What Alabama Needs to be the Top-Overall Seed in NCAA Tournament: All Things CW

There's little drama about most of the top seeds for March Madness, but which team will be tabbed No. 1 overall?

Author:
Christopher Walsh
Publish date:
Mar 10, 2023 7:00 AM EST

In this story:

The All Things CW notes column by Christopher Walsh appears in five parts each week, with the latest on the Alabama Crimson Tide. This is ...

Take 5

We told you a week ago that Alabama basketball had almost certainly already locked up a No. 1 seeding in the NCAA Tournament, and nothing that's happened since then has altered its status.

Even if Alabama fails to notch a win at the SEC Tournament, the Crimson Tide is on target to make program history on Selection Sunday. Regardless of what happens in Nashville, it would shocking if it isn't the top seed in the South Region, playing in Birmingham the first weekend of March Madness.

However, the Crimson Tide does still have one final thing it can secure this weekend, outside of the automatic bid that goes with the conference tournament title: The top overall seeding of the NCAA Tournament.

Alabama, Houston and Kansas are the three teams still in the mix. Of them, Houston has the longest odds due to only playing six Quad 1 opponents, and it lost at home against the Crimson Tide. Although the Cougars are atop the NCAA NET rankings (with Alabama second and Kansas eighth), all indications are that they're third with the selection committee.

Kansas was 15-6 against Quad 1 teams before beating West Virginia on Thursday. However, the Jayhawks will be without head coach Bill Self for the rest of the Big 12 tournament after he subsequently ended up in the hospital with an illness.

Alabama and Kansas are thought to be neck-and-neck for the top-seeding bragging rights, so if one wins its conference tournament and the other does not it could easily be the difference.

They're that close.

BTW, Alabama and Kansas have never played in college basketball.

One final thing of note, keep an eye on Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament.

The Boilermakers still have a chance to be the fourth No. 1 seed, with UCLA the other top option in the West Region. If it's the Bruins, Purdue could end up the No. 2 seed in the South with Alabama.

Louisville, the site of the South Region finals, is only a three-hour drive from West Lafayette, Ind.

5 Things That Got Our Attention This Week

1) Stat of the week

Nate Oats joined C.M. Newton as the only two Alabama men's basketball coaches who have led the Crimson Tide to multiple SEC regular season championships.

2) Suggested reading

Former Crimson Tide wide receiver Calvin Ridley wrote an emotional Players’ Tribune essay discussing his mental health and suspension from the NFL after betting on games during the 2021 season. The 28-year-old who was reinstated this week wrote he did not want to “sugar coat” anything, saying gambling was the “worst mistake of [his] life.” He also discussed his depression and anxiety at the time of the incident, and his difficult childhood. "Football saved my life. It’s still my purpose. I still love it, maybe now more than ever."

3) Bryce Young on Bill O'Brien

You might have missed this quote from the NFL combine about the former Crimson Tide offensive coordinator who is back with the New England Patriots:

“I loved OB. They’re getting a great play-caller, great football mind. He helped me a lot to develop and grow and really come into my own. He helped me in a lot more ways than people know.

"So, I love OB. Definitely, I know he’s gonna do great things up there.”

4) Tua's own version of NIL

Tua Tagovailoa has filed a trademark application for his own name. The Miami Dolphins quarterback plans to launch a line of clothing, footballs and under-eye grease.

5) More Nick Saban

The Crimson Tide coach followed up his exclusive interview with Sports Illustrated by making an appearance on ESPN’s Know Mercy podcast with Stephen A. Smith. While nothing he said could be considered new, the following was still noteworthy.

As for how much longer he might continue coaching, he said: “I love trying to build a team with a group of people. I enjoy doing that. … I am also very aware that I don’t want to ever ride the program down. In other words, there’s going to come a time when my age and my circumstance—everybody is going to be able to tell somebody, ‘Well, he’s not going to be there. I mean, how long is he going to coach, until he’s 90?’ That will start to affect the program maybe in an adverse way. I don’t want to get there.”

“… I can still do the work at a quality level that is making a contribution to the success of the organization,” Saban said. “So, I’m not there yet.”

Saban also said that NIL “wasn’t supposed to be me going to give a speech to raise money from alumni so we can get enough money in our collective so we can pay players.”

Instead, Saban would prefer an NFL-style system where players are employees and sign contracts with a particular team under a salary cap. “Pay the players, and they can become employees, which a lot of people in college — that’s not what college football or amateur sports are supposed to be — but I would rather see that than be where we are now, where nobody has a contract, you can leave whenever you want, and we can actually create an institution that can pay you to play for our school. I asked the question then and I’ll ask you now: is that what we want college football to become?”

Happy Spring Break and March Madness everyone!