Crimson Corner: Could Alabama Basketball Truly Be a No. 1 Seed Next March?

The question is this: is a No. 1 seed actually possible for an Alabama basketball program that will be under coach Nate Oats in just his third year?

Absolutely.

After a year of adjustment under Oats' style, the Crimson Tide managed to make it all the way to the Sweet 16 before falling at the hands of UCLA. Alabama was a No. 2 seed, tied for its highest tournament seeing in program history. Along with an SEC regular-season and tournament title, last season was a historic one for the program.

According to Lunardi, it appears that next year will be just as historic.

Should Alabama be a No. 1 seed next March, it will be the first time that it will have occurred for the program. While last year's team was solid, it was still experiencing some growing pains; growing pains that will likely have been fully grown into by next year.

As far as the roster is concerned, guard Jaden Shackelford is the last remaining piece of the Avery Johnson era. While Shackelford was not on the team during Johnson's tenure at Alabama, he was still a commitment to the team prior to Johnson's firing and Oats' hiring at the Capstone.

Both Shackelford and sophomore guard Josh Primo have announced that they will be testing the waters of the NBA Draft, but will do so without an agent in order to maintain their eligibility to return this fall should they choose to do so. If one remembers, both John Petty Jr. and Herb Jones did so last year, and both returned for their senior seasons.

Shackelford and Primo are expected to return. While both had great seasons last year, it was ultimately a year that put them on the map in terms of being solid basketball players. This season will be another great opportunity for them to perform in the spotlight for the season's duration, increasing their draft stock.

Junior guard Jahvon Quinerly has also been thought to be testing the 2021 NBA Draft waters as well, but as of the writing of this story has not made any sort of formal announcement.

Should Shackelford, Primo and Quinerly return this fall, they will contribute greatly to a program that has quickly built up one of the best rosters in the nation. On top of having the top recruit in the state sign with the team in J.D. Davison, the team will also have freshman forward Alex Tchikou play a role after sitting out for the entirety of the 2020-2021 season with an Achilles injury. Keon Ellis, Juwan Gary, Keon Ambrose-Hylton, Darius Miles and James Rojas are all currently slated to return.

With the NCAA's scholarship limitations, one of those players will have to depart the program in order to accommodate the five new players. A departure is imminent, but as of right now the decision seems to have not been made as no player has entered the NCAA transfer portal.

In addition to Davison, center Charles Bediako and wing Jusaun Holt will also be joining the program from high school. In the transfer department, Oats and assistant coach Bryan Hodgson picked up two big gets in Texas Tech guard Nimari Burnett and Furman grad-transfer forward Noah Gurley.

All five of the team's additions seem to be textbook players in Oats' system, bringing much excitement to the program. On top of that, the team has a deeper bench of bigs — something that they did not have much of in 2020 due to Tchikou's injury.

The winds of change have been sweeping over Tuscaloosa over the past two years, and it seems that they will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The five additions plus the talented returners will finally give Oats the season that he's been searching for all along: a season with a roster fully and completely his own.

No wonder Lunardi has Alabama picked so high in next season's bracket.