Alabama
College Basketball Betting: Alabama Seeking Back-to-Back SEC Titles
The NCAA Tournament is right around the corner, which means teams across the college basketball landscape have a couple of weeks remaining to win their respective conferences. The SEC is among the conferences that will have an interesting conclusion to the regular season, with the Alabama Crimson Tide and South Carolina Gamecocks both pacing the pack with 9-2 conference records.
Other teams looking to make a late-season push for the conference crown for the regular season are the Tennessee Volunteers, Auburn Tigers, Kentucky Wildcats, and Florida Gators. Ahead of the SEC tournament, let’s take a look at the odds for the SEC conferece regular-season winner on FanDuel Sportsbook.
SEC Basketball Odds
|
2023-2024 SEC Conference Regular Season Winner
|
|
|---|---|
| Alabama | +125 |
| Tennessee | +270 |
| Auburn | +280 |
| South Carolina | +650 |
| Kentucky | +5000 |
| Florida | +6000 |
Alabama (+125)
After securing the SEC regular-season winner crown in the 2022-2023 campaign, Alabama is looking to achieve the same for the 2023-2024 season. The Crimson Tide own a 17-7 record on the season, including an 11-2 record in their last 13 games.
While being ranked at No. 15 in the AP Top 25, Alabama is sitting at No. 6 in KenPom’s ratings. Nate Oats’ squad is getting hot at a perfect time, and Alabama will face conference opponents the rest of the way. Only two of their remaining seven games in the regular season are against ranked teams, too.
Despite not having the best record in the conference right now, the Crimson Tide are a well-rounded team that has four players who are producing 11-plus points per game. The leader of the team is undoubtedly senior guard Mark Sears, who is tallying 20.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game.
What makes Alabama such a lethal team in the SEC is the fact it leads all of college basketball with 90.3 points per game on the eighth-highest effective field-goal percentage (57.2%) in the nation. The Crimson Tide can score with the best of them, and there’s a decent chance they won’t suffer another loss in the regular season.
Tennessee (+270)
Entering the final stretch, Tennessee has a 17-6 overall record and the fourth-best conference record in the SEC at 7-3. The Volunteers recently defeated Kentucky on the road, and they have won 13 of their last 16 contests.
Tennessee is a team that is predicated on moving the ball around, logging the 23rd-most assists per game (17.0) in college basketball. While the Volunteers have three players averaging at least 11 points per game, senior guard Dalton Knecht paces the team with 20.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game.
A recent 85-69 road defeat to the Texas A&M Aggies certainly doesn’t help Tennessee’s case of earning the SEC regular-season crown. At the same time, the Vols are No. 8 in the AP Top 25 rankings and No. 7 in the KenPom ratings.
To conclude the regular season, Tennessee is currently slated to face four straight ranked SEC opponents (Auburn, Alabama, South Carolina, and Kentucky). Catching the likes of Alabama, South Carolina, and Auburn is going to be easier said than done given the team’s remaining schedule.
Auburn (+280)
Only Tennessee is ranked above Auburn in the AP Top 25 poll among SEC squads while they have the highest rating (No. 5) in the conference in KenPom’s ratings. The Tigers are registering a 19-5 record and recently took down a talented Alabama team at home by the score of 99-81.
Auburn also paces the conference in assists per game (17.8) and is a deep team with the fourth-most bench points per game (35.62) in the country. The only two players posting more than 10 points per game on the team are forwards Johni Broome (16 PPG) and Jaylin Williams (13 PPG).
One blemish on Auburn’s resume right now is the fact it has lost three of its last six games. In their final seven games of the season, the Tigers are set to take on three different ranked opponents in the SEC (South Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee).
Just two years ago, Auburn won the SEC regular-season title with a 28-6 record and a 15-3 conference record. The Tigers have the third-best conference record (8-3) in the SEC right now, so it can’t afford many more losses in the last couple of weeks if they want to surpass the top teams in the SEC.
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Tennessee softball coach Karen Weekly ran up to Sage Mardjetko and sneaked in a kiss on her cheek as the junior pitcher’s postgame interview on ESPN2 began.
Mardjetko only got through the beginning of her first answer before her teammates ran up with fake money and gloves, stuffing the fake bills in her belt with the glove on top of her head.
At one point, there were six teammates dressing up Mardjetko after her fantastic performance against No. 3 Alabama, including fellow pitcher Karlyn Pickens and outfielder Gabby Leach, who hit the game-winning home run. Other players joined in to throw bills in the air around Mardjetko.
The moment on April 26 belonged to Mardjetko, who delivered the Crimson Tide their first shutout loss of the season as No. 8 Tennessee won 2-0 at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.
By the time Mardjetko’s interview was over, there were three gloves sitting precariously on her head, bills stuffed in her collar, too, and bats leaning against her legs, with one stuck in the crook of her elbow.
“Usually this is our home run celebration,” Mardjetko said on ESPN2. “My teammates are just super fired-up, they know how big this game is and how big this series is.”
