Happy Monday, everyone. After a promising start, the Alabama women’s basketball team had about the worst week imaginable, with losses to Auburn and Tennessee.
Coming off back-to-back losses to Auburn and No. 20 Tennessee, the No. 21 Crimson Tide (17-3, 3-3 SEC) have a lot to work on ahead of its matchup with Mississippi State on Jan. 25. From there, the schedule gets even tougher with five more ranked matchups awaiting, including four top-six matchups.
The to-do list includes getting a key player back from injury and improving on something that coach Kristy Curry went back to a few times during her post-game press conference following a 70-59 loss to Tennessee on Sunday.
To be fair they have been without star forward Essence Cody, which has highlighted a lack of frontcourt depth. Like the men’s team, they now have a week off and hope she will be ready to go on Sunday.
The Gym Tide performed well but lost a close one in Gainesville this weekend.
“[To begin this year,] we’ve been approaching each meet like it’s our sixth meet – halfway through the season, knowing we can handle anything. We’ve gone in with the mentality that no matter what the chaos a rotation brings, we know we can handle it – to be present, to be where our feet are, and I think the team did a really great job of stepping up tonight.
“I feel like championship teams are those that can go five up-five count when it matters. I think that moment [on beam after Cawley’s fall as leadoff], while it stung a lot as the win was in our grasp, I do think that moment is going to be the push and the drive that carries this team even further. We have to be thankful for moments like that because they prepare us for cutthroat environments. This was an amazing environment, but the team was certainly nervous. They train for that but there’s nothing quite like having to go five up-five count in that situation. I think it made us better. We’re going to learn from it, figure out what we need to tweak and put it into our practice next week.”
They went toe-to-toe with the top ranked team on the road. That should portend well for their chances going forward.
Nate Oats wasn’t pleased with his team’s starts last week, despite the fact that they won both matchups on the road.
The Crimson Tide also trailed Mississippi State by double digits in the first half earlier in the week. At one point the Bulldogs grabbed a 14-point lead before the break when they went up 29-15 with 8:13 left.
In both circumstances, Alabama responded. On Saturday against the Sooners, the Crimson Tide started the second half with a 12-0 run; Aiden Sherrell kicked things off with a dunk and tallied five points over that run. Houston Mallette also drained a triple.
“I did think inserting Houston in the starting lineup, and I didn’t think it was as much about who came out of the lineup as just putting Houston in there for any one of pretty much any of them outside of Aiden Sherrell, just to get our energy where it needed to be,” Oats said. “And he got it to where it needed to be to start the second half. So huge run to start the second half.”
The football team added an unranked high school prospect to the roster.
Alabama football continues to bolster its receiver room that had scholarship numbers dwindle after the 2025 season.
Maurice Mathis Jr. has committed to play for Alabama, according to reports from On3 and 247Sports.
The 2026 recruit played for Houston County High School and is from Warner Robins, Georgia.
He also had offers from Samford, Vanderbilt, Appalachian State, Arkansas State, South Florida and others. Mathis does not have a star ranking, per the 247Sports Composite. He had been committed to Samford since July 30, 2025.
Someone must have seen something in him and more depth is still needed. Needless to say, he shouldn’t be expected to see the field much this season.
This was a huge weekend in the portal for Alabama. They started out by adding three offensive linemen to the mix, then finished off the weekend with a pair of needed defenders. Colin Gay has a rundown of what the offensive depth chart might look like.
Alabama lost quite a few pieces on its offensive line, leaving Michael Carroll as the only returning starter from the 2025 squad. But the Crimson Tide has turned its roster around during the portal period, adding players like Nick Brooks, Kaden Strayhorn and Ty Haywood: players with relative inexperience, but potential and multiple seasons of eligibility. Alabama seems to have its starter to replace Parker Brailsford in Cal Poly transfer Racin Delgatty, who has multiple seasons of eligibility. Alabama does not have a set offensive line yet in 2026. It has pieces to play around with. Finding the right five will be a key storyline by season’s start. But the pieces in the running seem to be coming together.
The offensive line will be the most interesting battle outside of quarterback. Colin has Ethan Fields penciled in at one guard spot, likely due to his level of experience. We’ll just have to see how it shakes out, but there is ample talent to field a quality offensive line.
The national championship game is tonight, and Indiana is heavily favored. Former Alabama prospect James Brockermeyer spoke about the matchup.
Among the offensive linemen for Miami will be an ex-member of the Crimson Tide. James Brockermeyer transferred in this season, after leaving TCU, where he had gone after entering the portal following three seasons at Alabama.
Indiana’s reputation is one of Nick Saban-esque perfection. The Hoosiers don’t beat themselves and don’t make mistakes, something Brockermeyer said extends to their line play.
“They have a really good understanding of their defense,” Brockermeyer said. “You can just tell by the way they play and fly around and they have a lot of confidence in the way they play and their D-coordinator does such a good job of putting them in spots to be successful.
“You can just tell they have a really good understanding of how offensive lines are going to handle certain looks they present. It’s a really good unit top to bottom and it’s going to be a big challenge for us.”
It’s been well documented that both head coaches trained under Nick Saban.
“That’s a Ph.D. now,” Miami offensive line coach Alex Mirabal, who has worked with Cristobal through his career and known the coach since he was 14, told AL.com Saturday. “You got a Ph.D. now on how to run a coaching staff. Certain things that you cannot compromise in terms of recruiting. I think it would be those things.
“What do you have to squeeze people about? What do you have to kind of ease up on. Those kind of things. But he got his Ph.D..”
Last, Alabama cheer won another national championship.
The University of Alabama cheer team secured its second national title in as many seasons, as the Crimson Tide’s performance in the final round of the UCA Division IA All Girl Championship cemented its status as national champions. Alabama posted a 93.5 in the event’s final round, clearing South Florida and the Bulls’ runner-up score of 89.6.
The national championship is the Tide’s eighth in program history and is the squad’s fourth all-time in the event, including its first since 2022.
After garnering a national title in the UCA Division IA Co-Ed event a season ago, Alabama closed fourth-overall in this year’s competition, producing a final score of 87.1.
We’ll always take a national championship around here.
That’s about it for today. Have a great week.
Roll Tide.
