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The Tuscaloosa News
Alabama basketball living by 'mudita' for 2024-25 season: What is it and why?
- Story byThe Tuscaloosa News
- Alabama basketball living by 'mudita' for 2024-25 season: What is it and why?
BIRMINGHAM — Alabama basketball wasn't talking gibberish at SEC Media Day .
When members of the Crimson Tide spoke to reporters at the Grand Bohemian Hotel, an unfamiliar word came up time and time again.
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Mudita.
Coach Nate Oats and SEC preseason player of the year Mark Sears echoed the term Tuesday, each going into how the meaning behind the Sanskrit/Pali word gives a new meaning to the way Alabama shows up on the court.
The term means so much to the program that somehow, between the bedazzled palm trees of Los Angeles, arena replica and more, Oats and company managed to find room to engrave it on their championship rings .
Oats described mudita as "vicarious joy through someone else's success," crediting Alabama softball coach Patrick Murphy and his crew for loaning their mantra to the basketball team.
Mar 20, 2024; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama head coach Patrick Murphy talks to his players during a timeout in the game with UAB at Rhoads Stadium Wednesday.
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Alabama player Mark Sears signs a basketball for Tripp Freeman as he arrives for SEC Media Day at the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Mountain Brook Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024.
"Can I be as happy when my teammate scores 20 as when I score 20?" Oats said. "Can I be as happy when he gets X number of minutes as when I do?"
The offseason saw the arrival of big man Clif Omoruyi from Rutgers, former Auburn point guard Aden Holloway, Chris Youngblood (South Florida) and Houston Mallette (Pepperdine). Beyond the transfer portal, Tuscaloosa also welcomed a freshman class featuring three four-stars – Aiden Sherrell, Labaron Philon, and Naas Cunningham – plus a five-star in Derrion Reid.
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That leaves the four major returning pieces from last year's trip to the Final Four: Sears, Grant Nelson, Jarin Stevenson and Latrell Wrightsell Jr.
'Mudita' helping stacked Alabama basketball roster manage minutes
Injuries for Sherrell, Wrightsell and Youngblood free up minutes for now, but so many stars could find it hard to stay comfortable coming off the bench down the road. However, Oats doesn't think that'll be a problem with this group despite some bigger pieces of last year's rotation having to take fewer minutes to build depth.
"It's more about what you do in your minutes than it is about how many minutes you play. It's more about what you do in the shots that you get than the actual shot attempts you actually take," Oats said.
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"We're pressing that. Now, we haven't got to a game and minutes haven't got divvied up yet, but I think we've got guys that have a chance to be pros, and they would be better off playing fewer minutes and being more efficient in their fewer minutes than they would playing higher minutes."
What does mudita mean by definition?
Sears, who forwent the NBA draft to use his final year of eligibility in 2024-25, put mudita a little more simply, explaining it as "playing and being happy for others, just as you've done it."
But what does mudita mean by definition?
According to an article from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln , the term doesn't have a direct translation in English, but is more of a "meditation practice."
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Madita falls under the four "sublime attitudes" of the Buddhist tradition, known as the brahma-viharas, which include loving-kindness/metta, compassion and "equanimity," a state of even-mindedness.
Author Madeline Wiseman described antonyms of mudita as envy, resentment, and greed.
Alabama head coach Nate Oats laughs with an interviewer during SEC Media Day at the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Mountain Brook Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024.
"Hopefully we can take a hold of that mudita like we did last year," Oats said.
"I thought that was pretty good at the end of last year for us."
Emilee Smarr covers Alabama basketball and Crimson Tide athletics for the Tuscaloosa News. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: What is 'mudita' and why is it important to Alabama basketball?
