Alabama’s case for a No. 1 NCAA tournament seed
Alabama’s arguably the hottest team in the nation, winning its ninth straight game Wednesday night over Mississippi State.
At 18-2, the Crimson Tide is No. 2 in the two major national polls. Only Purdue (19-1) is ranked ahead of Alabama but the computer rankings and projections have a different take on the hierarchy.
The Boilermakers are No. 4 in the NET rankings, one spot behind Alabama with Houston and Tennessee at No. 1 and No. 2. The Crimson Tide have never been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament with its most recent No. 2 seed coming in 2021.
The Tide travels to Oklahoma (11-9) for a 1 p.m. CT Saturday game in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Before that, let’s take a full look at where Alabama’s case for a No. 1 NCAA tournament seed stands eight games into the SEC season.
NET ranking: No. 3
- Quad 1 record: 6-2
- Quad 2 record: 5-0
- Quad 3 record: 4-0
- Quad 4 record: 3-0
- Best win: No. 1 Houston
- Worst loss: No. 12 Gonzaga (No. 7 UConn is the only other loss)
- See the full NET rankings.
Other rankings
- Sagarin: No. 3 (down 1 spot from last week)
- KenPom: No. 4
- ESPN BPI: No. 4 (down 1 spot from last week)
- Massey composite: No. 1 (up 1 spot from last week
Schedule strength
- RPI: No. 1
- NET: No. 5
- Sagarin: No. 8
- ESPN BPI: No. 8
Bracket projections
- ESPN: No. 1 seed (Birmingham opening rounds)
- CBS Sports: No. 1 seed (Birmingham opening rounds)
- Bracket Matrix: No. 1 seed in 80 of 80 brackets surveyed