For much of the season, the Alabama Crimson Tide have been among the top tier of teams in college basketball, coming into their SEC Tournament matchup against the Florida Gators as the No. 5 ranked team in the country.
On paper, Alabama, who is coming off of a Final Four appearance last season that ended at the hands of the eventual National Champions, the UConn Huskies, seems like a relatively reasonable pick to potentially make a deep tournament run. Oddsmakers would agree, currently listing Alabama with the fifth best odds to cut down the nets.
However, on ESPN’s pregame coverage of the highly anticipated Florida-Alabama matchup, Jay Williams outlined how he believes that the two teams are on very different trajectories heading into the NCAA Tournament.
“Look, Florida is a team that can win a National Championship,” said Williams. “I do not think Alabama can. I do not think Alabama can. I think their guards are a little bit smaller, that’s just my P.O.V. But Florida can also lose this game.”
Even though Williams is obviously very pessimistic about Alabama’s roster compared to most, he did go on to highlight some of the strengths of the Crimson Tide.
“Watching the maturation of Labaron Philon. I mean, he is an absolute dude. It takes so much pressure off of Mark Sears because Mark Sears can do so much off the dribble penetration. Philon’s ability to knock down shots and just the poise he is playing with makes this such a lethal backcourt. You know, Aden Holloway on a smaller level. Can he give them some points off the bench? But I think their bigs chasing down those offensive rebounds could be critical as well.”
“Florida is a team that can win a National Championship. I do not think Alabama can.” – Jay Williams on College GameDay 🏀🎙️ #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/CdOzqQntBI
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 15, 2025
It’s particularly interesting to hear Williams speak so highly of both Mark Sears and Labaron Philon but then also share the contrarian take that he believes their backcourt height is the reason that they cannot win a National Championship.
Only time will tell whether Williams ends up being right or not. But when it came time for the two teams to take the floor Saturday afternoon, Florida certainly gave Williams’ comments some credence.
After a competitive first half, Florida blitzed Alabama with a 57-point second half to come away with a decisive 104-82 victory.
SEMIFINAL ✅#GoGators | Presented by @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/4a0avRb2yM
— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) March 15, 2025
