucky beat this team. It was a long time ago."

"So I think our league has got us ready for it, but we're going to have to play well."

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.