re: Alabama in top 3 sports

quote:

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Only school in the SEC to be ranked in the top 3 in the conference in all time wins in all 3 major sports.

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Everyone knows when it comes to basketball and baseball, its all about the Tournament. Ask any fan this question: Would you rather have Alabama's wins in basketball, or Florida's fewer wins but much richer Tournament success? 99.999% of people are going to pick Florida's tournament success.

The truth is, outside of Kentucky and maybe Arkansas, the SEC has a very poor basketball pedigree. If you look at the NCAA Tournament history and assign points to each teams's performance, you'll find the SEC has only produced 2 programs in the Top 25 all-time.

Here's the scale:

10 points for each season in which a team gets to the NCAA Tournament
20 points for each season in which a team gets to the Sweet 16
50 points for each season in which a team gets to the Final 4
100 points for each season in which a team wins the National Title.

Here are the Top 10 programs of all-time:
1) Kentucky- 1870
2) UCLA- 1840
3) North Carolina- 1610
4) Duke- 1420
5) Kansas- 1310
6) Louisville- 1140
7) Indiana- 1100
8) Michigan State- 860
9) UConn- 850
10) Syracuse- 780

**Arkansas comes in at #16 all-time
**Florida comes in at #26 all-time
**LSU comes in at #35 all-time
**Missouri comes in at #47 all-time

No other program makes the Top 50

Here's how the SEC looks if you rank just the SEC:

1) Kentucky- 1870
2) Arkansas- 630
3) Florida- 510
4) LSU- 420
5) Missouri- 310
6) Tennessee- 270
7) Alabama- 260
8) Vanderbilt- 200
9) Texas A&M- 170
10) Mississippi State- 160
11) Georgia- 150
12) Auburn- 120
13) South Carolina- 110
14) Ole Miss- 90

Alabama's all-time performance in the NCAA Tournament ranks them in the middle-of-the-pack in the SEC. It ranks them in a 7-way tie for #60 all-time nationally.

While that's certainly better than a lot of programs in the league can claim, it is also certainly nothing to write home about. For some reason there is a myth among Alabama fans that their basketball program is right up underneath Kentucky as the #2 or #3 all-time in the SEC. This is absolutely a fantasy as there is very little evidence that supports such a claim.

As the OP suggested, one trip the the Sweet 16 during the last quarter century does not equal much success.