Early Rankings, Odds for Alabama Crimson Tide Basketball Next Season

Crimson Tide is expected to compete for another SEC title and land a better seeding in the NCAA Tournament in 2022-23.

Even though the 2021-22 season just ended, and every college basketball roster is in a state of flux, it's never too early to start looking ahead to next season. 

You know the basketball coaches are, so there's no reason that everyone else shouldn't as well. 

For Alabama, the early word is that the Crimson Tide should be better next season. 

In Sports Illustrated's Way-Too-Early Men’s Top 25: Ranking the 2022–23 Season’s Leading Contenders, writer Kevin Sweeney has Alabama at No. 12. 

"Things never quite clicked for a Crimson Tide team with tons of talent in 2021–22, but Nate Oats’s team will be back in the mix this season. Expect more roster turnover than this article’s rules project—I’d be quite surprised if all three of Jahvon Quinerly, JD Davison and Jaden Shackelford returned next season. But with the additions of a pair of elite freshmen in Jaden Bradley and Brandon Miller, along with young returnees such as Charles Bediako and Darius Miles, give this group the chance to have a special season."

Of course, Quinerly and Shackelford have already announced their departures, so the lone remaining big question among those three is what Davison will do in regards to the 2022 NBA Draft. 

Jeremy Woo’s latest Sports Illustrated big board has Keon Ellis at No. 33, and Davison at No. 37, which means both have slid out of first-round projections, while Shackelford is No. 64. 

NBA Bound?

Photo | Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

Jahvon Quinerly

Alabama Athletics

Jaden Shackelford

Alabama Athletics

JD Davison 

Keon Ellis

Going back to Sweeney's rankings, he has Arkansas at No. 1, with Kentucky at No. 2, and he has Tennessee with Sweet 16 potential at No. 14. 

That's not far off from what the oddsmakers have. With its opening odds, BetOnline also has Arkansas as the favorite: 

2023 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship

1. Arkansas 10/1
2. Duke 11/1
3. Gonzaga 11/1
4. Kentucky 11/1
5. Houston 14/1
6. Kansas 14/1
7. North Carolina 14/1
8. UCLA 16/1
9. Arizona 18/1
10. Michigan 18/1
11. Texas 20/1
12. Baylor 22/1
13. Villanova 22/1
14. Alabama 33/1
15. Texas Tech 33/1
16. Auburn 40/1
17. Purdue 40/1
18. Tennessee 40/1
19. Creighton 50/1
20. Memphis 50/1
21. Oregon 50/1
22. USC 50/1
23. Virginia 50/1
24. Dayton 66/1
25. Indiana 66/1
26. Michigan State 66/1
27. Ohio State 66/1
28. Texas AM 66/1
29. Seton Hall 75/1
30. Xavier 75/1
31. Connecticut 80/1
32. Illinois 80/1
33. San Diego State 80/1
34. Wisconsin 80/1
35. Davidson 100/1
36. Florida State 100/1
37. Iowa 100/1
38. Miami FL 100/1
39. Notre Dame 100/1
40. Oklahoma 100/1
41. Rutgers 100/1
42. St. Louis 100/1
43. Syracuse 100/1
44. TCU 100/1

Other SEC teams:

• Florida 125/1
• LSU 150/1
• Mississippi State 200/1
• Vanderbilt 200/1
• Missouri 500/1
• Georgia 500/1
• Ole Miss 500/1
• South Carolina 500/1

This time last year, Kansas was 18/1 to open. Among the other Final Four teams, Villanova was 14/1, Duke 16/1 and North Carolina, which made the final as a No. 8 seed, was 25/1.

Alabama was 16/1