The Crimson White Print Edition - January 18, 2024

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6A Environmentally friendly transportation is a recurring theme in national headlines, especially as electric cars increase in popularity across the U.S. The University of Alabama’s EcoCAR team, which is currently competing in a fouryear competition to build a functioning electric vehicle, has seized on this interest. Madison O’Brien, a junior majoring in marketing, has been involved with the team since her freshman year. “We are currently in year two of the EcoCAR EV challenge, where we're working on a Cadillac Lyriq,” O’Brien said. Year one consisted primarily of planning and designing, and the team emphasized the importance of year two in the competition. “This year is where we take the vehicle from what rolled off the production line into our vehicle,” said Corban Walsh, a Master of Business Administration student and the organization’s project manager. This requires removing many parts of the previous car, for example, motors, and replacing them with the team’s own. By the end of the competition’s second year, the team needs to have a functioning vehicle to be competitive. Walsh said that in years three and four, the group will be “refining and perfecting” the vehicle. O’Brien said the UA team has existed since 2014 and is approaching 10 years of being on campus. The team has around 90 members from various majors, although most students are studying engineering. O’Brien said the team has had some success so far against its 12 competitors. “In year one of the competition, Alabama placed third overall,” O’Brien said. “And the communications team, we actually placed first overall.” The teams are scored in various ways. Each team is divided up into subteams, which compete against one another in different aspects of the competition. Nik Collins, the organization’s propulsion controls and modeling lead and a third-year doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering, explained how the competition works. “Throughout the entire year, we are consistently earning points through what are called ‘deliverables,’” Collins said. “It’s basically, we are submitting documents or other information throughout the year to competition that they grade and basically give us feedback on.” In years two, three and four of the four-year competition, the teams put their vehicles through a test drive. The following week, each group provides a presentation on its recent progress and future news + sports EcoCAR team competes to build green transportation Ethan Henry News Editor CW / Shelby West plans. Both stages are scored and factored into the competition. The current EcoCAR EV competition is just one of several Department of Energy-led Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions that the University has participated in. Others include past EcoCAR challenges and the ongoing Battery Workforce Challenge. The team has also collaborated with other UA organizations. In the fall, the group held an Earth Day cleanup event with the UA Environmental Council. The EcoCAR team’s equity and mobility subteam is currently working with UA Adapted Athletics to establish a system of rigs or hand controls that could be integrated into the vehicle to improve accessibility. Walsh emphasized the professional experience that his role has given him. “It’s a fairly large project,” he said. “We have multiple paid people and a fairly good budget, so it’s a nice step between going from a club on campus into, say, a job.” The competition is also international, as there are two Canadian teams participating, McMaster University and the University of Waterloo. O’Brien said McMaster University’s team recently visited Tuscaloosa for a small communications summit. “We actually ended up taking the Canadian school to an Alabama basketball game,” O’Brien said. Each semester, all teams meet for a workshop. The locations of these workshops vary; past locations include Boston and the University of California, Davis, and next month’s will be in Detroit at the American Axle & Manufacturing headquarters. This collaborative aspect of the competition can lead to connections across different campuses. “I'll be honest, I've got a lot of close friends on opposing schools just because I've seen them year after a year,” O’Brien said. Collins expressed a similar attitude about collaborating with other schools. “The coolest thing about EcoCAR is the fact that we get a lot of interactions with other universities,” Collins said. Those interested in joining the team can go to its website and fill out the prospective member form. The Iron Bowl: It’s not just football anymore Abby McCreary Sports Editor The entire state of Alabama and quite possibly the football world watched “Gravedigger” unfold last November, when Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe connected with wide receiver Isaiah Bond on fourth and 31 to win the Iron Bowl. For just over 130 years, an Iron Bowl win has mattered nearly