Will the Tide be prepared for the most important week in Alabama basketball history? | Smarr

The biggest week in the history of Alabama basketball is here. Not just for the Crimson Tide, but for the state.

Alabama and Auburn will meet in the Iron Bowl of basketball, but the stakes are different than they were before the days of Nate Oats and Bruce Pearl. Final Four banners now hang in Coleman Coliseum and Neville Arena, and the Crimson Tide may supplant Auburn as No. 1 in the national polls this week.

Seats are sold out. ESPN’s “College GameDay” crew is bringing their own. Which team comes out on top will be remembered as the first ruler of a newly-minted basketball state.

More than any previous game in the rivalry on the hardwood, the hard-hat wearing kids in the Alabama student section watching next weekend will remember the result for decades to come, just like the longtime fans who have waited to see the dream of Alabama and Auburn facing off for a national championship become a very real conversation.

With a win at Arkansas for Alabama, plus Auburn’s loss to No. 6 Florida, plus Clemson’s upset of No. 2 Duke earlier in the day, Alabama is positioned as the top team in the nation. The question is whether the Crimson Tide is ready to live up to it and hang on to it.