The season opener for Alabama basketball is only 15 days away. With that in mind, Monday saw the release of the 2026-27 preseason USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.
Nate Oats' Crimson Tide enter the season ranked No. 18 in the Coaches Poll. Alabama shares the No. 18 ranking with Bill Self's Kansas Jayhawks. The Tide are ranked one spot below the Miami Hurricanes and one spot ahead of the Michigan Wolverines
.Led by preseason No. 1 Florida, the SEC has seven teams ranked in the top 25. Alabama is the fifth-highest ranked SEC team among the seven, three spots ahead of No. 21 Vanderbilt and five spots ahead of the Kentucky Wildcats at No. 23.
In addition to Florida, the Texas Longhorns (No. 7) and Tennessee Volunteers (No. 9) placed in the preseason
top 10. John Calipari's Arkansas Razorbacks are No. 13.
Alabama ranked No. 20 in Monday's preseason AP Top 25 men's basketball poll.
Oats is entering his eighth season at Alabama. The Crimson Tide were picked to finished fifth in the preseason SEC media poll.
Alabama was 25-10 overall a season ago, including 13-5 in SEC play. The Tide reached the NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed and fell to national champion Michigan in the Sweet 16.
Alabama opens the 2026-27 season Nov. 3 against Sam Houston at Coleman Coliseum.
Preseason men's basketball Coaches Poll full top 25 rankings
Others Receiving Votes
Nebraska 66; UCLA 64; Missouri 60; Ohio State 31; North Carolina 24; Texas A&M 19; Villanova 14; Indiana 9; Wisconsin 5; Saint Louis 4; Cincinnati 4; West Virginia 2; Creighton 2; Maryland 1; Auburn 1;
Alabama basketball schedule 2026-27
All start times Central.
- Nov. 3: vs. Sam Houston, TBA
- Nov. 6: vs. Arkansas State, TBA
- Nov. 9: vs. Oakland, TBA
- Nov. 13: vs. Seton Hall, 8 p.m., SEC Network
- Nov. 17: vs. Kennesaw State, TBA
- Nov. 24: vs. Baylor (Las Vegas), 9 p.m., ESPN
- Nov. 26: TBA (Las Vegas)
- Nov. 27-28: TBA (Las Vegas)
- Dec. 2: at Miami, 8:15 p.m., ESPN
- Dec. 8: vs. Houston (New York), 5:30 p.m., ESPN
- Dec. 12: vs. St. John's (Birmingham), 2:30 p.m., ESPN
- Dec. 16: at South Florida, 6 p.m., ESPN2
- Dec. 21: at Iowa, 6 p.m., Peacock
- Dec. 29: vs. Samford, TBA
- Jan. 2: at Mississippi State, 5 p.m., SEC Network
- Jan. 5: vs. LSU, 6 p.m., SEC Network
- Jan. 9: at Arkansas, 1 p.m., ESPN2
- Jan. 13: vs. Ole Miss, 8 p.m., SEC Network
- Jan. 16: vs. Florida, 1 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
- Jan. 20: at South Carolina, 5 p.m., ESPN2
- Jan. 23: vs. Oklahoma, 7:30 p.m., SEC Network
- Jan. 26: at Missouri, 8 p.m., ESPN
- Jan. 30: vs. Auburn, 5 or 5:30 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
- Feb. 6: at Kentucky, 1 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
- Feb. 9: at Texas, 6 p.m., ESPN
- Feb. 13: vs. Arkansas, 7 p.m., ESPN2
- Feb. 16: vs. Mississippi State, 8 p.m., SEC Network
- Jan. 20: at Tennessee, 1 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
- Feb. 23: at Texas A&M, 8 p.m., SEC Network
- Feb. 27: vs. Vanderbilt, 7:30 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
- March 3: vs. Georgia, 6 p.m., ESPN2 or ESPNU
- March 6: at Auburn, 5 p.m., SEC Network
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This article originally appeared on Roll Tide Wire: Where Alabama basketball lands in preseason USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll
