Despite back-to-back losses, Alabama Basketball remains in a strong seed position for the NCAA Tournament. Prior to the Tennessee game, it was believed a Tide win would have come close to locking down a Big Dance 2-seed. After the losses to the Vols and Gators, the Crimson Tide is a 4-seed in most bracket projections.
A win over Arkansas on Saturday will not boost the Tide's seeding, but if coupled with a couple of SEC tourney wins, it could provide a boost back to a 3-seed.
The latest projections from CBS Bracketologist Jerry Palm are provided below. First, a review of a lesser known Bracketologist, 1-3-1 Sports. Bracket Matrix tracks the performance of over 100 bracketologists each season. In those rankings, 1-3-1 has been the most accurate of the sources providing projections for six or more seasons.
1-3-1 Sports - Mar. 7 Bracketology for SEC teams
- 1-Seed - Tennessee Vols (24-6)
- 4-Seeds - Alabama Crimson Tide (20-10), Auburn Tigers (23-7) and Kentucky Wildcats (22-8)
- 6-Seed - South Carolina Gamecocks (24-6)
- 7-Seed - Florida Gators (21-9)
- 10-Seed - Mississippi State Bulldogs (19-11)
No other SEC teams get much notice for being on the bubble for an NCAA Tournament bid. At 17-13, Texas A&M likely needs a strong finish of three or four more wins to sneak into the Big Dance field. The Aggies are ranked No. 51 by Ken Pomeroy. Alabama has slipped to No. 10 in the KenPom rankings.
Jerry Palm Bracketology - Mar. 7
- 1-Seed - Tennessee Vols in the West Region
- 4-Seeds - Auburn Tigers vs. 13-Seed McNeese State in the Midwest Region and Alabama Crimson Tide vs. 13-Seed App State in the South Region
- 5-Seeds - Kentucky Wildcats vs. 12-Seed Richmond Spiders in the South Region and South Carolina Gamecocks vs. 12-Seed Samford Bulldogs in the East Region
- 7-Seed - Florida Gators vs. 10-Seed Nebraska Cornhuskers in the East Region
- 10-Seed - Mississippi State Bulldogs vs. 7-Seed Colorado State Rams in the Midwest Region
ESPN's BPI projects the Alabama Crimson Tide to have a 38.8% chance to advance to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament. Only eight teams, including Tennessee (51.5%) and Auburn (43.8%) are projected to have better Elite Eight chances than the Crimson Tide.