With college basketball's 2024-25 season almost in the books, Alabama Basketball looks forward to next season. Roster building will continue for a couple of months leading to changes in early predictions for college basketball's top 2025-26 teams.
We already know that in betting markets, Alabama Basketball is less of a favorite to win it all than last year's offseason. Last year the betting odds given for an Alabama Basketball National Championship were +1400. Current odds for next season have the Crimson Tide at +1800, according to FanDuel.
Last year, only three teams had better odds than Alabama; Kansas and UConn were +1000, and Duke was +1300. It is no surprise that betting odds are sometimes flawed. They are created for a different purpose than predicting results and are only loosely tied to the merits of teams. In the offseason, the odds do provide a sense of fan perception of what teams are trending up or down. Duke, for example, is at the top of the FanDuel list for 2025-26 at +950.
Five SEC teams are on FanDuel's list of 12 teams having the best betting odds to become the 2025-26 National Champion. Auburn is slightly higher than Alabama at +1700. Arkansas and Kentucky match the Crimson Tide at +1800. Florida is at +2500. The Gators will face a difficult roster rebuilding task.
Fifth on the list of best odds to win a championship next season is BYU. The Cougars, with their purported $7M acquisition of AJ Dybantsa have odds of +1500. Using a variation of something Nick Saban said years ago, is this what we want college basketball to be? Want it or not, it is what we have.
Alabama beat BYU by 25 points in the NCAA Tournament. But in the pay for play world of big-time college sports, every season is a whole new ball game. Alabama basketball insiders believe missed on some top recruits and transfers in this cycle because it allowed itself to be outbid. BYU has tech-rich benefactors with troves of money. Alabama does not. It is odd that this player compensation situation was initially driven by fairness.
Alabama Basketball and Nate Oats will be undeterred
The good news for Alabama basketball fans is Alabama is not a poverty program and Nate Oats will press on undeterred. And Alabama fans can wonder how good the Crimson Tide could be next season if Nate Oats could pay Labaron Philon $2M to return for one more season. That amount is estimated to be well below what Dybantsa would earn at BYU if he is a 'one-and-done'.