Anthony Grant announced this afternoon that suspended players Trevor Releford and Andrew Steele are "likely" to play against Florida in Tuesday night's nationally televised showdown on ESPN. Per Don Kausler, Jr., of the Birmingham News:

Meanwhile, Grant said that star forwards JaMychal Green and Tony Mitchell remain "suspended indefinitely".

We know that Tony Mitchell is suspended due to "conduct detrimental to the team"--likely attitude-related based on his on-court demeanor in recent weeks. So his suspension is simply a continuation of the suspension that was already in place before the separate suspension came down for the other three players. This part is pretty cut-and-dry.

We also know that Green was suspended along with Releford and Steele for a single incident that was unrelated to Mitchell's situation. This is going to raise questions about why Releford and Steele are returning while Green remains suspended.

This is where the speculation begins on my part, but speculate I will. The decision to keep Green suspended for a longer time likely has to do with one of the following two reasons. One, it is possible that Releford and Steele have simply done whatever it takes to earn their way back into Grant's good graces more quickly than Green. Two, it is possible that the decision to keep Green suspended longer is simply a matter of "repeat offender status". Remember, Green has been suspended twice during his career (that we know about), while Releford and Steele have never been in any sort of trouble (again, that we know about) and both are generally considered to be leaders on the team and "good kids" by those close to the team.

We can speculate about the reasons, but the fact remains that the Tide will be without its two most talented players on Tuesday night against the SEC's #2 team, and one of the top 15 teams nationally. This means Bama will once again be forced to play, as they were on Saturday at LSU, with only three players over 6'6": true freshman Nick Jacobs, who has scoring ability but is a bit of a liability in rebounding and defense; and 7-foot sophomores Carl Engstrom and Moussa Gueye, neither of whom has even played in most SEC games.

Beating the #12 Gators would have been difficult in the best of circumstances, but beating them with a frontline that thin and that inexperienced will be an immense challenge. This Florida game will have huge implications, too. It's Bama's last chance to get a win over a top-15-caliber team, and it comes at a point in the season where the Tide is still in position for an NCAA bid (#9 seed in ESPN's update today) but where a string of late losses could still slide Bama out of the field. Hopefully Green and Mitchell can return with focus soon, because the Tide simply can't hang with most teams in the post with both of them missing.

The Crimson Tide basketball team still has a lot of work to do, with a tough stretch of games coming up beginning with a road trip to LSU on Saturday night. The Tide isn't a lock for an NCAA Tournament bid, but is in fairly solid shape.

After Bama's blowout win on Tuesday night at Auburn, ESPN's Joe Lunardi ranked Alabama 28th in his "S-Curve" seeding order, the order he would expect teams to be seeded if the season ended yesterday. 28th overall equates to a 7-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and considering that around the top 48 teams receive at-large bids, the Tide actually does have some room for error down the stretch in terms of securing a bid should more setbacks occur. On the more optimistic side, the Tide is also within striking distance of moving up to the 5-6-seed range should Bama close out the regular season on a hot streak.

Latest RPI rankings

Latest bracket projections

• As of Monday's update, ESPN's Joe Lunardi has the Tide as a #8 seed in his latest bracketology projection. This projection does not take into account the win at Auburn.
• As of last Tuesday's update, CBS's Jerry Palm had the Tide as a #8 seed in his latest bracketology projection. This projection does not take into account the win at Auburn.
• As of Tuesday's update, SI's Andy Glockner had the Tide as a #9 seed in his latest bracket projection. This projection does not take into account the win at Auburn.

