NCAA Basketball: Top 25 recruiting programs of the 2010’s

19. Alabama Crimson Tide (SEC)

Average recruiting ranking: 33.30

Alabama is yet another team that struggled during the decade even with high-quality recruiting. Over the course of the 10-year stretch, the Crimson Tide only made two NCAA Tournament appearances. Neither Anthony Grant nor Avery Johnson was able to find any consistency with the program while the football team absolutely dominated the nation’s headlines. Nate Oats, though, is now the head coach of the program and it will be intriguing to see how he changes the Tide.

Despite less than middling success throughout the 2010’s, Alabama seemed to always keep positive momentum on the recruiting trail. The program experienced some strong recruiting classes under former head coach Avery Johnson and their top class occurred in 2017 at No. 8 in the country. Collin Sexton and Devonta Pollard represented the two five-stars that arrived on campus during this era but it would be a mistake to overlook top-50 players such as John Petty and the budding superstar that is Kira Lewis.

I know that Alabama is traditionally a football school (obviously) but their basketball program might be on the rise. In my opinion, Nate Oats is one of the brightest stars in the country as both a recruiter and in-game coach. Now that he is at a power conference program, it feels like he will take his leadership to the next level and the Crimson Tide will leap into the nation’s spotlight. A tournament bid could come as early as this coming season and the program is in solid shape for a number of 2020 prospects to jumpstart the decade on the recruiting trail.