Florida defeated Houston on Monday night to capture the National Championship and signal the end of the 2024-25 college basketball season. It also triggered a bevy of way-too-early Top 25 polls coming out across the country as everyone gets a jump start on next season.
While fun to examine, Top 25 polls this early in the offseason are a fruitless exercise. There's simply way too many variables left to accurately determine what rosters are going to look like next season. The NBA Draft early entry deadline is still a few weeks away, and the Transfer Portal is still in full swing.
There's still plenty of roster turnover/attrition to come across the country.
For Alabama, the Crimson Tide still has at least three open roster spots. Those three spots could be filled by returning players as Nate Oats awaits decisions from Labarno Philon, Derrion Reid, and Jarin Stevenson.
Aden Holloway, Aiden Sherrell, Houston Mallette, and Latrell Wrightsell have all announced their intentions to return to Tuscaloosa next season. They join a three-man recruiting class and a three-man Transfer Portal haul so far to give Alabama a roster of 10.
Joining Alabama via the portal are Bucknell big-man Noah Williamson, Florida State forward Taylor Bol Bowen, and Miami (FL) guard Jalil Bethea. In the 2025 recruiting class, the Tide brought in three Top 65 players: forward London Jemison, guard Davion Hannah, and wing Amari Allen.
Alabama has seen Mouhamed Dioubate and Naas Cunningham exit the program via the Transfer Portal.
Oats has already put together a good roster for next season. How good it ultimately turns out to be will depend on what happens with the final three spots. The most important player yet to make a decision is Philon, the freshman All-SEC guard who would slot in as the team's starting point guard next season if he bypasses the NBA Draft.
Odds seem good that Alabama will return either Reid or Stevenson, not both. That would leave the Tide with one open roster spot to fill in the portal, assuming the scholarship limit stays at 13 and doesn't move to 15 for next season.
Alabama predicted to be a top contender again in 2025-26
Alabama has a wide range of projections for where they'll be ranked to start next season in the way-too-early Top 25 polls. The highest ranking for the Crimson Tide is via On3, which has Alabama as No. 3 in the country, behind only Houston and Duke.
Jeff Borzello has Alabama at No. 11 in his rankings on ESPN. Kentucky (No. 6) and Arkansas (No. 7) are the only two SEC teams ahead of the Tide.
Here are some other way-too-early Top 25 polls and where Alabama stands:
247Sports: 13th
The Athletic: 13th
Fox Sports: 7th
Sports Illustrated: 17th
Busting Brackets: 12th
Alabama entered the 2024-25 season ranked No. 2 in the AP Poll and made a second straight trip to the Elite Eight, coming up just short of a repeat trip to the Final Four. Expectations won't be quite as high externally for the Crimson Tide next season, but Oats will put a team on the court he believes has a chance to get back to the Final Four and challenge for the program's first ever National Championship.