Entering the regular season, Alabama was ranked in the top 15 in the nation and was considered an automatic participant in the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
Then the Crimson Tide started Southeastern Conference play 2-4, including a bad loss to South Carolina, a team holding this season’s worst record in the SEC, and the Tide found itself on the bubble that robbed it of its March Madness opportunity last season.
Now, the Tide will host the Auburn Tigers in the last home game of the season, a game heavy with March Madness implications.
Even with everything riding on this game, the coaching staff is trying to keep the team’s mind off that thought.
“It’s the biggest game on our schedule because it’s the next game,” head coach Anthony Grant said. “Obviously, it adds to it because it’s a rivalry game. I think our guys are excited to play Auburn. After that, everything else is out of our control, so we just want to control what we [can].”
The temptation is still present for the Tide players.
“Naturally, it creeps in a little bit,” redshirt junior guard Andrew Steele said. “But, we try not to think about it. We try to take the same approach we’ve been taking: one game at a time.”
Grant added, “Everybody wants to play in the postseason. Right now, we’re going to stay focused on today.”
After the heart-breaking denial to the NCAA tournament last season, the Tide appears to be in a much better situation this year.
“I feel like our strength of schedule is up there, ranked in the top 30,” senior forward JaMychal Green said. “I think we’re in a pretty good position.”
As of Feb. 27th, ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi had Alabama in the NCAA tournament as the No.10 seed in the Midwest regional, facing St. Mary’s, a projected No. 7 seed, in the first round. If Alabama were to win that game, the Tide would likely play the No. 2 seed, Ohio State Buckeyes.
The Ratings Percentage Index, a highly used metric in the tournament selection process, has Alabama at No. 25. Alabama also earned a win over the No. 10 team in the RPI, Wichita State, earlier in the season. Four of Alabama’s nine losses this season have been against teams with a top 25 RPI: No. 2 Kentucky, No. 12 Georgetown, No. 19 Florida and No. 23 Vanderbilt.
Even though bracket experts have Alabama solidified in the tournament as of now, the Tide still has some dangerous bubble teams that could possibly kick the Tide out of the tournament.
Steele said players resort to watching how those teams are playing and if they are winning or losing.
“At the end of the day, it’s something you can’t control,” Steele said.
Alabama could be skipped over for teams such as Colorado State, a 17-10 team from the Mountain West Conference with a quality win versus No. 21 New Mexico on Feb. 21 and an RPI of 27. The Rams were listed as one of the first four teams not selected by the tournament in Lunardi’s Feb. 27 projection.
There is also the threat of the South Florida Bulls, who have compiled an 11-5 record in the Big East and is also listed one of the first four teams not selected by the committee in Lunardi’s Feb. 27 projection.
