Alabama Basketball: Open practice showed a new look Tide

Alabama basketball unveiled new energy, new physiques, new pace and plenty of enthusiasm during an open practice on Wednesday.

Alabama basketball fans already knew Nate Oats had ‘it’ going before the open practice on Wednesday. Well known was his accomplishment of quickly building a full 13-scholarship player roster. Oats brought in a quartet of new players and re-recruited the entire previously committed 2019 class. Except for Tevin Mack, he also held on to every key returning player from last season’s roster.

The new roster was partially unveiled on Wednesday. The ‘partially’ was all because of good reasons. Kira Lewis Jr. was away at the final team selection workouts for the U19 National Team. Transfers James ‘Beetle’ Bolden and James Rojas were finishing some coursework and will arrive in Tuscaloosa in July.

New transfer, Jahvon Quinerly was taking part in drills Wednesday. Quinerly’s petition for immediate eligibility has not yet been submitted to the NCAA. Nate Oats commented on the appeal process,

"Our compliance people are pretty optimistic, just what transpired with him, (but) you never know. The family was falsely accused and he went through a lot personally, so hopefully the NCAA understands all that. He needs a fresh start.Jay Wright (the Villanova coach) has been great … (and) Villanova says they are going to be supportive on the whole thing so hopefully, that helps us a little bit."

Check out the practice video at the bottom of this post. Our observations are summarized below.

• Wednesday’s work was more offensive-related so it was difficult to gauge defensive abilities of individual players.
• The freshmen guards and wings looked as prepared for a challenge as the veterans. They were zipping through the drills with intensity and confidence.
• Jaylen Forbes and Juwan Gary showcased some defensive prowess.
• Jahvon Quinerly was easily the quickest player on the court. He is similar in quickness and smoothness to Kira Lewis. He may not have the 94-feet speed of Kira but few college basketball players do.
• The biggest surprises were the physiques of Javian Davis-Fleming and Alex Reese. Both young men have re-shaped their bodies into leaner and more muscled builds. Oats commented on Fleming,

"To be honest, when we first got here, I wasn’t sure he was going to make it. He was out of shape and I didn’t know if he would make it through the first few practices but he has really done a 180. He’s lost a lot of weight and he works. He’s a gym rat, one of the biggest gym rats on our team, and I like that. Plus he can shoot it a little bit."

John Petty summed up the new Alabama Crimson Tide by saying, “the style of play is just totally different from last year.” Those are words Alabama basketball fans love to hear.