Alabama Crimson Tide is No. 1 and other rankings

By one measurement the Alabama Crimson Tide was No. 1 in the 2022-23 season. It is not a shout from the rooftops No. 1. It also may not receive broad acclaim, but one source, College Football News has done a Helmets and Hoops ranking of all 133 FBS programs. The ‘Hoops’ portion is men’s basketball. Excluding women’s basketball will draw the ire of some fanbases, especially LSU, Iowa and South Carolina.

The rankings, done by Matthew Emmons have three categories.

"No bowl, no NCAA Tournament, no fun. If you didn’t get the extra game in either sport – NIT doesn’t really count, but it does a little bit – you’re near the bottom.Football matters more than basketball. Football is just a bigger deal overall revenue-wise and in national interest, at least until March.Championships matter. You win a national title – or come close – who cares what you did in the other sport? Conference championships matter, too."

Alabama Crimson Tide and other Helmets and Hoops rankings

• No. 1 – Alabama
• No. 2 – UConn
• No. 3 – Georgia
• No. 4 – Kansas State
• No. 5 – TCU
• No. 6 – Purdue
• No. 7 – Tennessee
• No. 8 – San Diego State
• No. 9 – Michigan
• No. 10 – Penn State
• No. 12 – Arkansas
• No. 15 – Texas
• No. 25 – Mississippi State
• No. 26 – Kentucky
• No. 32 – Missouri
• No. 58 – Texas A&M
• No. 68 – Auburn
• No. 69 – LSU
• No. 79 – South Carolina
• No. 84 – Ole Miss
• No. 90 – Vanderbilt
• No. 109 – Florida
• No. 110 – Oklahoma

Alabama Crimson Tide fans can take some joy in the Tide being No. 1; plus Auburn being No. 68.

Alabama Basketball Final Ranking and Too-Early Projection

Nate Oats’ team, based on the final Coaches Poll, finished at No. 4 among Division One programs. It is the highest finish in Alabama Basketball history. Three other SEC programs finished in the Top 25; Tennessee at No. 16, Arkansas at No. 21 and Texas A&M at No. 25.

Some additional category is needed for ‘Way Too Early’ 2023-24 basketball rankings. It is nearly impossible to predict how any team will do until rosters are set. And in this era of college basketball, they are never fully set for all teams.

What currently (irrationally) way-too-early rankings offer is basically a measurement of a program’s trending credibility.

Three sources, ESPN, Sporting News, and USA Today have the Crimson Tide in the top 11 teams for next season. The highest ranking for Alabama comes from USA Sports at No. 6. Sporting News has the Tide at No. 9 and ESPN ranks Alabama at No.11.

ESPN has five SEC teams in its way-too-early Top 25, led by Kentucky at No. 4. Auburn snuck into just one ranking at No. 24, by the Sporting News.