re: Bama Basketball Offseason Megathread

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Petty’s deal that he said the whole time is, if he gets a guarantee in the top 40 to 45, he’s going to stay in. And I would agree with him. He’s got a daughter, he’s got another one on the way, he’s a good dad. If you can make the amount of money you would make in the top 40 to 45, you probably gotta go.

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One Ivy League assistant basketball coach on what fall sports in the spring would mean for hoops:

‘I’m guessing they’ll reevaluate in December for 2nd semester. Doubt we play nonconference.’

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Alabama's new court design at Coleman Coliseum features the state outline around script A, and that's by design.

"We're letting people know who is in charge of college athletics in the state of Alabama." -
@BamacoachBryan

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Alex Tchikou, 4-star PF | Paris, France/Dream City Christian

“Alex is a kid that I’ve watched for, gosh, going on three years now since he came to the United States and went to Findlay Prep. Findlay Prep was a storied program out in Las Vegas and actually closed down, so he was forced to move schools. But I started watching him then and just kept tabs on him over the last couple of years, and he’s really developed. We kind of like to look at him as a poor man’s version of like a Kevin Durant or the Greek Freak (Giannis Antetokounmpo). He’s big. He’s 6-11, can play on the perimeter, is an inside-outside guy. He can handle the ball a little bit. Obviously, he’s got a ways to go to get to that level of the guys that we’ve talking about, but as far as comparing him to someone that people know, those would be the closest comparisons. Or even a Pascal Siakam, who’s someone that he actually tries to study. So, he brings a different dynamic that we haven’t had here at Alabama and allows us to stretch the floor and continue to play the pace that Coach Oats wants to play with long, athletic bigs. Looking forward to getting him here.”

Keon Ambrose-Hylton, 4-star PF | Toronto, Ontario/Andrews Osborne Academy

“Keon’s obviously one of our two Canadians that really is a do-it-all (player). He’s a glue guy, he’s a workhorse. He prides himself on playing with a ton of energy and enthusiasm. Anybody that got to see him play in high school or AAU would strongly agree with that. He’s loud and vocal on the floor, and he almost plays as if he’s, like, hyperactive. When you can get a kid his size -- 6-8, 6-9 -- and plays with that much energy and is that mobile, it really bodes well for what we want to do as a program and the way we want to play. We’re looking forward to having him.

“There was a game last year that he played in a tournament in Dayton, Ohio -- one of the largest tournaments in the country -- he played against two of the top-ranked bigs in the country and ended the game with 20 rebounds, 12 offensive rebounds. So, that’s something we’re going to look for from him -- shore up the rebounding. And also, he can guard, honestly, like the two through the five. He’s got quick feet. He’ll be able to switch ball screens, which is something that anybody that’s watched us knows we do quite a bit. He’ll bring a nice dimension for us.”

Keon Ellis, 3-star CG | Fort Myers, Fla./Florida Southwestern State

“We’re really excited about Keon. We have a special place for junior college guys. Coach Oats and I have won a lot of basketball guys with junior college guys on the floor. And as far as that goes, he was one of the best in the country this year. He was the leading scorer for the No. 1 junior college team in the country and really just played well all year. Started watching him last summer, really liked his game and spent the fall seeing how he would develop and how it would translate into the regular season for them. And he didn’t miss a beat. We targeted early and knew that he was a guy that we wanted.

“His recruitment, obviously, came to a halt when the coronavirus hit because he hadn’t taken any visits. His season, they were ready to go to the junior college national tournament. That’s one of those scenarios where we built the strongest relationship with him before the virus hit, and when push came to shove and it was time to make a decision, he chose to come here. A cool dynamic about Keon is he actually grew up an Alabama football fan. Even though he’s from Florida, the first time I called him, he said, ‘Coach, I can’t believe Alabama called.’ He said, ‘I’ve been an Alabama football fan since I was born.’ That didn’t hurt, that’s for sure.”

Jordan Bruner, PF | Yale graduate transfer

“To be able to get a guy like Jordan is extremely rare. We’re very fortunate. We believe he was the best graduate transfer in the country to fit our needs. Different rankings have maybe one or two guys above him, but as far as what we were looking for, it’s not even close. He’s another guy that at 6-10, 230 can play really the two through the five. He handles the ball, he shoots it. He’s an unbelievable passer. He’s got the only triple-double in Yale basketball history. He almost had a second one. And the one really great thing about him is he brings a wealth or knowledge and experience to this team to add to guys like Herb (Jones) and Alex Reese and those guys. He’s been in college for four years. He’s won the Ivy League. He’s played at a high level. So, we’re excited to have him. We’re looking for him to lead both on and off the court.”

Darius Miles, 4-star PF | Washington, D.C./IMG Academy

“Darius is a unique story. There’s a kid in the 2021 class that I went to watch down at IMG, and I went to IMG to meet with that young man. I’m in the gym and my flight didn’t leave for a couple hours, so I happened to wander over to the next gym. IMG has a high school team and a postgraduate team. So, I sit down to watch the postgraduate team, and it took all of about five minutes and four or five possessions for me to watch Darius Miles and realize that he was a talented kid. I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Well, sure enough, he’s got to be signed somewhere, or there’s got to be some kind of hitch here that I don’t know about the guy.’ Well, come to find out, he wasn’t signed, and he was flying under the radar because he was actually only a senior but chose to play up on the postgraduate team to stay loyal to the coach that brought him there. A lot of guys thought he was in his fifth year -- he was only in his fourth.

“We hopped on it right away, developed a relationship with him and kind of the same deal as Keon Ellis -- the virus hit before we could even do an official visit. It came down for him to make a college decision, and we hopped on a couple Zoom calls and spent some time with him on the phone with him and his family and he decided to come here to Alabama. We’re fortunate because he’s going to be special. He’s a big, 6-7, long, athletic guard, probably one of the more athletic guys in the program right now. We’re looking forward to watching his development.”

Josh Primo, 5-star CG | Toronto, Ontario/Royal Crown

“Josh is a special talent. Obviously, the rankings and the 5-star and the whole deal says that. But even outside of that stuff, you take all of that stuff away, I’ve been watching Josh since he was in ninth grade. Obviously, Buffalo’s about a stone’s throw away from Toronto, so I’ve been watching Josh since he was in ninth grade, playing for an AAU organization up there that I’ve known coaches for a long time. His development has been unbelievable. He’s gotten substantially better every single year, and it’s not a coincidence. He’s one of the hardest working kids that I’ve been able to be around, and he’s going to bring a lot to the table this year. I think that combining with (Jahvon) Quinerly and (Jaden Shackelford) and Herbert Jones and John Petty, if he comes back to school, to add to that talented guard corps with what he’s capable of doing, I think we’re capable of having one of the better backcourts in the country.”

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Y’all think we will try to find another game to replace it?

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