After making the Final Four for the first time in program history back in the beginning of April, Nate Oats and his Crimson Tide staff will have plenty of work to do between now and the start of next season in order to keep Alabama near the top of the college basketball world, which is where they’ve resided ever since Oats got the job back in 2019. That starts with navigating the wild world of the transfer portal, which has turned college basketball’s offseason into a de facto free agency period where players can come and go like their signing one-year deals. And this weekend, Alabama got their first big win of the offseason.
“Alabama men’s basketball added its second transfer portal addition of the offseason on Saturday when USF transfer Chris Youngblood announced his decision via his Instagram account,” writes Kennington Smith III of The Athletic.
For those unfamiliar with Chris Youngblood’s game, for starters, he was the AAC Co-Player of the Year along with Florida Atlantic’s Johnell Davis, who also entered the transfer portal at year’s end. Youngblood is a dynamic, big-bodied wing who hit 39 percent of his three-pointers last year for the Bulls. He finished his senior season — his first at USF — with averages of 15.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. After leading USF to a conference regular season title and their first postseason appearance since 2019, Youngblood will use his final season of eligibility in Tuscaloosa, which conveniently is Youngblood’s hometown.
If the Tide were retaining the majority of the rest of their roster, the addition of Youngblood would certainly make Alabama one of the favorites to win the National Title next season. However, Alabama, like many other schools, is losing their share of contributors to either the transfer portal or the NBA Draft.
Two Alabama players — sophomore starter Rylan Griffen and seldom-used freshman wing Davin Cosby — have already entered the transfer portal, and Nate Oats awaits decisions from Mark Sears, Grant Nelson, Latrell Wrightsell Jr. and Nick Pringle. Sears and Nelson are likely on their way to the NBA Draft if they’re going anywhere, but no matter whether their off to play in the NBA or somewhere else within the NCAA, the loss would prove to be a big hit to the Tide’s chances of returning to the Final Four.
As for Youngblood, making the move from Tampa to Tuscaloosa should allow the reigning AAC Co-Player of the Year to shine statistically in a way he wasn’t able to while at USF. The Bulls were a middle of the pack offensive team that played at a pace right around the national average. Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide played at the 10th-fastest pace in the country, and scored more points per game than any other team in the NCAA.
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