Nate Oats opens up on flipping roster through transfer portal

After becoming the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament a year ago, Nate Oats and Alabama went through quite the round of roster turnover this offseason. Six players are out of the picture, including No. 2 overall pick Brandon Miller, and Oats had to dive into the transfer portal as part of his overhaul.

All told, three transfers are now in the picture in Tuscaloosa. Two of them — former Hofstra guard Aaron Estrada and North Dakota State transfer Grant Nelson — came in as No. 6 and No. 7, respectively, in the On3 Transfer Portal Rankings. The other, former Cal State Fullerton guard Latrell Wrightsell, averaged 16.3 points per game a year ago.

Oats said the amount of turnover is a sign of the times. However, the portal is a resource to have when building out a roster.

“The transfer portal thing, I don’t mind it. It is what it is,” Oats said at SEC media day. “You’d better adjust and figure it out. I think every year, you should plan on probably losing a couple guys. You look at us last year, we had Noah [Clowney], Dom Welch graduate. Got a couple guys go to the NBA that maybe weren’t expected to go before the season. … Then you have a couple guys transfer. All of a sudden, you have to flip over 75% of your roster. I think that’s becoming fairly commonplace in college basketball now.

“Whether you like it or not, it’s here to stay. It does give you ways to form a roster the way you want. We like versatile guys. We were able to go get a kid like Grant Nelson. Needed some tough guards. Got Wrightsell and Estrada. Charles [Bediako] stays in the draft a little unexpectedly, and you’re able to replace him with a guy like [Mohamed] Wague. I think it gives you a chance to have a really good roster every single year. That’s our goal right now.”

In addition to a talented group of transfers, Alabama also brought in the No. 13-ranked recruiting class from the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Ranking. The group is headlined by four-star forward Jarin Stevenson — the No. 21 recruit in the nation, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, an equally weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Oats and the new-look Crimson Tide will kick off the 2023-24 season Nov. 6 against Morehead State.

On3’s James Fletcher III contributed to this report.