Following Alabama’s 87-78 win over Baylor Saturday, CBSsports.com speculated that the Crimson Tide could be a tough out in the NCAA Tournament.
True, that is the Crimson Tide team that had just defeated last season’s national champion, the Baylor team that had started out this season as the No. 1 ranked team and was fourth in the nation, the Bears that had won 36 consecutive non-conference games going back to 2019. It is that Bama team that has completed one of the most remarkable accomplishments imaginable, having scheduled and defeated three of last year’s NCAA Final Four teams – Gonzaga and Houston in addition to Baylor.
Also true, that is the Alabama team that has lost to the likes of Iona and Davidson in non-conference play and Missouri and, most recently, Georgia in Southeastern Conference games.
I have friends who plan to go to the SEC Tournament in Tampa in early March, but also are taking golf clubs in the event Alabama is eliminated on opening day.
“Go figure,” one might say. Several more than one might say, “What the hell is going on here?”
Here is where Alabama is.
Eight games into the SEC season, the Crimson Tide is 4-4 in conference play, tied with LSU, Texas A&M, and South Carolina for the 6-9 spots in league standings. There are 10 SEC games (5 home, 5 away) to play prior to the start of the tournament in Tampa, March 9-13. Bama, 14-7 overall, has no more non-conference games on the schedule.
Alabama starts that conference finish this week, playing at No. 1 Auburn at 8 p.m. CST Tuesday (ESPN televising) and then on Saturday hosting Kentucky, coming off a romp over previously fifth-ranked Kansas and sure to be ranked in the nation’s top 10 when the polls come out Monday.
Auburn defeated Alabama, 81-77, in Tuscaloosa earlier this season.
Not to say there won’t be challenges every week, but this week is just another example of Alabama playing the nation’s most difficult schedule. The funny thing is, Coach Nate Oats’s Tide has been competitive against the toughies.
Earlier this season a national column said that the toughest three-game stretch played by any team was Alabama having dispatched Miami by 96-64 in Orlando, Gonzaga by 91-82 in Seattle, and Houston in Tuscaloosa, 83-82.
The toughness of that three-game stretch has now been supplanted by the Tide’s current Baylor-Auburn-Kentucky gauntlet.
SEC Standings as of January 30, 2022:
1. Auburn 8-0 20-1
2, Kentucky 6-2 17-4
3. (tie) Arkansas 5-3 16-5
3. (tie) Tennessee 5-3 14-6
5. Mississippi State 4-3 13-7
6. (tie) LSU 4-4 16-5
6. (tie) Texas A&M 4-4 15-6
6. (tie) Alabama 4-4 14-7
6. (tie) South Carolina 4-4 13-7
10. (tie) Florida 3-5 13-8
10. (tie) Vanderbilt 3-5 11-9
12. Missouri 2-5 8-12
13. Ole Miss 2-6 11-10
14. Georgia 1-7 6-15
Alabama Remaining Games
Feb. 1 @ Auburn
Feb. 5 Kentucky
Feb. 9 @ Ole Miss
Feb. 12 Arkansas
Feb. 16 Mississippi State
Feb. 19 @ Kentucky
Feb. 22 @ Vanderbilt
Feb. 26 South Carolina
March 2 Texas A&M
March 5 @ LSU
SEC TOURNAMENT
March 9-13 @ Tampa
The Link LonkJanuary 31, 2022 at 01:00AM
https://247sports.com/college/alabama/Article/Alabama-basketball-has-been-at-its-best-against-top-teams-including-taking-wins-over-three-of-last-seasons-Final-Four-181842210/
Alabama Basketball Hard To Figure - 247Sports
https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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