Alabama Basketball: Crimson Tide Big Dance Bracketology Mar. 7

It is a big week for SEC basketball. The conference tournament begins Wednesday and on Sunday at least six SEC teams will learn their NCAA Tournament seeding, destination and opening round of the Big Dance opponent. The Alabama Basketball overtime loss to LSU had minimal impact on the Crimson Tide’s NCAA seeding.

The SEC has two bubble teams. The Florida Gators and the Texas A&M Aggies will likely need three wins in the SEC Tournament to rise above the NCAA Bubble. Mississippi State and  South Carolina have not given up hope for an at-large bid, but they are longshots.

Thanks to Nate Oats’ bold scheduling, the Tide resume is one of the best in college basketball. The Crimson Tide has wins over eight probable NCAA Tournament teams; Gonzaga, Houston, Tennessee, Baylor, LSU, Arkansas, Miami and South Dakota State.

Bracketology Predictions Alabama Basketball and other SEC Teams

Sources of predictions: Joe Lunardi, Jerry Palm, Eric Prisbell and the Bracket Matrix.

• Auburn Tigers – The Tigers are a 1-seed from every source but Joe Lunardi, who has the Tigers as a 2-seed.
• Kentucky Wildcats – The Cats are a consensus 2-seed.
• Tennessee Vols – The Vols are a consensus 3-seed.
• Arkansas Razorbacks – The Hogs are a consensus 4-seed.
• Alabama Crimson Tide – Jerry Palm and Joe Lunardi have the Tide as a 5-seed. UPDATED, in a Monday afternoon change, Lunardi dropped the Tide to the top 6-seed. Eric Prisbell and the Bracket Matix have the Crimson Tide as a 6-seed.
• LSU Bengal Tigers – Jerry Palm has the Bengal Tigers as a 5-seed. The other sources have Will Wade’s team as a 6-seed.
• Joe Lunardi has Florida and Texas A&M in his ‘next four out’ group. Jerry Palm only has the Gators as a Bubble team.

Where and who will Alabama Basketball play?

It appears the Crimson Tide is destined to travel west. Jerry Palm has the Tide’s opening game in Portland, against North Texas. Palm has the Tide with a second game opponent from the winner of Arkansas vs. South Dakota State.

Joe Lunardi also has Alabama playing in Portland for a rematch against South Dakota State. According to Lunardi, the Tide would play the winner of UCLA vs. Iona, in its second game.

A snippet of NCAA Tournament history is Alabama has 23 NCAA Tournament wins. Before the Crimson Tide won its first in 1976, UCLA already had 51 wins in the Big Dance and Kentucky had 36. Now the Cats have 131 wins.