Alabama Basketball: Latest NCAA Bracket updates show beat Hogs or NIT
By Ronald Evans
Alabama basketball teeters on the edge of the NCAA Tournament Bubble cliff with toes on the ground and heels hanging over the edge.
On the day after another Alabama basketball collapse, the Crimson Tide is hanging on to a possible NCAA at-large bid. So say credible bracketologists or some of them anyway. Maybe a better word is clinging to a possible given the next game is a ‘must-win’ on the road. And not just any road venue, but Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, AR.
The Razorbacks have not been bullet-proof in Bud Walton this season. Mike Anderson has a very young team and they have had some tough losses. The Hogs lost to Texas by 2 points; to Texas Tech by three in Lubbock; in overtime to LSU in Baton Rouge and by four points to Kentucky in Lexington. Some unbiased observers of the Kentucky game believe poor officiating cost the Hogs the game.
On the winning side, Arkansas beat Ole Miss in Bud Walton and beat LSU in Baton Rouge. Sharp pickers like Warren Nolan and Ken Pomeroy predict a close Arkansas win on Saturday.
What if the Crimson Tide loses and limps into the SEC Tournament at 17-14 and finishing the regular season on a 2-6 run? To answer that question we must look at where the Bracket experts have Alabama basketball after the Auburn loss.
The quick answer is anywhere from ‘Out’ to as high as an 11-seed. Teamrankings.com has the Crimson Tide ‘Out’ with a 27 percent chance of getting a bid. Other credible sources, including Joe Lunardi, have Alabama basketball as a 12-seed. The prevailing opinion is the Tide is a play-in game, 12-seed and among the dreaded group of the ‘Last Four In’ the NCAA field.
Jerry Palm has a more optimistic assessment with the Tide as an 11-seed, escaping a ‘play-in’ and not one of the ‘Last Four In.’
Except maybe for Jerry Palm, a loss to Arkansas would prompt the other Bracket predictors to bump the Crimson Tide from the NCAA field.
In that scenario, how many SEC Tournament wins would be needed to get the Tide to the Big Dance? Two wins against weaker teams might not be enough. Three wins, with the third win against an upper-tier SEC team, should be enough. Of course, three SEC Tournament wins is a tall order.
Bama Hammer conducted a Twitter poll Wednesday asking does Avery Johnson deserve another year to turn the Alabama basketball program around. There were 1100 responses. Avery came out ahead with 42 percent yes votes, versus 41 percent no votes and 17 percent undecided.
dark. Next. Avery got out-coached by Bruce Pearl
One thing is clear from reading message boards and tweets. There is little or no enthusiasm for playing in the NIT this season.