Alabama Basketball Ranked No. 20 in Preseason Poll
College basketball is right around the corner and the preseason AP rankings have been released. The Alabama men's basketball team ranks at No. 20.
Last year's runner-up, the North Carolina Tar Heels are the preseason No. 1 team in the country as they look to avenge its second-half collapse in the national championship against Kansas.
The Crimson Tide is looking to improve drastically on a disappointing end to a good season.
Alabama finished the season 19-14 overall and 9-9 in conference play with signature wins against Tennessee, LSU and Arkansas, but suffered some terrible defeats against Georgia, Texas A&M, and Missouri in the regular-season, plus Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament.
The Crimson Tide did however make the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2005-06, but was eliminated in the first round by Notre Dame.
Alabama has a talented roster coming into the 2022-23 season. The Crimson Tide feature two McDonald's All-Americans in the same class for the first time ever in Brandon Miller and Jaden Bradley as well as Ohio transfer Mark Sears and Texas Tech transfer Nimari Burnett.
The 2021 SEC Champions will return starting center Charles Bediako, along with forwards Noah Gurley and Darius Miles.
Alabama played TCU in a closed scrimmage Sunday and according to reports, lost the game fairly handily. Sophomore Nimari Burnett was not a participate in the scrimmage.
Alabama will play a charity exhibition at Foster Auditorium on Oct. 29 against Southern Illinois before the Tide's season opener against Longwood on Nov. 7 at Coleman Coliseum.