It really felt for a while like this year was different for Alabama Basketball. At their peak, the team was without a doubt the best in the nation for large stretches of the season, and it felt like it was beyond capable of making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Felt like. Such is the nature of college basketball. Just take a look at the Final Four, for example. Take a look at the fact that for the first time ever, we had an Elite Eight with no #1 seeds in it. The NCAA Tournament is about matchups, and playing your best game for six games in a row.<\/p>\n
Sports and sports fandom are both funny in a way. I’m not crazy, I know that nobody feels worse about this loss for Alabama than Nate Oats and the players on the team. But three days removed from Friday, it feels like a loss I will never get over as a fan. After a dreadful first half, Alabama came out on fire to start the second 20 and eventually grabbed a nine-point lead. The Crimson Tide had a chance to step on throats and pull away and simply could not. Sure, there were some questionable calls. But the fact that Alabama had a chance to remove the refs from the game completely and could not means you have no excuse.<\/p>\n
To add insult to injury, the Tide shot 3\/27 from deep in one of the worst shooting performances of the season, while it felt like down the stretch, the Aztecs couldn’t miss a mid-range if they tried. To further pour salt in the wound, Alabama was able to cut it to a two-point deficit after the game appeared already over and made the unexplainable decision to foul down two with 45 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n
This team was so incredibly talented and fun to watch, but that fact only makes this loss more painful. Alabama will never have a team with this much talent again. It will never have a player as spectacular as Brandon Miller again. It’s hard not to ask yourself, if not this year, then when?<\/p>\n
If there’s a bright side here, it’s the fact that Nate Oats has raised the standard so much so at Alabama already that a season that had a double-SEC championship and only the 10th Sweet Sixteen appearance in program history is considered to be a disappointment. Alabama will be back in this spot and there will be other opportunities to make it happen. If there’s one thing I’m absolutely sure of, it’s that.<\/p>\n
But for now, it stings. And it’s going to sting for a while.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"