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Alabama coach Avery Johnson speaking with reporters at SEC Tipoff 2017 inside Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Alabama basketball coach Avery Johnson, addressing reporters at the SEC's preseason media day on Wednesday in Nashville, said he has studied Alabama football coach Nick Saban at length in preparation for the upcoming season.

Johnson, a former NBA coach and NBA player, is beginning his second season as Alabama's coach. He is a respected basketball mind known for his work ethic, but he is still new to the college game. It's quite different than the pros, and Johnson has worked with Saban to better prepare Alabama's basketball program.

Johnson even mentioned "the process" once or twice during media day, although in fairness the concepts of "process" and "grind" are widely discussed throughout the NBA. Still, Johnson sees great benefit in working with Alabama football.

"It's a huge ally for us," Johnson said. "Coach Saban has been great. When I have time, I go to quite a few of their practices. I not only have a great relationship with Coach Saban, but the other coaches on the staff. Coach Burns, our running backs coach, is a St. Aug guy -- my high school -- and coached at Southern University, my alma mater."

Alabama finished last season with a record of 18-15, and the Crimson Tide returns two starters. The team hopes to feature an improved offense this season with the addition of several upperclassmen transfers, including guard Corban Collins (Morehead State), Bola Olaniyan (Southern Illinois) and Ar'Mond Davis (JUCO). Transfers Avery Johnson Jr. (Texas A&M) and Nick King (Memphis) are also now eligible. Braxton Key, a forward, is the team's only freshman.

"Coach Saban laughs all the time and says I've met with him more in the last 16 months than the last two coaches combined," Johnson said. "That's intentional. I like to pick his brain about things. I like to go into their practices and watch him work with the defensive backs every day just like I work with our point guards."

-- Speaking of learning from great SEC coaches, Johnson said he has also studied Kentucky coach John Calipari. Kentucky was picked to win the SEC on Wednesday by SEC media members. Alabama was ranked No.7 in the preseason.

"Well, you've got to embrace their success," Johnson said of Kentucky. "Yeah, you want to beat them, but Coach Cal has done a great job with his program, and while others are maybe envious or jealous, I'm not. I studying him a lot.

"I like to study what successful people do, and I think it's great for our conference. We have to, the rest of the schools, on a consistent basis, we have to close the gap."

When pushed to name something of Calipari's he has studied, Johnson said, "we have studied all facets of what has made them successful. Obviously, it's not just Coach Cal. He has a great staff, and we feel like we want to have a competitive coaching staff. And we want to be just as competitive in the recruiting arena. I think that's the key."

-- To that end, Alabama added veteran college coach John Pelphrey to the bench this season. Pelphrey coached at South Alabama and Arkansas and was a longtime assistant for Billy Donovan at Florida. Johnson's ultimate goal is to raise Alabama's profile so that it can compete with Kentucky on a regular basis.

Translation: better recruiting. Johnson expects Pelphrey to add some experience for the Crimson Tide on the recruiting trail.

"It's not just about beating Kentucky," Johnson said. "It's about joining them with being one of the prolific basketball powers in the country, and one of the ways you do it is you got to roll up your sleeves and recruit. You got to get some of the high-level players, or in our case get some of the three- and four-star players that you feel can take that next step."

Other news:

-- Johnson plans to replace last season's leading scorer, Retin Obasohan, with a committee of new scorers. Guard Dazon Ingram, who is returning from injury (foot), is a "triple-double" threat, according to Johnson.

"Losing Retin Obasohan (graduation) was a pretty big loss for us," Johnson said. "We don't feel like we're going to have that type of player, but across the board we'll be better offensively. Because I'm not going to be able to sleep at night with us scoring 65 points a game."

-- The team's biggest area of improvement, if Johnson had to pick just one, would be ball-handling. Alabama's assist-to-turnover ratio (0.79) was abysmal last season, or ranked No.327 in Division I.

"We hope to become a better ball-handling and decision-making team, which was one of our Achilles heels last year," Johnson said. "Of course, we weren't a very good rebounding team, and we think we've addressed some of the problems areas that we've had."

Johnson added Collins of Morehead State to shore up the backcourt.

"We feel like Corban is going to help us with a lot of our new guys," Johnson said.

-- On the preseason ranking (seventh):

"I think that's probably about right for our team," Johnson said. "Last year we were 13 and we didn't have a lot returning. We lost our top four or five scorers and we had so many different question marks."

-- Alabama's coach didn't mind placing blame on former coach Anthony Grant for the team's deficiencies. Oddly enough, new assistant coach Pelphrey worked with Grant for many years at Florida.

"I can't speak for the other coaches, but based on what we inherited, we were just trying to survive," Johnson said of 2015. "I was hoping we'd win five games. Didn't think we would win 18, OK? And it wasn't like I had a lack of confidence, or I don't believe the impossible. But it's just, I knew what I was looking at every day."

Ouch.

-- Johnson did credit Grant for leaving "our program in great academic standing."

Joseph Goodman a senior reporter for Alabama Media Group. He's on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.