Alabama basketball No. 1 in initial NCAA Tournament ranking
Despite losing to Tennessee earlier this week, Alabama basketball is still in the driver’s seat for the No. 1 overall seed in next month’s NCAA Tournament. The Crimson Tide took the top spot in the NCAA Tournament selection committee’s initial top 16 rankings Saturday morning. The final seedings for the tournament will be announced on Selection Sunday which falls on March 12.
The initial ranking placed Alabama in the South region which would have the Crimson Tide playing the first two rounds of the tournament in Birmingham, Alabama before travleing to Louisville, Kentucky for the next two rounds. This year’s Final Four will be held in Houston.
Joining No. 1 seed Alabama in the projected South region is No. 2 seed Baylor, No. 3 seed Virginia and No. 4 seed Indiana.
Alabama (22-4, 12-1 in the SEC) will host Georgia (16-10, 6-7) on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT inside Coleman Coliseum. Following the game against the Bulldogs the Crimson Tide will have four more games on its regular-season schedule, including a trip to South Carolina (Feb. 22), home games against Arkansas (Feb. 25) and Auburn (March 1) and a trip to Texas A&M (March 4).
Initial NCAA Tournament selection committee rankings
1. Alabama
2. Houston
3. Purdue
4. Kansas
5. Texas
6. Arizona
7. Baylor
8. UCLA
9. Tennessee
10. Virginia
11. Iowa State
12. Kansas State
13. Indiana
14. Marquette
15. Gonzaga
16. Xavier
Initial NCAA Tournament Regions
South Region (Louisville, Kentucky)
No. 1 seed Alabama
No. 2 seed Baylor
No. 3 seed Virginia
No. 4 seed Indiana
Midwest Region (Kansas City, Missouri)
No. 1 seed Houston
No. 2 seed Texas
No. 3 seed Tennessee
No. 4 seed Xavier
East Region (New York, New York)
No. 1 seed Purdue
No. 2 seed UCLA
No. 3 seed Iowa State
No. 4 seed Marquette
West Region (Las Vegas, Nevada)
No. 1 seed Kansas
No. 2 seed Arizona
No. 3 seed Kansas State
No. 4 seed Gonzaga