Alabama Basketball: Tide No. 1 Overall in Big Dance ‘Top 16 Reveal’

Three weeks and a day out from Selection Sunday, Alabama Basketball is college basketball’s top team based on the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. Late Saturday morning, Chris Reynolds, Chair of the Selection Committee presented the current top 16 teams in a 1-seed through 4-seed ranking.

Reynolds explained why Alabama Basketball was the clear No. 1 overall, saying, even with the recent loss to Tennessee, the Crimson Tide’s 13, Quad One and Quad Two wins, plus beating Houston in Houston, put the Tide at the top.

Alabama roundball fans can celebrate, but also realize the early ‘Release’ guarantees nothing. Former Villanova and National Championship-winning coach, Jay Wright was part of the televised review. He was asked how he responded as a coach to being a 1-seed. Wright said he hated it as a distraction to his players.

Nate Oats must deal with the same concern as the Crimson Tide goes forward. Though early seeding is close to what Nick Saban calls ‘rat poison’, it is not exactly that. Compared to poll rankings, the Top 16 Reveal shows how the actual decision-makers rate 16 teams that will all be somewhere in the 68-team NCAA Tournament field.

Alabama Basketball and the 15 other teams by NCAA Tournament Region

Note: The numbers below, followed by a ) are the S-curve rankings of the teams from 1-16

• South Region – 1) Alabama 1-seed; 7) Baylor, 2-seed; 10) Virginia, 3-seed; 13) Indiana, 4-seed
• Midwest Region – 2) Houston, 1-seed; 5) Texas, 2-seed; 9) Tennessee, 3-seed; 16) Xavier, 4-seed
• East Region – 3) Purdue, 1-seed; 8) UCLA, 2-seed; 11) Iowa State, 3-seed; 14) Marquette, 4-seed
• West Region – 4) Kansas, 1-seed; 6) Arizona, 2-seed; 12) Kansas State, 3-seed; 15) Gonzaga, 4-seed

Based on the latest Bracketology projection by Jerry Palm, the SEC has six other NCAA Tournament teams. Palm has two of them slotted for the South Region; Missouri as a 7-seed and Arkansas as an 11-seed. Palm has Kentucky as a 10-seed in the East Region. In Palm’s projection, three SEC teams would be bracketed in the West Region. One is Auburn as a 9-seed. The other two; Mississippi State and Texas A&M are projected as 11-seeds, assigned to a play-in game against other in Dayton.

Another interesting observation by Jay Wright during the telecast was how many strong teams there are currently projected as 7,8,9 and 10-seeds. He said several of those teams could knock off top seeds during the Big Dance.

The SEC team getting the most benefit from the ‘Reveal’ is Georgia. If the Bulldogs needed any motivation for Saturday night, they got it with Alabama Basketball as the No. 1 overall seed.