After what has been a very up and down offseason that reached a breaking point when it was announced that Charles Bediako would stay in the draft, Alabama received some great news at the end of the month as the draft deadline approached this past Wednesday.
Guards Jahvon Quinerly and Mark Sears, both of whom were key pieces of Alabama’s historic 31-win team this past season, elected to pull their names out of the NBA Draft pool and return to school. After the additions of Aaron Estrada (Hofstra) and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (Cal State Fullerton) as well as returning Rylan Griffen, Alabama should now have one of the deepest backcourts in the nation.
Not to mention Davin Cosby, who was a highly rated recruit that enrolled early and has already been with the team throughout the past year. Now Nate Oats and co. must turn their attention to the front court, which as of right now, does not look great with still three open roster spots remaining.
Nick Pringle returns and hopes to build on his freshman campaign, and the Crimson Tide bring in freshmen Mouhamed Dioubate and Sam Walters, who should factor in as well. But Alabama must bring in at least one or two big men out of the portal to put the team in a spot where they can compete to defend their SEC title.
The rumors of the latest contacts include North Dakota State forward Grant Nelson, Creighton forward Arthur Kaluma, as well as top recruit Jarin Stevenson, who they are in a battle with UNC for. All would be wonderful additions, and if they could land two of the three, you’d have to feel really good about where the team is at.
The college basketball offseason continues to heat up, and we will stay monitoring how Alabama fills out its roster.