Latest look at the resume

Resume breakdown

• Bama is 2-5 against projected NCAA Tournament teams, with at least two games remaining against such teams. Purdue and Kansas State have both struggled a bit recently, and are hovering on the good side of the bubble. Hope that they stay on the good side--especially Purdue; those two November wins over Wichita State and Purdue are solid gold so long as both teams stay in the field. Dayton, Ole Miss, and Arkansas are also in stirking distance for a bid, but those teams would need strong finishes to get in. Most importantly, though, is what Bama can control, and that is finding a way to get wins in those two remaining games, both of which are at home, against Florida and Mississippi State.
• Bama is 1-5 against RPI top 50 teams, with at least two games remaining against such teams. However, two bits of caution here. First, the record is a bit misleading since Purdue, Ole Miss, and Arkansas are just barely outside the top 50 (Bama is 4-5 against the top 68). Second, I'm skeptical of how much a "top 50" RPI record really matters. I think it's more of a convenient thing for media types to point to when comparing teams rather than something the committee really relies on. But to the extent it does matter, hope that teams like Purdue, Ole Miss, and Arkansas finish strong and end up cracking the top 50 at year-end. Again, the Florida and Mississippi State home games will be big here, but so will the Arkansas and Ole Miss road games.
• Bama is 8-6 against RPI top 100 teams, with at least five games remaining against such teams. Again, not sure how much this matters beyond media talking points, but in the case it does, hope for teams like VCU, Oklahoma State, Georgia, and Maryland to end up on the right side of the 100 spot at year-end.
• Bama is 8-1 against sub-100 RPI teams, with at least two such games remaining. As Tide fans know all too well, these wins really do nothing for your resume, but losses to these teams can be killer. Alabama's road loss to South Carolina is a stain that can't be removed from the resume, but the Tide can ensure no more such losses appear if Bama can secure home wins over Tennessee and Auburn down the stretch.

The Crimson Tide basketball team will hit the road again tonight to take on the Auburn Tigers. Tip off is set for 8:00 pm CST with the game being televised nationally on ESPNU.

Bama will be without one of its star players for this one. Junior wing player Tony Mitchell, a 2nd-team All-SEC player as a sophomore a year ago, will not be playing tonight. It was announced yesterday he is indefinitely suspended from the team due to "an accumulation of things". Mitchell is Alabama's 2nd-leading scorer, 2nd-leading rebounder, and the team's most dynamic, athletic player. While he had clearly hit a rough stretch on the court recently and had visible attitude issues, his absence will have a real impact on this game.

Mitchell and Green are really the two players that separate Alabama from the teams in the bottom half of the SEC from a talent standpoint. Both players have their shortcomings in the mental/emotional department, but on the other hand, when they're on the court and their head is in the game, they are really the two players that separate Alabama from all but the top 3-4 teams in the league. Whatever positives may or may not come from Mitchell's suspension, even if they outweigh the negatives, the fact remains there will be real negatives. Mitchell's absence will make Bama a smaller team, a slower team, and a much weaker rebounding team.

Auburn is not as good as Alabama. That has been the case for 10 of the last 12 years. However, Auburn has won 9 of the 12 games against Alabama during that period when the game is played in Auburn. Part of that is just the usual college basketball home court advantage, but it goes beyond that. As I pointed out in my preview for this same game last year, the Alabama home game is Auburn's "Super Bowl" each and every year. It is the one game each year where Auburn, arguably the major-conference school with the absolute worst fan support for basketball in the entire country, actually has the place packed out and loud like most teams have for every big game.

To make matters worse for Alabama, this Auburn team is no joke. Granted, they're still not even in the top 100 of the RPI (or the much more accurate Pomeroy ratings), they have zero chance at an at-large NCAA Tournament bid, or probably even an NIT bid, and they are just 3-6 in the SEC and only 1-8 against teams in the top 100 of the RPI. That said, unlike last season, this Auburn team at least has the bodies to compete with NCAA Tournament-level teams, even if they still aren't quite as talented. Further, similar to last season, Auburn has improved remarkably since the beginning of the season, a real testament to 2nd-year coach Tony Barbee's ability to bring a team together and get the most out of them.

All of that is to say that Auburn isn't all that good, but they're fiesty, and they're dangerous. For example, in their last game, Auburn took projected NCAA Tournament team Mississippi State down to the last possession--on the road--before falling. Auburn also lost another road game by just one possession to projected NCAA bubble team Arkansas, and a third road game to potential NIT team LSU also by just one possession. They also beat projected NCAA bubble team Ole Miss at home, and even played #1 Kentucky fairly tough at home. Overall, they are 12-1 at home this year, although the vast majority of those wins came against sub-100 teams. With Auburn playing what is considered their biggest game each and every year, with Alabama struggling as of late on the court, and with Alabama missing one of its most important players, as an Alabama fan, you have to be very nervous about this game.

The good news is that Auburn's RPI is literally more than twice as high as it was last year, so while a loss would likely be considered a "bad loss" by the tournament committee, it wouldn't mean instant death the way that a loss to Auburn last season would have. Still, in my analysis, I believe Alabama will make the NCAA Tournament with merely a winning record the rest of the way. Aside from home games later against Tennessee and Auburn, this game is perhaps the most winnable of the remaining games for Alabama. Losing this game would not only put a sub-100 loss on Bama's resume, but it would also make it that much more difficult to get the requisite number of wins to book the Tide's spot in March Madness.

