Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats. Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

Why Nate Oats believes Alabama can be extremely dangerous in 2025-26

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated Oct 8, 2025 8:41 PM ET

Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats has built one of the top college basketball programs in the nation. So much so that Alabama is no longer considered "just" a football school. He took the Crimson Tide to the Final Four two seasons ago, and he's made the tournament in five straight seasons. (There was no tournament in 2019-20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)

Heading into year seven, Oats believes he may have one of the more dangerous teams in the country. Specifically, he believes Alabama is going to be able to chuck it from deep this season.

Nate Oats thinks Alabama will be a great shooting team in 2025-26

“I think we’ve got potential to be the best shooting team we’ve had here,” Oats said in a recent news conference. "We’ve been shooting it very well."

Oats believes he has three guards who can really shoot the rock in Aden Holloway, Latrell Wrightsell and Houston Mallette.

Holloway is a junior who scored 11.4 points per game last season on 46.5% shooting from the field and 41.2% from deep. Wrightsell, a senior, scored 11.5 points per game last season while shooting 50% from the field and 42.2% from three. In 2023-24, he averaged 44.7% from deep. Last season, he only played in eight games due to an Achilles injury, so the Tide will be more than happy to get him back and healthy for 2025-26.

Mallette is another senior who scored only 3.2 points per game last season, but he made the most of his 7.8 minutes per game. He shot 58.3% from the field and 50% from long range.

Alabama may have the best backcourt in the Nation this season

Labaron Philon and Aden Holloway are both incredibly dynamic, capable of putting up big numbers, and capable of taking over a game at any moment

Great guards win championships pic.twitter.com/qagG2nOkJ0
— Players Era (@Players_Era) August 30, 2025

Those are elite shooting percentages, especially from three, but Oats also likes what his bigger players on the team can do as well. He specifically mentioned 6-foot-4 sophomore guard Labaron Philon Jr. and 6-foot-8 freshman forward Amari Allen.

“We’ve got two 7-footers that can make shots. Labaron's shooting it better, Amari Allen can make shots. I think we’ve got a lot of guys that can shoot it well and I think that plays into the way we want to play on the offensive end," Oats said.

Oats has proved to be a Final Four-worthy coach. Now his task is to take this team of shooters and mold them into a contender. He has a 145-63 overall record at Alabama, so chances are, he'll have the Crimson Tide in the running when all is said and done.

Andrew Kulha

Andrew Kulha is probably the only sports writer you know who also doubles as a mortician. Spooky! @KulhaSports

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