Bama, Ole Miss assess post-season bids
By By Mark Etheridge / special to The Star
March 3, 2003
March is here. Just two games remain in the regular season. The SEC Tournament in New Orleans is just a week and a half away. Some teams have a pretty good idea about their postseason status. Others, well, the picture is extremely cloudy.
Take Alabama. Remember the team that rose to the number one ranking in the country? They fell hard but a late-season surge has them thinking of dancing.
They have a strong non-conference resume and sparkling RPI. So they are a lock for an NCAA bid right? Wrong. Alabama is sub .500 in SEC play at 6-8. Most feel the Crimson Tide will have to win their final two games to hear their name called on Selection Sunday. Others feel Alabama just needs two more wins including the league tournament. But what does head coach Mark Gottfried think?
Ole Miss head coach Rod Barnes knows the routine. His team is usually involved in the speculation when the calendar turns to March. Barnes knows that baring an improbable SEC Tournament title run, his team will not be in the NCAA Tournament.
But an NIT bid is not out of the question. However, the Rebels may find themselves just as interested in the NCAA selection show a week from Sunday. The Rebels' NIT bid may be determined indirectly by how the rest of the league fairs.
Barnes' team is trying to snap a nine game losing streak that has sent them spiraling out of NCAA postseason contention. Do the Rebels have what it takes to snap out of it or are they too emotionally spent to recover?
But Barnes has hope. "Besides this game (at Alabama) and maybe the Kentucky game, I thought we've played pretty well."
Around the rest of the SEC, four teams have carved out a secure place in the NCAA Tournament and are playing for seeding from this point. Kentucky (24-3 14-0) is probable number one seed. Florida (24-4 12-2) is also looking at a good spot. Georgia (17-8 9-5) and Mississippi State (18-7 8-6) are in good shape despite MSU's loss at Arkansas Saturday.
Auburn (18-9, 7-7) and Tennessee (15-10 ,7-7) join Alabama (16-9, 6-8) and LSU (17-9, 6-8) as NCAA bubble squads. South Carolina (12-13, 5-9) joins Ole Miss (12-13, 3-11) with NIT aspirations.
The last few games should tell the tale for Alabama as they face South Carolina and travel to LSU.
