For the third straight season and the fourth time in five years, Kristy Curry has led Alabama women's basketball to the NCAA Tournament. It's a big achievement for a program that went 22 years between bids to March Madness before Curry broke through in her eighth year as the head coach.
Alabama's seeding, while disappointing in the scheme of this season, is the best they've been seeded in the Curry era and the best seed the program has earned since 1999.
Alabama enters the NCAA Tournament as a 5-seed, which is slightly disappointing because 4-seeds and better get to host the first two rounds of the women's tournament. The Crimson Tide was in line for a 4-seed before a disappointing loss to a sub-.500 Florida team in the 2nd round of the SEC Tournament. That loss proved costly, and instead Alabama will head to College Park, Maryland instead of playing in the friendly confines of Coleman Coliseum.
Alabama Women's Basketball opens the NCAA Tournament with Green Bay
Sarah Ashlee Barker, Aaliyah Nye, and the Crimson Tide will face off with 12-seed Green Bay in College Park on Saturday at 12:30 PM CT. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
Green Bay won the Horizon League title and enters the tournament with an impressive 29-5 overall record. The Phoenix sport a 22-game winning streak and will be far from a pushover. 12-over-5 upsets have been prevalent in women's basketball, particularly in recent years. It has happened 26 times in history, most recently in the 2023 tournament when both Florida Gulf Coast and Toledo pulled it off. It has happened five times since 2021.
Green Bay is far from a pushover, and they will be prepared to play. Alabama has goals that don't include losing in the first round. The Tide hasn't made it out of the first weekend in the Curry era and haven't done so period since 1998.
Alabama's path to the Sweet 16 runs through Waco. If the Crimson Tide can beat Green Bay, they're likely to face off against 4-seed Maryland on the road. The Terrapins open up with 13-seed Norfolk State and will be healthy favorites.
If Alabama is able to get to the Sweet 16, they'll get to come home and play in Birmingham. Unfortunately, No. 1 seed South Carolina is likely to be waiting for them. But getting to the Sweet 16 would allow Curry's team to play with house money with the best tournament showing in 27 years.
You can view the full women's bracket here.