Alabama basketball has more scholarship players than scholarships
While it would be amazing to add any athlete that wants to play Alabama basketball, scholarship limits keep that from happening. With the addition of transfer Nimari Burnett, the Crimson Tide are one player over the scholarship limit.
Scholarship limits are supposed to bring balance to college basketball. For years, this would have helped Alabama basketball. Now that the Crimson Tide have a chance to compete for the SEC and national titles regularly, they are on the other end of the spectrum. Plenty of athletes want to come to Tuscaloosa, but there are only a few seats at the table.
Alabama has five new athletes joining the team in the 2021 recruiting class. JD Davison, Jusaun Holt and Langston Wilson have been signed for a while. Charles Bediako committed recently, and Burnett transferred shortly after.
These five players are replacing four Alabama basketball seniors. Herb Jones and John Petty were perennial starters for the Tide. Alex Reese was a key role player who improved every season, and Jordan Bruner was a key piece during his only year in Tuscaloosa.
While Alabama can be creative, the fact remains that one player will lose a scholarship. Alabama has walk-on players, but someone will almost certainly transfer out of the program.
Alabama’s bench is so deep that it will be hard to find someone worthy of losing a scholarship. Many players contributed in 2020, and all improved over the course of Alabama basketball’s run.
With the return of Juwan Gary, the addition of Charles Bediako and the recovery of Alex Tchikou, losing a post would make sense. For that reason alone, James Rojas might be the odd man out by the end of this round of musical chairs. While he has limited eligibility left, he has not developed at the same rate as the rest of the team. Still, he played a key role this season, and he would be a loss.
Alabama might even add another scholarship transfer, so this problem is far from finished. While it is just as hard determining starters as it is determining benchwarmers, the fact remains that there are too many mouths to feed in Tuscaloosa right now. Unless someone like Jahvon Quinerly enters the NBA Draft, someone will be out the door. We’ll just have to see who it is.