Does Balanced Field of Title Contenders Help Alabama Basketball? All Things CW

As the stretch run begins there's no clearcut favorite as the team to beat in college basketball, which might help the Crimson Tide.

The All Things CW notes column by Christopher Walsh appears in five parts each week, with the latest on the Alabama Crimson Tide. This is ...

Take 2

You blink, and you might miss the latest hottest team in college basketball this season. 

Here comes Texas? No wait, the Longhorns got bounced by Kansas on Monday night. 

Tennessee? Nope. Had the Volunteers been able to beat Florida last week, they could be atop the polls. 

Instead, Purdue, which was unranked in the preseason polls, is still at No. 1 after losing at Indiana over the weekend, although its margin of error has vanished.

The Alabama Crimson Tide briefly held the moniker of hottest/best team sans the ranking, but then ran into some problems both on and off the court, and has yet to fully reclaim that status. It's close, though, entering a key three-game stretch of Florida, at Auburn and at No. 6 Tennessee that could make-or-break its Southeastern Conference title hopes.

How important is home-court advantage? As of Sunday, AP Top 25 teams were 296-24 when playing in friendly confines this season. 

Welcome to the season of balance in NCAA hoops, where heading into the heart of February there's no clear favorite to win the national championship, and very few of the traditional powers appear able to make much of a charge.

North Carolina was supposed to be the team to beat this season, only to get exposed in back-to-back losses in November (against Iowa State and then Alabama in four overtimes 103-101). The Tar Heels (15-8, 7-5 ACC) are now a lot closer to the bubble for making March Madness, than the top. 

Duke? Nope, not ranked. Neither is Kentucky. Even some of the recent programs of prominence, like Gonzaga, Creighton and Baylor, haven't been quite what many expected. 

Arizona and UCLA are charging their way into contention, but are also on a collision course. They close the regular season in Los Angeles, and could then meet the following week in Las Vegas.  

Instead, the top three teams in the latest AP Top 25, and the top four teams in the latest NCAA NET rankings, are teams from programs that have never won a national championship. 

That includes Alabama. 

One has to think that having such turnover at the top could only help a team like the Crimson Tide, which boasts a deep roster but has four freshmen who have accounted for more than 50 percent of the team's scoring: Jaden Bradley, Noah Clowney, Rylan Griffen and Brandon Miller.

They may not fully realize that they're not supposed to be doing this, but then the same holds true for a lot of other contenders.

During a season in which more than 50 teams have been ranked in the AP Top 25 already (North Carolina State was No. 51 after earning its first ranking in four years, checking in at No. 22 this week), so why not the Crimson Tide? 

Alabama is the lone Power 5 team to still be undefeated in conference play.  It has a two-game cushion atop the SEC standings. And now Nate Oats' team is finding ways to win even when shots aren't going in like at LSU on Saturday. 

Consequently, Alabama has gone from having 45/1 odds of winning the NCAA Tournament in the preseason, to 10/1. It was still listed as 22/1 around New Year's Day, or roughly when league play began. 

But three top-10 teams lost on Saturday. Nine other teams took a tumble in the poll after taking losses last week. With time running out and desperation staring to sink in, wins are getting harder to come by.

Call it a year of parity, or just simply a wonderful setup to what should be a crazy March Madness, take in stride what Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim recently said (not during the recent press conference he's already apologized twice for, but to the New York Times): "The balance is so good ... it's going to be hard to get into the tournament. People want to say it's mediocrity, but it's not. There's just good balance."

The SEC Tournament is in a month. 

Selection Sunday is in 33 days. 

The national championship game is in 55 days. 

It's going to be a wild couple of months. 

See Also

Take 1: Nick Saban Still Got What He Wanted With Alabama's New Coordinators

Alabama Basketball Up to No. 3 in Latest AP Top 25, Coaches Poll