No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 10 Tennessee SEC basketball odds: Crimson Tide listed as underdogs despite team's first top ranking in 20 years

Not too often does the No. 1 team in the country go into a game as a betting underdog in college basketball. Yet that's the case Wednesday night as Alabama, in the top spot of the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in 20 years, puts its perfect SEC record on the line at No. 10 Tennessee with the Volunteers opening as 3-point favorites at Caesars Sportsbook. The total is 145 points, which seems high considering the Vols rank No. 1 nationally in opponents' effective field goal percentage at 40.7% and Alabama is second at 41.1%. Click here for model picks.

With former No. 1 Purdue losing last week to Northwestern, that opened the door for Alabama to reach No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for the first time since it spent two weeks atop the poll midway through the 2002-03 season. This is the first time the Crimson Tide have been ranked No. 1 in the USA Today Coaches Top 25. 

The Tide (22-3, 12-0 SEC) are looking to improve to 13-0 in SEC play for only the second time in school history – the 1955-56 club finished with a 14-0 record. Coach Nate Oats' club is one of three teams and the only Power 5 team left this season with an unbeaten record in conference play, joining Oral Roberts in the Summit League and Eastern Washington in the Big Sky.

The only other team in the past 25 years to start 12-0 in the SEC was the 2011-12 Kentucky squad that reached the national title game (and lost). Alabama is -2500 at DraftKings to win the SEC regular-season title, +200 to reach the Final Four and +900 to win the national championship.

Freshman Brandon Miller is the only player in Division I to score 470 points, record 200 rebounds and make 75 3-pointers this season. He leads the SEC in scoring at 18.8 points per game. He has been named SEC Freshman of the Week six times and is the favorite to win overall Player of the Year honors. Center Charles Bediako, who is averaging 5.6 points and 5.3 rebounds while leading the team with 41 blocked shots, is in question with a minor knee injury.

Alabama is the eighth different program to face the Vols while ranked No. 1, joining Kentucky, South Carolina, Florida, Ohio State, Memphis, Kansas and Gonzaga. Tennessee has five all-time wins over teams ranked No. 1 in the AP poll and is 1-1 against them at Thompson-Boling Arena, with a win over Kansas (2010) and a loss to Kentucky (2015).

Tennessee enters having lost three of four but has won five straight home games vs. AP Top 10 teams. This is the third all-time Top 10 matchup at Thompson-Boling Arena -- Tennessee won the first two, including earlier this year vs. Texas. The Vols lead Division I in 3-point defense (.242) and have the nation's second-best field-goal percentage defense (.355) and third-best scoring defense (56.3 PPG). For the 12th consecutive week, they own the best adjusted defensive efficiency in the country per KenPom at 86.6 (points per 100 possessions).

This is the only scheduled meeting of the season. The Tide have won the past three. Tennessee is 23-5 in its past 28 games vs. SEC teams, with wins over every school but Alabama. 

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