The 2015–16 Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team (variously "Alabama", "UA", "Bama" or "The Tide") represented the University of Alabama in the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Crimson Tide played its home games at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, as a member of the Southeastern Conference. Avery Johnson was in his inaugural season as head coach of the team. He was hired on April 6, 2015, to replace Anthony Grant, who was fired on March 15 after serving as Alabama's head coach for six seasons. The team finished the season 18–15, 8–10 in SEC play to finish in 10th place. They defeated Ole Miss in the second round of the SEC tournament to advance to the quarterfinals where they lost to Kentucky. The Crimson Tide received an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament as a #5 seed, where the team lost to Creighton in the first round.

Johnson's hiring sparked an atmosphere of excitement that was evident the moment he was hired and lasted throughout the season. When he was introduced to the school on April 8, he promised that his basketball program would aspire to reach the Final Four, something an Alabama team has never accomplished; in fact, Alabama has only reached the Elite Eight once, in 2004. In stark contrast to Grant's quiet, unassuming demeanor, Johnson offered enthusiasm and pep throughout the summer months, attending numerous dinners, visiting football practices, and appearing on television, all to further promote the basketball program. This evidently paid off, as the 2015–16 season destroyed the school record for home attendance, with an average of 13,110 people at each game in the 15,383-seat Coleman Coliseum. The previous record average was 12,484. The coliseum also sold out five times for the first time since the 2006–07 season.

As for the season itself, the team shook off two early blowouts to make a splash on the national scene, upsetting two ranked teams in the AdvoCare Invitational. The Tide finished its non-conference schedule with nine wins and three losses, the same number of non-conference losses as the previous season. Coincidentally, just like the 2014–15 season, all three teams that the Crimson Tide lost to made the NCAA tournament. The team suffered an awful start to conference play, losing five of its first six games, although the one win did come against a ranked, undefeated South Carolina squad. Then Alabama surged, winning six of its next seven games to catapult into the NCAA Tournament conversation with five games remaining in the regular season. However, the Tide went 1–4 in those games to move itself off of the tournament bubble and into the bottom half of the middling SEC. One win in the SEC Tournament was enough to get Alabama an at-large NIT bid, but a blowout on the road at Creighton in the first round ended the season.

Redshirt senior guard Retin Obasohan was far and away the team's leader and biggest contributor during the season. After serving as nothing more than a role-player for his first three seasons playing at the Capstone, Obasohan was charged with the duties of team co-captain and senior leader after the graduation of starters Levi Randolph and Rodney Cooper from the prior season, and he was also eventually charged with filling the starting point guard role after a season-ending injury to freshman Dazon Ingram. Obasohan exceedingly fulfilled those responsibilities, upping his scoring average from 6.2 to 17.6 points per game and refining his defensive skills, while also serving as the driving force behind the team's emotion and energy. In recognition of his exceptional season, Obasohan was named to the All-SEC First Team and the All-SEC Defensive Team. He was also named the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Obasohan ended his career at UA ranked in the top ten of Alabama's career steals leaders, the top 20 of Alabama's single-season points leaders (for his 2015–16 season), and the top 40 of Alabama's career points leaders.

Before the season

Previous season

Alabama finished the 2014–15 season with a 19–15 overall record (8–10 in the SEC) and an appearance in the National Invitation Tournament. The team started the season very strong, winning twelve of its first fifteen games, with all three losses coming against teams that went on to make the 2015 NCAA tournament. However, through the course of SEC play after those first fifteen games, the Tide faltered, developing an inability to put together consecutive wins—an issue that lasted for the rest of the season. As a result, Alabama suffered a losing home record in conference play for the first time since 1969. The team finished the season tied for eighth place in the SEC standings and was awarded the #9 seed and a first-round bye in the SEC tournament. In the second round, the Crimson Tide was eliminated, falling to the eighth-seeded Florida Gators 69–61. In the postseason, the team was selected to play in the NIT as a #6 seed. Alabama routed #3 seed Illinois 79–58 in the first round, but lost to #2 seed Miami 73–66 in the second round to end the Tide's season.

Coaching changes On March 15, three days after Alabama's loss to Florida in the SEC Tournament, UA athletic director Bill Battle released a statement announcing that Anthony Grant would not be retained as the head coach thereafter, presumably due to major fan dissatisfaction with the consistently mediocre seasons his teams produced, as evidenced by declining home attendance numbers. Later that day, Alabama received its invitation to the NIT. Stuck without a head coach, the school named assistant coach John Brannen as the interim head coach for the tournament.

Following the conclusion of Alabama's season on March 21, Battle began intensively searching for a replacement for Grant. Early rumors indicated that Indiana head coach Tom Crean and then-Murray State head coach Steve Prohm (who attended Alabama) were Battle's biggest targets. However, over the next several days, those names gave way to that of Wichita State's Gregg Marshall, and it was reported on March 23 that Alabama was prepared to offer Marshall a contract in excess of $3 million per year. Then, on April 1, reports indicated that Marshall would soon visit Tuscaloosa with his family while pondering whether or not to take the Alabama job; however, later that day, it was confirmed that he had decided to stay at Wichita State.

