The Alabama men’s basketball head coach Anthony Grant seemed like an NBA general manager in May. He received two commitments from top recruits, added a good out-of-conference game to the schedule, changed up the coaching staff and lost a senior.
Forward Justin Knox announced the day after the spring semester ended that he would transfer to UAB.
Darien Knox, Justin Knox’s uncle, stated in a news release that his nephew’s style of play doesn’t fit in well with Grant’s up-tempo system.
After the Alabama Appeals Committee met, they allowed Knox to transfer, but the condition was he couldn’t transfer to any SEC school or UAB.
The Appeals Committee didn’t allow Knox to transfer to UAB after a strong suspicion of UAB tampering in Knox’s recruitment process, so Justin started to look elsewhere.
“I was very pleased with the way Justin progressed over they year,” Grant said in a news release. “If he felt he wasn’t a good fit, obviously everybody’s entitled to their own opinion. He’s got to do what’s best for him.”
Knox found his fit after visiting the University of North Carolina. UNC failed to make the NCAA tournament this year after winning the competition in 2009.
Grant shook off the loss and received commitments from two five-star recruits in the same day. Rodney Cooper and Levi Randolph, Alabama natives set to graduate in 2011, called Grant and told him they wanted to wear crimson, according to a news release.
Randolph was a big win for the Tide staff. Randolph chose Alabama over Kentucky to stay in his home state.
Grant also named former Director of Operations Tony Pujol as assistant coach, and Grant welcomed 27-year-old Antoine Pettway, the former Dayton assistant coach, to take on the role of Director of Operations.
Grant also announced that the Tide will face Oklahoma State on December 18 as part of the 75th annual ESPN All-College Classic in Oklahoma City. Alabama and Oklahoma State will be the first game in a doubleheader.
“We are excited about playing Alabama,” Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford said in a news release. “The All-College Classic is a great event, and we encourage Alabama fans to travel to Oklahoma City.”
The Tide is also set to take part in the Paradise Jam in November, opening up against Seton Hall.
