Alabama Basketball Roster Tracker: Keeping up with offseason movement

Whether players exhausting their eligibility, players coming and going via the transfer portal or NBA draft decisions, the Alabama men’s basketball roster has experienced some changes.

While the deadline to withdraw from the draft has passed, the Crimson Tide still has some spots to fill for the upcoming 2023-24 season, primarily at frontcourt positions, and will look to do that over the coming days and weeks as Nate Oats looks to round out his squad for Year 5.

To try and make sense of the current roster, BamaOnLine looks at where things stand.

Current scholarship count: 12

WHO’S LEAVING?

(8) – Charles Bediako, Jaden Bradley, Nimari Burnett, Noah Clowney, Noah Gurley, Brandon Miller, Jahvon Quinerly, Dom Welch

Gurley and Welch, the two scholarship seniors recognized on Senior Day in late February, have exhausted their college eligibility and won’t be returning for the Tide’s 2023-24 campaign. Their departures were expected, as was Miller declaring for the 2023 NBA Draft. He officially entered his name Thursday, March 30, and is expected to be the first college player selected.

Clowney and Bediako joined Miller in declaring for the draft and choosing not to return to school. Clowney is widely projected to be a first-round selection, while it is unclear where, or if, Bediako will be picked after not being invited to the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. All three departures, along with Gurley, leaves Alabama with little experience in the post for this season.

Burnett and Bradley are also gone, electing to enter the transfer portal and try their luck at other Power 5 schools. Burnett committed to Michigan shortly after hopping in the portal, and Bradley ended up at Arizona, a team the Crimson Tide will face in Phoenix this upcoming season. On June 25, Quinerly joined the previously-mentioned trio in entering the portal as a graduate transfer.

WHO’S RETURNING?

(4) – Davin Cosby, Rylan Griffen, Nick Pringle, Mark Sears

Only four players will return from last year’s team, and they have varying degrees of experience. Sears was a starter this past season and should once again make an impact after testing the NBA draft waters but ultimately choosing to return to school for one more year. He is the only player that is coming back with multiple games started in an Alabama uniform, and that was all as a former transfer himself, coming over from the University of Ohio this past offseason.

Griffen and Pringle were reserves this past year but could find themselves in larger roles in Year 2 within the program, especially Pringle after the departure of Bediako. Cosby joined the team in January, enrolling early and redshirting, and could provide guard depth in his first full year.

WHO’S COMING IN?

(8) – Mouhamed Dioubate, Aaron Estrada, Kris Parker, Grant Nelson, Jarin Stevenson, Mohamed Wague, Sam Walters, Latrell Wrightsell Jr.

Alabama signed four players during the early signing period, and one player (Cosby) already made his way to campus. However, one will not be joining him and the other signees at UA, as in-state guard RJ Johnson requested a release from his national letter of intent. Dioubate and Walters will enroll this summer, though, and so will Parker now that he has signed, too.

On April 22, Alabama picked up a second transfer portal player in Estrada, who averaged more than 20 points per game as a senior at Hofstra last season. One day later, Wrightsell, a Cal State Fullerton transfer, chose the Crimson Tide. Alabama’s first transfer portal addition was Wichita State’s Jaykwon Walton, but after an arrest, Walton will no longer sign with UA.

On June 21, Alabama received some frontcourt help with Stevenson not only committing to the Crimson Tide but choosing to reclassify from the 2024 class to 2023, which means he will be a part of this year’s basketball team. A top-20 prospect, according to the On3 Industry Rankings, Stevenson offers some much-needed size for Alabama, but he also has a perimeter game.

On June 28, the Tide received a big boost with Nelson, the North Dakota State transfer, picking Alabama as his next destination. A 6-foot-11, 235-pound forward, Nelson is the No. 6 transfer for 2023, according to On3, and fills a big need for UA with guys like Clowney and Bediako now on NBA rosters. Nelson averaged 17.9 points and 9.3 rebounds per game last year and elected to remove his name from the draft, enter the portal and ultimately join the Crimson Tide.

On July 5, Alabama added another piece to the 2023-24 roster with Wague, the West Virginia transfer, committing to the Tide. The 6-foot-10, 225-pound forward gives the team some more frontcourt help as Wague brings both junior college and Power 5 experience with him to Tuscaloosa. This past season, he played in 28 games for the Mountaineers and averaged 4.1 points and 3.1 rebounds per game while shooting 74.2 percent from the floor.

*** This story will be updated.

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