Alabama Basketball: Projected starting lineup and depth chart for 2021-22 season
Shooting Guard/Two Guard
Starter: Jahvon Quinerly
The shooting guard/two-guard position is where predicting Alabama’s starting lineup and depth chart gets a bit interesting. Alabama has four guards that should definitely start, but in an effort not to have a super small lineup, only three of them can, and because of that, Burnett is the one who is moved to the bench.
The downside is now you have two true point guards starting in J.D. Davison at the one and Jahvon Quinerly at the two. Quinerly is obviously undersized for the position, but it’s simply where I’m putting him right now, if this does end up being the starting five, the three guards will be moved around with Davison and Quinerly both taking the ball up at times.
Quinerly started only seven games for the Crimson Tide of the 30 he played in last season, but all seven of those games he started were in the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament, and for that reason, I would expect him to be a starter for a majority of the 2021-22 season as he was named the SEC Tournament MVP, and was very impressive throughout the Tide’s NCAA Tournament run which came to an end in the Sweet 16.
Bench: Nimari Burnett/Keon Ellis/Darius Miles
Nimari Burnett is one of the top transfers from this past off-season in the nation, and he will undoubtedly start a decent amount of games for the Crimson Tide, but I don’t believe he will be a starter right out of the gate. Burnett is a 6’4” 195-pound shooting guard who will get a solid amount of minutes for the Tide, and will likely start at either the two or the three for Alabama throughout the season.
Burnett has an impressive jump shot and is capable of making plays and getting to the rim, and he is also a very good defender. Adding Burnett is a huge addition for the Crimson Tide and you should fully expect Nate Oats to get the most out of him.
We mentioned Keon Ellis a moment ago, he’s a 6’6” shooting guard who last season for Alabama averaged 5.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game with 1.1 steals and 0.4 blocks per game as well.
You should expect Ellis to play all three guard positions for Alabama because of his slim frame seeing he is 6’6” and only 170, but a majority of his minutes will likely be at the shooting guard position which is where he naturally plays. I would however expect to see him on the court for more than the 17.5 minutes per game that he played last season.
Lastly, I would expect to see Darius Miles here a little bit. Miles played in only 17 games last season for the Tide averaging only 4.3 minutes per game where he averaged 2.2 points, 0.9 rebounds, and 0.2 assists, steals, and blocks per game. Miles had a tiny role in 2020-21 for the Tide, but I would definitely expect to see a little more of him in 2021-22.