Alabama Basketball: Feb. 12th Bracket Watch and remaining SEC games

Check out where Alabama basketball stands in projected NCAA Brackets, plus the challenge of five more regular season games against potential NCAA tourney teams.

Alabama basketball enhanced its NCAA resume with the Tennessee win. Barring a late-season collapse, Alabama basketball should return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012.

Alabama basketball has six remaining regular season games, plus SEC tournament games. The NCAA Selection committee chooses teams based on several key factors. The Tide’s record against top teams is tremendous, going 5-1 against ranked teams. One significant factor is a team’s most recent games and despite a lull of three losses in five games, the Tide has won seven out of the last ten. Finishing 3-3 in the regular season will give the Tide a last 10 games run of 5-5. That finish only requires winning at home.

In the remaining six SEC games, the Tide has five games against currently projected NCAA teams. A 3-3 run and 1-1 in the SEC tournament would assure an NCAA bid. Even 2-4 and 1-1 are probably enough to make the NCAA field. Going 1-5 might require two SEC tournament wins.

A closer look at current bracket projections

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi moved the Tide up to a No. 7 seed. Lunardi has eight SEC teams in the NCAA field. He also has Mississippi State on the outer edge of his eight Bubble teams.

• No. 2 Seed – Auburn
• No. 4 Seed – Tennessee
• No. 4 Seed – Florida
• No. 7 Seed – Alabama
• No. 7 Seed – Texas A&M
• No. 8 Seed – Kentucky
• No. 9 Seed – Missouri
• No. 10 Seed – Arkansas

Jerry Palm moved the Tide up to a No. 8 seed after the Tennessee win. Palm has eight SEC teams in the NCAA field and one SEC Bubble team.

• No. 2 Seed – Auburn
• No. 4 Seed – Tennessee
• No. 7 Seed – Kentucky
• No. 7 Seed – Texas A&M
• No. 7 Seed – Missouri
• No. 8 Seed – Alabama
• No. 9 Seed – Florida
• No. 11 Seed – Arkansas
• First Four Out – Mississippi State

Teamrankings.com has the Tide a No. 7 seed. After the Tennessee win, the projected probability for the Tide making the NCAA Tournament field increased from 71 percent to 89 percent.

Finishing the regular season

Alabama basketball has a tough closing run in SEC regular season play. Take a closer look at the six games and the current RPI for each team from live-rpi.com.

Feb. 13th – LSU in Tuscaloosa; RPI – 79
Feb. 17th – Kentucky in Lexington; RPI – 20
Feb. 21st – Auburn in Auburn; RPI – 8
Feb. 24th – Arkansas in Tuscaloosa; RPI – 36
Feb. 27th – Florida in Tuscaloosa; RPI – 47
Mar. 3rd – Texas A&M in College Station; RPI – 17

The current RPI for Alabama basketball is 33.

Next: Alabama basketball gets historic victory over the Vols

It is almost a full month until Selection Sunday. We should not get ahead of ourselves, but a 7-seed Tide would (per Lunardi’s bracket) play Houston, followed by the Duke-Bucknell winner.