For the first time in program history, Alabama was named the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The prestigious honor also gives the Crimson Tide a bit of home cooking as it will play its first tournament game at Legacy Arena in Birmingham when it faces the winner of Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Southeastern Missouri State on Thursday.

"Excited to be the No. 1 overall seed,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said Sunday after the bracket was unveiled. "Our players have worked hard. They accomplished a lot this year. I couldn’t be more proud of them for what they’ve been able to do. We got rewarded with it."

But is it really a reward for Alabama? The numbers say no.

The Crimson Tide sport an all-time 55-30 record in Birmingham which excluded exhibition games, but since 2000 Alabama has gone 4-5 in games at Legacy Arena. In the Oats era, Alabama is 1-2 with its sole win coming against Sanford in 2020, followed by losses in back-to-back years to Davidson in 2021 and Gonzaga this season.

While Jahvon Quinerly understands the excitement of playing a pseudo-home game to begin the tournament, he'd like to end another losing streak in the process.

"It's gonna be crazy," Quinerly said when asked what it's going to be like to play in Birmingham on Thursday. "It's basically going to be like a home game for us, but I'm a little skeptical about playing in Legacy Arena. We haven't won in there yet."

The loss to the Bulldogs in December was the second time Alabama yielded 100 points or more en route to a 100-90 drumming in the Magic City.

While Brandon Miller was brilliant scoring a game-high 36 points on 12 of 22 shooting, he was outshined by Drew Timme, who tallied one of his seven double-doubles this season, scoring 29 points and adding 10 rebounds.

Although the loss was disappointing for Oats, he noted it was the team's play, not the venue, that led to the loss against Gonzaga.

"Gonzaga is a really good team," Oats said. "They are one of the best offensive teams in the country, maybe the No. 1 team in offensive efficiency and we just didn't bring it on the defensive end that day. I don't want to make too much about (that) game being in Birmingham. I don't think that had anything to do with it. We've got to bring our defensive intensity. If we do we'll be alright."

While Alabama hasn't had success recently at Legacy Arena, the last time the Crimson Tide went to Birmingham for the NCAA Tournament, it won the first two rounds and advanced to the Sweet 16 in 1986-87.

"We need that place packed full with Alabama fans," Oats said. "It’s part of the reward of having a great regular season we get to play what should be essentially a home game for the first two rounds, so let's make sure we pump that up."