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Joe Lunardi discusses Alabama as an NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed, where Tide will play first-round games
By Adam Spencer
Published:
Joe Lunardi is a busy man these days, providing near-constant bracketology updates for ESPN ahead of the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Sunday.
On Wednesday morning, he joined “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” on WJOX to discuss the Alabama Crimson Tide, who earned the No. 1 seed in the SEC tournament bracket.
Lunardi started by saying Alabama will likely be a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament no matter what happens this week in Nashville:
.@ESPN's Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) joined the guys on @MacandCube to discuss @AlabamaMBB already locking up a 1 seed & why the Crimson Tide will kick off the NCAA Tournament in Birmingham regardless of overall seeding.
Whole interview: https://t.co/5ofxZdUiVP pic.twitter.com/Q8sXh3AF8A
— McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning (@macandcube) March 8, 2023
“Look, the Crimson Tide are going to be a 1-seed even if they don’t go to Nashville for the SEC Tournament,” Lunardi said. “I think we can say that comfortably at this point that 3 of the 4 1-seeds — Alabama, Kansas and Houston — are spoken for, at least on our board. And I’m not seeing much of a way around that that would change anything.”
Alabama won’t play in the SEC Tournament until Friday’s quarterfinals, having earned a double-bye as the No. 1 seed in the league.
Can Alabama lock up the No. 1 overall seed?
Lunardi says that he has Kansas a shade above the Tide as things currently stand. But, he added, he believes the No. 1 overall seed will be decided by whether the Tide or the Jayhawks advance further in their respective conference tournaments.
Would Alabama be hurt by not earning the No. 1 overall seed? Lunardi doesn’t think so:
“They’re not competing for the same region,” Lunardi said of the Jayhawks and Tide. “Alabama would obviously prefer to be in the South. Kansas would prefer to be in Kansas City in the Midwest. So being 1 or 2 overall is kind of a distinction without a difference at this point from how the bracket will play out. The only advantage to 1 overall is you get to pick your path. But Alabama’s going to be in Birmingham anyway (for the first and second rounds) a week from Thursday. I don’t want to say that what they do this weekend (at the SEC Tournament) doesn’t matter very much, but it doesn’t matter very much.”
Still, you know Nate Oats and company would love to add an SEC Tournament title to their résumé for this season.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 14 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
