re: Alabama Basketball 2026-27 roster tracker

This is actually hilarious.

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I really like the Phillips pick up as a bench piece. Much more Serviceable than Noah

I like Phillips a lot. I think this represents a bit of a change in thought on roster construction. IMO we’ve been far too enamored with how guys project from 3P range and have focused on maximizing shooting, which has come at great cost to physicality and defense.

5 blue collar guys with 4 who shoot 30%+ from deep is more ideal than 5 dudes who shoot 35%+ from deep while getting bullied around the gym.

Phillips is still more of a bench guy. With Sherrell gone, we need a starting center and that is probably 25-33% of our alleged “boosted” budget.

This is why I scoffed at the big deal made of that payroll boost. It seems I was spot on about it essentially being adjusted for inflation academic year 25-26 money.

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Phillips is still more of a bench guy.

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If he’s healthy, Phillips will be every bit as important as anyone currently on the roster. He’s physical, he can rebound, can jump over a phone book, and offers a defensive presence.

Sherrill is a nice piece, but he is soft and provided very little in rebounding or interior defense relative to his size. I would’ve liked to see him develop further at Bama, but honestly Handgloten presents more intrigue or even JP Estrella would probably give the team more of what is needed to compete with these bigger teams.

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Bethea to the portal

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Weirdly, Bristow is the last remaining transfer from last years portal class still on the team.

What an absolute whiff of a portal class. Oof

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I like Phillips a lot. I think this represents a bit of a change in thought on roster construction. IMO we’ve been far too enamored with how guys project from 3P range and have focused on maximizing shooting, which has come at great cost to physicality and defense. 5 blue collar guys with 4 who shoot 30%+ from deep is more ideal than 5 dudes who shoot 35%+ from deep while getting bullied around the gym.

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Ironically, it was probably the 3/30 performance against SDSU that convinced Oats he needed to sacrifice a little defense and offensive rebounding to get better shooters.

The 2023 team was our best overall team, but we had way more freshman contributors than typical NC winning teams and we didn’t have a way to score when the 3s weren’t falling against a tough, physical defense. We just kept shooting. Defense and rebounding will go a long way, but you still have to be able to score late in games without requiring an efficient 3 point %. You don’t win 5 straight games against quality competition, with 2-3 against elite defenses, without being able to score inside the 3 point line when 3s aren’t falling (particularly when legs are tired in the last 10-15 minutes).


From Gemini (take with a grain of salt as apparently Michigan just surpassed UNC for the worst game of a championship run at 13% from 3 and Gemini didn’t pick that up):

“This is a fascinating "consistency" metric for championship runs. When looking at the last 25 national champions (covering the 2001 through 2026 seasons), nearly every team had a "clunker" game where they shot below 25% from deep.

The 2007 Florida Gators hold the record for the highest "worst" game. In their six-game run to the title, they never shot below 33.3% from the three-point line in a single game.

The "Worst" Game: Their lowest output was 33.3% against Jackson State. To put that in perspective, every other champion in the last 25 years has had at least one game at or below 30% during their run

How Other "Elite" Shooting Champions Compare
Even legendary shooting teams usually had one night where the rim was unkind:
• 2021 Baylor: Shot a blistering 44% in the title game, but struggled at 29.2% (7-24) in the Round of 32 against Wisconsin.
• 2018 Villanova: Set the Final Four record for threes (18 vs. Kansas), but their "worst" game was 25.8% (8-31) in the Elite Eight against Texas Tech. 
• 2024 UConn: Despite a dominant run, they hit a cold snap in the Elite Eight against Illinois, shooting just 17.6% (3-17) from deep. 
• 2019 Virginia: Known for efficiency, they still had a 23.1% (6-26) outing against Oregon in the Sweet 16.
The Low Bar

For contrast, the "worst" worst game by a champion belongs to 2017 North Carolina. In their National Championship win over Gonzaga, they shot a dismal 14.8% (4-27) from three—and still managed to cut down the nets.”

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The issue is he's going to command a ton of cash in the open market because of his ability to step out and hit the 3,

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About the only thing he can do. He has a 3 inch vertical.