Alabama Women's Basketball Stumbling Down the Stretch After Loss to Florida
A second-half comeback fell short for the Alabama women’s basketball team Thursday night as the Crimson Tide dropped an 81-77 decision at Florida that could have a significant impact on the team’s outlook.
With the loss, Alabama is 20-8 on the year, and 9-6 in SEC play. Combined with the previous loss to Mississippi State, the Crimson Tide has slid in the standings to fifth.
It needs a win against Ole Miss to gain the double-bye advantage in the upcoming SEC Tournament.
It would be a notable loss for the team if it can’t get the double-bye. The 2021-2022 team finished seventh in the SEC, and had to battle through two tough games against Auburn and Georgia before falling to No. 13 Tennessee in the third round of the tournament.
If Alabama gets that double-bye this season, it would start in the third round, and would not have to worry about playing one of the top SEC teams on the way to a potential NCAA tournament.
The benefits of the double-bye are obvious, but Alabama faltered in Gainesville, and the signs are there that the Ole Miss game on Sunday could follow suit.
In the past two games Alabama has started slow, as the team was down 18 against Mississippi State. This time it fell behind by 15 to Florida. In both instances,
Alabama was outplayed on the interior and struggled to get stops when it really needed them.
The losses are piling up, and both Mississippi State and Florida are below Alabama in the SEC standings, with the Gators having a 4-11 conference record.
Coach Kristy Curry and her team can’t afford a loss to the Rebels on Sunday if only for momentum purposes.
"Obviously these kids are really frustrated," Curry said, "But you have to go to work on frustration...we have to hit the reset button."
Hitting the reset button before Sunday must be done if Alabama wants to have a chance to go on a run in the SEC tournament and improve its seeding in the NCAA tournament.
The current bracketology projection has Alabama as an eight seed, although it might subsequently fall. With the possibility of playing a No. 1 seed in the second round, any improvement on that could see Alabama win multiple NCAA tournament games.
However, all this depends on if the Crimson Tide can win on Sunday and get that double-bye. That is the toughest part of the "reset" that Kristy Curry preaches after each loss.
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