as much as a national championship, divided more families than politics at Thanksgiving dinner, and remained even more unpredictable than Alabama tornado season. This game between the Crimson Tide and Tigers was introduced the same season football came to the universities, but over the years it has spread beyond the gridiron. The intrastate rivalry has extended to every sport the schools compete in, organizations and activities the schools share, and even charities the schools donate to. Alabama won the latest installment of the Iron Bowl, football’s 27-24 victory in Jordan-Hare Stadium, but here are the next three matchups in the storied rivalry. Women’s basketball at Auburn, Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. CT Basketball is quickly working its way into the Iron Bowl legacy, and women’s head coach Kristy Curry added her name to the legend with last year’s Crimson Tide victory — the ninth consecutive win. “To have nine in a row [against Auburn], which is a school record, just amazing,” Curry said. “Absolutely amazing and I'm so proud for our kids.” Since joining the Alabama program in 2013, Curry has gone 12-10 against the Tigers, and aside from some early losses, has learned to dominate the rivalry in the past couple of years. She hasn’t given away an Iron Bowl title since a heartbreaking 1-point loss in 2019 during the SEC tournament. Since then, there have been some close calls at home and away, during the regular season and the postseason, but still Curry has figured out a way to be victorious. “You can throw everything out the window when you go down there and play those guys,” Curry said. “Those rivalry games, a lot can happen.” The sentiment carries over to her players as well. Guard Sarah Ashlee Barker, a Birmingham native and Georgia transfer, said the Iron Bowl has followed her all her life. “Of course it’s different, it’s my home state, I want to go and beat Auburn,” Barker said. “I’ve grown up just wanting to beat Auburn in every sport, watching on TV, in football, basketball, baseball, anything like that. I think even when I was at Georgia I thought of it as my own Iron Bowl, I just wanted to beat them.” Barker, Curry and the rest of the Crimson Tide will have their chance to break the school record again by extending the win streak to 10 games on Jan. 21. Men’s basketball vs. Auburn, Jan. 24 at 6:30 p.m. CT After losing both Iron Bowls in the 2021-22 season, the Crimson Tide men’s basketball team came back to win both last season. The second win saw not only a 17-point comeback at home Jaden Bradley (#0) shoots the ball during last year’s Iron Bowl basketball game in March. CW / Archive but also secured the SEC regular season championship — it was a big night for the Crimson Tide, and the rivalry win made it even sweeter. Head coach Nate Oats knows the importance of the rivalry, and he makes sure his players do too, including former Crimson Tide star Brandon Miller. “Brandon came to a lot of Alabama football games. He understands the Iron Bowl rivalry in football,” Oats said after the 2023 game. “This is the equivalent to the Iron Bowl rivalry, it’s just in basketball. I think Brandon understood it. The guys hadn’t been involved in it yet, they should understand it after playing in the environment they played in today. It’s great. It’s what makes college basketball different than the NBA.” This year’s Iron Bowl will be a matchup between the unranked Crimson Tide and the No. 13 Tigers. It’s a stark difference from last season, when Alabama consistently ranked in the top five and Auburn was unranked. Despite an 8-5 record going into SEC play, Alabama had a strong SEC home opener that Oats can only hope will carry over to Jan. 24 when the Tigers visit Tuscaloosa. Swim and dive in Tuscaloosa, Jan. 19 The men’s and women’s swim and dive teams host the Tigers for their last dual meet of the season. The Iron Bowl in the Pool often takes place at the end of the season and is usually only followed by another Tiger matchup at the Auburn Invite. Last year, the No. 6 women’s team defeated the No. 19 Tigers, but the No. 14 men’s team fell to its No. 9 counterparts. Both teams took home relay wins, and then-sophomore Charlie Hawke, who swam in the relay win, also brought back two individual wins. This season, Hawke returns with several more titles to his name. With the No. 22 men’s team, Hawke ended the first half of the season at the Tennessee Invite, where he earned a career best in the 100-yard freestyle and helped break a school record in the 400- yard freestyle relay. At the invite, both the men’s team and the No. 21 women’s team finished third in their respective competitions. The No. 18 women’s team went undefeated in dual meets at 6-0 and the No. 19 men’s team suffered one loss to bring the Crimson Tide to 4-1. Alabama hopes to build upon its dual meet record against the No. 10 men’s and No. 14 women’s Tigers in the classic Iron Bowl matchup before heading to the Auburn Invite in February and then the SEC championships.
