Whether it be a new practice facility, a new roster, or a new contract extension for Nate Oats, the one thing that remains the same is the consistency and the winning as the coach of the Alabama basketball team.
The tradition continues! It’s another year of our countdown of the top 100 preseason teams in college basketball until the start of the season. Each day, we will reveal the next team until we reach the team slotted at number one. Up next: Alabama basketball.
After making yet another Sweet 16, for its fourth consecutive season, head coach Nate Oats knew the team had to get bigger on the floor after its struggles a season ago rebounding the basketball, and it has seemed to address that with only three guys on the roster below 6″6.
Aden Holloway missed the NCAA Tournament after being charged with possession of marijuana, will be reinstated with the team after the charges were dropped and will miss the three exhibition games and the first two regular-season games. Holloway is set to make his debut for the Oakland game on Nov. 9.
The team has a ton of young guys and brought in the sixth-ranked class according to 247 Sports, highlighted by two top-30 recruits in Qayden Samuels and Jaxon Richardson (Son of former NBA player Jason Richardson).
The Tide will once again be tested with one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country, and it’ll be away from Coleman Coliseum from Nov. 17 all the way until Dec. 29.
The Tide will once again be trying to dethrone the Gators at the top of the SEC and will look to get the double-bye in Nashville, as it has done for the past four years.
Although the team lost Labaron Philon to the first round last season, it will have yet another dynamic offense with firepower everywhere on the floor.
The team played its first exhibition game on October 8th, defeating Furman 111-93, where Amari Allen led the way with 19 points. Before the regular season starts, the Tide will play Ole Miss and Auburn in exhibitions in Birmingham.
It will be interesting to see how Oats will distribute the minutes to the team this year, as if the team is fully healthy, 12 players could realistically see playing time.
Freshman Anderson Diaz, who reclassified in May from the class of 2027, will miss around a month or so, according to Nate Oats, with an elbow injury that will not require surgery.
The team has four returners from a season ago.
Head coach: Nate Oats (14th season overall, 8th at Alabama)
2025-26 record: 25-10 (13-5)
2026 postseason finish: Lost to Michigan (90-77) in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament
Notable departures:
- Labaron Philon Jr. (8.9 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 3.0 APG)
- Aiden Sherrell(8.6 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 3.0 APG)
- Houston Mallette (13.5 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.9 APG, 38.5 3P%)
- Taylor Bol Bowen (8.4 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 43.4 3P %)
- Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (7.6 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.5 BPG, 68.3 FG%)
Notable non-conference games:
- vs. Seton Hall (Nov. 13)
- vs. Baylor (Nov. 24) – Players Era Sixteen
- vs.TBD (Nov. 26) – Players Era Sixteen
- vs. TBD (Nov. 27-28) – Players Era Sixteen
- at Miami-Fla (Dec. 2) – ACC/SEC Challenge
- vs. Houston (Dec. 8) – Madison Square Garden – Jimmy V Classic
- vs. St. John’s (Dec. 12) – Birmingham, AL
- vs. Iowa (Dec. 21) – Des Moines, IA
Projected Rotation
PG: Aden Holloway (6-1, 185, Sr.)
2025-26 stats: 16.8 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 3.8 APG, 43.8 3P%
Suspended until the third game of the season.
SG: Qayden Samuels (6-6, 225, Fr.)
247Sports Composite No. 30 ranked recruit
SF: Amari Allen (6-6, 212, So.)
2025-26 stats: 11.4 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 3.1 APG, 1.0 SPG
PF: London Jemison (6-8, 210, So.)
2025-26 stats: 6.2 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 0.4 APG, 34.8 3P%
C: Brandon Garrison (6-10, 255, Sr.)
2025-26 stats: 4.7 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 1.1 APG, 55.6 FG%, 0.8 BPG (Kentucky)
6:Drew Fielder (6-11, 245, Sr.)
2025-26 stats: 14.7 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 1.3 APG, 40.9 3P% (Boise State)
7: Jaxon Richardson (6-6, 210, Fr.)
247Sports Composite No. 25 ranked recruit
8: Cole Cloer (6-8, 205, Fr.)
Missed last season due to injury; transferred from North Carolina State.
247Sports Composite 4-star ranked recruit (2025)
9: Anderson Diaz (6-2, 182, Fr.)
247Sports Composite No. 45 ranked recruit
10: Keitenn Bristow (6-9, 215, Gr.)
2025-26 stats: 3.6 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 0.5 APG, 0.6 SPG
11: Tarris Bouie(6-6, 175, Fr.)
247Sports Composite No. 55 ranked recruit
12: Jamarion Davis-Fleming (6-10, 245, So.)
2025-26 stats: 3.7 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 0.7 APG, 67.6 FG%, 1.3 BPG (Mississippi State)
Alabama basketball team MVP: Amari Allen
Over the summer, Amari Allen took his name out of the NBA draft and returned to Tuscaloosa looking to make the Sophomore jump that Labaron Philon Jr. made a season prior.
Allen was the team’s best rebounder and best defender, and looks to be the guy offensively. Toward the end of last season, Allen struggled from three-point range and is hoping that is not a problem again because that seemed to mess up his whole game as he was not as aggressive.
Allen will be one of the leaders on this team and will look to be the guy with the ball in his hands late in games, along with Aden Holloway.
With Holloway and Diaz out, Allen will be able to showcase his ball-handling as one of the primary ball-handlers.
With a big second season, Allen can cement himself as a first-rounder and a Crimson Tide legend if a big-time March happens.
Alabama basketball make-or-break player: Brandon Garrison
Brandon Garrison has always been a very emotional person. He received a lot of technical fouls over the past couple of seasons at Kentucky, but that emotion is just what Alabama needed in the transfer portal.
The Tide struggled to rebound a season ago, and especially needed a big man who could consistently run the floor and catch lobs. Garrison brings just that with a very high-energy player who can be a ballhandler with very good passing.
Coach Oats even called Garrison one of the best passing bigs he’s ever had.
If Garrison can be a consistent player who can stay out of foul trouble and be a pest on both ends of the floor, he can be the difference maker for the Tide in hopes of competing for the SEC crown this season.
Key statistic: Points per game
For three consecutive seasons, the Tide have led the NCAA in scoring with just over 90 points per game.
Whether that is getting shots off in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock or finding the best shot on that possession, the Tide have played very efficiently, and that is exactly how an Oats team plays.
No matter who is on the floor, it is an automatic 90 on pretty much every given night, and some nights even into the triple digits.
I would expect this to still be the case this year, especially with the firepower the Crimson Tide will have on the floor this season.
Alabama Basketball 2026-27 projections
Projected conference finish: 5th in the SEC
Projected postseason ceiling: NCAA Tournament Elite 8 exit