With reloaded roster, Alabama is chasing wins in ultra-competitive SEC

Head coach Kristy Curry’s Crimson Tide lost 10 of 16 SEC games in the 2021-22 season, but by 2023-24, Alabama’s SEC win percentage had nearly doubled.

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Coincidentally or not, Alabama’s upward trajectory began as two new faces joined the team in the fall of 2022. Sarah Ashlee Barker and Aaliyah Nye transferred to Alabama as juniors, previously playing for Georgia and Illinois, respectively. Now graduate students, the pair decided to postpone declaring for the WNBA draft to finish the job in Tuscaloosa.

Curry says she felt pride when she got calls from both players announcing their returns.

“Believe me, I’m sure there were a lot of calls coming through in certain ways that shouldn’t have been,” Curry told The Next. “But they stayed. They believed, and we’re excited.”

As a senior, Barker was named to the All-SEC First Team, while Nye was named to the second team after setting the single-season program record for three-pointers made with 108.

When asked if she’s going to try to beat her own record, Nye said she won’t if she keeps thinking about it.

“At the end of the day it’s not about the records,” Nye said. “I just want to win games.”

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Six other members of the 2024 roster are returning for another year, which Nye says influenced her decision to return for a last run. Among the returners is sophomore forward Essence Cody, a four-time SEC Freshman of the Week who earned a spot on the conference’s All-Freshman team.

Building on her stellar freshman year, Cody is looking to get even better, beginning with staying out of early foul trouble and working on her game outside the paint. Cody led the Crimson Tide in rebounding and blocked shots in her freshman season and is hoping to improve her versatility in year two.

“To do what she did in a league that’s dominated by older players was really special,” Curry said.

As a newcomer, Cody looked up to junior guard Karly Weathers for her energy and encouragement. With a new batch of rookies coming into the program, Cody hopes to be that person for someone else.

“Every day we’re pushing each other,” Cody said. “[It] doesn’t matter if you’re a freshman or a transfer, I feel like every day, we just work together on things. We hang out outside of basketball, we just get to know each other to help us get better on the court.”

Of the six newcomers to Alabama’s roster, three are freshmen and three are transfer students with high hopes of making the season count. Arkansas transfer Zaay Green joins the Crimson Tide for her sixth collegiate season and is ready to do her best with the new opportunity.

Green started her college career in 2018 at Tennessee, where she played until sustaining an injury two games into the 2019-20 season. Green then transferring to Texas A&M in the SEC for the 2020-21 season, before eventually transferring to Arkansas Pine Bluff.

The graduate guard ultimately chose to return to the SEC with Alabama for a chance to work with Curry and the Alabama coaching staff.

“She’s a good person to be around, learn from and grow around,” Green said of Curry. “She really cares about our well-being.”

Praise is heard across the board for the veteran coach who’s been with the Crimson Tide for the past 11 years and took the team to three NCAA Tournament appearances.

“She wants the best for you on the basketball court and outside the basketball court,” Nye said.

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Hopes are up for the Crimson Tide going into the upcoming season. With the addition of two new teams to the conference, Alabama’s “it just means more” slogan is as relevant as ever.

“It just became a lot bigger meaning of more,” Curry said. “I think that as a competitor, as a coach, you want to play against the best, be challenged night in and night out. There’s no day off.”

Curry spent seven seasons in the Big 12 coaching Texas Tech and is familiar with the newcomers, Texas and Oklahoma. Most of the roster is particularly familiar with the Vic Schaefer’s Longhorns, who took Alabama out of the NCAA Tournament in the second round in 2024.

Alabama is ready for a deeper run in the NCAA tournament, but acknowledges the challenges that will come its way. The SEC is home to the last two national champions, South Carolina and LSU, and counts other big names like Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi State.

There are a lot of uncertainties in a college basketball season, but Curry knows one thing:

“It’s gonna be a really fun time for SEC women’s basketball.”