A look at Alabama and Auburn’s Basketball-what’s coming up for the two programs; the 100th Genesis Invitational, Preview/Prediction

The No. 25 Alabama Crimson Tide, which are now 18-7 overall and tied for third in the SEC at 8-4, plays host to No. 20 Arkansas (19-6, 9-3) in an electrically important SEC matchup tonight at Coleman Coliseum at 6 CT/7 ET on E-S-P-N.

The Tide has played well since Charles Bediako was ruled ineligible by a different circuit court judge in Tuscaloosa, Daniel Pruet, after the original judge, James H. Roberts, gave Bediako a temporary restraining order allowing him to play in five games despite the fact he had signed an NBA contract. Sorry for the kid that it didn’t work out, but it was the right decision. The rules are clear that a player who signed an NBA contract and has been out of college basketball for now three years cannot come back and play again in college. That would have been a disaster if that injunction was upheld. The floodgates would have been wide open for NBA players to come back to college and play, and the cluster that is college sports would have become even more dysfunctional. I understand Alabama’s argument on Euros, who had played professionally overseas, coming back to play college basketball seems a little out of line with the college model. But everything is out of line with the college model now, and there has to be some limitations on these athletes coming back to college just to enhance themselves and create an unfair competitive situation for other teams. There have to be rules in college sports. So, it was the right decision by Judge Pruet, and the Crimson Tide has moved on very well from it. They’ve put together a pair of nice victories over Ole Miss on the road, 93-74, and South Carolina at home, 89-75.

Philon, Philon, Philon! According to Slay of the SEC Network, WP and me, is lighting it up. Labaron is averaging 21 points per game. He’s awesome. Latrell Wrightsell Jr. scored 21 against Ole Miss on 7 of 13 from trifecta. He added 19 versus South Carolina. Aiden Holloway continues to excel, averaging 17 per game. Power forward Amari Allen is putting up 11 1/2 per game and pulling down 7 1/2 boards, while Aiden Sherrill, who is playing center pretty much, is averaging 10 1/2 and 5.7 caroms. Allen and Sherrill are big boys, and while it would be nice to have the seven foot Bediako, the Tide is adapting well without him. Florida is leading the conference at 10-2 and are 19-6 overall. They are ranked 12th in the country. The SEC is such a gauntlet, more so than football at this juncture, baseball’s a beast, too, that the teams just beat each other up and it’s a season of attrition. But the Crimson Tide is navigating it well. They are a 4 1/2 point favorite over Arkansas tonight and the total is 185.5. I’ll take the Crimson Tide, 96-91.

ESPN’s Joey “Brackets” Lunardi projects the Crimson Tide as a 4 seed in the East Regional and playing No.13 seeded High Point in Portland in the first round. Duke is the No.1 seed in the East, according to Brackets, and it filters into D.C. for the Regional semis and final. Now “Brackets” is not Robert Oppenheimer, but his projections are pretty darn accurate, so I trust him. This doesn’t mean that the Crimson Tide will be playing High Point in Portland for sure, but the 4 seed is a good projection at this point. If the Tide keeps “matriculating,” as E and I like to say, they could move up two or three more spots in the NCAA Tournament, that will start on Thursday, March 19th and continue through Friday, March 20th in venues throughout the country. The Selection Show is Sunday, March 15th, at 5 P.M. CT/6 ET on CBS. The NCAA Tournament will be broadcast by CBS, TBS, TNT and TBS. TBS will televise the Final Four and National Championship Games on April 4th and April 6th, respectively. The Final Four and championship games will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy.

But there are sill 6 games left in the conference, so a lot of work for both Alabama and Auburn. The SEC Tournament will be played once again at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville from Wednesday, 3/11 to Sunday, 3/15. The Championship Game is Sunday, 3/15, at 12 P.M. CT/1 ET on ESPN. The semis are on ESPN Saturday, and the quarters are on the SEC Network and ESPN on Friday. Friday’s games start at 12 P.M. CT/1 ET, and Saturday’s semifinal games start at the same time, 12 CT/1 ET. The first and second round games are Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. The coveted double bye is what the Tide is playing for. That goes to the top four finishers in the SEC regular season. Playing on Friday and only having to win three games is a tremendous advantage. The Tide has Arkansas tonight at 6 CT/7 ET on ESPN, @ LSU, Saturday at 5 P.M. CT/6 ET on the SEC Network, @ home vs Miss State on Wednesday, 2/25, at 8 P.M. CT/9 ET on ESPNU, @ Tennessee Saturday, 2/28, at 5 P.M CT/6 ET. If things go well it will most likely be televised by ESPN. Then Georgia Tuesday, 3/3, at 5:30 P.M. CT/6:30 ET on ESPN News. And the Tide closes it out versus the Auburn Tigers in T-town Saturday, 3/7, at 7:30 P.M. CT/8:30 ET on ESPN. So, an electric time ahead for the Crimson Tide faithful and throughout the conference. “Brackets” has 10 SEC teams going to the NCAA Tournament, tied with the Big Ten for the most in the country. What a conference. What a basketball game tonight! Very much looking forward to it.

