
Men's college basketball buzz: State of blueblood rebuilds
Men's college basketball bluebloods like Kansas and Kentucky face major rebuilds this offseason.
Amari Allen has declared for the NBA Draft while keeping his college eligibility intact. This decision comes after his performance in the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
Mar 22, 2026; Tampa, FL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide forward Amari Allen (5) dribbles the ball against Texas Tech Red Raiders forward Leon Horner (6) in the second half during a second round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Benchmark International Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Happy Monday, everyone. The softball team did what they were supposed to this weekend in sweeping SEC doormat Kentucky. Baseball managed to salvage one of three in Austin, which isnât too bad on the road against the 2nd-ranked team in the nation.
The NFL Draft starts Thursday, and Nick Kelly has compiled for you a list of âexpertâ predictions on where Alabamaâs players will land. There is consensus on Kadyn Proctor extending the Tideâs first round streak, but predictions on Ty Simpson are mixed.
The biggest news of the weekend came last night, when Amari Allen announced his intention to declare for the NBA Draft while maintaining eligibility.
The good news is that he mentions Nate Oats by name and says nothing about the transfer portal, which suggests that the decision will be between the draft and returning to Alabama. Oats typically recommends that they stay in the draft only if they are assured a guaranteed deal and not a two-way. Weâll have to wait and see how his prep goes.
Freshman guard Davion Hannah is hitting the portal.
It means Amari Allen can explore his options in the NBA while still being able to return to college basketball if he chooses.
Amari Allen announced his intention to declare for the NBA Draft on March 22, 2026.
Amari Allen played for the Alabama Crimson Tide and contributed significantly during their second-round game against Texas Tech.
Declaring for the NBA Draft allows Amari Allen to showcase his skills to NBA teams, potentially leading to a professional career.

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Alabama guard Davion Hannah plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal, On3âs Joe Tipton confirmed. He is a former Top 50 recruit.
Hannah appeared in 10 games for the Crimson Tide this past season as a true freshman. He averaged 3.3 points and 1.9 rebounds during that time across 12.7 minutes per game. He also shot 46.2% from the field.
Hannah last played for Alabama on Dec. 17 before a âmedical conditionâ kept him out for the rest of the year, head coach Nate Oats previously said. Oats also confirmed that Hannah would seek a medical redshirt, which would give him four full years of eligibility left.
Hannah showed flashes, but they were brief. Best of luck to him.
Bryant Haines, Indianaâs defensive coordinator, showed himself to be quite thin skinned this weekend after these comments from Ty Simpson on a podcast.
âFrom my point of view, I was like, they donât do much,â he said. âThey do the same thing every down. So when I got the ball, I knew exactly what was going to happen. They just didnât mess up, bro. They were in the exact same spot they were supposed to be. They were so well-coached.
âIt was so much different than the SEC. In the SEC, theyâll play man, theyâll do these unorthodox coverages. Thatâs kind of how it is. That game was crazy to me. Of course, I got hurt. So that was a bummer. I knew what they were going to do. We couldnât really run the ball, didnât really throw. It was just so crazy to me how it happened.â
Emphasis mine. Somehow, Haines took that comment as a slight.
âAdorable,â Haines wrote on social media. âWe also saw everything they were doing, on every single snap⊠Itâs just that we exploited those cues. And didnât get frozen and crushed by them.â
After some pushback on social media for the comment, Haines doubled down.
âThatâs all it took to break your entire fanbase?â He wrote. âWow.. maybe I shouldâve just said âBooâ. No apologies, no compliments. Grow up folks. He had a bad take and I said the painful truth. Bounce back better.
Somebody definitely needs to do some growing up, Bryant.
Last, the folks at Sports Business Journal believe that the power leagues in college football will consolidate media rights in order to drive the value higher, perhaps as much as doubling it in a decadeâs time. Some of this would be good for fans, but some not so much.
â Choosing from a more robust selection of bidders â especially those who havenât been able to purchase these rights previously. The Power Four conferences have licensed exclusively to traditional linear broadcasters, locking out all major digital streaming companiesincluding Netflix, Amazon and YouTube, which have significantly higher market caps, much bigger/growing advertising businesses, global distribution, and demonstrated intent, having made billion-dollar rights purchases from single sellers NFL (Amazon, YouTube Sunday Ticket) and NBA (Amazon). All while streaming (47%) has surpassed linear viewing (43%) as the preference of Americans, per Nielsen.
â Creating more good games (e.g., top 25 vs. top 25, Power Four vs. Power Four), limiting Power Four schools to just one mediocre matchup per year instead of two or three currently. In 2025, out of 408 total Power Four games, only 11% (45) matched ranked vs. ranked teams. These produced 32% of season viewership.
â Spreading out the best Saturday games, instead of playing many head-to-head, using the same AI scheduling software as major leagues.
Conferences working together to create more marquee non-conference matchups would be awesome. Making college football fans carry all of those streaming services to see them would not, and thatâs exactly what weâve seen in the pro leagues. Get ready for it though, itâs coming.
Thatâs about it for today. Have a great week.
Roll Tide.