After a much-needed week off for the guys to focus on exams, the 12th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide get ready to welcome in the top-ranked team in the country – the undefeated Arizona Wildcats. The game will be played in Legacy Arena at the BJCC in Birmingham Saturday night for this year’s edition of the C.M. Newton Classic. Tommy Lloyd’s team has been a total wagon this season, most recently beating the brakes off of Auburn (an increasingly regular occurrence for Bruce’s son!) 97-68 in Tucson last Saturday. They’ve complimented that win with victories over Florida, UConn, and UCLA, each away from home. As difficult as Alabama’s schedule has been in non-conference play so far, this might be the toughest test on the slate.
What: The 2025 C.M Newton Classic: #1 Arizona (8-0) vs #12 Alabama (7-2)
Where: Legacy Arena at the BJCC – Birmingham, AL
When: 8:30 pm CT, Saturday
When you think about how to build a dominant basketball team in the year 2025, Tommy Lloyd basically followed that script to a tee with his roster – multiple bigs who can run the floor and own the glass, a game-changing wing like Koa Peat (15.9 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 3.1 APG on 56.3% shooting), a couple of knock-down shooters, and a veteran point guard to bring it all together like Jaden Bradley (14.5 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 3.8 APG on 58.8%/53.8%/78.4%) – perhaps you’ve heard of him? Zona is big (7th in average height), but fast (36th in tempo). Skilled (22nd in eFG%), yet physical (8th in OREB%). And they rank in the top ten in both offensive (9th) and defensive (10th) efficiency. There’s basically nothing that they do poorly. This is probably the best team Lloyd has had in his time in Tucson, and they look remarkably like the elite Gonzaga teams that he was an assistant with in the late 2010s.
Yet the Tide is favored. Any questions?
This is the last – and maybe greatest – test of non-conference play. A win Saturday night in Birmingham would send signals to the SEC and the rest of the country that – while some other teams in the conference have been disappointing – the Tide remains a true contender nationally. I’d argue a strong finish to the out of conference slate would put Alabama squarely as the favorite to win the SEC. Arizona has looked incredible early on – forming a quartet of early Final Four favorites with Duke, Iowa State, and – of course – Michigan, who has looked utterly terrifying with UAB transfer Yaxel Lendeborg leading the way. You can’t ask for a better opportunity than this.
I’ll be on hand for this one, but I encourage anyone not making the trip to meet back here for the Game Thread. Roll Tide y’all, and Hope for the Best.