Stephen Pearl and his Tigers will try to right the ship tonight @ Mississippi State at 8 CT/9 ET on ESPN2. The Tigers are 14-11 overall and 5-7 in the conference. They are tied for 10th in the conference. They have lost four in a row, so they desperately need a victory at Starkvegas. Coach Pearl decided to sit Keyshawn Hall in the second half of the Vanderbilt game, and he was suspended indefinitely @ Arkansas on Saturday as Pearl wants his freshman to get his act together. I highly respect that. Hall is available tonight, so hopefully for MB and all Tiger fans, Hall has made an attitude adjustment. He’s a stud, no doubt. He averages almost 21 points per game, and pulls down 6.8 rebounds. Tahaad Pettiford has been solid at 14 points per game, and almost 4 assists. Kevin Overton is at 12.2 and KeShawn Murphy averages 11 and pulls down 7 boards. “Brackets” has the Tigers as an 8 seed and playing in the South Regional in Philly versus No.9 Indiana. Would be a nice matchup. UConn is the present No.1 seed in the South, which filters to Houston for the Regional Semis and Final. Finding a way in each game is critical for the Tigers from here on out. After tonight, they host Kentucky, Saturday, at 7:30 P.M. CT/8:30 ET on ESPN, then play @ Oklahoma next Tuesday, 2/24, at 6 CT/7 ET on ESPNU. On Saturday, 2/28, the Tigers host Ole Miss at 7:30 CT/8:30 ET on the SEC Network. On Tuesday, 3/3, they host LSU at 9 P.M. CT (are you kiddin’ me?)10 ET on the SEC Network. The Tigers finish it off with the Iron Bowl of Basketball at Tuscaloosa Saturday, 3/7, at 7:30 CT/8:30 ET on ESPN.

So a lot to be decided for the state teams, and for the SEC, and for the National scene. In the Midwest, “Brackets” has Michigan as the No.1 seed and they are the projected, at this time, as the No.1 overall seed by ‘Brackets.” And I believe it. They are a juggernaut. They have former UAB power forward Yaxel “Andrea” Lendborg, who is averaging 14.4 and 7 1/2 caroms. He’s spectacular. Michigan has several terrific players as they certainly opened up the checkbook to buy this team. It’s free agency these days for many teams in football and basketball and even in college baseball too. But we’ll see. When the pressure of the NCAA Tournament intensifies and the team you’re playing is sinking trifecta after trifecta and out-hustling you, any team can be beaten. Michigan is strong, however. In the west, “Brackets” has Arizona as his one seed, but that could change as they lost twice last week. Houston and Iowa State are lurking in the Big 12, and several other teams could sneak into that one seed, Alabama included, if they can turn it on and win out. Auburn just needs to win tonight and get this thing turned around and heading in a positive direction.

Genesis Invitational Prediction

The 100th Genesis Invitational will take place once again at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, CA. after a one year hiatus due to the wildfires in the L.A. area in 2025. Last year’s Genesis, played at Torrey Pines, was won by Ludvig Aberg. The last time the Genesis was played at Riviera in 2024, Hideki Matsuyama won it. So while Aberg is the official defending champion, Hideki was the last to win it on this course.

