How Will Alabama Basketball Look Next Season?

Along with the departure of Anthony Grant and the hiring of new men's basketball coach Avery Johnson, the Tide also has some major changes to the roster, which will ultimately yield a completely different team next year in Tuscaloosa.

After firing former coach Anthony Grant, Alabama has now had a few transfers leave the program, including second leading scorer Ricky Tarrant, soon to be sophomore Devin Mitchell, and redshirt freshman Jeff Garrett. Also, let's not forget about the seniors that left because due to graduation; Levi Randolph, Rodney Cooper, and Dakota Slaughter.

That's six players leaving a basketball team. Essentially, that is equivalent to losing an entire starting line-up (ask Kentucky how inconvenient that is), so in order to keep things stable, Johnson needed to add some big pieces on the recruiting trail.

Which he has, but there's still a long road ahead of him.

The addition of 2015 Mr. Alabama Basketball, Dazon Ingram, and small forward Brandon Austin will fill a big hole on the perimeter for the Tide, plus keeping the commitment from 6'8" 225 pound three-star forward Donta' Hall is huge for Johnson and his staff (literally).

Nobody really knows how Avery Johnson is going to draw up plays, since he has absolutely zero track record coaching at the collegiate ranks, but with a solid group of freshmen and sophomores on the perimeter, he may choose to open up the offense and play a much smaller lineup most of the time. However, with the lack of depth of guards, this strategy could backfire on him if not careful.

Sophomore Riley Norris is a 6'7" power forward, but he can deal most of his damage outside the arc, which is a huge mismatch for most forwards in the conference. Senior Shannon Hale is a slightly more athletic version of Riley Norris, and he can be used in a variety of ways, on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court.

If Johnson decides to pull either of them outside, then that will leave Jimmie Taylor or Michael Kessens isolated down low on the block, and while they weren't exactly world beaters last season, if they can get more one-on-one match-ups in the post, that will greatly diversify the Tide offense (especially if Taylor becomes a better free throw shooter throughout the off-season).

Along with managing the big men, Coach Johnson now has a select number of young guards to handle the ball. With the exception of senior Retin Obasohan (yeah, I can't believe he's a senior either), second-year stud Justin Coleman will be directing the offense should Dazon Ingram not win the starting spot at point guard. And as mentioned previously, incoming freshman Brandon Austin will most likely be in the guard rotation by default, although he may be physically ready (6'5" 180 lbs.), he may not be technically ready yet to be thrown into the fire of SEC basketball.

All in all, while this year will yield future promise, expect a rebuilding year, albeit a much different team from last season. If Johnson can add another guard to this year's team, and he can continue the recruiting success in the future, things look bright for the Crimson Tide, although possibly slow developing. Patience is just as much key for Johnson's tenure as is bringing in talent.