This is an opinion column.

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Preston Murphy’s career took a detour on his road to the Final Four.

Murphy is a first-year assistant coach at Alabama. He was hired by head coach Nate Oats last summer after Oats’ previous three assistants left Alabama to be head coaches elsewhere. Murphy is an up-and-coming star in college basketball and Oats deserves credit for giving Murphy a second chance.

A former assistant at Creighton, Murphy was caught up in the FBI investigation into college basketball way back in 2017. After years and years of wasting everyone’s time and ruining lives along the way, the NCAA slapped Murphy with a two-year show cause in 2021. Murphy and Oats go back pretty far. When Murphy’s college hoops purgatory was finally over, he caught on at Alabama and the Crimson Tide immediately became a better team for it.

In a roundabout way, the FBI’s misguided attempt to reform college basketball ended up helping Alabama reach its first Final Four in school history.

Think about how much has changed in college basketball in recent years. The FBI was using wiretaps to bust coaches for paying players and now pretty much every player in the Final Four is getting something from NIL collectives. I’m not asking anyone to thank the feds for Alabama’s season, but it’s a curious twist on this weekend’s games.

Auburn legend Chuck Person had his life upended by the investigation and that cloud affected Auburn coach Bruce Pearl’s ability to recruit for years. Now Alabama has one of the game’s best recruiters on its staff thanks to the fallout of the NCAA’s punishment.

Alabama takes on UConn in the Final Four on Saturday and it’s a matchup of new-age college basketball powerhouses. UConn is the defending national champ and a heavy favorite to win, but Alabama has been improving with every game this NCAA Tournament. It took Alabama basketball the better part of a century to reach the Final Four. There is a strong sense here in Arizona that Alabama’s second trip won’t be far off. Murphy is one of the reasons why.

No one is expecting Alabama to upset UConn, and that lack of pressure is helping the Crimson Tide. Loose and vibing to its underdog expectations, Alabama danced its way onto the court on Friday for an open practice at State Farm Arena in Glendale, Ariz. Minutes earlier back in the locker room, I had a chance to speak with Murphy about his perspective on college basketball after looking in from the outside over the last several years. It was a fascinating conversation.

Murphy coached elite-level AAU basketball and helped with national grassroots camps while away from the college game. He now has personal relationships with many of the country’s best young basketball players.

“I was able to see a lot of kids when I was not coaching in college,” Murphy said.

No matter how this weekend ends up, Alabama isn’t going away anytime soon and should only get better and better.

For this year’s squad, Murphy recruited Latrell Wrightsell, Jr., (Cal State Fullerton) out of the transfer portal. Wrightsell is the player who suffered a concussion in the Round of 32 against Grand Canyon. He missed the games against North Carolina and Clemson in Los Angeles, but is expected to play against UConn.

“If you look at Latrell Wrightsell, he was in the portal and I knew him since he was a kid,” Murphy said. “I knew his personality. I knew he was a team guy that didn’t mind sacrificing.

“Those things are important. Houston Mallette [Pepperdine], who is coming in next year, I recruited him when I was at Creighton, so I’ve known him for a long time.”

Oats learned a lot from the 2023 season. The formula for Alabama evolved. It’s better to have a mix of veteran players on a team to go along with a couple elite freshmen, says Murphy. Used correctly, the transfer portal can allow a team to remain a national contender.

Here’s the Alabama Way circa 2024. It’s all about building a roster heavy on chemistry and skill over talent and athleticism.

“For us, you try to build the team based off personalities,” Murphy said. “When you talk about personalities, for us, we don’t want six or seven freshmen. Even though they could be super talented, they’re not going to have the experience to really know how to deal with the ups and downs.”

There’s an old adage that says coaches should recruit the most talented players and then tweak the system to match those players. That’s not how Alabama basketball operated under Oats this season, and that method could be the thing that keeps Alabama on top for years to come.

“Really we try to play with the most skilled guys,” Murphy said. “The most talented player may not be the most skilled guy or may not have the best IQ in the field. We make a lot of reads and have a lot of game plans and players have to adapt.”

The greatest test in the history of Alabama basketball is here. Oats and his staff will have their team prepared for this moment and all the ones that come next.

SOUND OFF

Got a question about the changing landscape of college football, spring practice or March Madness? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe a question about what’s on your mind for the weekly mailbag. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the most controversial sports book ever written, “We Want Bama”.