Alabama Basketball: Pre-SEC Tournament Power Rankings

Many Alabama basketball fans may disagree with this conclusion, but there is not much separation between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Arkansas Razorbacks. The pair are clearly the best teams in the SEC.

In this Power Ranking, Arkansas is given a slight edge over the Crimson Tide. The Razorbacks have won 11 straight SEC games and played better than the Crimson Tide in February.

No. 2 and No. 1 Tournament Seed – Alabama Crimson Tide

Nate Oats’ Crimson Tide team can perform at a high level. There are few teams in the nation that can compete with the Tide when it is playing well. Offensive inconsistency is the Tide’s only serious weakness. The defense is superb. Nate Oats’ system of play is changing SEC basketball. The Crimson Tide is capable of a long run in the NCAA Tournament. A risk remains that in a given game, an off-kilter Tide will not play to its potential.

Nate Oats appears to agree with this assessment based on these comments.

"We are the No. 1 seed, but we’ve got to get back to playing our best basketball on both sides of the ball. It’s been a little while since we’ve done that. Arkansas is the hottest team in the league right now."

No. 1 and No. 2 Tournament Seed – Arkansas Razorbacks

This Power Ranking is not a prediction of the outcome of a Crimson Tide vs. Razorbacks SEC Championship game. That game would be predicted as a toss-up.

Moses Moody and Justin Smith are the Hogs’ leaders, but Eric Musselman also gets solid production from a group of role players.

The Hogs and the Tide are close in five, team stats.

• Field Goal Percentage – ARK, 45.6 percent; BAMA, 43.1 percent
• 3PT Percentage – ARK, 34.4 percent; BAMA, 35.5 percent
• Rebounds per game – ARK, 40; BAMA, 40.3
• Steals per game – ARK, 8.2; BAMA 8.7
• Blocks per game – ARK, 5.4; BAMA 4.1

It should be a great game if the Tide and the Hogs meet again on Sunday.

Besides Kentucky having to win the SEC Tournament to advance to the Big Dance, Ole Miss has the most to gain. Joe Lunardi currently has Ole Miss as his seventh team out of the Big Dance field.