With only 18 days until the start of college basketball’s regular season, analysts and experts are making their predictions for the year ahead — including for the Alabama Crimson Tide.
On Thursday, CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander unveiled his Top 100 (And 1) rankings entering 2024-25. Norlander ranked the Crimson Tide No. 1 ahead of the Houston Cougars at No. 2 and the Kansas Jayhawks at No. 3. The two-time defending national champion UConn Huskies were ranked fourth with the Duke Blue Devils fifth.
Per Norlander’s analysis of ranking of Alabama at No. 1:
“In what feels like a wide-open season just over the horizon, I’m taking a team at No. 1 with the preseason national player of the year; a team that brought in one of the best transfer classes of the offseason; a team that is adding multiple five-star freshman; and a team that had the No. 2-ranked offense last season en route to the Final Four. Alabama.
The Tide are in the rare spot of having the men’s basketball band ranked higher in the preseason than the football fellas, just the eighth time that’s happened and the first time since 2006. (Bama football was No. 5 in the preseason.) Alabama, of course, is coming off its first Final Four in school history. Now it’s going to try to become just the fourth SEC school (joining Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky) to make back-to-back Final Fours. Remember, the Tide was wicked unpredictable on defense last season, but survived in the NCAAs despite that.”
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Norlander isn’t the only one who favors Alabama entering the season. CBS Sports’ David Cobb recently picked the Crimson Tide to finish atop the SEC in his projected order of finish. Nate Oats’ team was ranked No. 2 in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll on Monday.
Alabama opens the regular season Nov. 4 against UNC Greensboro at Coleman Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
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