Happy Thursday, everyone. Alabama women’s basketball draws an always tough 3rd-ranked South Carolina tonight, which comes at a rough time with the Tide losing three of the past four to fall into a 9th-place tie in the SEC. The remaining slate is brutal, but ESPN still has the 20-6 Tide projected as a 6-seed in the NCAA tourney.
As you already know, the men had an incredibly exciting win over a shorthanded Arkansas squad that nearly won because they scorched the nets to the tune of 50% on 26 three point attempts. Freshmen Darius Acuff and Meleek Thomas shot a combined 12-20 to contribute almost all of the made threes. Acuff was amazing, with 49 points in 50 minutes, but Labaron Philon, Aiden Sherrell, and Amari Allen were just enough to overcome the onslaught from deep. Those three combined for 80 of Alabama’s 117.
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Houston Mallette provided the final bucket for Alabama with a dagger in double overtime. Check him out in this clip below. Pretty sure this dude is going into coaching.
This was a massive win for the Tide. Unlike the women, Nate Oats’ squad has a manageable schedule the rest of the way. Sitting at 9-4, the Tide will play four games against bottom-half teams in their last five. They’ll have no one but themselves to blame if they don’t get a double bye.
Alabama football’s P&L bounced back after a year that absorbed the coaching transition expenses.
In part due to the coaching transition in the rearview mirror, Crimson Tide football reported a far larger surplus in 2025 vs. the previous fiscal year. The jump from $26.4 million to $64.8 million was largely due to a dip in expenses, from $113.8 million to $82.9 million.
While the drop in coach pay was a major part, Alabama football still reported more than $7 million more in revenue during the 2025 fiscal year.
Media rights jumped from $24.9 million to $28.5 million from year to year. Ticket sales also saw a major bump for football, from $38.3 million to $42.7 million.
Tyler Henderson’s JUCO coach is a big believer in his ability to play in the SEC.
“The athleticism is for real,” Wright told The Tuscaloosa News. “And he’s not going to (cower) down in a game. He’s not going to be scared. He’s not going to be intimidated. He’s going to play ball. What you see is what you’re going to get, which is a very good player.”
This is the receiver Mississippi Gulf Coast coaches believe Alabama football is set to get in Henderson, one who is effortless, who has speed, who can catch the deep ball on one play and show off his yards-after catch skills on the next.
“All those things let me know I have a diamond,” former Mississippi Gulf Coast wide receivers coach Bam Bryant said. “And he can play P4 ball. I knew he was going to play P4 ball, but I didn’t know it was going to be for Alabama. I didn’t know it was going to be that big.”
That athleticism turned into production. In two years with the Bulldogs, the 6-foot-1, 175-pound receiver had 1,616 yards and 18 touchdowns. He was a NJCAA first-team All-American in 2025, bringing in 1,299 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Top QB prospect Elijah Haven is reportedly down to Alabama and Kentucky.
Both programs have clear, structural reasons to pursue a recruit of Haven’s caliber.
The Wildcats, under new head coach Will Stein, are aggressively rebooting the offense and prioritizing a blue-chip quarterback to accelerate that transition.
Kentucky can credibly offer a fast track to meaningful snaps, a defined role in a reshaped system, and the opportunity to become the face of a program intent on elevating its national standing at the position.
The Crimson Tide, meanwhile, remains the benchmark for quarterback development and NFL pipeline access. Under head coach Kalen DeBoer, Alabama continues to sell elite schematic structure, national exposure, deep roster infrastructure, and one of the most established NIL ecosystems in college football.
As mentioned yesterday, QB commit Trent Seaborn is among the leading voices trying to get Haven to Tuscaloosa. If both come to Alabama, the young talent in that group is going to be off the charts.
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Last, ESPN’s Marty Smith isn’t hearing the recent criticism of Kalen DeBoer.
“I think he’s tremendous,” Smith said. “I am a huge fan of the way that he came into Alabama and didn’t try and be baby (Nick) Saban. He came in and immediately injected his own culture. He has won a ton of football games. The Rose Bowl was a boat race and he’ll be the first to tell you that that ain’t gonna work. I feel like he’s recruiting at a really high level. I feel like sometimes people want to try to define things that are attempted to be defined on face value, which are wins and losses and scoreboards.
“In understanding the Southeastern Conference, especially at Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, you are defined by who you beat, the stage in which you beat them, and all of that. That’s the ultimate barometer of whether or not Kalen DeBoer is successful at Alabama. They didn’t get it done in 2025. But, to try and run him out the door to me is completely utterly ridiculous and asinine.
That’s about it for now. Have a great day.
Roll Tide.
