Alabama Basketball Home Stretch: Why It’s So Important

Head coach Anthony Grant and his squad have had a rough past few weeks, going 3-4 in their last seven games, but the final four games of the regular season are extremely important for the Crimson Tide if they are looking to play in the post season, and possibly not in the way you're thinking.

Making the NCAA Tournament is a long shot now for Alabama, as they sit at 16-11 with no "good" wins on their resume, but should they finish the season on a high note, they could be playing come tournament time, including an outside shot at the Big Dance.

Right now, the Tide are in seventh place in the SEC with a 6-8 conference record, and while this may not sound great, it puts them in an interesting (dare I say, "advantageous") situation. If Alabama can stay in seventh throughout the rest of the regular season, they would get a first round bye in the SEC tournament, which is huge come tournament play.

However, that isn't the most important fact about being in seventh place: the Tide would not see Kentucky until the SEC Championship Game, should both win all their games in the tournament. Staying in seventh place may be the most important part of the season for the Tide.

Florida and Tennessee are currently in eighth and ninth place, respectively, and are unlikely to catch Alabama by way of overall records, so as long as Alabama doesn't completely drop the ball, they'll stay ahead of those two schools for the remainder of the season.

Georgia and LSU are currently in sixth and fifth place, respectively, with an 8-6 conference records, two games up on Alabama. Bama may not have a great record on paper (if they win out, it would put them at 20-11 and 10-8 in the conference), but having the chance to completely miss out on playing Kentucky in the SEC Tournament could be a bigger deal than losing some of the winnable games during the season.

Coaches "never" tell their teams to tank a game or two on purpose, but this may be a rare situation where Coach Grant tells his team to stay in seventh place, no matter the immediate cost.

Should the Tide fall to eighth, ninth, twelfth or thirteenth place, then they would be placed in Kentucky's side of the bracket, and would face them either after winning one or two games.

Alabama will play South Carolina at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, while finishing up the regular season with Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M.