re: 2025-2026 Alabama Basketball Recruiting

Gotta hit the portal hard for at least two front court guys with some toughness/rebounding. Maybe 3. Also, we'll need another ball handler who can shoot. I know Oats doesn't mind having some ball-handlers who aren't true PGs. But, only having Holloway as a real PG is a bit concerning. Position-lesd basketball... I get it. But post-Philon, we're going to need someone else that can handle the ball. How good is Holt at it? And he's not a given yet by any means.

All of that said, maybe next year can FINALLY be the year where we're good at perimeter D. The D from our guards has left a lot to be desired for a while now. We should have size, length, and athleticism for days on the perimeter.

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Gotta hit the portal hard for at least two front court guys with some toughness/rebounding. Maybe 3. Also, we'll need another ball handler who can shoot. I know Oats doesn't mind having some ball-handlers who aren't true PGs. But, only having Holloway as a real PG is a bit concerning. Position-lesd basketball... I get it. But post-Philon, we're going to need someone else that can handle the ball. How good is Holt at it? And he's not a given yet by any means.

All of that said, maybe next year can FINALLY be the year where we're good at perimeter D. The D from our guards has left a lot to be desired for a while now. We should have size, length, and athleticism for days on the perimeter.

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Maybe we can find another gem in the Ivy League

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The extra money isn’t worth the ick I would feel especially if I know I’m about to be a multi multi millionaire soon anyway.

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You think that's "ick", but we're talking the same people who negotiated an ownership state in the prep school he played at his senior year in Utah. They're shameless as frick.

And the reason he got up to $6-7.5 million, is because he used Bama as leverage to get more money, even though he'd already signed with BYU. As I said, shameless as frick.

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Thinking about next years team, bigs are in short supply it seems to me. We are guard and wing heavy.

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Finally back to what I wanted to discuss. We don't seem to be in on any uncommitted centers or PGs. From what I've seen online, it looks like every one of our targets has committed somewhere else. It makes me really pissed that the munchkin signed the Ratliff twins. That would've made for great frontcourt depth and chemistry.

My guess is we be portalin' for those positions. Legit talent likely will appear. And no need to get desperate to sign anyone this early. Our previous transfers have done very well for themselves. So I expect we'll have a lot of interest.

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Yeah. Theo Ratliff was a big Alabama football fan if you check his IG. Sucks we couldn’t pull that off. But bigs are one position you like them seasoned if you can get it. I can guarantee you there will be some very good bigs in the portal. We’ll have to pony up to get them.

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I would love another Grant Nelson. He gets caught in the cross hairs of some hate because of his awkward shot, but the guy brought a lot of offensive and defensive weapons that you can see we miss this year. This will be considered blasphemy by some, but Nelson was paired with a fairly low motor center last year.

Cliff could do some special things, but I always felt like he was waiting on an invitation to turn up the energy. Cliff looked every bit the part and in brief flashes he would play the part, but I just really struggle to remember a game last year where Cliff's defense or rebounding or his ability to just hurt opponents with his athleticism was the only reason we won. Cliff was just kind of there. I thought he was going to be such an unbelievable difference maker and he just wasn't. Hopefully we find a big skilled forward to pair with a returning Sherrell. Not another Bol Bowen.

Unfortunately I think our playing style is kind of a double edged sword as far as attracting players. It's great for signing elite guards and wings, but with bigs I think the staff needs to start asking themselves what does this guy want to do as opposed to just what can he do. We end up signing way too many dudes who are tall, soft as frick, and just want to corner camp. Grant was as tough as old boot leather and willing to scrap.

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It's great for signing elite guards and wings, but with bigs I think the staff needs to start asking themselves what does this guy want to do as opposed to just what can he do.

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Oats just touched on this a bit in his AMA he did on Yea. Said he thinks Sherrell does everything they want out of a 5. Want to find a tough but skilled 4 to pair with him.

I’m guessing based on what he said that is what we’ll be targeting heavily in the portal. His frustration with some of that has been palpable so I almost guarantee he’s not going to put himself through it again.

Yeah. I’m very much taking it as a one year blip. Portal has brought us Sears, Nelson, Trelly, Biz, Houston, Youngblood.

His portal hit rate has been incredible. This year was messy. I think some of what went wrong is that he’s had a great track record of getting guys who fit what we want from an attribute standpoint and getting them to play how we want. Some of that didn’t happen this year.

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"Let’s make sure that the cheering— while we despise Auburn— let’s be respectful in our chants, cheers and everything tomorrow in the game. We can be as loud as anybody in the country. We can be the best fans in the country and still be respectful."

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Bill Selff rumored for retirement.