Alabama basketball squeezed all it could out of Final Four team, but ending still sour

GLENDALE, Ariz. − Just three weeks ago, Alabama basketball looked upset-bound.

The Crimson Tide was sputtering at the wrong time, having lost four of its last six games, including a drubbing courtesy of Florida in the SEC Tournament. Alabama might have had a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament, but that looked more like a result of the resume and less so where the Crimson Tide truly stood at the end of the season. The offense was sliding, the defense looked perhaps worse than ever and Alabama appeared like it would wrap up its season the first weekend of March Madness.

Fast-forward three weeks, and the Crimson Tide looked nothing like that team.

Alabama put together an unexpected run, sending home four programs. As a result, the Crimson Tide made its first Final Four in program history.

The unparalleled achievement of the season doesn't lessen the blow of the 86-72 loss to UConn, though. Saturday's result still stung. No, No. 4 seed Alabama wasn't expected to beat mighty No. 1 seed UConn, but that result wasn't completely out of the question. And that played out during the game.

So the juxtaposition of achieving history to seeing the run end short of a national championship permeated postgame locker room discourse.

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"It hasn’t sunk in yet, but a couple years from now, we’ll realize what we did," guard Rylan Griffen said. "Even though it hurts right now. We still had a great season. Just came up one game short, really."

Alabama overachieved, which is why the season is worth celebrating. That would be the case even if the Crimson Tide hadn't reached the Final Four. The way the regular season ended, reaching the Sweet 16 was going to be seen as an accomplishment.

Then Alabama upset No. 1 seed UNC in the Sweet 16 and beat No. 6 seed Clemson in the Elite Eight, sending the Crimson Tide to Arizona as one of the last four standing.

For an Alabama team that struggled to play consistent defense all season before the NCAA Tournament, that's nothing short of remarkable.

"I think we just blocked out the noise," Sam Walters said. "There was obviously a lot of noise going on after our loss (to Florida). We were struggling. I do understand it. But we just blocked that noise and focused on what we can control, which was us getting better every day."

And Alabama did, but it just happened to run into a buzzsaw in UConn that had few imperfections. So the season came to an end.

"Like Danny (Hurley) says, they're close to being bulletproof," Alabama coach Nate Oats said.

It's understandable the Crimson Tide lost to a UConn team as good as that one, but it doesn't make it any easier because it ends the season one game short of playing in the national championship. Plus, this entire group won't ever get to play together again. That prompted mixed emotions Saturday night among players.

"I feel like we all loved each other," Grant Nelson said. "It was tough seeing guys like Aaron Estrada play their last basketball game. We just told each other we made history. Didn't end the way we wanted it to."

Especially considering the Crimson Tide stayed with UConn for a good chunk of the game and showed it could trade blows with the juggernaut. The Huskies took over late and Alabama couldn't keep pace, but the Crimson Tide looked like it belonged.

So there's a slight sour taste to the way the season ended. That will dissipate, though. What will remain, for decades to come, is how this Alabama team squeezed all it could out of this team and reached the Final Four.

That seemed darn near impossible just three weeks ago.

Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men's basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.