Alabama has participated in its first Final Four in history and received a public pledge of allegiance from its coach, Nate Oats, over the past week. Those are two great developments.
But it’s not all good news in Tuscaloosa.
That’s because Rylan Griffen, the Crimson Tide’s fourth-leading scorer, has entered the transfer portal after starting 33 games as a sophomore, which means Alabama is now projected to lose three of the top four scorers — specifically Mark Sears, Aaron Estrada and Griffen — from the team that made the 2024 Final Four. Unsurprisingly, Oats responded to the departure by quickly securing a commitment from Chris Youngblood, a 6-foot-4 guard who averaged 15.3 points this past season at South Florida. But the loss of Griffen and addition of Youngblood is still a net-negative for Alabama, in my opinion, which is why the Crimson Tide are down to No. 12 in Version 3.0 of the 2024-25 CBS Sports preseason Top 25 And 1 college basketball rankings.
Sears could improve that ranking, though.
The All-American guard hasn’t yet announced his intentions for next season and theoretically could return for a fifth year of college basketball. If he does, Alabama will move into the top 10 of the Top 25 And 1, perhaps even the top five. But based on where most analysts have Sears slotted in the 2024 NBA Draft, the prevailing assumption is that he’ll ultimately enter and remain in the 2024 NBA Draft, and Alabama’s projected roster in Version 3.0 of the Top 25 And 1 is a reflection of that belief.
I removed BYU from the Top 25 And 1.
Mark Pope’s decision to leave BYU and replace John Calipari at Kentucky on Friday means the team I had 13th in Version 1.0 of the Top 25 And 1 no longer exists. (Dallin Hall and Aly Khalifa are already in the transfer portal.) Consequently, the Cougars are completely out of the Top 25 And 1 and have been replaced by a Michigan State team projected to return six of the…
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