Has Alabama Basketball Already Locked Up a No. 1 Seeding in March Madness? All Things CW

Even if the Crimson Tide were to go two-and-out before Selection Sunday, its resume is already strong enough for it to land a top spot

Author:
Christopher Walsh
Publish date:
Mar 3, 2023 4:31 PM EST

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Alabama 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 5

Alabama basketball wrapped up the Southeastern Conference's regular-season title, and clinched the corresponding top seeding in next week's tournament in Nashville, so the only drama remaining there is how the brackets might shape out.

So the biggest question this week is whether or not the Crimson Tide has locked down the No. 1 seeding in an NCAA regional during March Madness.

The answer is probably yes.

No. 2 Alabama (26-4, 16-1 SEC) at No. 24 Texas A&M (22-8, 14-3) could have had the league title on the line, but the Crimson Tide really doesn't have much to play for. Moreover, the game will tip at an unusual time, 11 a.m., and on the road, so the deck is sort of stacked in the Aggies' favor.

Texas A&M, however, might be motivated to show that its still underrated despite the impressive climb up the standings. it'll also be Senior Day, and the Aggies are undefeated in SEC play at Reed Arena this season.

Currently, Alabama is considered the consensus top seed as it has the strongest resume and also won at No. 1 Houston in a head-to-head matchup.

The worst case scenario for Alabama is that it loses at Texas A&M and then falters in its first game of the SEC Tournament, which would be the quarterfinals thanks to the double-bye. But not even that would likely lead to it falling out of a top seeding.

Alabama, Houston and Kansas have clearly separated themselves to the point that they have some room to work with. Purdue which had lost four of its last six before surviving against Wisconsin on Thursday night, 63-61, is the team barely hanging to a top seeding on and there's no way the Crimson Tide could fall behind the Boilermakers.

UCLA is knocking on the door, but even the Bruins and all of the other top teams win out, Alabama is still almost certainly a No. 1 seed for the first time in program history.

As for how the SEC Tournament might look ...

Projected SEC Tournament Pairings

March 8

Game 1: No. 12 seed vs. No. 13 seed; Ole Miss vs. South Carolina
Game 2: No. 11 seed vs. No. 14 seed; Georgia vs. LSU

March 9

Game 3: No. 9 seed vs. No. 8 seed; Arkansas vs. Florida
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. No. 5 seed; Missouri
Game 5: No. 10 seed vs. No. 7 seed; Mississippi State vs. Auburn
Game 6: Winner Game 2 vs. No. 6 seed; Vanderbilt

March 10

Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. No. 1 seed; Alabama
Game 8: Winner Game 4 vs. No. 4 seed; Kentucky
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. No. 2 seed; Texas A&M
Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. No. 3 seed; Tennessee

March 11: Semifinals

March 12: Championship

Bryce Young the Clear Favorite

Oddsmakers now believes what we've been saying for months, that the Chicago Bears will likely trade out of the top spot, making Bryce Young the favorite to be the first-overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft.

The real question is which team will trade up to get him?

Although the Houston Texans obviously need a quarterback, and Alabama fans would love to see Young playing for former Crimson Tide standout DeMeco Ryans, the team is sending signals that it's not looking to trade up from No. 2 in the draft.

It's not because of Young, but rather due the way the draft is playing out. They can sit back and not give up a thing to get Young or C.J Stroud, which puts other teams in a more desperate situation and willing to give up more.

"I think we’re focused on the Texans," general manager Nick Caserio said at the combine per Texans Daily. "We’re not necessarily worried about what other teams around us are doing. You’re cognizant of that, but ultimately you have to be prepared to pick wherever you’re going to pick. Then, be prepared to pick whatever player."

Meanwhile, Chicago, which wants to trade down out of the top spot, may be in more of a bind because it doesn't need a quarterback and former Georgia defensive lineman Jalen Carter was charged for his alleged involvement in a fatal car crash that left two people dead in January.

The Bears were thought to be weighing between Carter and Alabama pass-rusher Will Anderson Jr., who made it through the combine with flying colors, if it can't get a deal that it likes.

The bottom line is that the odds of an Alabama player being the first-overall selection are only rising. If so, he would only be the second in program history, and first since Harry Gilmer in 1948.

5 Things That Got Our Attention This Week

• A strong indication of just how far the Alabama soccer program has come occurred on Thursday when Felicia Knox was one of 23 players called up to the U.S. U-23 Women’s National Soccer Team. She'll compete in the Thorns Preseason Tournament, which will feature three matches against National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) teams, March 12-18. Knox was the lone SEC player named to the team.

• Alabama football has hired Harding Harper as an assistant director of player personnel. He's the cousin of former Crimson Tide standout, turned SEC Network personality, Roman Harper.

• You may have heard about Antoine Davis of Detroit Mercy just miss breaking Pete Maravich's career scoring record for men’s major college basketball. He missed tying the 53-year mark by three points, of 3,667 set in 1970. What does he have to do with Alabama sports? His father his former Crimson Tide basketball player Mike Davis.

• The Nick Saban and Deion Sanders ads by Aflac will have a basketball counterpart during March Madness, featuring former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and South Carolina women's coach Dawn Staley.

• Per Jeff Borzello of ESPN, with roughly 1,800 MBB student-athletes entering the transfer portal in each of the past two seasons the “emphasis on signing impact freshmen has diminished. The numbers bear that out in convincing fashion. Of the top 100 recruits in the class of 2022, according to the Recruiting Services Consensus Index, only 17 are averaging double figures in scoring this season.” Meanwhile, 62 of the top 100 transfers as ranked by ESPN are scoring at least 10 points. The lack of impact by freshman predates the one-time transfer waiver and can also be partially attributed to the increasing number of options for high school seniors, such as Overtime Elite and G League Ignite. “Essentially, if you're not getting a top-25 recruit, the better bet for an immediate impact in recent years is almost always a transfer. You might not find a lottery pick in the portal, but the floor is considerably higher.”

• Bonus: Joe Moglia, the former football coach at Coastal Carolina, predicted in a guest column for Sportico that the “Power 5 will break away from the NCAA within the next three years.”