Coming off yet another Sweet Sixteen appearance for Alabama men’s basketball under head coach Nate Oats, the program hopes to continue that success next season under a new, revamped roster that still has many questions left unanswered.
The major question mark left for Alabama after the transfer portal closed is the availability of Aden Holloway for next season after his legal troubles that kept him out of the NCAA tournament in 2026.
Amari Allen had the toughest decision of them all as he weighed his decision to stay in the NBA draft or return to Alabama for his sophomore season.
On the last day of the NBA draft withdrawal deadline, Allen decided to return to Alabama and run it back for year two. This is a huge boost for the Crimson Tide, returning 11.4 points per game and 6.9 rebounds per game from Allen last year.
Both guards Latrell Wrightsell and Houston Mallette are out of eligibility, along with center Noah Williamson.
Oats had nothing but good things to say after the Sweet Sixteen loss to Michigan about Mallette and Wrightsell as players and, most importantly, leaders for Alabama.
“Was it the best leadership group of guys that I’ve ever had? Yeah, and you can tell by listening to their answers that they just had it,” said Oats. “I was getting goosebumps listening to Trelly and Houston. Baron was great. His leadership has come a long way.”
That leads us to the biggest loss of them all: Labaron Philon. Philon had a massive sophomore campaign, averaging 22 PPG for Alabama, and is currently projected as a first-rounder in this year’s NBA draft.
Aidan Sherell, the starting center of last year’s roster, is gone as well, as he hit the transfer portal and is headed to Indiana University.
Along with Sherell, Alabama also had three more reserve players hit the portal in forward Taylor Bol Bowen, guard Jalil Bethea and guard Davion Hannah, who was limited to 10 games his freshman year.
Both Bowen and Bethea struggled to carve out significant roles last season, while Hannah simply couldn’t stay healthy for the majority of the year.
While Alabama loses some major pieces, it does return forward London Jemison, forward Keitenn Bristow and potentially guard Aden Holloway, pending his completion of the Tuscaloosa County District Court’s second-chance drug program.
Jemison is a very intriguing player to watch heading into his sophomore campaign, as he started at power forward down the stretch for Alabama and hopes to make a significant jump with so many pieces of the roster moving on.
Bristow, on the other hand, struggled to stay healthy, only playing 10 games this past season, but possesses great size and athleticism at the forward position, being listed at 6-foot-10. This is another player that Alabama fans hope to make a jump in his second year with the team.
Oats has brought in the No. 24-ranked transfer portal class, according to 247 Sports. Alabama’s biggest weakness last year was a lack of size in the frontcourt, which Oats seems to have solved.
The top-rated transfer in this class is Boise State University transfer Drew Fielder, who is listed at 6 feet, 11 inches while averaging 14.7 PPG and shooting just over 40% from beyond the arc. He brings some much-needed size and shooting in the frontcourt for Alabama this upcoming season.
The next addition is a forward Cole Cloer, who enrolled early at North Carolina State University and redshirted. He will have four years of eligibility left. Cloer is listed at 6 feet, 7 inches, which brings even more length for Alabama at the forward position. He has put on some weight since high school and has a semester of college basketball under his belt, which Oats sees as an advantage.
“Cole’s put on 20 to 25 pounds since high school already,” Oats said. “He’s kind of had the advantage of being in college for a semester at N.C. State.”
Rounding out the transfer class for the Crimson Tide are two centers: Kentucky transfer Brandon Garrison and Mississippi State University transfer Jamarion Davis-Fleming. Both of whom come in with SEC experience under their belt. They both bring in great size, with both being listed at 6 feet, 11 inches. Both are solid rebounders, which is something Oats said contributed to many of the team’s losses last season.
“We’re actually super excited about the roster,” Oats said. “If you look at the games we lost last year, a lot of it was due to our defensive rebounding. I just didn’t think we were big enough.”
In recent years, Alabama has done a great job at recruiting high school players as well, and this 2026 incoming freshman class tells the same story. Alabama has brought in the No. 13-ranked recruiting class and brought in three newcomers to bolster its roster.
They bring in two top 40 guards in Qayden Samuels and Tarris Bouie, both of whom are listed at 6 feet, 6 inches, bringing amazing size to a particularly small backcourt for Alabama with Aden Holloway.
To finalize the 2026 class, Alabama landed the ultra-athletic forward Jaxon Richardson, who, while being listed at 6 feet, 6 inches, Oats had tons of good things to say about him.
“Jaxon’s probably the most athletic kid I’ve ever coached,” Oats said. “Defensive rebounding’s been an issue for us, and he does that at a high level.”
It is also worth noting that Alabama recently picked up a commitment from point guard Anderson Diaz, who is rated as a top 30 player nationally in the 2027 class. He is a potential candidate to reclassify as the class of 2026 and join the team for this upcoming season.
While there are still some questions unanswered for this Alabama team heading into next season, there is a lot to look forward to with the amount of size, athleticism and shooting Oats and staff have brought to Tuscaloosa with this revamped roster.
Hence then, the article about inside alabama basketball s roster turnover what the tide could look like next year was published today ( ) and is available on The Crimson White ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Inside Alabama basketball’s roster turnover: What the Tide could look like next year )
Also on site :