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Welcome to BamaCentral’s "Just a Minute," a video series featuring Alabama Crimson Tide on SI's beat writers. Multiple times per week, the writers will group up or film solo to provide their take on a topic concerning the Crimson Tide or the landscape of college sports.
Watch the above video as Alabama Crimson Tide on SI's Theo Fernandez explains why he believes this year's Alabama basketball team has the best chance the program has ever had to win a national championship.
Alabama does not need to win a national championship to have a successful season. Nate Oats does not need to win a national championship to secure his legacy
Those are both ridiculous notions. Do not let anybody convince you otherwise. Do not let the senseless "ring culture" that has poisoned NBA discourse ruin college basketball.
With that being said, this is the best chance Alabama and Oats have ever had. It's very likely the best chance they will ever have. The Crimson Tide got extremely fortunate in the way its roster came together, and it has created a team with a ceiling that is higher than that of each of the past two seasons.
Aden Holloway's arrest has brought him back to Tuscaloosa at a fraction of the cost he would have commanded otherwise. He joins Amari Allen, who is also playing for far less than his "market value" as the team's star-level players. Both have the potential to receive All-SEC and even All-American recognition, and, unlike last season, they actually have a complete roster around them.
Brandon Garrison, Drew Fielder, and Jamarion Davis-Fleming join Keitenn Bristow in a frontcourt that actually feels like it can compete in an SEC game. Jaxon Richardson, Qayden Samuels, and Taris Bouie are all oozing with potential and should impact games with, at the very least, their athleticism right away. Cole Cloer and Anderson Diaz are relative unknowns with the potential to make the rotation even more lethal if they are capable of playing big minutes by the end of the year.
In summary, Alabama has two bona fide stars, a group of bigs as good as this system can hope for, and an intriguing cast of transfers and freshmen who could take the team to the next level. Everything appears to be coming together for a special season in Tuscaloosa.