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Alabama Basketball: Week At A Glace

In what is a big football weekend between visitors, homecoming, and playing a historic rival for the Third Saturday of October (even though it is the fourth), Alabama basketball has a huge weekend ahead. Alabama will have their annual Tide-Tipoff event on Friday evening in Foster Auditorium. This will include a dunk contest, team competitions, coach interviews, and a scrimmage. Doors will open at 6:30 PM and the event will begin at 7:30 PM. The event will also be streamed on SEC Network+. Capacity will be limited so it will be first come first serve. If you are in town, be sure to attend the start of a big weekend ahead.

Alabama will also host the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns on Sunday afternoon in Coleman Coliseum at 2:00 PM. This will be Alabama’s second scrimmage of the preseason as the Tide is coming off a 14-point win over Georgia Tech in a “secret scrimmage” this past Saturday in Birmingham. This will be fans first opportunity to see the team live before the season opener against Louisiana Tech on November 9th. Tickets are still available for the charity exhibition and are $20 a ticket. This event will not be streamed or broadcasted on the radio, so you must attend in order to be a part of the event.

Now to the portion that people care about the most. Alabama is slated to host a solid group of official visitors this weekend. Alabama will have Noah Clowney, Ty Rodgers, Kimani Hamilton, as well as one other official visitor who has not publicly announced their visit but has confirmed that they will be on campus for all of this weekend’s events. Let’s breakdown our three publicly announced visitors and where their recruitments stand.

Noah Clowney is a big prospect for the Tide that was slated to visit the weekend of September 24th but had to reschedule. Clowney is a four-star forward who is ranked 62nd in the country per 247sports Composite Rankings. Clowney is a 6-9” forward who would be a talented big man option for the Tide. Clowney can stretch it out to the three-point line and has great touch around the rim. He moves very well and runs the floor in transition which fits what Alabama looks for in a forward/big man. Clowney had a good summer of improvement and displayed it at the NBPA Top 100 camp. Clowney is down to Alabama, Indiana, Florida and Virginia Tech. Many see this as VT and IU as the front runners with Alabama sitting in third, but as we have seen with other recruits in this cycle, one visit can change everything. This is a name to watch as we see how visits play out this weekend. Clowney will announce his college decision on October 31st.

Ty Rodgers is as the 54th player in the nation per the 247sports Composite Rankings. Rodgers is a high-level defensive prospect with a high basketball IQ. Rodgers isn’t much of a shooter on the offensive end but excels at getting to the rim and making plays for others. He is an excellent passer for his position and makes great reads to set up his teammates off of his drives. He is also the definition of a blue-collar player that Nate Oats loves. He does all of the little things and has an extremely high motor. He crashes hard to rebound on both ends, will take on the responsibility of guarding the opposing teams’ better players regardless of position, sets up his teammates, deflects passes, dives for loose balls…he does it all. He is one of the players that excites me the most when watching his film because of this. It is easy to root for guys that play hard like this. Rodgers is down to nine schools: Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, Marquette, Memphis, Michigan, Michigan State, Rhode Island and Xavier. Rodgers has not set a commitment date at this point.

Kimani Hamilton is a name we have already seen pop up on campus. He unofficially visited during the summer and again unofficially visited on the weekend of October 2nd. Hamilton is ranked as the 132nd player in the country per the 247sports Composite Rankings but did get a bump in the latest rankings for 247sports (non-composite) to move him up to 87th overall. Hamilton is down to two schools: Alabama and Mississippi State. Hamilton is a lengthy 6’8” forward who plays on the wing and can attack the basket, stretch it out to the three-point line, and has the tools to be a multi-positional defender. As Hamilton’s recruitment winds down, he is a name to watch to see how Alabama plays this one out.

Recruits will get the chance to experience Tide Tipoff, the football game, and the charity exhibition this weekend. This should give prospects a good feel for how they could potentially fit in at Alabama as a fit both on and off the court. They should have an exciting atmosphere to get to experience this weekend. If you see any Alabama visitors this weekend, be sure to give them a Roll Tide and make them feel at home. As always, be sure to be loud at any events you can attend this weekend. We will be sure to provide updates on anything we can as the weekend events occur. We’d love to hear your thoughts/questions on this weekends events or anything Alabama basketball related in the comments below. Roll Tide!

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