Bracketology Winners: Iowa State, Alabama snag resume-defining wins

Bracketology Winners: Iowa State, Alabama snag resume-defining victories

AMES, IA - JANUARY 5: Tyrese Haliburton #22 of the Iowa State Cyclones celebrates with George Conditt IV #4 of the Iowa State Cyclones after sinking a 3 point shot in the first half of play at Hilton Coliseum on January 5, 2019 in Ames, Iowa. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images) /

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PITTSBURGH, PA – MARCH 17: Head coach Johnson of the Alabama Crimson Tide reacts. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

Alabama Crimson Tide

Alabama entered this past weekend in the “Next Four Out” category of our bracketology here at Busting Brackets. To put it simply, the Crimson Tide assembled a decent non-conference resume but had some work to do coming into SEC play. And head coach Avery Johnson’s team got a much-needed resume-defining win on Jan. 5. This came in front of their home crowd by taking down nationally-ranked Kentucky.

This marked the Tide’s fifth consecutive win, four of which came over teams ranked in the KenPom top-75. In terms of predictive metrics, Alabama now ranks at No. 59 in the nation by KenPom and their balanced attack on both ends of the floor allows them to compete with most teams. Alabama is one of the best teams in the country when it comes to drawing contact (17th in FTAr) around the basket and they will force many teams into foul trouble.

The SEC schedule is going to be a gauntlet for every team but Alabama’s pace and abilities to score both inside and out make them dangerous. Additionally, it is hard to find a team that does a better job attacking the glass than the Crimson Tide. They rank in the top-50 nationally in both offensive and defensive rebounding percentage.

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