With less than three weeks until Selection Sunday the regular season of college basketball is beginning to draw to a close. But have no fear, the best 68 NCAA men’s basketball teams are less than one month away from tipping off March Madness basketball in 2021.
Take a look at our previews of PointsBet’s top 10 favorites to win the 2021 NCAA Championship. Coming in at #9 is the Alabama Crimson Tide from the Southeastern Conference.
Alabama Crimson Tide:
Record: 18-5
Conference: SEC
NCAA Championship Odds: +2000
Season Summary
Although the school is better known for their football program, the Alabama Crimson Tide are also a force to be reckoned with on the hardwood. After a 16-15 (8-10 vs SEC) record last year, Alabama brought in a four-star recruiting class for the 2020-21 season, adding Joshua Primo, Darius Miles, Keon Ambrose-Hylton and Alex Tchikou to their program.
With the influx of freshman talent alongside a strong sophomore and senior class, the Crimson Tide have strung together one of their best seasons in recent memory, currently 18-5 (13-1 vs SEC) and poised to make a run at their first SEC regular season title since 2002.
Jaden Shackelford has been the team’s leading scorer this season, averaging 14.5 points per game. However, senior forward Herbert Jones Jnr has been Alabama’s most versatile player, putting together the best season of his collegiate career, leading the Crimson Tide in rebounds (5.7), assists (3.0), steals (1.7) and blocks (1.1) while also putting up 11.7 points per game.
Jaden Shackelford led the way with a season-high 27 points in the victory.
👷🏾: Keon Ellis
📸: https://t.co/JOkvGbDG3g
📰: https://t.co/GezrDkePYR
🗣️Coach Oats: https://t.co/CHr0FqpaeT
🗣️Players: https://t.co/WlEg8iVKD6#BlueCollarBasketball | #RollTide pic.twitter.com/Tl0BMoW5hC— Alabama Men’s Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) February 20, 2021
Alabama’s singular loss against an SEC tournament rival came against the now #24 ranked Missouri Tigers earlier this month. After a slow first half the Crimson Tide rallied back from a 16 point halftime deficit to lose the game by just three points. Other than that one blemish, the Alabama are a perfect 13-0 in the SEC, 3.5 games ahead of the second placed Arkansas Razorbacks (9-4 vs SEC)
If Alabama were to win the SEC this year, they would become just the 11th team in tournament history to win the conference after being unranked in the preseason.
Betting Summary
Following the postponement of the 2020 March Madness tournament, the Alabama Crimson Tide opened with odds of +6500 to win the 2021 NCAA championship. Given that Alabama did not receive a preseason AP ranking, they received the longest opening odds of any current top 10 favorite.
After some minor preseason fluctuations, the Crimson Tide began their college basketball season with odds of +8000 to win their first NCAA title in 2021.
Alabama defeated Jacksonville State by 24 points in their season opener, which saw their title odds come into +5533. However, an 18 point loss to Stanford in their second game of the season resulted in a 1-1 record after two games, resulting in their NCAA championship odds drifting back out to +8000.
Following their third loss of the season in mid December, Alabama began what ended up being a 10 game winning streak, defeating the likes of Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, Kentucky and Arkansas.
Throughout the streak the Crimson Tide’s odds to win the NCAA title plummeted, falling from +8000 in mid December down to +1850 by late January.
Highest @AP_Top25 ranking this late in the season since 2002‼️#BlueCollarBasketball | #RollTide pic.twitter.com/dT3qKwUkZ2
— Alabama Men’s Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) February 22, 2021
The Crimson Tide are now +2000 to win their first NCAA championship, with tight losses to #7 Oklahoma (five points) and #24 Missouri (three points) resulting in their odds slightly drifting, after the conclusion of their winning streak.
Alabama are also the +225 favorite to take out their first SEC championship since 2002, currently 3.5 games clear of the second placed Arkasas Razorbacks (+600).
*Odds correct at time of publication, courtesy of PointsBet.
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