Nate Oats and the Alabama Crimson Tide are preparing for their title defense. And they might be getting a starter back in time for the tournament run.

On Friday, Alabama will face either Florida, Georgia, or Missouri in the final quarterfinal game of the SEC Tournament. After winning the tournament and sweeping the conference titles a season ago, the Tide are hoping for another strong showing in Nashville. When he met with reporters on Wednesday, Oats said he’s hopeful guard Rylan Griffen can return to the court.

“Rylan has not gone live yet, but he’s doing more and more basketball activity every day. We’re hopeful he can possibly play Friday,” Oats said, BamaOnLine’s Charlie Potter. “We’ll put him through more stuff tomorrow and see how he responds. He’ll end up being a game-time decision.”

Griffen missed Alabama’s regular-season finale against Arkansas last Saturday with a lower leg injury. He started 28 times for the Crimson Tide this season, averaging 11.1 points and 3.7 rebounds in just over 26 minutes a night.

He’s fourth on the team in scoring, a productive part of what is college basketball’s second-best offense by KenPom’s adjusted efficiency metric. While he’s more of a role player by usage, getting him back into the rotation will be big for Oats. A healthy roster and a complete rotation is exactly what you want heading into the postseason.

Alabama earned the No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament. Per BracketMatrix, the Tide are largely expected to earn a 4-seed in the NCAA Tournament next week. Another run in Nashville could see Alabama improve upon its seed line, though.

Fans who want to bet on Alabama’s game on Friday or on the Tide’s NCAA Tournament run can do so by using one of Saturday Down South’s best online sportsbooks.