It was an up and down week for Alabama basketball. The Crimson Tide went 1-1 with a disappointing home loss to Ole Miss on Tuesday that was pretty much completely erased by a road win over Kentucky on Saturday.
It stood to reason that there wouldn't be much poll fluctuation as a result, especially not with 19 of the Top 25 from last week's AP Poll finishing the week with at least one loss. College basketball is chaotic. Same as it always was.
In the AP Poll for this week, Alabama stayed put at No. 4:
BREAKING: College Basketball AP Poll🚨https://t.co/zBCpjzTESO pic.twitter.com/LKlDTFhf9x
— On3 (@On3sports) January 20, 2025
Alabama has wins now over four teams that are currently ranked in the AP Poll with all four games taking place outside of Coleman Coliseum. It has two true road wins over Kentucky and Texas A&M, a true neutral court win over Houston in Las Vegas, and a "semi-home" win over Illinois in Birmingham.
Alabama actually moved up two spots in this week's Coaches Poll. The Crimson Tide ranks No. 3 this week after being No. 5 last week. Iowa State's loss to West Virginia on Saturday allowed Alabama to move up.
Joe Lunardi still has Alabama as a projected No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Where the computers rank Alabama Basketball
Three of my favorite formulas for determining college basketball rankings are via KenPom, EvanMiya, and BartTorvik. Let's take a look at where Alabama ranks there:
KenPom:
Overall: 27.09 (8th)
Offense: 124.8 (4th)
Defense: 97.7 (43rd)
Alabama is slightly ahead of No. 9 Illinois and slightly behind No. 7 Kansas currently in KenPom. Alabama saw a nice offensive bump after a dominant performance against the Wildcats, but slid a little on defense thanks to Kentucky's high-level shot making. I still think Alabama played a pretty good game on the defensive end, but the 'Cats field an elite offensive team.
EvanMiya:
Overall: 29.2 (6th)
Offense: 18.8 (3rd)
Defense: 10.4 (23rd)
EvanMiya's formula is more bullish on the Tide's defensive performance, ranking it inside the Top 25. Alabama is just a tenth of a point behind Florida at No. 5 in this poll.
BartTorvik:
Overall: .9561 (7th)
Offense: 127.0 (3rd)
Defense: 97.1 (33rd)
BartTorvik is a little higher on Bama's defense than KenPom too. One thing is for certain: the Crimson Tide has improved on that side of the ball since the beginning of the season and if that upward trajectory continues, then Alabama has a real shot at winning the whole thing.