It’s no secret that Alabama has a dang good basketball team this year, a team that many have asked, how can you beat the Crimson Tide when they’re so explosive on the offensive side on the court? Well, we might have found our answer from former College Basketball Head Coach Sonny Smith. On Saturday morning, Head Coach Sonny Smith joined Rob Browne on Sidelines.live and was asked the question by Mitch Davis about the keys to slowing down Nate Oats and his Alabama Crimson Tide basketball team.

After a short pause, Head Coach Sonny Smith gave the best response that one could ever imagine. Coach Smith took his time and explained an in-depth basketball answer to the audience.

Coach Smith explained to beat Alabama. You have to run a mixture of three different defensive schemes throughout the game to slow the Crimson Tide down. After all, Alabama is a team that can flat out shoot the outside shot but also can beat you inside with their rebounding and second-chance points. Coach Smith also mentioned these three defensive schemes were the key to limiting Alabama on the glass, which in return would give their opponent more opportunity to score on the other end of the court.

Coach Smith mentioned using several hybrid defensives to stop the Alabama firepower on offense. With the two main ones being the Box and One and Triangle and Two. Both defensives are a Zone and man to man hybrid with the emphasis on extending the coverage to force Alabama to throw over the top and taking them out of their comfort zone from behind the arc with the three-point shot.

The only thing with that is Alabama can also beat you down lown with post players. At this rate, though on paper, the only three teams remaining are Arkansas, Michigan, and Gonzaga. With the way the bracket is set up, Alabama would have to play Michigan in the Elite 8 and Gonzaga in the Final Four, before having to play Arkansas in the Championship game.

Only time will tell if anybody uses Coach Sonny Smith’s advice on how to beat Nate Oats and the Alabama Crimson Tide.