SEC Basketball: Buy or sell LSU, Auburn, Arkansas and Alabama?

Alabama: Buy – Volatile

The Alabama Crimson Tide defeated Gonzaga, that however, was in early December. Now the Crimson Tide sits at No. 22 in the NET, while being excluded from the Busting Brackets Power Rankings. The Tide also owns home victories over Baylor and Houston as they currently project to occupy a No. 5 seed along with fellow SEC member Arkansas, the aforementioned Houston, and Ohio State.

The confidence one would have in Alabama might solely depend on which games you have seen. There have been ten games in which the Tide have connected on at least ten three-pointers, highlighted by the 16 they were successful on versus Miami. However, there have been 15 games in which they have shot less than 30 percent from the arc. Despite their excessive three-point shooting and their below-average success, they’re not solely the three-point shooting team that their No. 276 rank in two-point field goal attempts would suggest.

In eight of their 13 conference games, they have accumulated more points in the paint than their opponents, and four of those games in which they did not were against Auburn and Kentucky. A major reason for their ability to score in the paint is the penetration capabilities of their point guard tandem of Jahvon Quinerly (14.1 pp, 4.4 apg) and JD Davison ( 8.5 ppg, 4 apg).

Both these guards have the ability to break down defenses and either score in the paint or drive, draw the defense, and dish for an easy bucket. Qunierly has shown he is willing to force bad shots, such is demonstrated by the 6’1 guard attempting over five three-pointers per game, despite being successful on just 26 percent of them, his playmaking is a pleasure to watch.

Come conference tournament time and beyond, if Qunierly and Davison can stick to driving to the basket and leave the three-point shooting to Keon Ellis and the third-best three-point shooting in the SEC in Jaden Shackelford the Razorbacks can get to the Sweet Sixteen as a five or six seed, which would surpass their current ranking.

Buy on the Alabama Crimson Tide and if they connect on their three-pointers they can defeat anybody and if they do not they could very well lose to Missouri in the second round of the SEC Tournament.