The greatest hair in college basketball is maintained in a blue double-wide trailer in Tuscaloosa by a barber everyone calls Mr. T.

Terry McMiller, master craftsman of the A-team, cuts the faded sides of the gloriously dreaded high-top mops bouncing above the heads of Alabama players John Petty and Herbert Jones. Dazon Ingram, the first player to rock Alabama's now signature style of floppy up top and short on the sides, gets skinned up at Superior Haircuts, too.

Braxton Key and Daniel Giddens sat down in Mr. T's chair just before flying out to Lexington, Ky., over the weekend. Mr. T cuts a design into the side of Avery Johnson Jr.'s hair before every game.

"You gotta keep'em tight," McMiller said. "Gotta keep'em in the game."

Mr. T has been cutting the hair of Alabama's best football players for years, but his creativity and talents have been hidden away under helmets. Now, with the emergence of this fun and youthful basketball team in Tuscaloosa, his clipper work is part of the show. The rigid excellence of Alabama football has found its perfect complement in this expressive Alabama men's basketball team, and with the SEC Tournament approaching, the Crimson Tide's exquisite hair is going to be front and center.

"It's almost like their hair is a separate entity," McMiller said. "It's developing into its own thing. It's like they're pushing boundaries, and people are loving it."

In the year competitive and quality basketball has returned to the SEC, Alabama is leading the way in style, but the Crimson Tide also has shown flashes of a team with the potential to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. With more than a handful of quality victories, Alabama's RPI is hovering around 30 entering an important road test at Auburn on Wednesday.

Alabama defeated Auburn at home earlier in the season, but a road victory against the Crimson Tide's rival would almost certainly ensure an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Terry McMiller of Superior Haircuts cuts the hair of client Shamar Moore. McMiller, known as Mr. T by his clients, maintains the hairstyles of several prominent members of the Alabama mens' basketball team.

"I mean, Auburn, they're a hard-nosed, nasty team," said Ingram, a few days after Auburn defeated Kentucky last week. Alabama lost at Kentucky 81-71 on Saturday.

A road victory against Auburn would be Alabama's signature win of the regular season. Before making the trip across the state for the big game, most of the team will visit Mr. T for a fresh cut.

Like all of Tuscaloosa, the interior of Superior Haircuts is a shrine to Crimson Tide football. A border stripe of crimson and white "Alabama Crimson Tide" wallpaper bisects the walls of the business. In between pictures of Nick Saban and Paul Bryant, a large portrait of Bryant-Denny Stadium dominates McMiller's barbershop. Well over a hundred signatures of Alabama's most prominent former and current football players cover the canvas.

It might be the most valuable piece of sports memorable of the Saban Era.

Alabama running back Mark Ingram visited Mr. T before traveling to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony. Landon Collins and Amari Cooper were regulars at Superior Haircuts during their playing days in Tuscaloosa. Marlon Humphrey went through several hairstyles with Mr. T. There are too many names to mention.

Has Nick Saban ever been here for a haircut?

Mr. T plays it cool at all times, like a blues musician bemused by life, but the question about Saban elicited a deep belly laugh.

"Man, if Saban comes through here we're shutting the shop down," said Mr. T, whose own creative haircut features frosted crimson tips a few inches above his head. "Saban has an all-access pass to Superior Haircuts. Saban comes, we're going to close for the day."

Riggs Peoples awaits a haircut at Superior Haircuts in Tuscaloosa. The business features a prominent canvas portrait of Bryant-Denny Stadium covered in the many signatures of football players who have had their hair cut at the barbershop.

Mr. T calls Petty's hair "The Petty Swag." The shooting guard's flowing dreads might be the single greatest development in SEC basketball this season. There is a party happening on top of Petty's head at all times.

"He just has his own style," McMiller said. "He does his own thing. I do a little temp fade on the side, so I call that The Petty Swag. It's just his thing. He likes to get it temped out on the side with a nice, crisp edge-up."

Jones' hair style is similar to Petty's only slightly shorter up top. Both players' locks are ever-cascading riffs of frenetic funk during games, especially when Alabama plays inspired defense. Forced turnovers lead to transition baskets, and that's when their swaggering hair is at its best.

Sometimes during games, Petty just shakes his head for fun, says teammate Daniel Giddens.

"His hair is just long and it flows," Giddens said.

Giddens, the transfer from Ohio State, says Petty has the best hair on the team. Dazon Ingram does not agree. Does Petty in fact have the best hair at Alabama, and possibly the best hair in college basketball?

"No, me," Ingram said.

Ingram, a sophomore, is the player who started Alabama's dreaded trend last season. It's a slightly different style than Petty and Jones' hair, says Mr. T.

"He also has the dreaded look on top, but his style is what I call a high-skin fade or a bald, drop fade," McMiller said. "He gets it skinned real high on the sides with the crisp edge-up. And he always gets his signature part that's right over his left eye. You got to get that part right."

Does Mr. T have a favorite hairstyle on the team? He played the question like a veteran politician.

"Out of the Alabama basketball players? I cut all of them," McMiller said. "I think they're all good in their own unique way. Daniel [Giddens], he had the dreads also, but he cut it off and now he has the wave. I think Daniel has the smoothest style. Daniel is smooth with the beard and wave. I think they're all cool in their own, unique way."

Ingram says "absolutely" that Alabama has the best hair in college basketball, and while there might be some debate among players about the best hair on the team, the image-conscious players seem to fashion themselves trendsetters. When it comes to hair, they are their own inspiration.

There are young NBA players with slightly similar hairstyles, of course. Isn't Alabama just following the Da'Aaron Fox or Elfrid Payton effect?

"No, it's the Alabama men's basketball effect," Ingram said.

Says Giddens, who is a few years older than Alabama's highly rated class of freshmen: "Man, look, it's this new generation of kids, man. As one of the older guys, it's just these kids -- this little hairdo. My brother even has the hairdo. It goes all the way up. I don't know. It's the way they express themselves."

Ingram says that Alabama coach Avery Johnson mentioned an appreciation for more conservative haircuts sometime before the season. Johnson has never made his players' hair an issue, though.

"Some people feel like, oh, they need to cut it off," McMiller said, "but that's almost like cutting off a part of their personality or a part of their soul. It's almost like Samson."

Mr. T currently is planning a redesign for a portion of his shop. One of the walls, the first on the right after walking through the door, will soon feature framed pictures of all the Alabama basketball players who visit Superior Haircuts. It's smart marketing, but it's more than that, says McMiller. He wants this group of players on permanent display as a reminder of when Alabama basketball finally became relevant once again.

"They're the ones who have changed Alabama basketball, and I want that to be represented on the wall," McMiller said.

Joseph Goodman is a columnist for Alabama Media Group. He's on Twitter

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