NCAA Tournament projections: How does Tennessee loss affect Alabama basketball as 1 seed?
Alabama basketball is going to be part of the NCAA Tournament. That can be said with plenty of certainty. Instead, the question is whether the Crimson Tide can hang onto a No. 1 seed.
Alabama (22-4, 12-1 SEC) dropped a game to No. 11 Tennessee this week, but it's only the first loss in conference play for the Crimson Tide. So Alabama remains firmly in play for a regional 1 seed. Different projections have different views as to where the Crimson Tide should rank among the regional 1 seeds, though.
Before Alabama faces Georgia (16-10, 6-7 SEC) on Saturday (5 p.m., SEC Network) at Coleman Coliseum, here's a look at the latest projections from various outlets.
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ESPN: 1 seed (Birmingham)
Projection date: Feb. 17
Once Purdue lost to Northwestern this past weekend, Alabama moved ahead of the Boilermakers for the top overall seed in the entire tournament. Then the loss to Tennessee dropped the Crimson Tide to the No. 2 overall seed but still a regional 1 seed. As of Friday morning, Joe Lunardi hasn't updated his top seeds listings, but he said before Purdue's game against Maryland on Thursday the Boilermakers would swap again with the Crimson Tide if they were to lose to the Terrapins. Then Maryland won. So we can presume Lunardi would project Alabama as the No. 1 overall seed again heading into the weekend.
In his latest projection, Lunardi lists Alabama as the regional 1 seed in the South (Louisville) region, facing either Alcorn State or Farleigh Dickinson in the first round before a matchup with No. 8 seed NC State or No. 9 seed Oklahoma State in the second round. Both of those games would be played in Birmingham.
USA TODAY: 1 seed (Birmingham)
Projection date: Feb. 17
The USA TODAY Sports crew projected the Crimson Tide also as a regional 1 seed. It doesn't specify the order of No. 1 seeds, though. But Purdue, Kansas and Houston are the other four.
This projection has Alabama in Birmingham facing No. 16 seed Rider and then the winner of No. 8 seed Duke and No. 9 seed Maryland as part of the South region (Louisville).
CBS Sports: 1 seed (Birmingham)
Projection date: Feb. 16
In Jerry Palm's projection as of Thursday, he bumped Alabama from the No. 2 overall seed to No. 3 behind Purdue and Kansas. That doesn't account for the Boilermakers' loss to Maryland, though. So Palm could still re-shuffle the regional 1 seeds.
He has Alabama as a 1 seed in the East region, playing in Birmingham against No. 16 seed UNC Ashville. The winner would face No. 8 seed Iowa or No. 9 seed Memphis.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: NCAA Tournament projections: How Tennessee loss affects Alabama basketball
