🏀 Dec. 1983: Bama takes unusual road trip to Japan and first encounter Nike, among other things.

With @AlabamaMBB enjoying a much-needed midweek bye before its showdown with Tennessee, today we wanted to revisit a time the Crimson Tide took an international visit to the Land of the Rising Sun.

In December of 1983, Alabama took one of the most unusual road trips in school history, traveling halfway around the world to Osaka, Japan, for the Suntory Ball. Then head coach @wimpsanderson1wasn’t even sure how his program landed the invite, but he knew one thing — it was an opportunity no recruit in America could ignore.

UA president Joab Thomas and his wife made the trip too, turning the Crimson Tide into full-blown ambassadors of college basketball overseas.

The event was sponsored by Suntory, the iconic Japanese whisky brand later immortalized by Bill Murray in Lost in Translation. But long before Hollywood found it, Alabama hoops was already there.

Alabama also leaned into something even stranger: wearing Nike. The Tide was a Converse school, but for this three-team round-robin event, they suited up in tournament-provided Nike uniforms — a rare look decades before college basketball became a branding battleground. It was a fitting twist for a tournament that already felt like something out of a dream.

On the court, the Tide made sure the trip wasn’t just a sightseeing tour. Alabama fell 77-76 to DePaul, then responded with authority by routing Texas Tech 76-56.

Travel in Japan left just as much of an impression as the games. The team rode the famous bullet trains, which are legendary for never running late. Sanderson gathered his players and laid down the law in his classic fashion: if the train leaves and you’re not on it, you’ll be stranded in a country of 75 million people who don’t know who you are.

Behind the scenes, former Alabama football standout Murray Legg handled logistics after arriving early to set things up. Sanderson delegated one specific assignment — accept every gift offered by the hosts… and bring them all back to the head coach.

Even in Japan, Sanderson still ran the show and Alabama basketball built a reputation that stretched far beyond Coleman Coliseum.

 

[alabama mike]

The good ole days when a coach could and would actually lay down the law. I vaguely remember Bama going to Japan. If I remember correctly, I read about the trip in The Tennessean while living in Nashville.