Nate Oats looked north to add some size to his batch of 2023 prospects. Mouhamed Dioubate, a 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward from Flushing, New York, announced his verbal commitment to Alabama on Sunday.

Dioubate picked the Tide over Maryland, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. The left-hander enters his senior year with a wide frame and good versatility for a forward. 247Sports Composite ranked Dioubate as the No. 89 player in the country and third-best from the Big Apple. Dioubate is the highest-rated member of the Crimson Tide’s class.

Last year, Dioubate won the National Prep Championship with his Connecticut-based private school, Putnam Science. With the PSA Cardinals, his travel basketball team, Dioubate averaged just over 14 points and 7.5 rebounds a game with a 53% shooting clip in the Nike EYBL.

Assistant coach Bryan Hodgson, a New York native that helped sign a pair of five-stars last year, was Dioubate’s primary recruiter. The Tide offered him in August.

He visited the Demon Deacons, Terrapins and lastly, Tuscaloosa. He was in Tuscaloosa on Oct. 7 as the Tide football team narrowly beat Texas A&M. Dioubate told 247Sports that Alabama coaches compared him to 2021 NBA draftee and former Tide Herb Jones.

Alabama signed seven players in 2022, including four forwards. Each of the non-transfer prospects was rated in the top 100, including No. 5 junior college product Nick Pringle. Dioubate joins four-stars Sam Walters (Florida) and Davin Crosby (North Carolina) and Grissom’s three-star R.J. Johnson in the 2023 class, which is now ranked 11th per 247Sports team rankings.

On Monday, Alabama was ranked 20th in the Associated Press preseason top 25. The exhibition season begins on Oct. 29 against Southern Illinois.

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Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].