Alabama men’s wheelchair basketball’s experienced team helps bring a title home

On a roster that is losing five seniors fresh off of a national championship, the Alabama men’s wheelchair basketball team has adjustments to make for the upcoming season.

But if next season is anything like their 2018-2019 run, the team shouldn’t have an issue finding their groove. After losing their season opener against Shepherd by a score of 63-51, the Tide plowed through a predominately successful regular season, despite a few hiccups in route to a 27-5 finish.

Comparatively speaking to their three-loss championship winning season in 2018, the 2-seeded Crimson Tide faced a small bit of adversity that they were not accustomed to. Spencer Kimbro, a freshman majoring in exercise physiology, said Bama’s season low point were their consecutive home tournament losses to their biggest competition in UT-Arlington and UW-Whitewater.

“We had to spin the losses positively because it did relieve a lot of pressure. It went from being 'Oh, Alabama is going to take it all the way' to people wondering if we had a shot,” said Kimbro.

Players and coaches alike agreed that winning puts a target on the team’s back and in a small league like wheelchair basketball, the top competitors came out strong to dethrone the Tide this past season. Coach Ford Burttram preaches that “getting to the mountain is a lot harder than staying on the top.” A new season prompted a new mountain to climb – a goal that would have been a shame not to reach with all of the resources that the adapted athletics program has built to provide.

“We have this awesome facility and all the things we need to succeed but here it’s all about brotherhood and academics to really support us form a winning environment.” said Kimbro. “We have everything we need so it’s all about improving on a winning formula.”

With an impact player like Kimbro being only a freshman, the Tide’s experience, grit, leadership, and defensive presence helped them establish continuity and rhythm in time for the postseason. The 31-year-old graduate student Dequel Robinson offered more services to the court than just his team-leading 4.6 assists per game. An 11-year tenured track and field coach, the sports management student has seen the adapted athletics program’s full transformation since practicing at the student rec center. Robinson’s experience and “coach on the floor” role paid dividends as the team prepared to knock off UT-Arlington and UW-Whitewater.

“I can share with [coaches] the experiences that I have had and dealing with players and being openly opiniated when it comes to sharing ideas that can help better our players,” said Robinson.

The team had a chance to match the 2017-2018’s winning formula on March 15. in the championship game against No. 1 seed UW-Whitewater.

After beating UT-Arlington convincingly 77-59, coach Burttram implemented his defensive minded strategies in an “offensive world” by surprising UW-Whitewater with their press adjustments. Instead of going strong with the team’s season-long “94 feet of pain”, they opted on reacting to what the Warhawks were giving them – something that the team practiced all season long. Burttram said he coaches in base levels on the court and the scenario’s they play out in practice will always flourish to players with a high basketball I.Q. when the time comes to react in the moment.

The Tide got off to a quick 6-0 start before falling victim of a 12-0 Warhawk run. After a back and forth affair until the buzzer hit, Alabama’s aggressive low post play helped rack up the trips to the free throw line and, ultimately, a 79-73 victory.

Even after two uncharacteristic home losses, the end result helped the tide repeat as champs and give the veteran heavy team a much-desired ring to leave the program with. Now that the team is losing five guys, coach Burttram is bracing for a new season full of not only new struggles but a new hope in the fresh nucleus of characters and skillsets.

“I think this team will be different than last year’s team because we had a bunch of big boys and this team will have a few smaller guys, but we should be a lot better shooting the ball outside,” said Burttram.

Regardless of any impending or inevitable plateaus that the team goes through, the season highlight of capturing a championship will only remain second to the program’s priorities.

“I have 5 young men that will graduate with either one or two degrees…that’s more important than anything else I have in this office,” said Burttram. “Championships are fun to win, but I get choked up when I see them cross the stage so that means more to me than anything.”