Oh yeah, and we just want to beat Auburn.

Hope for the best.

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After a week off, the Crimson Tide basketball team will return to action tonight in Coleman Coliseum as the Ole Miss Rebels visit for a crucial SEC game. Tip off is set for 7:00 pm CST with the game televised nationally on ESPN2.

This game is massive for both teams. Alabama is still in position for a berth to the NCAA Tournament, but needs to finish the season strongly to stay in that position and hopefully improve seeding position. Beating an Ole Miss team that is ranked around 40th in the RPI and is considered an NCAA Tournament bubble team by most experts would do wonders for Bama's resume and the Tide's confidence coming out of the bye week.

The Rebels come in boasting the same 14-7 overall record as Alabama. They beat a decent Miami team at home for their sole marquee non-conference win. They also beat major-conference opponents DePaul and Penn State, both on the road, but each of those teams is at the very bottom of their respective conference. They lost four non-conference games, but all were away from home and against projected NCAA Tournament teams. In SEC play, the Rebels are 4-3 with a home win over projected NCAA Tournament team Mississippi State as well as home wins over Arkansas and South Carolina and a narrow road win over Georgia. They had a golden chance to get a huge win over Florida at home last week, but allowed the Gators to come back late. They have also had their questionable performances, notably a blowout loss at LSU and an overtime loss at Auburn.

Overall, though, the Rebels are actually in a position to make a serious run at a bid to the Dance if they can close strong. If the season ended today, they'd probably just miss the cut, but if they can escape Tuscaloosa with a big-time road win they would no doubt launch into the projected field. No question that both coaching staffs realize what is at stake here.

Alabama's coaching staff in particular is hoping to use the big home win over Arkansas last Saturday to launch a resurgence of a team that lost its confidence, its identity, and perhaps some of its cohesiveness during a four-game losing streak immediately preceding the Arkansas win. The Tide came together to gut out the win over Arkansas, but Bama still has a way to go to come back together and hit its stride. On that note, rumors have swirled about Tony Mitchell's availability for tonight's game, but as of this writing they are just that--rumors. Either way, Bama needs to step up and get a win tonight to put things back on track and put the Tide on even more solid ground for a tournament bid.

Ole Miss is a team that relies heavily on it inside game. Three of the top six scorers are post players, led by 6'10" senior Terrance Henry's 12.1 points/game. 6'7" junior Murphy Holloway is one of the SEC's top rebounders with 9.4 boards/game in addition to his 10.4 points/game. 6'9" junior Reginald Buckner is one of the SEC's top shot-blockers with 2.5 blocks/game in addition to 8.5 rebounds/game and 6.6 points/game.

The Rebel backcourt is led by 5'11" sophomore Dundrecous Nelson, who averages 11.6 points/game and is the team's top 3-point shooter. (Edit: Nelson was dismissed from the team -- that's what you get for preparing an article at the last minute) 6'4" freshman Jarvis Summers leads the team with 3.3 assists/game and also scores double-figures with 10.0 points/game. 6'4" junior Nick Williams, an Alabama native, is the third guard averaging double-figures, with 10.0 points/game.

Of all teams Bama has played this season, Ole Miss probably most resembles Alabama in style. The Rebels are especially strong defensively, ranking 38th nationally in overall defensive efficiency. However, offensively they haven't fared so well, ranking only 200th in overall offensive efficiency. Like Alabama, they are a poor 3-point shooting team overall, and they score most of their points in the paint.

They are most dangerous offensively when attacking the glass, as evidenced by the fact they rank 32nd nationally in offensive rebounding rate. This could be especially worrisome for the Tide if Tony Mitchell, Bama's best rebounder, is indeed unavailable. Further, Ole Miss ranks 40th nationally in free throw attempt rate, a sign that they are very adept at drawing fouls. This is a major concern since the Rebels like to pound the ball inside so much and Bama's JaMychal Green, who will have a tough matchup against the strong Ole Miss frontcourt, is extremely prone to foul trouble. If Mitchell is missing and Green gets into foul trouble, it could be a very long night for the Tide.

Hopefully Bama will get back to its identity of tough-nosed defense and build on the Arkansas performance, when the offense managed to get the ball around the rim fairly effectively for much of the game. This will be a big-time manhood test for the Tide, playing against a highly motivated team that is almost a mirror image style-wise in a game that could have major NCAA Tournament implications for both teams. This is precisely the kind of game teams need to win to book their place in March Madness. Hope for the best.