NCAA Basketball: Purdue, Virginia falls, Marquette and Gonzaga rise in top 25 power rankings

2. Alabama Crimson Tide – 25-4, (15-1 SEC)

The major storyline in NCAA Basketball this week was the reported and alleged involvement that freshman forward Brandon Miller had in the shooting death of a woman that currently has teammate Darius Miles in jail. There’s been controversy as to whether or now he should even be playing but the team isn’t sitting Miller down for the time being.

The Crimson Tide certainly has needed him on the court this past week. On the road against a bottom-tier SEC team in South Carolina, the team needed every one of Miller’s season-high 41 points on 14/25 shooting to win in overtime, 78-76. Big man Charles Bediako was the only other in double figures with 10 points and nine rebounds for Alabama.

They had another tough at home against Nick Smith and Arkansas on the weekend. The Tide was in the lead for most of the second half and ultimately was able to hold on for the 86-83 victory. Miller was great once again, scoring 24 points to lead the team. Mark Sears had 13 points, while Noah Clowney had 10 and 13.

The Crimson Tide are in full control of the SEC title race and just need to beat Auburn and Texas A&M next week to do so. But those are two of the top defensive teams in the conference so it’ll be a difficult task.