The focus in Tuscaloosa this summer has been on Kalen DeBoer’s recruiting heater, but Nate Oats has continued to keep Alabama in the upper echelon of college basketball with his work in the offseason. The latest positive development for Alabama basketball came in the 2026 class with four-star and the No. 26 overall recruit in the class, Chris Washington Jr., who included the Crimson Tide in his top seven.
Alabama was featured along with Auburn, Cincinnati, Florida A&M, Ole Miss, Villanova, and, perhaps most notably, Tennessee. The Volunteers are important in the race for Washington because the 6-foot-7, 175-pound wing is the top-rated player in the state of Tennessee.