On Monday, Alabama acquired a dose of excellent information forward of its 2025 NCAA Event run.
Per Alabama.com’s Nick Kelly, ahead Grant Nelson (knee) is questionable for Friday’s Spherical of 64 recreation in opposition to No. 15 seed Robert Morris (26-8, 15-5 in Horizon), with head coach Nate Oats optimistic he‘ll be accessible for a possible second-round recreation on Sunday.
”We dodged one,” Oats mentioned.
On Saturday, Nelson suffered a knee harm throughout the first half of Alabama’s 104-82 SEC Event semifinal loss to eventual tourney-champion Florida (30-4, 14-4 in SEC).
On Sunday, CBS Sports activities school basketball insider Jon Rothstein shared Nelson deliberate to see a knee specialist and that his standing for the NCAA Event was unclear.
Nelson, a fifth-year senior in his second season at Alabama after three seasons at North Dakota State (2020-23), is averaging 11.8 factors per recreation on a career-best 52.8 % area objective proportion in 2024-25.
Nelson is the Crimson Tide’s second-leading scorer and main rebounder, averaging 7.6 rebounds per recreation.
Alabama (25-8, 13-5 in SEC) is a No. 2 seed within the East Area. Final 12 months, the Tide have been a No. 1 seed and reached the Remaining 4 for the primary time in program historical past. They’re a veteran squad, rating eighth in KenPom’s expertise metric amongst tourney groups, which ought to assist them keep away from an early upset, even with out Nelson.
Whereas he‘s thought of questionable, Alabama can possible afford to present Nelson additional relaxation, permitting him to be prepared for a second-round recreation in opposition to No. 7 seed Saint Mary’s (28-5, 17-1 in WCC) or No. 10 seed Vanderbilt (20-12, 8-10 in SEC)
Alabama is No. 6 in NET and KenPom. It performs on the nation’s quickest tempo and leads the nation in scoring (91.1 factors per recreation).
With Grant avoiding the worst-case situation together with his knee, the Tide are unlikely to decelerate.
