Where Alabama Basketball Lands in Week 16's AP Poll

Alabama's historic offense helped the Crimson Tide rise in the AP Poll once again.

Author:
Hunter De Siver
Publish date:
Feb 19, 2024 1:07 PM EST

In this story:

The Alabama men's basketball team moved up from No. 16 to No. 15 on Feb. 12's AP Poll despite falling to Auburn but defeating LSU the next game. The Crimson Tide's 109-92 victory over LSU on the road showed the rankings committee that Alabama is capable of overcoming a loss excellently through its stellar offense.

The Tide's offense ranks No. 1 in all of college basketball in points per game (90.7) this season and its 100-75 win against Texas A&M on Feb. 17 continued to help it rise to No. 13 in Week 16's AP Poll.

Alabama's triumph over the Aggies extended its record to 18-7, including an SEC-best 10-2 record against the conference. It was also the Crimson Tide's eighth 100-plus-point game of the season, which is the most by a team in the SEC since Kentucky in 1995-96. Additionally, if the annual March Madness tournament started today, the NCAA placed the Tide as the top No. 3 seed (ninth overall) this past Saturday.

Of course, all of the players, head coach Nate Oats and his staff deserve some credit for this remarkable feat, but guard Mark Sears is perhaps the crown jewel of this scoring empire. The senior has logged 20-plus points in 16 games, including the past eight contests. He's averaging an SEC-best 20.6 points per game for the season and has been named the conference's Player of the Week twice.

Sears will need to help lead Alabama in the final six games of the regular season starting with this week's challenging slate against No. 24 Florida and No. 17 Kentucky. The Gators are 18-7 (8-4 SEC) and have two top-10 scorers in the conference. The Tide will face Kentucky on the road on Feb. 24, and the Wildcats average the third-most points in the country (88.2).