NCAA 2026: Michigan vs. Alabama Preview

Michigan faces Alabama in the Sweet Sixteen on Friday night (7:35 p.m., TBS) in Chicago.

Alabama’s path to the Sweet Sixteen has been a tumultuous one. The Crimson Tide have played the 2nd toughest schedule in college basketball and used 14 different starting lineups in 34 games.  The five-game Charles Bediako saga was well-publicized, and it feels like Alabama never quite reached its peak form. That being said, this team arrives in Chicago ranked 12th on KenPom, finished tied for second in the SEC, and only lost three games to teams ranked outside the KenPom top-15 (Georgia, Ole Miss, and Texas).

Alabama hasn’t been the most consistent team this season, but it has a system that can compete with the best teams in basketball. The Tide rattled off seven Q1-A wins (to only six losses) this season, including the second-round blowout of shorthanded Texas Tech.

More on Michigan-Alabama:

• First Look: Alabama Crimson Tide
• Notebook: May’s history with Oats, Alabama’s 3-point shooting, and the rebounding battle ahead
• Podcast: Official Michigan-Alabama Preview
• Film Room: Inside Alabama’s transition and ball screen attack

The Crimson Tide

Alabama is an offense-first team, but the offense is elite.  The Crimson Tide rank 3rd nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency and have scored over 1 point per possession in all but two games (Arizona, Florida) this season.

The offense relies on pace (4th nationally), 3-point volume (53.9% of attempts, 1st nationally), and ball screens (96th percentile in pick-and-roll volume).

Alabama loves transition threes and has made 82 this year, the second-most in Division I. The good news for Michigan is that it just saw a team like this. Saint Louis ranked 5th in made transition threes, and U-M gave up only 1.

Michigan is a rim and threes team, while Alabama is a threes and rim team. Neither team is going to take many non-paint twos, but Alabama’s attack is significantly more reliant on the perimeter. Alabama won’t post up (last in post-up volume), and ranks 318th in percentage of shots at the rim.