It's never too early to look at what's to come. During the next few weeks, we will give you a peek of what's ahead for teams in the Power 5 conferences and some other teams expected to be players on the national scene. Next up: Alabama.

For decades, for coaches, the NBA was the goal. If you could get there, you went. If you made it, you hung on for dear life. If you were an NBA coach by reputation -- if you were one of those blessed revolving journeymen who got looks from general managers basically every spring -- you didn't even think about taking a college job.

The aspirational connection between the college and professional ranks ran, essentially, in one direction. And when it didn't -- when NBA coaches took college jobs -- those "NBA coaches" were actually just college guys beating a quick retreat back to where they were most successful in the first place.

This dichotomy is no longer so simple. Six years ago, Fred Hoiberg, a longtime NBA scout and front-office fixture, returned to his alma mater, Iowa State, in his first-ever coaching job. Five hugely successful seasons later, he was the head coach of the Chicago Bulls, and the notion of hiring so-called NBA guys -- even those with no real experience recruiting -- was very much in vogue.

Avery Johnson is among this vanguard -- and, arguably, the best example since Hoiberg of why it totally makes sense.

Avery Johnson led Alabama to an NIT appearance in his first year on the job. Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Such was the takeaway after 2015-16, Johnson's first season at Alabama, and first as a college coach altogether. Relative to expectations, the Crimson Tide were a wonderful surprise. Johnson inherited a fairly shallow, uninspiring roster, one comprising mostly unsung leftovers from the latter two seasons of former coach Anthony Grant's tenure (when Alabama won a combined 32 games). As soon as November, though, Johnson's team was playing excellent per-possession defense against quality teams, beating Wichita State and Notre Dame on neutral floors in a span of three days. In December, the Tide nearly knocked off Oregon in Birmingham, Alabama. The fixture itself would prove beneficial anyway: Soon enough, Oregon's RPI and strength-of-schedule numbers would rocket into the stratosphere, and the Tide would receive a knock-on résumé-numbers boost for the rest of the season.

Still, few expected a tournament bid, and a 1-5 start in SEC play seemed to confirm those suspicions. And then came the run: Between Jan. 26 and Feb. 17, Alabama went 6-1, with a huge home win over Texas A&M, back-to-back road wins at Florida and LSU, and, thanks to those strength-of-schedule numbers, a genuine chance to get into the NCAA tournament.

The Tide eventually regressed to the mean. They lost four of their last five, were mercilessly blown out by Kentucky twice, and dropped out of the NIT after one game against Creighton. They finished 18-15. It didn't matter. As first seasons go, it was a massive success; that Alabama sniffed the NCAA tournament, even for just a couple of weeks, was more than anyone could have hoped.

It's easy to be bullish about the Tide now. (And, as an aside, about the state of SEC hoops, too: Throw Johnson in with Rick Barnes, Bruce Pearl and Ben Howland, and even without Billy Donovan, the league looks like a budding coaching powerhouse.) If that was the foundation -- as most first years are supposed to be -- how good will the house look when it's built? And how soon could it be finished?

Despite the loss of two seniors -- Retin Obasohan, who carried much of the load on a struggling offense a year ago, and guard Arthur Edwards, the team's best perimeter shooter -- Johnson seems bullish, too. In mid-June, in an interview with Tide 99.1, Johnson rightly cited "decision-making and scoring on offense" as the 2015-16 team's biggest flaw, before listing a coterie of new guards he believes will improve that aspect of 'Bama's attack. Among them: Dazon Ingram, who missed much of his freshman season with an injury; Corban Collins, a graduate transfer from Morehead State; junior college transfer Armond Davis, who should bring shooting; and, perhaps most impactful, transfers Nick King (Memphis) and Avery Johnson Jr. (Texas A&M), who are both eligible to take the floor this season. (Update: Senior forward Shannon Hale was listed among the departures in an earlier version of this post; he will be on the roster next season.)

It's a much, much deeper backcourt. It's also complemented by emerging talent up front. Johnson has signed two top-100 players in his two recruiting classes. Forward Donta' Hall got reserve minutes as a freshman and should be up for a bigger role, while newcomer Braxton Key, the No. 8 small forward in the 2016 class, should offer positional versatility and athleticism from the wing as soon as he steps on the floor. Meanwhile, rising junior Riley Norris -- at 6-foot-7 -- is a genuine stretch-four, and center Jimmie Taylor is one of the SEC's better rim protectors.

"We feel we're deeper," Johnson told Tide 99.1. "We only had about a five-and-a-half or six-man rotation last year. We're looking to have maybe 10-and-a-half or 11 guys we feel comfortable putting on the floor, so that we can play faster, score more points, and not put as much pressure on our defense."

If that sounds exciting, well, it should -- not only for Alabama fans but for anyone who thinks the pro-college cross-pollination can only be good for the game. Johnson began his first year as part of a new breed, a former NBA lifer entering a newer, more dynamic coaching environment. He will enter his second season as perhaps that movement's most promising member, with an even better roster in tow.