No. 4 Alabama men’s basketball likely has a starting lineup change on the way. Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats all but said it in his press conference prior to the Missouri game.
The starting lineup of Mark Sears, Chris Youngblood, Jarin Stevenson, Grant Nelson and Cliff Omoruyi seems on track to experience a change after running with that group for six straight games.
“We are going to experiment a little bit with some of that stuff, making sure there’s enough guys who can create offense. Enough shooters out there to keep the floor open. Get the appropriate lineups in. We did take a good hard look at that the last couple days.”
The question is, what does that look like? Oats ran through about all the scenarios Tuesday.
“Shooters, creators, a combination, we probably need at least two of the three,” Oats said. “Can you play Labaron (Philon) with Mark more to create, to get Mark easier shots? Can you play with (Aden) Holloway and Sears together? They can both create and shoot, to get each of them more shots? Can you play Labaron with either one of those so Labaron can create to get either one of them shots? If we do play Labaron with Mark, because Labaron doesn’t shoot it as well as (Holloway), (Youngblood) and Mark, can you put Labaron in there with two of (Youngblood) and Mark and Holloway? What does it do to us defensively if you put Labaron, Mark and Holloway in together because they’re all a little smaller?”
Does your head hurt yet? Understandable if so. Let’s simplify.
Sears, Philon and Holloway can all create scoring opportunities for themselves and for other teammates to score. That makes them what Alabama calls “creators.”
You need at least one on the floor to run an efficient offense. If a creator is also a scorer, then it’s advantageous to have two creators on the floor at one time. Then one creator can help set up another creator/shooter. That’s what it sounds like Alabama wants to consider doing; it becomes a bit of a necessity after a game in which the Crimson Tide tallied only eight assists against Auburn, a season-low.
So if Sears also has another creator on the floor, he can let that other creator set him up for shots and not force him to only create his own shots.
The most likely swap at this point is switching Youngblood out of the starting lineup for either Philon or Holloway. Switching in Philon would make the most sense because that’s the lineup Alabama ran for eight consecutive games before swapping Philon for Youngblood. Youngblood can give Alabama scoring, but he’s not considered a creator.
“We love what CY is giving us with shooting, toughness, leadership all that,” Oats said. “The issue is, as good a shooter as he is, there’s a lot of things I love about him, but Mark’s probably the only creator in the starting lineup. It helps to have Mark and Holloway or Mark and Labaron together.”
Youngblood can be a valuable player for Alabama off the bench, but it seems to make the most sense to add another creator to the lineup for the gauntlet stretch to close out the regular season.
