Notre Dame vs. Alabama Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
First Four winner and No. 11 seed Notre Dame takes on No. 6 Alabama in NCAA Tournament West Region action Friday with the Tide as 4-point favourites on the college basketball odds.
Notre Dame vs. Alabama NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
The winner of this West Region matchup between No. 11 Notre Dame and No. 6 Alabama from San Diego will play most likely No. 3 Texas Tech on Sunday from the same location.
No. 6 seeds are 90-54 against No. 11 seeds in the NCAA Tournament since 1985, but 11s hold an 11-9 lead over the past five tournaments. Two 11s won last year: Syracuse over San Diego State and UCLA (after winning in the First Four) over BYU. The lowest seed ever to reach a Final Four is a No. 11 – UCLA joined that group in 2021.
The Irish are 3-2 all-time vs. the Tide, but the schools haven’t met since November 2015. To win the West, Alabama is +2410 with Notre Dame +4620.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11)
A reminder that in every NCAA Tournament but one, a First Four winner has advanced at least to the second round. The First Four began in 2011. The Irish (23-10) won maybe the best First Four game ever on Wednesday, 89-87 in double overtime over Rutgers from Dayton. Paul Atkinson rebounded a missed shot by Blake Wesley and put back a layup with 1.4 seconds left for the winning points. That score came only two minutes after it officially became St. Patrick’s Day (Irish, get it?) on the East Coast of the USA. Atkinson, a transfer from Yale, was dominant with 26 points on 13-for-15 shooting and six rebounds. He was the only player on the roster with NCAA Tournament experience. The Irish are 15-6 ATS in their past 21 games.
Alabama Crimson Tide (6)
It has been a bit of a disappointing season for the Crimson Tide (19-13) after winning the 2021 SEC Tournament and reaching the Sweet 16 of the Big Dance. Coach Nate Oats’ team has been wildly inconsistent this year – especially on defence and in turning the ball over — and ended the season on a three-game skid, including a surprising SEC Tournament opening loss to Vanderbilt. This is a team that beat the likes of Gonzaga, Houston, Baylor, Tennessee, LSU and Arkansas but lost to Iona, Davidson, Vandy, Missouri and Georgia. Junior guard Jaden Shackelford (16.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg) was named second-team All-SEC, and JD Davison and Charles Bediako were voted to the all-freshman SEC team. It’s the 22nd NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, with Alabama owning a record of 21-21 (.500). It’s Bama’s first back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths since 2005 and 2006. The Tide are 7-18-1 ATS in their past 26.
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