At the center of a national controversy involving capital murder charges is an Alabama basketball team built to win a national championship.

It has all the pieces for a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, and then some, but go ahead and throw out all the old NCAA Tournament clichés about this team chasing “One Shining Moment.” That’s the famous song the NCAA plays every year after it crowns new champions in basketball. This team is being chased into the NCAA Tournament by a tragic moment, and that’s the shooting death of Jamea Harris on Jan.15 that involved Alabama basketball players.

“Obviously we never lose sight of the tragedy that’s kind of marked our season,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said on Sunday after the SEC championship game. “It’s always there.”

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Tragedy intertwined with sports manifested itself in strange ways throughout the course of the SEC Tournament in Nashville. Alabama then defeated Texas A&M 82-63 to win the SEC Tournament. A few hours later, the NCAA Tournament selection committee awarded Alabama the No.1 overall seed of its national championship men’s basketball tournament. Alabama is the top-line team in the Louisville region of the Big Dance, and its journey begins in Birmingham with first- and second-round games on Thursday and Saturday.

Nashville was just a prelude of the peculiar, turns out.

Auburn, playing in the Kansas City regional, was also placed in Birmingham for the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. It’s a recipe for weirdness. Based on Harris’ death in Tuscaloosa, and the actions taken by Alabama that followed it, the perceptions of this Alabama team swing wildly.

“This one’s very special considering everything that’s going on this year,” Alabama guard Jahvon Quinerly said after the win against Texas A&M.

Put it all together, and it makes for a twisted and bizarre backdrop for the celebration of sports. How will Auburn and Alabama fans interact at Birmingham’s Legacy Arena? It’s not the Iron Bowl of the NCAA Tournament — the two teams will not play each other in Birmingham — but the city will be a stage for a basketball cold war like the state has never seen.

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It’s all going down on Thursday in downtown Birmingham. Alabama plays the winner of Tuesday’s play-in game between Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Southeast Missouri State. Also on Thursday in Birmingham, nine-seed Auburn plays eight-seed Iowa.

Birmingham will be a setting for extreme opinions, no doubt, but there’s one thing about the NCAA Tournament in The Magic City that’s not up for debate. That’s Alabama’s team of top-flight basketball prospects. Alabama is loaded, and its elite collection of talent can win the NCAA Tournament. By my count, there are four can’t-miss NBA draft picks on the roster, and they are swingman Brandon Miller, point guard Jaden Bradley, center Charles Bediako and stretch four Noah Clowney. Other players have pro-level ability, too, including point guard Quinerly, bigs Noah Gurley and Nick Pringle and shooting guard Rylan Griffen.

The scandal following Alabama is based in part on the potential of the team to make the Final Four for the first time in school history.

Why is this team worthy of the No.1 overall seed? It’s more involved than simply being the SEC regular-season champions and running through the SEC tournament for a second trophy in less than two weeks.

What makes Alabama (29-5) tops among the 68-team field? It’s not Alabama’s ability to score points. It’s actually Alabama’s defense that makes the Crimson Tide the favorite to win the NCAA Tournament. Consider this. Texas A&M, a good team in its own right, shot just 29.7 percent from the field against Alabama.

In the first half of the SEC championship game, Texas A&M had six field goals compared to five blocks for Alabama.

How is Alabama built to win the national championship? Here’s what Alabama coach Nate Oats said when I asked him the question:

“Can we win the margin games [transition points]? Can we take care of the ball, come with a defensive intensity? If we can do that, we’re going to be playing hopefully three weeks from tomorrow and having a chance to do that. It’s not easy. You got to do it six games in a row. What I won’t say is we’ve got to shoot it well.

“We’ve tried to build a team that can still win when we don’t shoot it well. Can we be great on defense, rebound the ball well, take care of the ball. If we do that, even if we shoot it poorly, I think we can generate enough free throws, rim shots to win. I think we’ve got a chance to win the whole thing.”

It all begins in Birmingham, a city that’s split down the middle on its best day. Alabama and Auburn together in the NCAA Tournament to begin March Madness? Prepare for full-on crazy.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama: A season of hope and the making of Nick Saban’s ‘ultimate team’”. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.