It's no secret that the 2021-22 season was a disappointment for Alabama basketball.After ama sing an overall record of 19-12 during the regular season, the Crimson Tide was knocked out of the SEC Tournament in its first game, falling to 11-seed Vanderbilt. Eight days later Rod Smith Jersey , 6-seed Alabama was ousted from the NCAA Tournament in the First Round, this time by 11-seed Notre Dame.While the Crimson Tide ranked 16th in adjusted offensive efficiency according to , the team finished 92nd in adjusted defensive efficiency an incredible fall from its 2020-21 season that saw Alabama reach the Sweet 16 and record a defensive efficiency that ranked third.This season, though, Nate Oats and his Crimson Tide are looking to get things back to the way they used to be: an aggre sive, defense-driven team that can also shoot the lights out.This summer saw the beginning of the renewal proce s for Alabama basketball when the team went on a European Tour. Over a 10-day stretch in August, the Crimson Tide defeated the Spain Select Team in Barcelona by a score of 108-64 before traveling to Paris, France. There, Alabama downed the Lithuania Men's B Team 120-61 before beating the Chinese National Team a team ranked No. 29 in the world according to the FIBA rankings by a score 89-77.It was certainly an impre sive trip acro s the pond, and one that gave Alabama fans multiple reasons for excitement. To Oats and the Crimson Tide, though, it taught them several le sons that the team aims to bring with them as it Jacob Tamme Jersey begins preseason practices this week.I learned that weve got a chance to be really good, Oats said during his first preseason pre s conference on Monday morning. Weve got depth, we played harder on defense, thought we were more connected more guys pulling for each other unselfishne s was pretty good, Brandon Miller can score the ball. He wasnt the only one that played really well. I thought Nimari Burnett had a great trip over there, Dom Welch started coming around some saw hes got some veteran qualities and some experience to him."Oats began to discu s his learning points from Europe by calling out specific players for their accolades. First up was freshman forward Brandon Miller, the No. 1-ranked prospect in the state of Tenne see during his senior year of high school. In Alabama's three games overseas, Miller led Alabama in points in all three games, averaging roughly 22 per game.Sophomore guard Nimari Burnett is someone that Crimson Tide fans have waited a long while to see. Fully recovered from his knee injury that he suffered last summer, Burnett recorded 13 points and four rebounds against China and earned enough 'Blue Collar' points to earn himself the coveted Hard Hat Award.And finally, Oats highlighted graduate-student guard Dom Welch, who transferred to Alabama from St. Bonaventure in the offseason. Against Lithuania, Welch recorded 11 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double.With Oats noting the standout performances from the fresh faces on the team, sophomore center Charles Bediako said that what he learned most from the summer was that every individual player on the roster can be their own special kind of productive.What I learned about this team especially going on the Foreign Tour is everybody can play, Bediako said. Everybody is very productive in their own way. Its going to be hard for the coaches to see who to put in because everybody can play. Were definitely young, but you know guys are hungry, though. Like, when we were playing overseas, guys didnt fear that teams were older than us. They didnt care about that."But we all just went in, just gave what we got and played our Eric Saubert Jersey role and you know, I think thats the main part that really helped us come out succe sful in that foreign trip and it also brought us closer together as a team.Last season, one of Alabama's biggest strengths was simultaneously one of its most critical weakne ses: the ability to shoot the basketball. When the team shot red-hot, the Crimson Tide was capable of beat almost anyone, anywhere including Gonzaga in Seattle along with Houston and Baylor in Tuscaloosa.That strength that led to multiple key wins for Alabama also led to a crucial weakne s: that when the Crimson Tide's shooting cooled down, its chances of winning basketball games dramatically decreased. As noted earlier, Alabama's defensive efficiency ranked 92nd in the nation, and Malik Reed Jersey when a poor offense combines with a porous defense, disaster ensues.Scroll to ContinueWith Alabama having to rely on players shooting lights-out from beyond the arc in order to survive in close games, it's no wonder that their season ended in an early exit. However, Oats fully recognizes that his team's focus on offense was a primary part of its problems.To him, the foreign tour proved that this year's team has the potential to be capable of winning any game, not just the selective ones that the team shoots well in.What we did well: I thought defensively we were a lot better over there," Oats said. "We shot the ball better in the first couple of games. I dont know if it was because it was the third game or just because we hadnt really been in the gym for a week by the time by the time we played the third game and our guys are guys that live in the gym all the time, so those guys need to shoot every day outside of practice to really stay on top of their shooting. But we didnt shoot it well against China who by far and away was the best team we played and we still won. If we had taken care of busine s in the fourth quarter we should have won by 20-plus.So we learned we can get wins without shooting the ball well, which is something we need to be able to do. You know last year, we didnt have many games where we shot poorly and still won the game. When you go 3-for-30 against Kentucky, we didnt even have a chance to win. So hopefully this year a) we shoot it a lot better because I do think we have better shooting, but if we have a game where we dont shoot it well we can still win the game Patrick Surtain II Jersey by doing some other stuff. Our defense is great, our offensive rebounding is great, we dont turn the ball over as much and get more shots up. I think we learned that about them."Signs of improvement on the defensive end of the court weren't the only positive le sons learned in Europe for Alabama basketball. While cultural immersion was an off-the-court benefit cited by multiple players, communication and growth of team culture also took a significant step forward.A frequently-cited shortcoming for the Crimson Tide last year was its lack of communication on the court. Too often that poor communication led to turnovers a stat that plagued Alabama over the course of the season, ultimately be a key stat in many of the team's lo ses. This season, though communication has been a key focus of Oats and his players, which was ultimately a reason that the team scheduled the trip in the fir