Although Arkansas is one of the hottest teams in America, and recently knocked off the Crimson Tide, regular season champion Alabama remains the odds-on favorite to win the SEC Tournament in Nashville.

Alabama has made a name for itself this season with its blue-collar approach to defense and rebounding. That may be the key for the Crimson Tide to cut down the nets at Bridgestone Arena at the end of the event set for March 10-14.

ESPN insider Jeff Borzello shared his thoughts on the Tide during a recent segment with “Marty & McGee” on the SEC Network and ESPN Radio.

“I would still pick Alabama to win the SEC Tournament,” he said. “I think that, like you said, Arkansas just smashed them the other day and Alabama’s had some issues shooting the ball lately. They’re not shooting 40, 45 percent we saw during their winning streak. But they still have one of the elite defenses in the country, which is a something a lot of people I don’t think realize, they think they live by the 3, die by the 3 sort of team, but they can really lock up on the defensive end.”

He then outlined the important players for Alabama.

“For me, their key players are going to be Josh Primo and John Petty,” Borzello said. “During their winning streak, John Petty was playing as well as anyone in the country. He’s been inconsistent lately, he fouled out, he got two technicals against Arkansas the other day. Josh Primo, supremely talented freshman, but he’s hit a little bit of a freshman wall. He’s had single digit points in four of his last six games. I don’t think Alabama can beat good teams, can beat Arkansas and Tennessee and Florida in consecutive days without big games from John Petty and Josh Primo.”