If ever Alabama fans wanted to attend the SEC basketball tournament in crimson and white waves, then this would be the year.

The team will need the support if it makes it to the weekend. This SEC tournament is going to feel like Alabama vs. the world.

The league’s postseason championship men’s basketball tournament begins on Wednesday night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. There’s a full preview in my weekly newsletter, “Joe Goodman’s SPORTS Happy Hour.” Seven-seed Auburn plays 10-seed Arkansas at 6 p.m. on Thursday. Alabama, the No.1 seed of the tournament and regular-season SEC champion, plays at noon on Friday. Considering the current contempt for Alabama basketball outside of the state, then the early start time looks like a gift from the league office.

Noon is the early game on Friday. Maybe the lunchtime tip will keep Tennessee and Kentucky fans away. That’s the hope anyway for league officials who would rather not hear an arena turn ugly against the SEC’s top team.

If Alabama’s latest road games are an indication, then Bridgestone Arena could be a tough environment for the Crimson Tide.

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Alabama is under the microscope of a national controversy, and it’s not going away. It’s a major storyline heading into the NCAA Tournament. I’m wondering how crowds at neutral site postseason games are going to treat this team. It could add yet another unprecedented element to a season like no other.

Star Bradon Miller drove a gun in his car to the scene of an alleged murder involving a teammate on Jan.15, according to police. He was named the SEC freshman and player of the year going into the league’s tournament, and a first-team All-American by the Sporting News. At the same time, Miller was completely left off the list of finalists for basketball’s biggest national honor, the Naismith Player of the Year Award.

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A court testimony by police on Feb.21 placed Miller at the scene of a shootout involving basketball players. Since then, Alabama has gone 3-1, winning three in a row and then losing its final game of the regular season at Texas A&M. Basketball player Darius Miles, owner of the gun, was charged with capital murder in the shooting death of Jamea Harris. Police say Miles’ friend, Michael Davis, sprayed the car occupied by Harris full of bullets and shot Harris in the face.

With death on The Strip as a backdrop, arguably the most talented Alabama basketball team in school history is here at the beginning of the postseason. It’s an embarrassing ordeal for the University of Alabama. Miller is arguably the most gifted college basketball player in the country this season. He’s essentially a 6-9 shooting guard who can play defense like Paul George. For these skills, he’s projected to be a top five lottery pick in the NBA Draft.

How has the high-profile murder of Harris affected players on the team? It’s difficult to gauge. Team coach Nate Oats has expressed sympathy for the victim, but received heavy criticism for his words during interviews. He apologized for insensitive comments he made on the morning of the bond hearing when he said Miller was at the wrong place at the wrong time and did nothing wrong.

Those comments outraged Harris’ family, who contacted me and expressed their concerns about Oats’ rhetoric. The only person that fateful night who was at the wrong place at the wrong time, said a family member, was their Harris, who was a 23-year mother.

Miller and teammate Jaden Bradley were both at the scene of Harris’ shooting death, according to police, and remained on the team after the tragedy. Neither have been charged with crimes, but both could be witnesses in the capital murder trial of Miles and Davis.

According to police testimony at the bond hearing, Miles texted Miller to bring him his gun.

This is going to be a postseason like nothing I’ve ever covered as a sports reporter. Normally this time of year, I’m asking coaches about locker room chemistry. This time I’ll be asking about gun policies on teams and gun culture among teammates. Nashville will just be the start, and it will be interesting to see if the SEC attempts to protect Alabama from scrutiny.

Attention of this magnitude is new territory even for the SEC. Normally the league’s biggest concerns are scandals on the field. Like when teams or players run afoul of the NCAA, or one coach calls another coach a dirty rotten scoundrel. Shootings, guns and capital murder charges involving basketball players during a season? It’s a different level of dishonor that can undermine the entire integrity of the conference.

Alabama coach Nate Oats has been shielded from questions during the season. News conferences at the SEC tournament are run by the league. And what about open locker rooms involving Alabama’s players. Presumably, considering they might be witnesses in an upcoming murder trial, Miller and Bradley won’t be around when reporters are nearby.

Does pressure to play basketball even rate at all when compared to the weight this team is carrying into Nashville? Alabama coach Nate Oats has struggled at times in front of the microphone, and considering the circumstances it’s understandable, but he’s done a good job of maintaining the focus of players since the shooting.

Alabama plays the winner of Thursday’s game between nine-seed Mississippi State and eight-seed Florida. Alabama is the favorite to win the tournament, but that doesn’t mean much. Even the best of the best lose in the SEC tournament. It’s a tough three-day slugfest, and oftentimes teams still looking to pad their NCAA Tournament résumés go hardest of all.

Remember when 2012 Kentucky, featuring Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague, lost in the SEC tournament championship game to Vanderbilt? Those Wildcats entered the SEC tournament 30-1 overall and 16-0 against conference opponents during the regular season. They went on to win the NCAA Tournament and set a new national record for wins in a season (38).

Vandy got the SEC auto bid, though.

The last team to win the SEC tournament and then go on to win the NCAA Tournament was the 2007 Florida Gators. That was the best team of a generation and one of the best in the history of college basketball. The only thing those Gators had to worry about was Joakim Noah’s dance moves after games.

The first couple rounds of the NCAA Tournament will be a haven for the Crimson Tide if Alabama is placed, as expected, in Birmingham to begin the Big Dance. We’ve seen a different kind of dance from this Alabama team already, and the madness started long before March.

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.