Alabama rose to No. 15 after winning at LSU and losing on the road to then-No. 12 Auburn. There are four teams vying for the Southeastern Conference regular season championship, including UA (17-7, 9-2). The three other SEC teams—No. 8 Tennessee, No. 11 South Carolina, and No. 13 Auburn—that are placed higher in the AP rankings than the Tide are its rivals.
“I had hoped that we would have won a couple more close games in the nonconference. We seem to be turning around. Not enough defence is being put up by us. We’re probably just as good offensively as I had anticipated, if not slightly better. We have to improve our defence. However, I expected to be in the running for a title, and that’s what we are doing with seven games remaining,” head coach Nate Oats stated on Monday prior to a meeting at the Birmingham Tip-Off Club.
Alabama’s next opponent, No. 22 Kentucky, is two games behind the Tide in the standings. The two teams meet on February 24. On March 2, Alabama, which is now tied with South Carolina, will host the Volunteers. The Tide is currently 3-6 in Quad 1 play; last Wednesday’s crushing of the Tigers 99-81 in Neville Arena was the team’s biggest victory over them.
According to Joe Lunardi of ESPN, Alabama is the best No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, ahead of Iowa State, Wisconsin, and Auburn. Alabama will have four more chances to play in the Quad 1 against the Wildcats, Volunteers, Florida Gators, and Ole Miss Rebels, according to the most recent NET rankings.
The University of Arizona’s next game takes place on Saturday at 11 a.m. in Coleman Coliseum against a Texas A&M club that just upset Kentucky.
Leave a Reply