In the Week 11 AP Top 25 poll for college basketball, the Alabama Crimson Tide is nowhere to be found. Head coach Nate Oats’ squad, which sits at 11-5 after an 82-74 win over Mississippi State on Saturday night, is on the outside looking in for the seventh consecutive poll, a streak dating back to immediately after its loss to Ohio State. Nobody is making a legitimate case for the Crimson Tide to crack the Top 25. It wasn’t even close, receiving just 60 votes; it’s simply unrealistic to rank a team with five losses before conference play begins, especially one with such glaring issues as Alabama’s dubiousat-best defense. It’s possible, however, that the team’s prolonged absence from national recognition is masking the threat it potentially poses to highly ranked teams down the line. The most potent piece of evidence for this potential lies in the NCAA NET Rankings, a method of sorting teams based on strength of schedule, results and efficiency. As of Jan. 9, the NET went as follows: Houston first. Arizona second. Purdue third. BYU fourth. Tennessee fifth. And ... Alabama sixth. Those top five come as no surprise; all are ranked in this week’s AP poll, and even then, the Cougars find themselves at eighteenth. Why then, is an Alabama team that equaled last season’s loss total before the end of the calendar year so respected by such a sacred metric? There are a couple of different answers. The first is simple, and it is directly tied to the brand of basketball Oats has held fast to since coming to Tuscaloosa: The offense is prolific. As of Jan. 11, the Crimson Tide was third in the country in points per game at 90.6, onetenth of a point behind the Kentucky Wildcats. As in every other year during Oats’ tenure, the defense sports has taken its fair share of lumps. Fortunately, the offense is firing on all cylinders. As of Jan. 15, it has crossed the 100-point threshold four times, and in two other games it scored 99 and 98; it boasts the SEC’s leading scorer and three others in the Top 25; it is first among Power Six teams in 3-point attempts per game and 12th overall in 3-point percentage. The next answer, perhaps even better for the total-season outlook, is that Alabama played a brutal nonconference schedule. Its five losses have come at the hands of Ohio State, Clemson, Purdue, Creighton and Arizona, four of which are highly ranked and esteemed contenders in their respective conferences. As of Jan. 11, the Crimson Tide is third in national strength-of-schedule rankings. This punishing schedule is nothing new under Oats. Fans will remember that Novembers and Decembers in the last few years have seen highlight matchups galore, whether it be high-octane bouts with Gonzaga or controversial slugfests with Houston. A season ago, then- Crimson Tide center Charles Bediako summarized the philosophy behind these rigorous schedules: “We love competition. We’re looking for the hardest teams to play; we look to challenge ourselves and play the toughest teams. It all helps for March especially.” Oats echoed this idea earlier this season, before the early- December stretch against Purdue, Arizona and Creighton, saying, “We like scheduling hard. I think we get our guys up for games. We get deficiencies exposed, and we can work on them.” This obviously doesn’t make five losses before January an optimal position to be in. One could even see it as a major letdown that Alabama came up empty-handed in an area of the season where in years past it often flourished. These 1B Alabama men’s basketball is ready to pounce Luke McClinton Staff Writer losses aren’t necessarily ignominious or illogical, but it’s unfortunate that such an offensively inclined team couldn’t steal any of these games in which it was competitive for most of the time. As Nick Kelly of the Tuscaloosa News put it, Alabama “has five losses, albeit good ones. That won’t hurt Alabama drastically come NCAA Tournament selection time, but the Crimson Tide has to start winning games to bolster its resume and help its case.” It’s easy to write off Alabama as washed, suffering the perils of so much lost talent from last year. But if Oats has proven anything in his quick turnaround of a program that for so long dwelt in the pit of mediocrity, it’s that this culture of running, gunning and not backing down from even the most elite of competition produces results. History says it’s only a matter of time before those results show themselves this season. The hottest sports to watch this winter Henry Sklar Contributing Writer Despite Alabama football’s season ending in the Rose Bowl, there are still plenty of sports at the Capstone to enjoy. Men’s