Alabama Basketball and the Final Four is old news and Bama has not won anything yet, but ...

In October, Nate Oats was the first person to call the Alabama Basketball Final Four old news, "It's kind of old news. It's great for the program, the fans and the University to be able to celebrate it, but it's got nothing to do with what we've got going on this year." Oats added that eight of Alabama's scholarship players were not on last season's team.

Oats defined the 2024-25 goals for the Alabama Crimson Tide as winning four championships. In the Players Era Tournament, Bama came up short in the first championship opportunity, losing 83-81 to Oregon. Three more championship opportunities lie down the road; the SEC Regular Season Championship, the SEC Tournament Championship, and the National Championship.

There is lots of basketball to be played, but Nate Oats has Alabama as a favorite to win all three. There are two proofs for this claim. One is history, but let's first look at the Tide's championship prospects from a current perspective.

According to ESPN's BPI, Alabama has the No. 2 Strength of Schedule (SOS) of college basketball's 351 teams. The closest national championship contender to Alabama's SOS is Gonzaga at No. 6. The closest SEC team to Alabama and also a national championship contender is Auburn at No. 10.

Alabama's SOS is a byproduct of consistently difficult non-conference scheduling by Nate Oats. So far this season the Crimson Tide is 4-2 against teams currently ranked in the top 31 of the BPI. Alabama has beaten No. 2 Houston, No. 12 Illinois, No. 15 North Carolina (in Chapel Hill), and No. 27 Creighton; with losses to No. 21 Purdue and No. 31 Oregon.

After the win over Creighton, Oats was pleased about the Tide's out-of-conference record, "We’ve scheduled pretty tough like this ever since I’ve been here. I think it’s the best way to prepare yourself for SEC play. I think our guys will be ready."

The Crimson Tide has flaws that must abate. Mostly, it is a lack of shooting success, especially from outside the arc. After another cold shooting night against Creighton, Alabama Basketball dropped to No. 258 nationally, with a three-point make rate of 31.68%. Shooting 20% from three, and still beating the nation's No. 27 team shows the Crimson Tide is doing many other things well. Potentially, Alabama is more than just a better team than last season.

Alabama Basketball and NCAA Championship History

Stepping back into college basketball history affords an interesting perspective. The Week 7, AP Poll is not out, but Week 6 is historically prophetic. Jeff Eisenberg writing for Yahoo, provided a prediction for the 2025 National Champion. He wrote, "The past 20 national champions and 34 of the past 35 were each ranked in the top 12 in their respective season's Week 6 AP poll."

That is a wow stat. Alabama Basketball was one of the 12 in the Week 6 AP; at No. 7. The others were No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Auburn, No. 3 Iowa State, No. 4 Duke, No. 5 Kentucky, No. 6 Marquette, No. 8 Gonzaga, No. 9 Florida, No. 10 Kansas, No. 11 Purdue and No. 12 Oregon.

For some added fun, check out Evan Miyakawa's tweet below.

Any celebration is months away but however it plays out, 2024-25 should be an exceptional Alabama basketball season.