Auburn tops Alabama basketball in 2024-25 preseason KenPom rankings

A sleepy Monday morning couldn’t stop social media from going into a stir. The 2024-25 preseason KenPom rankings arrived only to intensify the divide between Alabama basketball and its orange rival out west.

Auburn topped the Crimson Tide at No. 3 overall, trailing No. 1 Houston and No. 2 Duke. Just .55 net rating points behind the Tigers at +25.66, Alabama landed at No. 4.

Backing up the team’s performance from the arc and dunking on the rim during Friday’s Final Four banner reveal ceremony, Alabama has the highest offensive rating (117.2) of the 364 ranked programs for a ranking of No. 1.

Next up is Gonzaga (116.1). Sans former guard Aden Holloway, who hit the transfer portal for Alabama in April, Auburn’s offense received a rating of 114.

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Only trailing No. 145 overall Bryant and No. 225 overall Kennesaw State, the Crimson Tide also ranks No. 3 in the “Adjusted tempo” category, which indicates how many possessions a team has per game. Auburn sits at No. 58.

Meanwhile for the defense, coach Nate Oats and company received some early motivation ahead of Friday’s charity exhibition against Wake Forest in Birmingham.

Alabama ranks 30th defensively with a rating of 91.6. Among SEC defenses, the Crimson Tide lands at No. 7 behind Tennessee (87.5), Auburn (87.8), Texas (89.8), Arkansas (90.8), Oklahoma (90.9) and Texas A&M (91.1).

How are KenPom rankings determined?

Around the turn of the millennium, former meteorologist and Virginia Tech alum Ken Pomeroy created a ranking system that was independent of the NCAA, now popularized as the KenPom rankings.

The website states that the system’s “purpose” is to give an accurate, but “purely predictive” representation of “how strong a team would be if it played tonight, independent of injuries or emotional factors.”

Although the NCAA Evaluation Tool, or NET, evaluated offensive and defensive efficiency, the ratings for the two categories in the KenPom rankings reflected adjusted efficiency based on how many possessions a team has per game.

The Adjusted Efficiency Margin, or net rating, is calculated by subtracting defensive efficiency from offensive efficiency.

In the Adjusted Tempo category, “possessions” are determined by the following formula: field goals attempted minus offensive rebounds plus turnovers plus 0.475 multiplied by attempted free throws. This way, the rankings system attempts to level the playing field between fast-paced teams who pack on the possessions versus slower squads who like to sweat it out.

Emilee Smarr covers Alabama basketball and Crimson Tide athletics for the Tuscaloosa News. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Where did Alabama land in 2024-25 preseason KenPom rankings?