Alabama has nine SEC games to go and plenty to work through as it continues a push for postseason play. Alabama lost a series at Ole Miss this past weekend, moving its record in SEC series to 2-5 on the year.
Here are the keys to watch during Alabama’s final three conference series:
- Alabama has yet to win a series against any of the league’s formidable teams, but the two series victories it does have – against Mississippi State and Georgia – could prove valuable when it gets down to SEC Tournament seeding. The bottom two teams in the league miss the conference tournament, which begins May 19 in Hoover.
UGA (6-14) – which sits last in the league as of today - and Mississippi State (7-14) are within a game of UA in the loss column with three games left. Tennessee, which is not on Alabama’s schedule, is also at 7-14 and tied for 13th place. Tennessee and MSU will face each other in the final series of the regular season.
All told, with tiebreakers, Alabama currently sits 1 ½ games ahead of both UGA and MSU heading into this weekend, leaving little room for error.
The good news for UA is that both Tennessee, UGA and MSU all play against elite SEC teams (MSU vs. LSU, UGA vs. Florida, UT vs. Texas A&M) this weekend.
- Despite its struggles in league play, Alabama’s NCAA Tournament profile is still good enough if it can cobble some more SEC wins. The Crimson Tide is 47th in the RPI and flaunts the nation’s fifth-toughest schedule. At 23-20 with four non-conference games still on the schedule, staying above .500 – mandatory to make the NCAA field – is still attainable. However, it’s almost guaranteed that a team that misses the SEC Tournament field will be left out no matter the circumstances.
-Alabama’s next two series are against teams that are ahead of them in the SEC West: Arkansas (11-10) and at Auburn (10-11). Series victories in either would not only pull those teams within striking distance for Alabama in the standings it would give them an important tiebreaker. Lose those series, however, and Alabama falls closer to missing the SEC tournament and saddles it on the wrong end of a tiebreak.
Alabama opens the series against Arkansas on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Hoover Met.
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Here are the keys to watch during Alabama’s final three conference series:
- Alabama has yet to win a series against any of the league’s formidable teams, but the two series victories it does have – against Mississippi State and Georgia – could prove valuable when it gets down to SEC Tournament seeding. The bottom two teams in the league miss the conference tournament, which begins May 19 in Hoover.
UGA (6-14) – which sits last in the league as of today - and Mississippi State (7-14) are within a game of UA in the loss column with three games left. Tennessee, which is not on Alabama’s schedule, is also at 7-14 and tied for 13th place. Tennessee and MSU will face each other in the final series of the regular season.
All told, with tiebreakers, Alabama currently sits 1 ½ games ahead of both UGA and MSU heading into this weekend, leaving little room for error.
The good news for UA is that both Tennessee, UGA and MSU all play against elite SEC teams (MSU vs. LSU, UGA vs. Florida, UT vs. Texas A&M) this weekend.
- Despite its struggles in league play, Alabama’s NCAA Tournament profile is still good enough if it can cobble some more SEC wins. The Crimson Tide is 47th in the RPI and flaunts the nation’s fifth-toughest schedule. At 23-20 with four non-conference games still on the schedule, staying above .500 – mandatory to make the NCAA field – is still attainable. However, it’s almost guaranteed that a team that misses the SEC Tournament field will be left out no matter the circumstances.
-Alabama’s next two series are against teams that are ahead of them in the SEC West: Arkansas (11-10) and at Auburn (10-11). Series victories in either would not only pull those teams within striking distance for Alabama in the standings it would give them an important tiebreaker. Lose those series, however, and Alabama falls closer to missing the SEC tournament and saddles it on the wrong end of a tiebreak.
Alabama opens the series against Arkansas on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Hoover Met.
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