2024-2025 College Basketball Preview: Iowa Hawkeyes
Mike Randle
Check out our entire college basketball season preview!
The college basketball season is less than two weeks away, and here at FTN Fantasy we have you covered for what promises to be another thrilling year of upsets and incredible finishes. We will be previewing each team from all of the major conferences along with some mid-majors as well. We will recap betting trends from last season, list projected starters, preview the season and talk about any key players for that program.
The SEC is known as the best conference in football, but don’t be fooled, it’s loaded with talent when it comes to basketball as well. The SEC has added the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns, which will make things even more difficult in conference play for each program.
In this preview, I’m going to talk about a team that many see as a championship contender, the Alabama Crimson Tide.
2024-25 College Basketball Season Preview: Alabama Crimson Tide
Conference: SEC
Head Coach: Nate Oats (6th season)
2023-2024 Record: 25-12
ATS: 21-16
O/U: 27-10
Projected Starters: G Mark Sears, G Latrell Wrightsell, G Chris Youngblood, F Grant Nelson, C Cliff Omoruyi
Bama is fresh off an improbable Final Four run that really solidified Nate Oats as one of the best coaches in the modern era. His system of “three-pointer or dunk” was ridiculed initially, but it’s now seen as the most efficient way to play offense.
The Tide lost several key pieces from their Final Four run in Aaron Estrada, Rylan Griffen, Nick Pringle and Sam Walters but in the transfer portal era, you can reload in a way that wasn’t possible before. They’ve added players that fit the Oates system extremely well and there is a real argument to be made that they’re better than last year’s squad.
They’ve added Chris Youngblood (15.3 PPG at South Florida), Clifford Omoruyi (10.4 PPG at Rutgers), Houston Mallette (14.7 PPG at Pepperdine) and Aden Holloway (7.3 PPG at Auburn). They had a recent exhibition game with a very talented Wake Forest and ran them off the floor even though they were missing several players. Yes, it was a glorified scrimmage, but this team is for real. They are currently at 1000 odds to win the championship per DraftKings. This puts them behind only UConn and tied with programs such as Kansas and Duke.
Key Player: Mark Sears
This Alabama team is clearly loaded and built in such a way that maximizes Nate Oats system. They have a solid low post presence in Cliff Omoruyi, a versatile forward in Grant Nelson and multiple bucket-getters like Chris Youngblood and Latrell Wrightsell. However, this team will go as Mark Sears goes. He has been named the preseason POY by multiple publications and he is primed to have a huge season.
He averaged 21.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG and 4 APG last season and it wouldn’t surprise me if all of those numbers increased this year. Sears is a special player, and the team is so talented that opposing defenses can’t afford to only pay attention to him. Very few individual defenders will be able to contain him one-on-one but he will punish any double-teams coming his way as he is surrounded by shooters. Good luck to the rest of the teams in the SEC.
Projection
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. "Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem.
