What SEC teams have fared the best in the portal to date? What teams still have work to do? We break it down below, assigning grades to every portal class in the SEC.
It’s only been 3 weeks since the Florida Gators cut down the nets as national champions, but the college basketball offseason feels as if it’s lasted longer given the constant activity in the transfer portal, which has been open since the end of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
By the time the transfer portal closed last week, a staggering 45% of Division I players had entered the portal. Some entries were expected (here’s looking at you, Ja’Kobi Gillespie!). Others were surprising (Denzel Aberdeen, come on down!). No matter the reaction, there’s no escaping that the portal is a vital part of roster building in the NIL era of college basketball. Coming off a historic season where the SEC produced 14 NCAA Tournament teams, 7 Sweet 16 squads, 4 Elite Eight outfits, 2 Final Four programs, and the national champions, the race to at least try to equal that feat is on for 2025-26.
What SEC teams have fared the best in the portal to date? What teams still have work to do? We break it down below, assigning grades to every portal class in the SEC.
Alabama: C-
Nate Oats has feasted in the portal in recent years, adding Mark Sears, who became the best player in Alabama basketball history, along with building blocks like Grant Nelson and Aaron Estrada, who were players that helped the Crimson Tide reach the program’s first Final Four. Oats is a fantastic roster builder who has reached at least the Sweet 16 in the past 3 seasons. Doubt him at your own risk, even as the Tide begin life without Mark Sears.
Alabama’s been extremely active in the transfer portal since its Elite Eight exit against Duke, and there are some nice pieces, including Noah Williamson, a 7-footer from Bucknell who was the Patriot League Player of the Year. Williamson could improve his scoring around the basket, but he can block shots, rebound and pass. He averaged 17.6 points per game and 7.5 rebounds at Bucknell and should be impactful immediately in the SEC.
The other 2 centerpiece additions made less sense. Jalil Bethea was a McDonald’s All-American, but he had a borderline disastrous first season at Miami, where he shot poorly (38% from the field, 32% from deep) and proved to be a sieve defensively on a terrible Miami team. Portal reclamation projects are nothing new, but Oats has succeeded by mining the portal for productive mid-major players ready to take the next step. Underachieving Power 5 players are less likely to make the leap.
Taylor Bol Bowen is a slightly better take, especially if he proves to be capable in the pick-and-pop in Oats’ high tempo offense. Bol Bowen shot 41% from 3 last year on decent volume at Florida State. But he’s not a particularly impactful rebounder and while he can block shots at a high level, he was much quieter against top-100 competition, largely feasting on lesser foes and looking overmatched defensively in FSU’s games against Duke, Florida, Clemson, and Louisville, among others.
All told, an adequate haul for Alabama, but there’s not an All-SEC type add after the last few years where Oats consistently added those types of players. If Washington State transfer Cedric Coward had come in instead of committing to Duke, that would’ve changed this grade. But for now, it’s a “Satisfactory” and nothing more. Couple that with what Alabama lost in Derrion Reid, Mo Diabate, and Jarin Stevenson, and there’s at least some reasonable concern that this might just be a first weekend team in 2025-26, not the second weekend beasts we’ve grown accustomed to on the Capstone under Oats.
