There was more to lose than gain last week in Alabama’s quest for an NCAA tournament bid.

Wins over the SEC’s two worst teams -- Georgia and Vanderbilt -- were the baseline coming off the 21-point loss at Auburn. Next, a real challenge.

Alabama (15-8, 6-4 SEC) gets a prime opportunity to improve its resumé at 8 p.m. CT Tuesday in Starkville. Mississippi State is another Quadrant 1 opponent with a No. 29 NET ranking used by the NCAA selection committee.

The Crimson Tide sits at No. 43, up three spots from where it was a week ago.

That equals a strong standing in the bracket projections with less than a month left in the regular season.

Alabama appears in 96 of the 98 forecasts tracked by bracketmatrix.com. The average seed is 10.29 with ESPN predicting a No. 11 slot and CBS Sports a No. 10.

The last time Alabama made consecutive NCAA tournaments was 2005 and 2006.

After Mississippi State, the most challenging games on the Tide schedule will be played in Coleman Coliseum where it is 9-2. Florida, ranked No. 41 in the NET comes to town at 1 p.m. CT Saturday.

There are road games at NET No. 87 Texas A&M and No. 99 South Carolina before closing at home with No. 17 LSU and No. 20 Auburn. The Tide lost road games at both LSU and Auburn previously in SEC play.

Mississippi State is coming off consecutive home losses to LSU (92-88 in OT) and Kentucky (71-67) before getting another crack at Alabama. The Tide beat the Bulldogs 83-79 in Tuscaloosa to cap the month of January that saw three home wins over ranked opponents.

Road wins have been more of a rarity this season. A 3-5 record includes wins at two of the worst three SEC teams in Missouri and Vanderbilt along with a Dec. 30 win at NET No. 301 Stephen F. Austin.

It’s still not clear if the Tide will have the two players back who missed Saturday’s win at Vanderbilt. Both Galin Smith (concussion) and Alex Reese (illness) will be game-day decisions before facing the Bulldogs.

Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.