Alabama basketball is enjoying a special season, and Nate Oats’ team may be in for a memorable March if ESPN Bracketology expert Joe Lunardi’s projection holds up.

Lunardi on Thursday elevated the Crimson Tide to a projected No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. He explained the change was triggered by Villanova and Houston suffering bad losses, combined with the Crimson Tide “dumping LSU again.” It’s the first time in Bracketology history that Alabama is on the top line.

Jaden Shackelford scored 19 points to lead the Crimson Tide over the Tigers on Wednesday to improve to 15-4 overall and 10-0 in the SEC.

Lunardi has maintained his opinion that the SEC will receive six bids to the Big Dance, which is tied with the ACC for third in the country among Power 5 conferences behind the Big Ten (10) and the Big 12 (7).

His next bracket update is set for Friday, but earlier this week, Lunardi had the following SEC teams in the Tournament: Alabama (previously a No. 2 seed), Tennessee (No. 3 seed), Mizzou (No. 4 seed), Florida (No. 6 seed), Arkansas (No. 11 seed) and LSU (No. 11 seed).

It’s been a bit of a rough week for some of those teams as Ole Miss knocked off No. 11 Tennessee on Tuesday, and South Carolina beat No. 22 Florida in Gainesville 72-66.