7. Alabama (6-2)
The last few seasons have seen Alabama transform from a middling SEC team to a national contender and Nate Oats and company have shown no signs of stopping. Even before this week’s trip to Las Vegas, the Crimson Tide already had a really nice win over Illinois and their outstanding offense is trending in an elite direction yet again.
At the Players Era Festival, the Crimson Tide got a major victory on Tuesday night, winning 85-80 over Houston thanks to 24 points from Mark Sears and a double-double (10 points, 16 rebounds) from Mouhamed Dioubate. They then held serve the following day against Rutgers, getting a 95-90 victory, getting another 24-point outing out of Sears. Saturday’s title game didn’t quite go Alabama’s way, as they lost 83-81 in a tough battle against Oregon despite a nice effort from Labaron Philon, who had 15 points and 7 rebounds.
The offense showed up in a major way in their recent outings, though Alabama came up just short from a title in Las Vegas. Regardless, they’ve really shown that this team can hang with and outscore anybody this season and it’ll be interesting to see how those other pieces on this lineup progress as the season comes along. Moving forward, it’s a tough matchup in Chapel Hill for the ACC/SEC Challenge, though North Carolina will be an interesting bounce back opportunity.