In an unusual move, Battle addressed Marshall's decision to remain at Wichita State in a public statement. With his first option ruled out, Battle contacted former National Basketball Association player and coach Avery Johnson, who expressed considerable interest in the job. Johnson had not been a coach since 2012, and had never coached at the collegiate level (having only been the head coach of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets). Despite that, Battle quickly arranged to meet with Johnson and his family and hired him shortly afterward on April 6. It was later reported that at the time of his meeting with Battle, Johnson was just days away from signing a contract extension as an analyst with ESPN. He was formally introduced as the new Alabama head coach on April 8.

Johnson subsequently hired two assistant coaches, while retaining former Alabama player Antoine Pettway as an assistant coach for his fifth year with the program and Lou DeNeen as the strength and conditioning coach for his third year with the program. On April 20, he hired Providence assistant coach Bob Simon as his associate head coach, and then on June 4, he hired "legendary" AAU coach Scott Pospichal as a third assistant.

Roster changes

Departures Following the firing of Grant, four players left the team, with three of them electing to transfer to other schools. Additionally, two seniors graduated and signed with professional teams, while another chose to continue his collegiate career as a graduate student at a different school. Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Home town Notes Ricky Tarrant 2 G 6'2" 190 Junior Pleasant Grove, Alabama Transferred to Memphis. Jeff Garrett 4 F 6'7" 206 Freshman Gadsden, Alabama Transferred to Northern Kentucky. He redshirted during his only season at Alabama. Levi Randolph 20 G 6'5" 208 Senior Madison, Alabama Graduated; went undrafted in the NBA draft and subsequently signed with the Boston Celtics. Rodney Cooper 21 F 6'6" 218 Senior Hurtsboro, Alabama Graduated; went undrafted in the NBA draft and subsequently signed with Soproni KC in Sopron, Hungary. Devin Mitchell 23 G 6'4" 182 Freshman Suwanee, Georgia Transferred to Georgia State. Dakota Slaughter 35 F 6'6" 220 Senior Fishers, Indiana Graduated; elected to play his final year of eligibility as a graduate transfer at Texas–Rio Grande Valley. John Gibson 41 F 6'7" 220 Sophomore Marietta, Georgia Left the team for undisclosed reasons. He was a walk-on at Alabama after transferring from Xavier (La.). Source: From RollTide.com (University of Alabama Athletics):

Class of 2015 signees

Lawson Schaffer, a 5-foot-11 point guard from Cullman High School in Cullman, Alabama, announced on April 30, 2015, that he would walk on at Alabama as part of the class of 2015. He was not rated by Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, or ESPN.

*Although Eubanks was considered part of Alabama's 2015 signing class, he was deemed academically ineligible in August 2015 by the NCAA Clearinghouse and consequently did not enroll at the university. He eventually enrolled at Texas A&M in December 2015. †The spelling and punctuation of Hall's first name ("Donta", "Donta′", "Danta", and "Danta′") varies among recruiting sites, news articles, and Alabama's official roster. The spelling and punctuation found on Alabama's official roster was used in this article.

Other additions Following the hiring of Johnson, Alabama added to its roster four players not part of the class of 2015: a former national Top 50 recruit, junior Nick King; Johnson's son, sophomore Avery Johnson Jr.; graduate transfer Arthur Edwards; and sophomore walk-on Christian Clark. Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Home town Notes Nick King 0 F 6'7" 220 Junior Memphis, Tennessee Transferred from Memphis with two years of eligibility remaining. In accordance with NCAA Division I transfer rules, he was required to sit out the 2015–16 season. Arthur Edwards 4 G 6'6" 210 Graduate student Washington, D.C. Transferred from New Mexico with one year of eligibility remaining. Since he has already graduated from college and is attending graduate school at Alabama, he was able to play immediately, as per NCAA Division I transfer rules. Avery Johnson Jr. 13 G 5'11" 180 Sophomore Houston, Texas Transferred from Texas A&M with three years of eligibility remaining. In accordance with NCAA Division I transfer rules, he was required to sit out the 2015–16 season. Christian Clark 24 F 6'5" 210 Sophomore Chester, Virginia He was officially added to the roster in the summer of 2015 with three years of eligibility remaining after joining the team as a walk-on prior to the previous season, but only dressing out for ten games during the season.

Sources:

Roster

Depth chart

Season On August 5, the school announced that the student section in Coleman Coliseum would be shifted over two sections to the side and corner of the court opposite the visiting team's bench in an attempt to enhance the home-court advantage in the coliseum and to make the students more visible on television and closer to the court. The student section was previously directly behind the goal next to the visiting team's bench. To complement that change, the area where television cameras are set up was moved to the opposite side of the coliseum and the court was repainted so it would not appear upside down on television broadcasts.