The Alabama basketball season came to a close during the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament as the Crimson Tide weren't able to get past Duke to make the Final Four. The season didn't end the way that the Crimson Tide wanted it to, but it was still a good year that is worth celebrating. Alabama was one of the best teams in the best conference in college basketball, and they made another deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Nate Oats is doing a fantastic job with this program, and he will have to hit the college basketball transfer portal this offseason to keep that up.

Nate Oats took Alabama to the Final Four last season, but he wasn't able to pull that off this year. Still, a run to the Elite 8 is impressive, especially in a year like this. All four one-seeds ended up making it to the Final Four. The best of the best were legit this year, and this was only the second time that the four top seeds all made it to the Final Four. There is no shame in losing to any of them.

Oats has done a great job bringing the Alabama basketball program to elite status throughout the past few seasons, and he has done a good job identifying talent in the transfer portal. This era of college basketball requires work in the portal, and Oats knows how to find guys that will be successful and buy in.

This is another big offseason for the Alabama basketball team as they look to find a way over the hump next season. They have already been active in the transfer portal, but there are still more targets out there.

Who Alabama has already landed

The Alabama basketball team has already been busy in the college basketball transfer portal as they have picked up three big commitments. The Crimson Tide have landed Jalil Bethea from Miami, Taylor Bol Bowen from Florida State and Noah Williamson from Bucknell. Both Jalil Bethea and Taylor Bol Bowen have already been main contributors on power five teams. Both Miami and Florida State lost their head coach during this past season, so they are both dealing with a lot of transfer portal departures.

Noah Williamson hasn't played at the power five level yet, but he did win Patriot League Player of the Year. The Crimson Tide have already added a lot of talent, but here are a few more players that they are looking at.

Honor Huff, Chattanooga, G

Chattanooga Mocs guard Honor Huff (3) dribbles the ball against Southern California Trojans guard Clark Slajchert (32) in the second half at Galen Center.
© Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

One player that the Alabama basketball team has expressed interest in is Chattanooga transfer Honor Huff. Huff has had two big years with the Mocs as he has averaged over 15 PPG in each of the last two seasons. Huff is another player that shot over 40% from three this past season, so he can fill up the box score in a lot of different ways. It will be interesting to see how his play translates to the power five level if he does decide to go that route.

Bryce Lindsay, James Madison, G

Another guard that Alabama is taking a look at is James Madison transfer Bryce Lindsay. Like Huff, Lindsay can score in a lot of different ways, and perhaps his most attractive strength is three-point shooting. Lindsay shot over 40% from three last year, and he ended up averaging 13.4 PPG. He is a big-time scorer that should be able to make a significant impact at the power five level. We all know that Alabama likes to shoot the deep ball, so they are looking at guys that have shown that ability during their career.

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Rylan Griffen, Kansas, G

This name is a familiar one for Alabama basketball fans. Rylan Griffen started his college basketball career with the Crimson Tide back in 2022, and he made him big improvements while he was in Tuscaloosa. Griffen averaged over 11 PPG during his sophomore season at Alabama, and he decided to transfer to Kansas after that.

Griffen took a big step back this season with the Jayhawks as he averaged just 6.3 PPG. He shot nearly 40% from three during his time at Alabama, but Griffen shot just 33.6% from deep this past season. He is back in the transfer portal, and maybe a reunion would be good for both parties.

Transfer portal overview

The college basketball transfer portal opened up on March 24th, and it will be open for about a month as it closes on April 22nd. The final game of the season took place on April 7th, and the portal opening up before then does create issues for teams that are still dancing.

First of all, players that want to transfer have to make a difficult decision. They can either finish up their season with their current team and miss out on potential opportunities, or they can skip the NCAA Tournament so they can find their next home. We saw this happen already as Michigan freshman Justin Pippen left the program before the Sweet 16.

This also creates an issue for coaches as they are trying to devote 100% of their time to tournament preparation. A lot of coaches want to wait until their season is over before they explore the transfer portal. All in all, the opening date creates some issues.

The college basketball transfer portal is only open during this initial window, unlike football, which has two different windows. From now until the portal closes in late April, there will be a lot of transfer portal news in the college basketball world.