Men’s College Basketball 2021-2022 Season Preview: Alabama Crimson Tide

The SEC is loaded this year as most teams used the transfer portal to their advantage and shored up their talent as well as their depth. Teams like Kentucky, Tennessee and Auburn built elite freshman classes while LSU, Arkansas (as usual) and Florida made key additions via the portal.

SEC slates are going to be high scoring and mega exciting all year long. For DFS players this is the conference that will command your attention, so keep that at the top of your mind as we go team-by-team through the SEC to preview the coming season.

In this one, Alabama.

(Check out our full college basketball season preview!)

Alabama Crimson Tide 2021-2022 Season Preview

2020-2021 record: 26-7 (16-2 SEC), first in SEC
Postseason: Lost in NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen

Key Departures | Alabama Crimson Tide

• Josh Primo (NBA draftee)
• Herb Jones (left for NBA)
• Alex Reese (overseas)
• John Petty (left for NBA)
• Jordan Bruner (overseas)

Key Additions | Alabama Crimson Tide

• Noah Gurley (transferred from Furman)
• Nimari Burnett (transferred from Texas Tech)
• JD Davison (top 15 recruit)
• Charles Bediako (top 40 recruit)
• Jusaun Holt (4 star recruit)

Returners | Alabama Crimson Tide

• Jaden Shackelford (14 PPG/3.8 RPG/2 APG)
• Jahvon Quinerly (12.9 PPG/2.2 RPG/3.2 APG)
• Juwan Gary (3.8 PPG/2.8 RPG)
• Keon Ellis (5.5 PPG/4 RPG/1.1 SPG)
• Keon Ambrose-Hylton (1.2 PPG/0.8 RPG)

Alabama Crimson Tide Outlook for 2021-2022

Coach Nate Oats has his team play a style of basketball that is extremely beneficial for fantasy. They were a top-15 team in tempo, fired threes at a historical rate and were third in defensive efficiency per KenPom. They were the regular-season SEC champs and then followed it up by taking down the conference tournament. They lost a handful of key players, but these things tend to happen when you are a top-25 squad. Even with the departures of jack-of-all-trades Herb Jones and scoring machine John Petty the expectations for the Tide are sky high.

Jaden Shackelford was originally going to transfer before changing his mind and returning to Bama. His return is huge because he forms a veteran backcourt with Jahvon Quinerly that will be as good as any duo in the country. To go far in March, you simply must have steady guard play, so that obviously won’t be a problem for the Tide this year. I’m expecting big things from Quinerly and Shack — they will be DFS staples.

The frontcourt lost a lot, and that may end up being a glaring weakness for them. They can mask it with their tempo and elite shot-making but when they have off nights, things could get ugly at times. Noah Gurley was brought in from Furman to pick up the slack and will be stepping into a starting role immediately. Gurley was top in usage rate, shot rate and block rate in the Southern conference last year. He was also top 20 in assist rate and combined rebounding rate. The kid is a beast and isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. This is a necessary player for the Bama offense to be successful because Coach Oats demands that his team shoots only threes or dunks/layups. The Tide rarely shoot mid-range jumpers and I don’t expect that to be any different this year. The team will also be relying on freshman Charles Bediako, a seven-footer and top-40 recruit, immediately. Alex Tchikou and Keon Ambrose-Hylton will have to give the Tide minutes in the post at times as well.

Juwan Gary and Keon Ellis will try to replace the production, defense prowess and overall energy that they’re losing with Herb Jones off to the NBA. Keon Ellis looked fantastic in a recent exhibition game in which he scored 21 points, grabbed 4 boards and dished 3 assists. In 37 minutes of play he turned the ball over just one time. Granted, this was an exhibition game but it’s hard not to get excited about numbers like that. Incoming frosh and top-15 recruit JD Davison is going to be a big factor for this team and should be a high end DFS option immediately. Davison was strong in their exhibition game as well with a stat line of 19-3-3 and he knocked down all seven of his free throws, something you absolutely love to see. When the game becomes a free throw fest in the last 2 minutes, racking up those free throws is extremely important. It was a 73-68 win over Louisiana which is a team filled with high major transfers and is certainly no push over. Seeing Davison thrive against that type of competition gives me confidence that he will be a DFS stud this year.

(Check out our rankings of the top 100 teams and top 100 players for men’s college basketball in 2021-2022.)

Summary

Expect more of the same from last year. High-octane tempo, a plethora of three-point chucking and dunks galore. Keon Ellis and Juwan Gary are strong breakout candidates that may fly under the radar in DFS early on. Jaden Shackelford and Jahvon Quinerly are going to be the leaders of this team so expect big things from them. The SEC is full of elite freshman this year, but JD Davison could be the best of the group when it’s all said and done.