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Final NCAA Tournament projections for Alabama basketball on Selection Sunday

63571867_t466o7i5ncby:Blake Bylerabout 9 hours

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NateOatsMarkSearsFinalFour
Apr 5, 2024; Glendale, AZ, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats and player Mark Sears speak at a press conference during practice before the 2024 Final Four of the NCAA Tournament at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cheryl Evans/Arizona Republic-Imagn Images

It’s finally here. The 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket will be revealed tonight during the selection show at 5 p.m. CT on CBS.

Alabama finished the season with a 25-8 record, falling to Florida in the SEC Tournament semifinals on Saturday afternoon. Here’s where the Crimson Tide is placed in the most recent projections before tonight’s selection show:

Joe Lunardi, ESPN

Seed: 2
Region: East (Newark)
First weekend site: Cleveland
Potential path to Final Four: 15-seed Bryant, 7-seed Kansas, 3-seed Iowa State, 1-seed Duke

Check out Lunardi’s full bracket here.

Jerry Palm, CBS Sports

Seed: 2
Region: East (Newark)
First weekend site: Cleveland
Potential path to Final Four: 15-seed Montana, 7-seed Saint Mary’s, 3-seed Michigan, 1-seed Duke

Check out Palm’s full bracket here.

James Fletcher III, On3 Sports

Seed: 2
Region: East (Newark)
First weekend site: Lexington
Potential path to Final Four: 15-seed Omaha, 7-seed Saint Mary’s, 3-seed St. John’s, 1-seed Duke

Check out Fletcher’s full bracket here.

Breakdown

Alabama has a very strong resume for this year’s tournament. The Crimson Tide is still ranked sixth in the NET, sixth in KenPom, fourth in wins above bubble, and has an 11-8 record in Quad 1 games.

There is almost no doubt that the Tide will be a 2-seed when the bracket is revealed tonight. On Bracket Matrix, Alabama is a 2-seed in 87 of the 90 brackets posted, with the other three having it as the final 1-seed.

The question then becomes whether or not Alabama is the top overall 2-seed (No. 5 overall), or No. 6 overall on the committee’s seed list. This is important because of first weekend location. The general consensus is that the No. 5 and No. 6 overall seeds will be Alabama and Tennessee in some order, and because of how the 1-seeds shake out, the higher between Alabama and Tennessee will go to Lexington for the first weekend, while the lower will go to Cleveland.

Bracket Matrix’s consensus still has Alabama as the No. 5 overall, holding an average seed of 1.97, slightly above Tennessee’s 2.00.

The second weekend also seems down to two options, the East (Newark) or the Midwest (Indianapolis). The South and West regions are likely to be commanded by 1-seeds from the SEC in Auburn and Florida, and the committee will try to avoid putting a 1- and 2-seed from the same conference in the same region.

But all these unknowns will be answered soon as the selection show tonight is sure to reveal the Crimson Tide as a top-2 seed for the third time in five years, a remarkable job by head coach Nate Oats.

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