Alabama Will Never Have a Better Chance to Win a Title

Alabama does not need to win a national championship to have a successful season. Nate Oates does not need to win a national championship for his legacy in Tuscaloosa to be secure. But if it's ever going to happen, what better opportunity will there be than this year? Look at the circumstances around Alabama's roster construction. Frankly, you got a once-in-a-generation type situation with Aiden Holloway. Sorry to put it bluntly, it is not common for a player of his caliber to go and try to be a drug dealer mid-season, right? And those circumstances have now brought him back to Tuscaloosa for a fraction of the cost of what it would have been otherwise, right? So the amount of money that you saved on Aiden Holloway is extraordinary. And you look across the rest of the roster, I guarantee I would bet any amount of money on the fact that you would not have all those pieces if you were paying full price for Aiden Holloway, not even close. Now you have another player in Amari Allen that you're not paying full price for, and this is a more normal case. It is going to be a common thing, and it has been under Oates, for guys to take discounts with the expectation that Oates will get them into the NBA, right? And Amari Allen is more than happy taking A discount because he genuinely believes that Oates is going to get him into the lottery this year. So that's a normal situation. Aiden Holloway one is certainly far from normal, but the end result is that you have two superstar caliber players playing for far less than the market would normally say they're worth. And I do legitimately think both these guys are all American level guys. I think that's a very strong possibility. And I think that unlike last year where you had two star level players in Holloway and LeBaron Phylon and an incomplete roster around them, I think you have a very deep roster around these two guys. And I look at, you know, who would have thought Alabama would have this kind of big depth when you look at what it was last year, right? When you look at Davis Fleming and Brandon Garrison and Drew Fielder. On top of Keaton Bristow, right? It is just something that did not exist. Whatever Cole Clore becomes, and I'm a little lower on him than some people are. I can explain that in another video. But whatever he becomes, he's another guy you were able to bring in. And look at these three wings, right? These three freshmen that all have NBA potential. I think Caden Samuels could end up. Falling into the LeBaron Phylon Amari Allen camp where after their freshman year they're making a decision on oh I may be able to go be a first round pick right now or I can return and be a superstar. I just think top to bottom you have a roster with very few holes on paper. Is Alabama going to walk into a game against Florida against Duke and win the rebounding battle? No. That's probably never going to happen under Nate. It's both with the system and with what those guys command in the portal. But I do think that, first of all, the bigs are better than they were last year. It won't be that much of a liability compared to a year ago. But also that the offensive ceiling on the rest of the roster is high enough to overcome some of those other issues, overcome what you're giving up in the paint. I really think that this could be the year for Alabama. I think this is really the quintessential Nate Oats roster. I think that when it's all said and done for Oates and Tuscaloosa, there will be a day when it is all said and done. Could be in one year, could be in two, could be in five, could be in ten. He could spend the rest of his career here in Alabama. I do not know. But when it is all said and done, I think that this could be the defining team of his tenure.