Alabama’s 5-0 start has looked smooth enough on the surface, but Monday is the point where the season starts to take a different shape.
Nate Oats’ team is officially 2-0 after rolling past Sam Houston State 96-74 and Arkansas State 101-86, even though the Crimson Tide has already stacked up five wins when the exhibition results are included. That’s where the early feel of this group comes from: it has been productive, but also incomplete. Aden Holloway is set to return against Oakland, and that changes the look of everything.
Holloway’s arrival will force Oats to sort through a rotation that has already been crowded. In the first two official games, no Alabama player has averaged more than 25 minutes, while 11 players have logged double-digit minutes.
Anderson Diaz is among them at 10.5 minutes, though his early stretch has been rough. Given that he is still a high school senior, that kind of growing pain is hardly surprising.
Even so, Holloway is expected to take on a chunk of those minutes in most games, and fitting all of this talent together is going to be a process.
That process may stretch through November and December. With this many options, making an 11-player rotation work against stronger opponents is no easy assignment, even for Oats. The good news is that, outside of freshman Cole Cloer, the rest of the players seeing regular minutes have already shown they can help.
Cloer, meanwhile, has hit a rough patch after a strong start. He is in a two-game slump, shooting 12.5%, including .083% from outside the arc.
That comes after he scored 32 points across the Furman and Ole Miss exhibition games and knocked down eight of 18 three-pointers. His game fits Alabama’s offense, so the expectation is that the slump won’t last long.
The next question is how Oats handles Holloway alongside Amari Allen and Qayden Samuels. Allen made history against Arkansas State by becoming the fourth Crimson Tide player to record a triple-double, finishing with 16 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists.
He also leads Alabama in assists, with Samuels right behind him. Samuels has averaged 13 points in the two regular-season games and has looked every bit the part of a freshman who doesn’t play like one.
That same label fits Tarris Bouie, who has also shown he belongs despite being at a different position. Jaxson Richardson, still working back from injury recovery, has the kind of defensive upside that could eventually make him Alabama’s best defender.
For now, Holloway is the piece that could shift the whole picture. As Oats said recently, when open, Holloway is Alabama’s best shooter.
The most likely setup has Samuels and Allen handling the ball while Holloway works off it, but the backcourt gives Oats plenty of room to adjust from game to game. That kind of flexibility is rare, and it’s why Alabama’s depth feels less like a luxury and more like a challenge waiting to be managed.
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Lane Kiffin Is Already Stirring Drama Before Alabama's LSU Test
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He also made clear the size of the challenge Alabama presents, calling the Crimson Tide the most talented team LSU has seen this season. So even before the first snap, the stage is set for a test that carries the usual SEC weight and a little extra noise, with kickoff slated for 12:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. ET. [Read more 🡒]