What a difference a year makes.

This time last year the Alabama men’s basketball team had hit rock bottom. It had lost to Seton Hall, Iowa and a team whose actual mascot is a peacock. It was hard to imagine the Tide winning the SEC West last year, let alone a singe game.

We all know the story, though.

The team went on a magical run, winning the division and coming within a hair of making the NCAA tournament.

Still, many weren’t convinced Alabama was for real, and rightfully so.

The Tide played an ugly brand of basketball and couldn’t hit a three point shot to save its life. And if we’re being honest with each other, they probably wouldn’t have made it past the first song of the Big Dance.

But that was last year.

Role players like Senario Hillman, Chris Hines and Charvez Davis are out the door, and four and five start talent like Levi Randolph, Rodney Cooper and Trevor Lacey are in.

“The team just has so much potential for this year,” sophomore forward Charles Hankerson said before the season.

And so far, Alabama has lived up to that potential.

Through five games the Tide has five wins, and has already exorcised the demons still lingering from its disaster in the Virgin Islands last year.

But more importantly, it’s improved – the only thing you can ask for from a talented but young team.

The freshmen are starting to click in the offense, and already look like seasoned veterans on defense.

Take Levi Randolph, for example. Randolph has started all five games, and is second only to Tony Mitchell in minutes played – high praise for a kid playing his first year in head coach Anthony Grant’s defense-first system. He’s averaging 5.4 rebounds per game, and is shooting 45.7 percent from the floor.

The crown jewel of Grant’s recruiting class, five-star shooting guard Trevor Lacey, is shooting 37.5 percent from the floor in the early season. For comparison, Charvez Davis, Alabama’s best three-point threat last year went 34.6 percent from behind the arc last season.

Did I mention Lacey is coming off of off-season knee surgery?

And we haven’t even talked about Alabama’s “Big Three,” who make up the core of Alabama’s young team.

Tony Mitchell was named tournament MVP of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off last weekend. He averaged 19 points and almost 10 rebounds in the three Tide victories, and made too many SportsCenter Top 10 plays to count.

And Trevor Releford was on the front-end of most of those. Alabama’s sophomore point guard already looks leaps and bounds ahead of the freshman that exploded onto the SEC scene last year.

Alabama will get a chance to further prove itself against tough competition before beginning conference play. A home date with VCU, who made the Final Four last year, awaits Alabama the Sunday after Thanksgiving break, and Georgetown visits Coleman Coliseum three days later for the non-conference showdown of the year.

Last year, Alabama was a good team. This year, it has a chance to be great.

The Tide has cruised through its first five games, and is only getting better.

“We, as a team, understand that we have time to progress and get better,” Grant said. “We understand that we haven’t scratched the surface of where we could be.”

“If we just play hard and stay focused, the sky is the limit,” Hankerson said. “We want to be the best team in the SEC and make noise in March.”

Did I think Alabama would open the season 5-0? Probably not. But the way things look, I won’t be the last person Alabama surprises.