Noah Clowney lounged next to a faux cardboard ticket to the NCAA Tournament, relishing Alabama men’s basketball’s win and likely status as a one-seed. Like many Crimson Tide players in the aftermath of Sunday’s Southeastern Conference Championship, Clowney was faced with a question.

Days before starting March Madness as the No. 1 overall seed, is Alabama peaking at the right time?

“I think we gotta be consistent,” Clowney said. ” … Obviously you’re not going to play a perfect game but I don’t think we played like super solid, sound, great game either in every aspect. Today I think we gave up too many offensive rebounds. Yesterday we ended up winning and I think we had too many turnovers.

“To be honest, I think this team has a ceiling like no other … I think we are getting better. I feel like we’re in a position if we keep playing like we’re playing and keep continuing to grow as we preach, by the end of March beginning of April, whenever it ends, we’re gonna be happy.”

Nick Pringle agreed, citing the “continuous growth” which is a part of Alabama’s core philosophy. Yet, it was hard not to be impressed after Alabama blew out two of its three opponents in Nashville, capping the program’s 17th SEC title in an 82-63 final over Texas A&M.

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Eight days after losing to the Aggies on the road, Alabama head coach Nate Oats wanted his team to get its legs back under them and refocus defensively. The Tide did just that, holding A&M to its lowest field-goal percentage in a game this season (29.7%).

“I think we’ve got a really good chance to win it (all)” coach Nate Oats said. “If you’re going to give me three keys, I’m going to go back to what has kind of bothered us a little bit this year. Turnovers. If we can consistently take care of the ball, not turn it over where we get shots up, that’s number one. Number two is just our defensive intensity. I think you saw it today. It was a lot different than it’s been. Our Texas A&M game in College Station, then look at what it was today. (Jahvon) Quinerly’s intensity. It’s not a specific thing, but how hard do we want to play on D? When our defensive intensity is up, locked into a scouting report like we were today, we’re one of the best defenses and teams in the country. The last thing I’d say is can we generate enough we call margin plays? Can we win the second chance? … Can we win the margin games? 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.”

Nimari Burnett disagreed with Clowney and Pringle. The Tide’s slightly improved 3-point rate in the SEC tournament took some stress off the offense. It made 12 3s against A&M, its most since Feb. 18 versus Georgia.

Quinerly — who resumed the mantle of ‘March JQ,’ by thriving in the starting lineup, earning a spot on the all-tournament first-team — was about to answer the question, but then thought about it. He didn’t want to jinx anything.

Alabama will find out when it plays the winner Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Southeast Missouri State on Thursday, March 16, in Birmingham’s Legacy Arena.

“Defensively we’ve been very, very good and this is what we’ve been working for the whole season,” Burnett said. “This is what we’ve been grinding towards. But especially of late, we’ve been locking into practice and it’s showing out there.”

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].