Three weeks before the NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracket is decided, Alabama is considered the top team in the country by the committee that will assemble it.

Alabama was pegged as the No. 1 overall seed by the NCAA men’s basketball committee, which revealed its current top 16 teams Saturday morning on CBS as a preview for its March 12 selection show.

“The No. 1 team is Alabama, on the strength of 13 wins in Quad 1 and 2,” committee chairman and Bradley athletics director Chris Reynolds said. “They have a very strong résumé, and that win at Houston put them over the top.”

Alabama is No. 2 in the NET rankings developed and considered by the committee behind top-ranked Houston, but the Tide beat the Cougars on their home court in December.

The Tide was slotted by the committee into the South region. If that holds when the actual bracket is finalized, that would mean Alabama would play potential Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games on March 24 and 26 in Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center.

As a top seed, Alabama would also be expected to play its first- and second-round games March 16 and 18 in Birmingham’s Legacy Arena, which is one of eight subregional sites this year.

The Final Four will be held April 1 and 3 in Houston’s NRG Stadium.

Alabama has never been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. It was a No. 2 seed in 1987, 2002 and 2021 but failed to reach the Elite 8 in each of those tournaments.

Three of the 12 members of the NCAA men’s basketball committee live in central Alabama: vice chairman and SWAC commissioner Charles McClelland, Samford athletics director Martin Newton and Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne. This is the second year on the committee for Byrne and first for Newton, who is the son of former Tide coach C.M. Newton.

The committee has revealed its top 16 teams in mid-February since 2017. Unlike the College Football Playoff committee, it does not update that list until the final bracket is revealed.

Alabama (22-4, 12-1 in SEC) hosts Georgia at 5 p.m. CT on Saturday in Coleman Coliseum. The Tide was No. 1 in the most recent Associated Press and coaches polls released Monday, and is ESPN’s projected No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament.

Here are the committee’s current top 16 teams:

1. Alabama (No. 1 seed, South)

2. Houston (No. 1, Midwest)

3. Purdue (No. 1, East)

4. Kansas (No. 1, West)

5. Texas (No. 2 seed, Midwest)

6. Arizona (No. 2, West)

7. Baylor (No. 2, South)

8. UCLA (No. 2, East)

9. Tennessee (No. 3 seed, Midwest)

10. Virginia (No. 3, South)

11. Iowa State (No. 3, East)

12. Kansas State (No. 3, West)

13. Indiana (No. 4 seed, South)

14. Marquette (No. 4, East)

15. Gonzaga (No. 4, West)

16. Xavier (No. 4, Midwest)

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.