The team lost forward Buck Johnson to graduation , but signed freshman forward Keith Askins from Athens High School in Athens , Alabama . The Tide also won the 1987 SEC Men 's Basketball Tournament , beating LSU in the final and earning an automatic bid to the 1987 NCAA Division I Men 's Basketball Tournament . They were seeded second in the Southeast Region , their highest ever in the NCAA tournament thus far . The Tide defeated North Carolina A&T and New Orleans before falling to Providence in the Sweet 16 . It was the Tide 's third straight Sweet 16 appearance
1987 SEC Men 's Basketball Tournament
1987 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament
1986–87 Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team