In the midst of four straight Top 25 wins for the Alabama football team, basketball is currently on the back burner, but the season is on the horizon and despite several familiar faces finally being out of eligibility the expectations are still high for the Tide. Obviously, there is a little more unknown with this year's team going into the season so there is not near as much Final Four or bust talk as a year ago, but realistically the expectations should be anything less than the second weekend appearance in the NCAA tournament should be considered as a disappointing season.
Last week of course we got to see how good both Aden Holloway and Labaron Philon can be and how an important they will be for this team. After last year's loss to Duke in the Elite Eight and two losses to Florida showed that Alabama needed more length and that seemed to be addressed via the portal and recruiting. There is a certain excitement around Latrell Wrightsell being able to return after last November's Achillies tear as his presence on the court adds a lot on both ends of the court. Speaking about injuries Houston Mallette is expected to add solid depth especially on the offensive end.
Noah Williamson was brought in to be the next game changing big man in Coleman Coleseum, and the most exciting point is he adds a lot offensively that Cliff Omoruyi didn't necessarily bring consistently. As always Coach Oats has challenged his team with a tough non-conference schedule that includes St. Johns, Purdue, Illinois, Gonzaga, UNLV, Clemson, and Arizona which will help the team when March comes. I would like to see this team be above .500 during that seven-game gauntlet, and of course despite the SEC being very tough again being in the conference race to the end. The expectations rightfully so have grown from just making the tournament and as said before with the mix of returning talent and new guys as long as health stays relatively good for this team, the second weekend in March is the minimum expectation, but don't be surprised if this team pushes for a second Final Four appearance.