No team in the country faces a tougher finish to the regular season than Alabama basketball over the second-half of its SEC schedule. The SEC has been the best league in college basketball this season and currently features 13 projected teams in Joe Lunardi's NCAA Tournament field.
As things stand right now, all nine of Alabama's final regular season games will come against Quad 1 opponents. Mississippi State is right on the edge of being a Q1 home opponent as they are ranked 30th in the NET and could teeter in either direction between now and the matchup on February 25th.
There's no easy games left. Alabama did well to get to 8-1 in the first half of conference play, but rival Auburn is 9-0 and seems likely to finish around 16-2 or even better in league games. Alabama has no margin for error in what is shaping up as a two-horse race for the league crown.
The Crimson Tide's next game is on Saturday in Fayetteville following a much-needed week off. That game looks a lot more daunting now than it did a couple of weeks ago.
John Calipari's Arkansas started SEC play 0-5 and looked to be one of the league's worst teams. They also lost star freshman guard Boogie Fland to a season-ending injury and their season was on the brink of a disaster in Calipari's debut with the Hogs.
But Arkansas has turned it around and now won three of its last four games, including back-to-back road wins over Kentucky and Texas. The Hogs are back in the NCAA Tournament picture and Bud Walton Arena will have a renewed energy on Saturday night when Alabama comes to town.
Playing in difficult road environments is nothing new for the Crimson Tide. Nate Oats has taken his team to true road games at Purdue, North Carolina, Texas A&M, Kentucky, and Mississippi State. Alabama is 4-1 in those games with the lone loss coming against the Boilermakers.
Arkansas can be stagnant on offense, but they can muddy the game up and play defense at a high level. Alabama will need its guards - particularly senior Mark Sears - to take care of the basketball and avoid careless turnovers that allows the Razorbacks to do damage in transition.
It's never easy to pull out a win at Bud Walton, regardless of the quality of the Arkansas team in attendance. But Alabama is facing Calipari's team at the worst time.