Nate Oats and the Alabama Crimson Tide fell in the Week 5 AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll, released Monday.
The Crimson Tide (6-2 overall) fell one spot to No. 10 after going 2-1 at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas last week. Alabama won its third straight game since 2021 against Kelvin Sampson’s Houston Cougars, 85-80, on Tuesday. They followed it up with a 95-90 win over Rutgers before falling 83-81 to the Oregon Ducks in the championship game of the Players Era Festival on Saturday night.
Mark Sears, Grant Nelson and the Crimson Tide are ranked one spot below the Duke Blue Devils (5-2) and freshman sensation Cooper Flagg at No. 9. The Tide are ranked one spot ahead of the Wisconsin Badgers (8-0) at No. 11 in the AP poll.
Alabama fell three spots to No. 12 in the new USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, also released Monday.
Bill Self’s Kansas Jayhawks (7-0) remained No. 1 for the fourth straight week after entering 2024 as preseason No. 1 in the polls. Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers (7-0) rose two spots to No. 2 while the Tennessee Volunteers (7-0) moved up four spots to No. 3.
The Kentucky Wildcats (7-0), led by first-year coach Mark Pope, rose four spots to No. 4, giving the SEC three teams in the top five. The Marquette Golden Eagles (8-0) rounded out the top five.
In all, the SEC had eight teams in the new AP Top 25 poll. In addition to Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee and Kentucky, the Florida Gators (8-0) rose five spots to No. 13 while the Oklahoma Sooners moved into the Top 25 at No. 21 following a 7-0 start.
The Texas A&M Aggies (6-2) slipped two spots to No. 22, and the Ole Miss Rebels (6-1) entered the rankings at No. 23.
The two-time defending national champion UConn Huskies (5-3) suffered the biggest drop of any ranked team, plummeting 23 spots to No. 25 after losing three straight games at the Maui Invitational. Dan Hurley’s team lost to the No. 16 Memphis Tigers, the Colorado Buffaloes and the Dayton Flyers in Maui.
Alabama basketball 2024-25 schedule
Next up for the Crimson Tide is a trip to Chapel Hill to face the No. 20 North Carolina Tar Heels in the SEC/ACC Challenge. Tipoff for Alabama vs. North Carolina is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. CT Wednesday. The game will be televised on ESPN.
Alabama met North Carolina in the Sweet 16 last March, an 89-87 Crimson Tide victory over the No. 1 seed Tar Heels.