Nate Oats' Alabama basketball team is unofficially 5-0 after beating Arkansas State on Friday night. Officially, the Crimson Tide is 2-0, with wins over the Red Wolves 101-86 and Sam Houston State 96-74.
In one way, the 5-0 start feels like preseason for the Crimson Tide. That will change on Monday when Aden Holloway returns to the court against Oakland. Alabama will be a better and different team with Holloway. How Nate adjusts his rotation and how long it takes to perform smoothly may be a November and December adventure.
In the two official games, no player has averaged more than 25 minutes, and 11 Crimson Tide players have averaged double-digit minutes. One of those players is Anderson Diaz at 10.5 minutes. Diaz has struggled. Age-wise, he is a high school senior, so his struggles are expected, but Holloway will eat up his minutes in most games. Even with that change, it would take wizardry from Nate Oats to make an 11-player rotation cohesive enough to win tough games.
It is great that, excluding freshman Cole Cloer, all the other double-digit minutes guys have shown they can contribute. After playing great early, Cloer is in a two-game slump, shooting 12.5%, including .083% from outside the arc. Cloer scored 32 points in the Furman and Ole Miss exhibition games, making eight of 18 three-pointers. His game is perfectly suited for Nate Oats' offense, so the slump should be temporary.
How Oats uses Holloway with Amari Allen and Qayden Samuels will draw attention in the next few games. Against Arkansas State, Allen became the fourth Crimson Tide player to record a triple-double. Against the Red Wolves, Allen recorded 16 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists. Allen leads the Tide in assists, and Samuels is second. Qayden has averaged 13 points in the two regular-season games. He does not play like a freshman. Though at a different position, neither does fellow freshman Tarris Bouie. Though slowed by injury recovery, another potentially outstanding freshman, Jaxson Richardson, could become the team's best defender.
So where will Aden fit in? As Nate Oats said recently, when open, Holloway is Alabama's best shooter. Samuels and Allen may continue as primary ball-handlers, and Holloway mostly work off the ball. The backcourt options are so many that roles and rotations can often change to counter opponents. Nate Oats has never had a roster so deep in talent. No other Crimson Tide coach has had such a luxury either.
Note: Alabama stats provided by Sports Reference
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