Alabama Earns 9-Seed in SEC Tournament and Will Play Florida

With the comeback win over Texas A&M on Saturday, the Alabama men's basketball team  earned the No. 9 seed for the SEC Tournament and will have to face Florida in its opening game.

The bottom four teams in the conference begin play on Wednesday in Nashville. Those two games pit Mississippi State versus Auburn in game one and South Carolina versus Missouri in game two. The Crimson Tide will take the floor on Thursday at 12:00 PM/CT to begin the second round.

After a disappointing 8-10 finish in the SEC this year, the postseason provides a fresh start for Alabama and one final opportunity to make the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Without an SEC tournament championship, the Crimson Tide would be looking at an NIT birth at best.

For that to occur, Anthony Grant would need to accomplish two things that have never happened: beat Billy Donovan and beat this year's Kentucky team.

In nine previous tries against his mentor, Grant has yet to defeat Billy Donovan. The latest meeting, two months ago, ended with a 52-50 Florida win in Tuscaloosa. In six SEC Tournament appearances during Grant's tenure, this will mark the third meeting between the Crimson Tide and the Gators. Florida won 61-51 in 2013 and 65-63 in 2012.

Should the team advance to Friday's third round game, the top-ranked Kentucky Wildcats await. John Calipari's squad, chock full of NBA talent, just became the school's first team to finish the regular season undefeated. At 31-0, Kentucky's just nine wins away from a perfect season and a national championship.

If Alabama manages to overcome those two massive hurdles, that would still leave two more games earn an automatic tournament birth. And that semifinal and finals matchup would likely be against an opponent the Crimson Tide didn't beat during the regular season.

To say it would be an improbable run would be an understatement, but crazier things have happened in March.