Only five games remain in the regular season for Alabama and the team will look to solidify its position in the NCAA Tournament and earn the program's first invite in six years.

The Crimson Tide has won eight of its last 11 games and climbed up the seedings as a result. Just a few weeks ago, most analysts had Alabama as a 10-seed or among the first teams out of the tournament. Now, Avery Johnson has his team in the top half of the bracket and trending upwards.

ESPN's latest projections from Joe Lunardi have Alabama as a 7-seed facing Providence in the South. Over on CBS, Jerry Palm still lists the Tide as a bubble team but also projects them as an 8-seed. In fact, Alabama is just two spots from a 7-seed in that bracket as well.

With a strong finish you'd have to believe that a 5-seed isn't completely out of the question, but that would probably take four more wins in the regular season against an extremely difficult SEC schedule. Next up for the Tide is a trip to play Kentucky at Rupp Arena. A win in Lexington could be enough to secure a spot in the tournament, but there's still a lot more left to play for this month.

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