This is an opinion column.

When they write the history of the Auburn and Alabama basketball rivalry – top billing to the first Final Four program in the state – the most compelling character of the postmodern era may not be a one-and-done done good like Jabari Smith or Brandon Miller.

When they remake the 30 for 30 documentary “Roll Tide/War Eagle: The IBOB Strikes Back” – first mention to the program with the richer roundball resume – the most iconic figure may not be a charismatic, divisive, championship coach like Nate Oats or Bruce Pearl, equally adept at times of net-cutting and nut-cutting.

Instead the most interesting man in our little corner of the world from the pivotal year of 2024 may be a (so they say) 6-foot-1, 178-pound guard whose freshman season started with a bang against Baylor and ended with a bagel vs. Yale.

Take a bow, Aden Holloway. You have become a one-man line in the sand between the Jungle’s meme-muggin’ math majors and the Hangar’s hard-hat health scientists … between the AU Family and the UA BOGs … between major college basketball past and present in this state.

That is a five-star feat.