Clifford Omoruyi provides the rim protection Alabama basketball has been missing

Alabama basketball was sorely in need of rim protection this offseason and Nate Oats and staff went out and landed one of the best in the country in Clifford Omoruyi from Rutgers.

Despite losing two first round picks from the 2022-23 team in Brandon Miller and Noah Clowney, one could argue that the player Alabama missed the most last season was rim protecting center Charles Bediako.

With Bediako, Alabama's defense ranked No. 3 in KenPom. Without Bediako, Alabama slipped all the way to 111th. It speaks to the randomness of college basketball that the elite defensive team lost in the Sweet 16 and last season's porous unit made it all the way to the Final Four for the first time in program history.

Omoruyi immediately fills Alabama's most glaring need, and allows last season's prize transfer portal haul, Grant Nelson, to slide down to his more natural position at the four. The big advantage teams like Auburn had over Alabama last season was size, and the 6'11, 240 pound Omoruyi won't be pushed around by anyone.

Omoruyi was an All-Big Ten defensive player last season, averaging an absurd 2.9 blocks-per-game. Alabama as a team had only 30 more blocked shots than Omoruyi had by himself. His block rate of 12.7% ranked third in the entire country a year ago.

With Bediako, Alabama's defensive philosophy was to funnel everything into Bediako. He would play drop coverage and had the ability to recover and contest shots. It forced opponents into the most inefficient shot in basketball, the contested mid-ranger.

Omoruyi will give Alabama the same ability, but he's a better athlete and quicker on his feet than Bediako was. Meaning he can switch the pick-and-roll entirely and it won't feel like a mismatch if he ends up on a guard.

He's a high level athlete who will benefit from Alabama's guards and their ability to get to the rim. If the help defense comes when Mark Sears gets past his man, Omoruyi will be there for an easy lob dunk. He's also got some post moves and will be able to make some things happen if Alabama wants to dump the ball off to him in periods where he offense is stagnant.

Teaming with Grant Nelson, Alabama's starting frontcourt will have a size advantage over most of the teams it plays. Feedback from practice has been that Omoruyi has a decent looking shot, too, so don't be surprised to see him pull a few three pointers throughout the season, though the majority of the time he'll be on the block.

If Omoruyi was on the roster last season, it's quite possible Alabama would have won the national title. He could have matched up against Donovan Clingan in the Final Four, who was a massive matchup problem for the Crimson Tide.

A healthy Omoruyi gives Alabama its missing piece. With the firepower Alabama has on offense, a large improvement defensively will make the Crimson Tide one of the best teams in the country and puts them on the shortlist of national championship contenders.