Mar 21, 2019; Columbia, SC, USA; A March Madness official basketball sits on the sideline during practice before the first round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at Colonial Life Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
The AP Men’s Basketball Poll is out and Alabama is on the rise!
The Crimson Tide are now the No. 2 team in the country for the first time since the 2002-03 season. Of course, that season didn’t end well, as the Tide were unranked by the end of the regular season, lost their first game in the SEC Tournament and fell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Things feel different for this Alabama team under Nate Oats, though. The Tide are cruising through SEC play thus far and looking every bit like a Final Four contender.
Purdue, behind the solid play of big man Zach Edey, is at No. 1 in the rankings this week.
Elsewhere in the poll, Tennessee checks in at No. 4 and Auburn is at No. 15. Arkansas, Mizzou and Kentucky are among the teams also receiving votes.
Take a look at the full top 25 rankings here:
Also receiving votes:
Duke 102, Indiana 61, San Diego State 57, Rutgers 31, Kent State 24, North Carolina 12, Michigan State 10, Creighton 9, Illinois 9, Arkansas 9, Missouri 8, Wisconsin 6, North Carolina State 4, Kentucky 3, VCU 2, Boise State 2, Memphis 1, Wake Forest 1, Oral Roberts 1
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Alabama vs. Tennessee is looking like a great matchup right now.
Nah. Alabama should be #1 and Tennessee should be #3.
The Tennessee vs Texas matchup in Knoxville this week will be great. I think Tennessee will win and continue the climb.
What a parity year for college basketball. To me it seems like most of the top 15 or so teams could ascend to #1. Vols are really good when the three's fall and not not so much when they dont. Lots of teams fall into that category. Luckily for the vols their D allows them to stay in games when the three isnt falling. the real meat of the schedule starts this week. The next 4 are ga, TX, flo and auburn. No easy wins there. Hopefully it will be fun....
SEC basketball looks a lot like SEC football these days. Tons of talent, athleticism and extremely physical... Tide and Vols are the clear teams to beat at this point in the season with Auburn close behind. The Big XII SEC challenge this weekend is going to have some nice matchups and then the grind of finishing out conference play. I like it!
Wish there was more SEC basketball content on this site.
SDS has a winter/spring and summer manifest of stories for football so they will never run out. Most stories are real silly like who has the best grass on their field or who has the best yard markings.
Me too
That previous #2 ranking came at the start of the conference season before the wheels came off; this #2 ranking is now with 19 games played and the team looking as much like a team as it ever has and not like five selfish guys as we’ve so often seen Alabama basketball decay into over the years. This group looks like they know they can accomplish great things; just hoping it continues that way.
What a crazy time we are in; UT and Bama are top-5, and UK, Duke, Indiana, UNC, Michigan State, and Memphis are all unranked...