Busting Brackets
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Bracketology Losers: Indiana, Virginia Tech among this week’s wounded

By Andrew Dieckhoff

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA - DECEMBER 13: Aljami Durham #1 of the Indiana Hoosiers shoots the ball against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Assembly Hall on December 13, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA - DECEMBER 13: Aljami Durham #1 of the Indiana Hoosiers shoots the ball against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Assembly Hall on December 13, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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KNOXVILLE, TN – JANUARY 19: John Petty #23 of the Alabama Crimson Tide (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN – JANUARY 19: John Petty #23 of the Alabama Crimson Tide (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images) /

Alabama Crimson Tide

The Crimson Tide was on a four-game winning streak entering last week, which was kicked off by a 19-point victory at home over rivals Auburn. But perhaps they foreshadowed their impending misfortunes in a narrow 77-74 victory over Kansas State.

On Wednesday, Nate Oats’ team faced one of their toughest tests of the season as they traveled to Baton Rouge to take on an LSU team on the rise. With just one Quadrant 1 victory on their resume, Alabama needed this win to help boost their profile for the Selection Committee. Bear in mind that the Tide had a 3-6 record in Q1/Q2 games at this point—nothing to write home about, especially with a Q3 loss to Penn on the books.

Alabama was unable to pull off the giant victory, instead falling by two touchdowns to the Tigers. That put extra pressure on Saturday’s home matchup with Arkansas, another upstart SEC squad with a fresh new head coach.

The squad seemed to be responding well to the squeeze, jumping out to a 12-0 run to start the game and leading by as many as eight in the second half. But the Razorbacks answered with a late run of their own to pull ahead. Alabama regained the lead briefly, but Arkansas made one final push past the Tide and scored an 82-78 victory in Tuscaloosa.

The Crimson Tide needed to win at least one of those games to get closer to scoring an at-large bid. Instead, their resume now looks a bit grim. Alabama sports a 1-5 record against Q1 opponents and a 2-3 mark against Q2. Outside of the win over Auburn—which looks increasing like an outlier, rather than the norm—the best win on the Tide’s resume is a home win over Mississippi State.

They are also very near to gaining another Q3 loss if North Carolina drops back below the NET’s top 100. But it’s not all bad for Bama.

The back half of the SEC schedule is generally favorable for Oats’ club, while also providing a few opportunities to change the narrative around their tournament stock. The Tide have two big road games against Auburn and Mississippi State, as well as the return match with LSU on Feb. 15. According to KenPom, Alabama is projected to win at least 18 games, finishing above .500 in the SEC.

Even without a solid showing in the Q1/Q2 realm, those numbers might be good enough to slide past a weak bubble and into the NCAA Tournament.

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