‘One Last Time’: Alabama Women’s Basketball a Possible Host in the NCAA Tournament

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— It’s been a decade of great success for the Alabama women’s basketball program in the 2020s. After starting out the decade with no NCAA Tournament appearances since 1999, the Crimson Tide is poised to appear in its third straight this season (and fourth in five years).

No. 19 Alabama is 23-7 this season, and its 10-6 finish in the SEC was good enough to earn the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament this week in Greenville, S.C. The team will play its first game at the event on Thursday night, facing the winner of Wednesday evening’s game between No. 11 seed Florida and No. 14 seed Auburn.

With a strong showing in Greenville, the Crimson Tide’s NCAA Tournament prospects can include more than a positive reflection from a seeding standpoint. They can also include home games at Coleman Coliseum.

Charlie Creme of ESPN has Alabama as a No. 4 seed in his latest bracketology. What that means for head coach Kristy Curry’s program is up to two more games in Tuscaloosa, after Alabama won its home regular season finale 88-85 over LSU in overtime on Feb. 27.

“I think it would mean everything for us,” star fifth-year player Sarah Ashlee Barker, a fixture of recent Crimson Tide teams, said Tuesday. “It’s never been done before. We wanted to leave a legacy here when we came here. That’s what we chose to do when committing to Alabama.”

Barker, one of the better players in the SEC, would be one of the competitors benefiting the most from such a scenario because her illustrious college career is winding down; she also lost part of her final season to an ankle injury. It may turn out to be that the LSU game was her last at Coleman, but Alabama still has a chance to put a different spin on things.

“We just want for everybody to have a couple more games if we can in this arena, and just being able to play in front of the great fans of Alabama would just be amazing for that one last time,” Barker said.

Curry, now in her 12th season in charge of the program, has said multiple times she believes her players deserve bigger crowds with what they have been able to accomplish throughout the last several years. She sees this postseason stretch as a big opportunity.

“We’re fighting for a lot right now. It’s about seeding, and it’s seeding in the big [NCAA] tournament,” Curry said on Tuesday. “There’s a lot to play for from our standpoint.”

The women’s tournament has also slated Birmingham’s Legacy Arena as a regional host for this spring. Creme currently has Alabama in Spokane, where the Crimson Tide men’s program started its Final Four run in 2024.

“We have a great opportunity to host,” Curry said. “At the end of the day, if we can go take care of our business, hopefully it’s not gonna be their last time in here [at Coleman]. We’ve got a chance, hopefully, to be in the Birmingham regional. Guys, we’ve got big hopes and dreams.”