The Lady Vols’ famous mommy hat also got stacked on top of the gloves before falling off. Leach said they love getting the chance to have some fun with postgame interviews.
“That was just such a big moment for her and just being able to celebrate and make her look goofy, giving her the money and the mommy hat, she never gets to wear that,” Leach said. “So that was the perfect moment for her to have that hat on.”
Tennessee (39-8, 13-7 SEC) relied on solo home runs from Leach and Emma Clarke to back up Mardjetko’s one-hitter and force a rubber match on April 27 (7 p.m. ET, SEC Network).
“Sage is a competitor. She’s going to give you everything she has,” Weekly said. “She’s going to compete freely, she’s going to stay one pitch at a time, and she’s got the stuff to beat anybody. So, I had complete trust in Sage all day long, and the most important number today is a zero on the scoreboard.”
Mardjetko (11-1) had a no-hitter through 6⅓ innings. She struck out six, walked three, hit a batter and allowed one hit in her fifth shutout of the season. After Tennessee got run-ruled in the series opener, Mardjetko said her mentality was to go out and compete and do whatever it took to give them a chance.
Weekly didn’t witness most of the postgame interview chaos; she only saw players running toward Mardjetko with the money, gloves and bats. But she wants them to celebrate, and not just the turnaround from a 12-0 loss in Game 1. Weekly wants them to celebrate everything.
“I think that’s one of the things that we got away from, is focusing on celebrating all the little wins in a game,” she said. “I think that’s what you saw, is the ultimate celebration there. And just so happy for Sage. But also Sage really inspired her team today with the way she competed out there.”
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe
Governor Kay Ivey:
“God bless our President, First Lady and the men and women in law enforcement. Let us pray for our leaders each and every day.”
Representative Barry Moore:
“They’ve told countless lies about him.
They’ve tried to bankrupt him.
They’ve come after his family.
They’ve tried to put him in prison.
They’ve tried to assasinate him – three times.
And yet, President Trump continues to fight for the American people.
We need to get on our knees and pray for him and our country.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville:
“A lunatic just tried to take out President Trump AGAIN.
The demonization of the President and Republicans needs to end.
Praying for our President and our country.”
Congressman Gary Palmer:
“I’m very thankful for the swift action of the Secret Service and that the President and no one at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was injured.
Considering this is the third attempt on the President’s life, last year’s assassination of Charlie Kirk, and the 2017 Congressional baseball shooting, it’s clear that our nation is in a cultural and political crisis.
We should all be praying for the healing of our nation and for the return of civil discourse.”
Senator Katie Britt:
“Wesley and I are praying for the safety of the President, the First Lady, and all those attending the White House Correspondents dinner. Grateful for the brave men and women in uniform working to keep everyone safe.”
Well that’s a wrap! Despite all of the hand-wringing, Alabama finished with 10 total players drafted, behind only Ohio State (11) for the most in college football. On top of that, the Tide was the only SEC school with multiple first round draft picks. If you missed any of them, here is the recap:
Round 1, pick 12 – OT Kadyn Proctor – Miami Dolphins
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Round 1, pick 13 – QB Ty Simpson – L.A. Rams
Round 2, pick 47 – WR Germie Bernard – Pittsburgh Steelers
Round 4, pick 137 – DL LT Overton – Dallas Cowboys
Round 5, pick 146 – C Parker Brailsford – Cleveland Browns
Round 5, pick 149 – LB Justin Jefferson – Cleveland Browns
Round 5, pick 173 – TE Josh Cuevas – Baltimore Ravens
Round 6, pick 201 – CB Domani Jackson – Green Bay Packers
Round 7, pick 232 – DT Tim Keenan – L.A. Rams
Round 7, pick 245 – RB Jam Miller – New England Patriots
All in all, it was a big day three for Alabama after a slow day two.
With the draft over, the undrafted free agent frenzy begins (seriously, if you think the draft is crazy, some the stories I’ve heard from NFL GMs about what happens right after it trying to convince all of the UDFAs to go places are pure chaos). Thus far, here’s the Alabama players who went out for the draft and didn’t get drafted, but have signed on with NFL squads:
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OL Jaeden Roberts – Philadelphia Eagles
LB Deontae Lawson – Philadelphia Eagles
LB Nikhai Hill-Green – L.A. Rams
OL Kam Dewberry – Atlanta Falcons
DB DaShawn Jones – New Orleans Saints
So far, OL Geno VanDeMark, punter Blake Doud, running back Dre Washington, and tight end Brody Dalton are still looking for teams. I think VanDeMark will likely find his way onto a team, but the other three probably will not.
It was also a decent day for some former Tide players. who transferred elsewhere in their careers:
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S – Caleb Downs (Ohio State) – 1st round, pick 11 – Dallas Cowboys
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WR- Kendrick Law (Kentucky) – 5th round, pick 168 – Detroit Lions
And that’s pretty much it for this year! Hopefully we will see many of these names popping up across the NFL for years to come. Roll Tide to all!
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