When it comes to the gold standard of defensive basketball in Tuscaloosa, it starts and stops with Herb Jones, at least in the modern era. Rarely has there been a player who produced more of a twinkle in the eye of Alabama basketball head coach Nate Oats than Jones.
So when Oats compares a player to Jones, that's about as high of praise as he could possibly give.
So you may want to start paying closer attention to Alabama freshman guard/wing Davion Hannah, who drew that comparison from Oats SEC Tip-Off in Hoover on Tuesday.
"I think Davion Hannah is maybe as good as a perimeter defender this program has seen since maybe Herb Jones," Oats told the media.
This isn't the first time Oats has talked up Hannah's defense. He talked about Hannah being "elite" on the defensive end last week when previewing the team. But to make the leap to putting Hannah in the same category as Jones, arguably the single best defensive player in program history, that's a bold statement.
Jones won SEC defensive (and overall) player of the year in 2021 under Oats. He was part of the team that changed everything for the Crimson Tide, laying the foundation for what the program has morphed into. Led by Jones, Alabama won the SEC regular season and tournament titles in 2020-21, and made the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 17 years.
Three years later, Alabama made the program's first Final Four.
Oats has never been shy of placing lofty expectations on himself, his team, or his players, but this one might take the cake.
Nate Oats clearly believes this freshman class is really good
Hannah was Alabama's second-highest-ranked signee in the 2025 recruiting class. He finished ranked as the No. 46 overall player in the 247 composite rankings. Along with talking about Hannah in the same breath defensively as Jones, Oats has been extremely complimentary of freshman Amari Allen, who Oats stated last week would outperform his recruiting ranking in a similar vein as Labaron Philon did a season ago.
That's not to mention London Jemison, who was the highest-ranked signee for Oats and the Crimson Tide in the 2025 class in the composite. Jemison finished as the No. 38 player in the class and is being billed as an elite shooter on a team that is already chock-full of them.
Defense has been what has separated Alabama from being a great team from an elite one that is capable of winning the National Championship. Alabama has been one of the eight teams left standing two years in a row, but Oats won't be satisfied until the Crimson Tide is the last one standing, the confetti is falling, and he's hoisting the trophy.
If Hannah is the level of defender he is being billed to be, the true freshman is going to be a key component of this team as it pursues the ultimate goal.