basketball is coming off a disappointing exit in the 2023 NCAA tournament but is led by a soaring offense in 2024. Women’s basketball is looking to continue its recent success after also appearing in the NCAA tournament in 2023. Lastly, gymnastics is ranked among the premier teams in the country, fighting for its first national championship in over 10 years. Here is a synopsis of the top Alabama sports to watch this winter. Men’s basketball The Alabama men's basketball program, which won its second SEC championship in the past three seasons in 2022-23, is off to a 11-5 start in the 2023- 24 season, as of Jan. 15. The Crimson Tide men's team faced a gantlet of a schedule in the outof-conference portion of the season with games against No. 1 Purdue, No. 22 Creighton and No. 8 Arizona. Despite the fiveloss start, KenPom has Alabama as the seventh-ranked team in the NCAA, boasting the country's top offense. Senior guard Mark Sears and Hofstra transfer Aaron Estrada are the backcourt leaders for the Crimson Tide, averaging over 13 points a game. Ahead of Alabama's SEC home opener against South Carolina, Nate Oats said he hopes students will support the Crimson Tide. “We need everybody to come out and just get the energy in the building so our players play a little harder,” Oats said. “Our players hopefully will be playing with maximum effort and giving the fans a show that they deserve to see when they come to watch us play.” Must-attend game: Jan. 24 vs. Auburn — Auburn and Alabama are off to high-flying starts, ranked in the top 10 in KenPom and the NCAAM NET Rankings. Both teams are contending for the national title; however, with the Iron Bowl of basketball comes the right to claim to be the top basketball team in the Yellowhammer State. Women’s basketball Before 2021, Alabama's women's basketball team had yet to make March Madness since 1999. The Crimson Tide program has gained heavy momentum, making the NCAA tournament twice in the past three seasons. When asked about the critical factors of continuing the team’s recent success, head coach Kristy Curry said multiple interconnected elements are crucial. “The foundation is laid on the court, in the classroom and in the community,” Curry said. “It's this time, it's this team's turn for that. I think that the expectations, that's what it's about at Alabama.” The women's team is off to a high-flying start with a 15-4 record, as of Jan. 15 (2-2 in SEC play). The Crimson Tide is led by senior guard Sarah Ashlee Barker, who's in her second season with Alabama after transferring Alabama gymnast Shania Adams performs her beam routine against Missouri on Jan. 12 in Coleman Coliseum. CW / Hannah Grace Mayfield from Georgia. Barker is averaging 16 points a game to start the season. Must-attend game: Jan. 18 vs. LSU — Alabama faces a major test as the defending national champion LSU Tigers, led by legendary head coach Kim Mulkey, come to Tuscaloosa. The Tigers have two box office superstars, Angel Reese and Hailey Van Lith; both are projected to be selected in the first round of the WNBA draft. Gymnastics The hype in Coleman Coliseum doesn't stop after basketball, as in the program's 50th season, gymnastics is looking to continue its growth in its second season under head coach Ashley Johnston. In 2023, the Crimson Tide made a run in Johnston's first season but bowed out of the NCAA tournament in the Sweet 16. The 2023 team boasts graduate student Luisa Blanco, who will compete in the 2024 Tokyo Olympic Games for Colombia. The Dallas, Texas, native qualified for the Summer Olympics via the 2023 Pan American Games. In 2023, alongside Blanco, graduate student Makarri Doggette and junior Lilly Hudson were voted All-Americans. The Crimson Tide won its first season meet at the Mean Girls Super 16 Gymnastics Championships over schools like UCLA, California and Auburn with a final score of 197.125. Before the season opener, Johnston said the team was looking forward to the long season ahead. "We cannot wait to finally be competing,” Johnston said. “We've had a great preseason, working and growing together as a team, but this is where all the hard work and excitement pays off.” Alabama hosts Arkansas on Friday, Jan. 19, in Coleman Coliseum. Must-attend meet: Feb. 2 vs. Kentucky — The Crimson Tide will be looking for revenge when Kentucky comes to town. In last season’s NCAA tournament, the Wildcats knocked off Alabama in an upset to advance to nationals for the second time in that program’s history.
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The Crimson White Print Edition - January 18, 2024

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