Nate Oats had a relatively successful first-year with Alabama Basketball, and now he has to rebuild the roster following several departures.
Alabama Basketball head coach Nate Oats is well on his way to having a successful offseason as he is trying to rebuild the Crimson Tide roster for the upcoming 2020-21 campaign following a handful of departures. Oats secured the third and fourth commitment for his 2020 class this week with pledges from junior college prospect Keon Ellis, who is ranked as the No. 9 by JUCO Recruiting, and three-star forward Darius Miles.
The Crimson Tide lost eight of their last 11 games to finish the season at 16-15 and 8-10 in the SEC in the first season under Oats. Eleven of the setbacks were single-digits with five of the losses by five or fewer people. Oats has yet to post a losing season in any of his five years as a head coach and he has compiled a 112-58 record overall with three NCAA Tournament appearances.
Despite how the Tide closed the campaign, there were still plenty of bright spots. Kira Lewis Jr. took pretty significant strides in his development, and John Petty Jr. bounced back from a disappointing sophomore season as he knocked down over 46% of his shots from the field and once again became a knockdown perimeter shooter. Freshman Jaden Shackleford was terrific throughout the year while forwards Alex Reese, Herbert Jones, and Javian Davis showed signs of promise on occasion.
Oats knew that he would lose Beetle Bolden at the end of this past season. But since the conclusion of the campaign, freshman Raymond Hawkins has entered the transfer portal, and Lewis, Petty, and Jones have decided to test the NBA waters. However, each of those three players has left open the possibility of returning. Lewis and Petty are not expected to come back to Tuscaloosa though Jones could– and should come back for his senior year.
“I think it’s going to look significantly different,” Oats said of his UA roster last month. “… We’re going to have some guys that now the question is who’s leaving? Who’s coming? We obviously saw Raymond went in the portal.”
“Now, as we start to get some commits, we’ll have those conversations, and they may be a little bit harder conversations as they see different guys committing to us. They may realize that maybe their playing time is going to go down. We’ll have those conversations coming up, but I don’t know who they’ll be. Some of that will be determined by our own players, to be honest with you, and how much they want to compete with some guys that we’re bringing in for guys.”
Oats has done an excellent job on the recruiting circuit at Bama thus far. Oats had the 21st best-recruiting class in 2019, per 247Sports Composite, which included seven members. Shackleford and Bolden became major players this year while Jaylen Forbes struggled, and Hawkins only appeared in six games. Juwan Gray, who was the top recruit last year, along with transfers James Rojas and Jahvon Quinerly, sat out the entire 2019-20 campaign. This year’s class a chance to be even better.
Following the commitments of Ellis and Miles, Alabama moved up to No. 15 in 247Sports Composite rankings. Those two join five-star commit along with the Tide’s lone signee Keon Ambrose-Hylton. The Crimson Tide aren’t done retooling the roster. They were a finalist for JUCO transfer Saquan Singleton, who ultimately chose New Mexico, and are currently in the mix for Yale transfer Jordan Bruener as well as Ohio State’s Luther Muhammad.
Bruner is also considering Maryland and Baylor. The 6-9 forward averaged 10.9 points along with 9.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.7 blocks this past season. He also produced nine double-doubles and scored in double-figures 18 times.
Muhammad, on the other hand, recently trimmed his list down to eight schools with Auburn,
Georgia, Seton Hall, Arizona State, UCLA, West Virginia, and New Mexico also remaining in the hunt. The 6-3 guard didn’t grow as much as it was hoped this past season as he compiled seven points, 1.1 triples, and 2.3 rebounds over 25 minutes a game in 30 appearances. He shot 38.3% from the floor, 34.7% from long-distance, and 85% from the free-throw line.