Alabama finished up its three-game exhibition slate on Thursday night in Birmingham, taking down rival Auburn 87-85 in "The Feud" at Legacy Arena. That followed up wins over Furman and Ole Miss to allow Nate Oats to get to 3-0 in the preseason.
Alabama has plenty to work on. Nobody understands that more than Oats. But it's hard not to be encouraged with where this team is, especially with what they were missing. Neither Aden Holloway nor Anderson Diaz, two of the team's three primary ball handlers, played in any of the exhibition games. Jaxon Richardson missed two of the three, and Cole Cloer, who has been a revelation in the preseason, missed the Auburn game on Thursday night.
With so many missing pieces, it put the spotlight on several newcomers for the Crimson Tide. In particular, it put the spotlight on Alabama's talented freshman class, which ranked No. 6 in the 247 composite in the 2026 cycle.
Those freshmen? They're awesome, baby.
With a Capital A.
Oats has some real diaper dandies this season, and they're going to make a massive difference.
Alabama's 2026 freshman class is giving 2022 vibes
Against Auburn, both Qayden Samuels and Tarris Bouie played well to help Alabama earn a two-point win. Samuels struggled with his efficiency at just 6-of-19 from the floor, but he scored 20 points and was a game-high +17.
Bouie can be a bit reckless, but he is a blue-collar machine. He scored 14 points and grabbed 7 rebounds in the win.
Fans finally got to see Jaxon Richardson, who missed the first two exhibition games. He was on a pitch count as he's slowly ramped up. But in 10 minutes, he showed why Oats is so bullish on him, particularly on the defensive end. He locked up Tahaad Pettiford and had two stocks (steals + blocks) in his short stint.
“He’s got the potential to be one of the best, if not the best defender I’ve ever coached, which is saying something, because I had Herb Jones for two years," Oats said of Richardson. ..." The version that you saw tonight is him trying to get back, just get him a little bit of in-game. It’s not happening. Like, he was not anything close to what you’re going to see. When he’s been healthy in practice, he’s been elite."
That's not to mention Diaz, who hasn't played yet, or even Cloer, who isn't technically part of that 2026 class but might as well be. Cloer decided to reclass super late in the cycle last year and enroll at NC State for the spring semester, but he wasn't eligible to play and was injured anyway. Alabama considers him a freshman.
Through three exhibition games, this team is giving off vibes of the 2022 class led by Brandon Miller and Noah Clowney. There might not be anyone as singularly impactful as Miller, but that freshman class carried the Crimson Tide to the best regular season in program history, an SEC regular season and tournament title, and the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
There will be some growing pains, but Alabama has the depth and veteran leadership around them to withstand them. When the light fully clicks on for the diaper dandies in Tuscaloosa, this team has potential that is through the roof.
"I think those guys are going to just get significantly better throughout the year because they haven’t played college basketball yet," Oats said. "So to me, that’s one of the upsides of going with some freshmen is they got a big gap between where they currently are and what their potential is, and I think we can really work with them and close that gap, get them playing really good basketball by SEC play.
"But they’re talented. I think you see some of the stuff that they’re capable of doing in these three exhibition games.”
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