Alabama Basketball: Polls agree Crimson Tide is No. 1

Alabama basketball fans are celebrating. The reason why is Monday’s updated, traditional polls, the AP and Coaches, have the Crimson Tide at No. 1.

For the Alabama program, a return to a No. 1 ranking has been a long wait. The only time Alabama Basketball was ranked No. 1 was in the 2002-03 season. The Tide at No. 1 was a brief stay, and in the last several weeks of that season Alabama was unranked.

Some Alabama basketball fans will be tempted to conclude a No. 1 ranked team in mid-February is a lock to be a Big Dance 1-seed on Selection Sunday. Reality is the Crimson Tide could lose enough future games to slide to a 2-seed (and theoretically, even a 3-seed), but the odds are greater for an overall No. 1 seed than dropping as low as the 3-seed line.

The polls are fun and provide bragging rights. Beyond that, they mean little, as in almost nothing to the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.

The committee will review many sources and rely heavily on analytics to seed teams.

Alabama Basketball Gets Consistent Rankings

The best ‘results only’ algorithm is provided by Kevin Pauga. His KPI Rankings agree with the polls on the Crimson Tide being the nation’s No. 1 team, followed by Kansas, Purdue, Houston and Texas, in that order.

The KPI rates Tennessee slightly higher than the polls, at No. 8, compared to No. 10 in the AP Poll and No. 11 in the Coaches Poll.

The KPI and the polls are very different in ranking other SEC teams. The KPI has five SEC teams in the top 25. Along with Alabama and Tennessee, there is Arkansas(17), Missouri (23), and Auburn at No. 24.

The Coaches Poll has only three SEC teams in the top 25. Joining Alabama and Tennessee, at No. 25 is Texas A&M. The least favorable opinion on SEC basketball comes from AP Poll voters. Only the Tide and the Vols are ranked. AP voters did not agree that Missouri, Arkansas, Texas A&M and Auburn deserved a top 25 ranking.

The absence of Kentucky in the rankings is both unsurprising and shocking. The Cats are now 16-9, having lost three of their last five. In the KPI, the Wildcats are ranked No. 46.

What about the NCAA Tournament?

A quick look at one solid Bracletology source (CBS expert, Jerry Palm) shows Alabama as a 1-seed; Tennessee and Missouri as 4-seeds; Arkansas and Auburn as 10-seeds, and Mississippi State (as the last team in) as an 11-seed. Palm has Kentucky and Texas A&M in his first, four out.

The Vols are reeling from a recent run of three losses in four games, with a single win by three points over Auburn in Knoxville. Their loss at home to Missouri on Saturday was by a single point, after a desperation heave by the Tigers. The Vols are in dire need of a win.