Alabama basketball has all but locked up a bid to the NCAA Tournament at just the halfway point of the college basketball regular season. It will be the Crimson Tide's fifth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, just the third time in program history they have made the tournament in five consecutive seasons and the first time since Mark Gottfried led the Tide to five straight from 2002-2006.
The times have changed under Nate Oats. During Gottfried's five-year tournament run, Alabama was seeded as a 2, 10, 8, and 5. Under Oats, Alabama has been seeded a 2, 6, 1, and 4. Barring a rough stretch over the final 15 games of SEC play, Alabama is likely to be a high seed in the NCAA Tournament once again.
Gone are the days of bubble-watching and crossed fingers. Before Oats, Alabama had made the tournament just twice in a 15-year stretch and consistently found themselves just slightly on the wrong side of the bubble. Just making the tournament is no longer even a consideration; Alabama fans expect to be there and expect to make a run.
Last season, Oats and Alabama broke through the glass ceiling and made the program's first Final Four. This team hopes to not only get back there but to win the whole thing. Alabama is an obvious NCAA Tournament team at this point, but where do the experts believe they would be seeded if the season ended right now?
Alabama's NCAA Tournament Resume:
Alabama sits at 14-2 overall and 3-0 in SEC play. The Crimson Tide has played one of the nation's toughest schedules, something that will only increase during the brutal stretch of games remaining in its conference schedule.
The Tide has an impressive 9-2 mark against Q1 and Q2 opponents and just earned its fourth Q1 victory of the season by knocking off Texas A&M on the road on Saturday. Alabama's 9 wins between Q1 and Q2 is tied with Auburn for the most in the country.
Alabama has nothing but Q1 and Q2 games remaining on its schedule thanks to the loaded SEC, including 11 consecutive Q1 games to finish the season.
NET continuously fluctuates, but it speaks to the depth of the SEC and how difficult Alabama's schedule will be the rest of the way.
So where does that leave Alabama in terms of seeding in the NCAA Tournament at this point?
The fine folks over at Bracket Matrix track all the respected bracket projections and put it together in one convenient place. According to their data, Alabama's average seed is 1.57, which is fifth overall behind Auburn, Duke, Iowa State, and Tennessee.
If the season ended today, Alabama would almost certainly be a 2-seed, and likely the top overall two seed. But there are plenty of experts who think Alabama's resume is already worthy of a No. 1 seed. Of the 51 brackets tracked by Bracket Matrix, the Crimson Tide is a No. 1 seed in 22 of them. They are a No. 2 seed in the 29 others.
Most notably, Jerry Palm of CBS currently has Alabama as a No. 1 seed.
Alabama's seeding will be determined in these final 15 regular season games, playing against what will be one of the toughest schedules in the country. SEC teams will have a ton of opportunities to earn resume boosting wins, and I think it's likely the league will produce multiple No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the Big Dance.