This is a Signature Event with a purse of $20 Million with the winner receiving 20% of the purse, or $4 Million. This tournament is hosted by Tiger Woods, so it, the Arnie, and the Memorial hosted by Jack, are the three tournaments that have 36 hole cuts and higher first place prize money. They are hosted by the legends, l so the winners’ share and the cut lines are different and more elite. The other 5 signature events (the AT&T Pebble Beach, won last week by Collin Morikawa, the RBC Heritage, April 16th-19th), the Cadillac Championship (Trump National Doral, April 30th-May 3rd.), the Truist Championship (May 7th-10th Quail Hollow), and the Travelers Championship (June 25th-28th) don’t have cuts, but the winner gets “only” $3.6 Million, or 18% of the purse. Not a bad deal there either if you can excel that week. The Arnie is March 5th-8th, and the Memorial is June 4th-7th. Second place at the Genesis pays $2.2 M, third gets $1.4 M, fourth gets a mill. $840K for fifth, $760K for 6th and $700K for 7th. So if you have a good week, it’s lucrative. Amazing stuff ahead on tour.

Riviera will be playing at 7,383 yards and a par 71. The 4th could very well be playing as a 270+ yard par 3, though Todd Lewis of Golf Channel reported it would be more like 240. But I’ve looked it up and it could be at 273. Will be extremely interesting watching that hole. No. 10 is a high risk/reward, 315 yard par 4. A lot of the players go for it on the 10th, and some have success. No.18, a historic hole, will play at 499 yards as a par 4. That’s a par 5 for the Bush Hogs, Strokers and Due Rights, and maybe a Par 6 for some of us at this age, but it’s still a challenging uphill, blind tee shot and tight with trees on the right causing problems on a PGA player’s approach if he cuts it too much off the tee. The green is like a stadium with the stands backing up and surrounding some of the green for a stadium-like atmosphere. Of the last four winners, two of them have led the field in strokes gained: approach. Jon Rahm did it in 2023, and Joaquin Niemann did it in 2022. However, they’re both on the LIV Tour, so they’re irrelevant. They’ve had a lot of rain in L.A., so it’s a soft course. They got an inch of rain today and expect a half an inch tomorrow. I like the proximity to hole stat and the strokes gained: putting stat, along with scrambling. Gotta be good off the tee as well. Golf asks a lot of you.

Weather: Thursday, 56, rain, 100%, should clear up in the afternoon. Wind at 10 MPH. Friday, 60, Partly sunny, wind 4. Saturday, 66, cloudy, slight chance of a shower, Wind 3. Sunday, 72, sunny. Wind, 4. Now that’s more like it in Southern California.

TV

Thursday-Friday- 3-7 P.M. CT/4-8 ET, Golf Channel.

Saturday, 12-2 P.M. CT/1-3 ET, GC; 2-6 CT/3-7 ET, CBS.

Sunday, 12-2 P.M. CT/1-3 ET, GC; 2-5:30 CT/3-6:30 ET, CBS.

The fairways are Kikuyu grass and the rough is also Kikuyu and will be 2 inches at its highest. There is no intermediate rough though.The greens are Poa annua and will be stimping at 12, so pretty quick for a PGA event.

Odds

Scottie Scheffler: 3/1; Rory, 11/1; Xander, 19/1; Hideki, 20/1; Tommy Fleetwood, 20/1; Morikawa, 25/1; Patrick Cantlay, 27/1; Russell Henley, 30/1; Si Woo, 30/1; Cameron Young, 30/1; Matt Fitzpatrick, 33/1; Jake Knapp, 33/1; Sam Burns, 35/1; Chris Gotterup, 35/1; Harris English, 35/1; Min Woo Lee, 35/1; Ludvig Aberg, 40/1; Vik Hovland, 40/1; Bob McIntyre, 40/1; Sepp Straka, 40/1; Mav McNealy, 40/1. Ben Griffin, 40/1. Justin Rose, 45/1. Rickie Fowler, 45/1; Adam Scott, 55/1; Shane Lowry, 55/1. There are 72 players in the field with the top 50 and ties after 36 holes playing on the weekend.

Winner

Sometimes you have to go obvious, and while golf and horse racing are the most unpredictable sports in existence, with horse racing leading the field, and with a field like this playing on a classic course like this, anything can happen. But I’m going to take Sea Biscuit once again. He’s the only guarantee on who can win or finish in the top 5. I like him to win at Riviera.

Scottie Scheffler

Sleeper

Give me this 26 year old from Easton, Maryland, by way of Rutgers University, to have a serious shot at raising the hardware on Sunday. He’s already won the Myrtle Beach Classic in May of 2024, the Genesis Scottish Open in July of 2025, and has also already won twice this year at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January, and the Waste Management Phoenix Open on Feb. 8th. This guy is no sleeper, but I’ll pick him that way this week with everybody else picking Scheffler, McIlroy, Matsuyama, Morikawa, etc…

Chris Gotterup