Of the three second-chance coaching hires in the Southeastern Conference last spring, Alabama’s was the least celebrated.

Avery Johnson was the choice, and it was a bit of a deflating one for Crimson Tide fans who had gotten their hopes up for Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall. He left Alabama standing at the altar, and ex-NBA coach Johnson was a scrambling, underwhelming contingency plan.

Meanwhile, Mississippi State was buzzing after hiring three-time Final Four coach Ben Howland. And Tennessee quickly grabbed one-time Final Four coach Rick Barnes on the rebound after his firing at Texas.

View photos Avery Johnson directs his team during a win over Norfolk State. (AP) More

Johnson? Let’s just say expectations were kept in check.

Today, Johnson would be the first pick of the Second-Chance Derby that gripped the SEC. Throwing Bruce Pearl (Auburn hire in 2014) into the mix, only one has his fan base excited about the present, as opposed to a non-specific enthusiasm about an unguaranteed future.

In October, the SEC media picked Alabama to finish 13th in the 14-team league. Mississippi State was picked eighth, Auburn 10th, Tennessee 12th. Today, the Crimson Tide is tied for sixth at 16-9 overall, 7-6 in league play. The Volunteers (12-13, 5-7) are in 10th, while the Bulldogs (11-14, 4-9) and Tigers (10-15, 4-9) are tied for 12th.

Of the four, Alabama is the only NCAA tournament prospect – its current five-game winning streak, highlighted by road wins over Florida and LSU within the last week, have catapulted the Tide into most mock brackets. With victories away from Tuscaloosa over Notre Dame, Wichita State and Clemson in non-conference play, ‘Bama would have to screw it up down the stretch to miss the tourney this year.

Which can happen. The Tide isn't talented enough to guarantee it won't lose its newfound momentum. But for a program that last crashed the Big Dance in 2012 and has just one bid since 2006, this is big. Unexpectedly big.

“We’ve come a long way,” Johnson said Wednesday night, after the win at LSU. “We don’t have four pros on our team.”

That might have been some shade thrown on well-shaded LSU coach Johnny Jones, who has turned likely 2016 No. 1 pick Ben Simmons & Co. into a bubble team. But it’s also the truth. Upon taking over for Anthony Grant, there was some question of whether Alabama had four SEC-caliber players on its roster.

Alabama had three players average double figures last season, and all of them departed the program. Nobody returned who averaged more than 5.2 rebounds or 1.4 assists in 2015-16. The leading returning scorer was Shannon Hale, at 8.2 points per game, and he’s scored just 22 total points during this five-game winning streak while missing two of the games.

The key player for the Tide has been senior guard Retin Obasohan, a 6.2 points-per-game guy last year who is now leading the team at 16.7 per, punctuated by a career-high 35 at LSU.

Yet here ‘Bama is, rising through the SEC’s sprawling middle class, making its presence known.

“When we win, it’s a celebration,” Johnson said. “Because coming into this season, we didn’t know what we were dealing with.”

Neither did Alabama know what it was getting in Johnson. There were no guarantees that the school had hired the right guy.

He had an NBA résumé, but it had lost its luster over the years. He had winning records at Dallas from 2005-08, but was 60-116 in two-plus seasons with the Nets before being fired in December 2012. After spending time working as a TV analyst, Avery Johnson had become a cold name in NBA coaching circles – and a non-existent one on the collegiate level.

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