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Alabama Basketball: ‘Stuck inside of Mobile’ sounds familiar again

By Ronald Evans

KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 19: John Petty #23 of the Alabama Crimson Tide drives past Jordan Bone #0 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the first half of their game at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 19, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 19: John Petty #23 of the Alabama Crimson Tide drives past Jordan Bone #0 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the first half of their game at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 19, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images) /
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Alabama basketball living inside the NCAA Tournament bubble is so familiar it brings back memories of a Bob Dylan lament.

Some of us have a long history with Alabama basketball. That history is often remembered as a mixture of joy and disappointment. College basketball, rightly or wrongly, does not measure success by regular season play. Even winning a conference tournament is secondary to the seasonal goal of making the Big Dance.

While the fans of college basketball blue-bloods only concern themselves with NCAA Tournament seeding, it is different in Tuscaloosa. Seemingly a perennial bubble team, Alabama basketball fans either sweat Selection Sunday every season or bemoan another NIT bracket.

Bob Dylan sang “stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again.” On Monday, Feb. 11, the Alabama Crimson Tide is one of the more solid bubble teams. That could change at any time and we Tide fans could be ‘stuck inside of Tuscaloosa with the Bubble Blues again.’

NCAA Tournament Bracket Watch

Alabama basketball has an NCAA NET Rating of 43, a Strength of Schedule (SOS) of 21 and an RPI of 33. That is an impressive set of numbers, especially for a 15-win team.

With eight regular-season games remaining, the Crimson Tide should make the NCAA Tournament field by finishing 4-4. But nothing can ever be taken for granted with Alabama basketball. Limp into the SEC Tournament after a 3-5 run and get bounced in the first SEC Tournament game – it will be Bubble-City again. At 18-14, Crimson Tide fans would be praying for a play-in game.

Four wins to finish the regular season is realistic, but not easy. After Mississippi State in Starkville, the next four are Florida at home, at TAMU, Vandy at home and at South Carolina. The Gators are a bubble team and will be desperate for the win. South Carolina of late is playing very well.

The finish is LSU and Auburn at home, followed by Arkansas on the road. All those games will be tough, particularly LSU.

Current Bracketology

The last Joe Lunardi bracket (Feb. 8) had the Tide an 11-seed with eight SEC teams in the field.

Jerry Palm has the Tide as a 10-seed with seven SEC teams in the field.

Some basketball fans do not realize Lunardi and Palm are good but rarely the top prognosticators in a given season. The two below have a tremendous track record.

1-3-1 Sports has the Tide as an 11-seed. Bracketville has the Tide as a 9-seed.

Next. It was Riley Norris to the rescue in Nashville.. dark

What is the NCAA Tournament Bubble Zone? The last four in (which can include 11-seeds) plus the next eight teams out is the primary Bubble. In mid-February so much can change, a realistic Bubble is close to 20 teams.

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