Alabama Basketball Review: In retrospect, the Elite 8 was the 2025 Crimson Tide’s ceiling

There are 364 schools that play Division I college basketball — they range in size from the mammoth (Texas A&M 77,000) to the tiny (Presbyterian College 1129), and unless your name is Duke, perhaps Florida, maybe Houston, 363 teams and their fans will end the season on a bitter note, with a loss.

That is true of the No. 6 Alabama Crimson Tide, who entered the season as the No. 2 team in the nation, with its most hyped squad in history, and lauded as having one of the most talented and deep benches in the country. Then the reality of square pegs in round holes arrived, as did injury misfortunes, baffling regressions, and what seemed to be an ambitious schedule unfolded into the most difficult one in modern basketball history.

Alabama cut down no nets this year. In fact, it did not finish appreciably better in the win-loss column than did last year’s squad. Alabama did not win the SEC Tournament — it did not even play for second; that went to cross-state rival Auburn. Alabama did not win the SEC regular season crown — Alabama was not even the runner-up in its own conference; Florida claimed that honor. Alabama did not play for a national title — it did not even advance out of its region, paired as it was with the behemoth that is Duke. Alabama lost a lot of games badly. Alabama struggled far too often with poor teams. Alabama repeated the same dumb mistakes time and time again, especially defensively. A three-point shooting team struggled with their accuracy for the first third of the season, across the roster. A team that was one of the best on paper at rebounding the ball was destroyed on the glass by elite teams. A team of shooters could not be relied upon to hit free throws. And a first-team All-American had several periods of sullenness and lack of buy-in and effort that it even resulted in his benching at one point.

Yet, for all of the warts, it was a successful year, and, in retrospect, ‘Bama’s finish was just about right, given its play, personnel and schedule.

This was an elite team. One of the nation’s best. But it was never going to be a championship team. And that’s okay.

What Went Right?

Alabama’s offense was absolutely elite most of the season, particularly given its defensive SOS (3rd). Last year’s squad was better on paper, finishing 2nd overall, but that was against a comparatively easier defensive slate (14th). Alabama’s defense improved markedly over last season in almost every respect. It became a marginally better defensive rebounding team. It improved in three-point defense. It was much better in floor shooting defense.

The Crimson Tide managed to finish 3rd in the SEC regular season, against a conference that had the best one-year showing in the history of the sport. Alabama managed to win 75% of its contests vs. a schedule that saw Alabama play 18 straight teams that made the NCAA tournament, and end its regular season with seven straight ranked teams.

For just the third time, and the second in a row, the Tide made the Elite 8 — Alabama has joined the likes of Houston as teams that have made four Sweet 16s in the last five years. Alabama positively shattered records in its romp of BYU. It split the regular season meeting with Auburn, winning on the Plains against No. 1 Auburn. It played not one, but two games of the year, as it bookended its season with an epic clash versus No. 3 Houston in which Alabama looked the part of a title contender. Alabama became the first team to win games in Rupp and the Dean Dome. Alabama did not only beat SEC bully, Kentucky, it did so three times, and became just the second team to do so.

Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The individual stories are great, as well. Grant Nelson played through injury the entire season, to become the second-best player on the team. Aiden Sherrell slowly grew as the season went along, showing steady development seemingly every game.

Aden Holloway had his redemption arc in Tuscaloosa, and has both thrived and brought a lot of fun and energy to the backcourt. Chris Youngblood became the chief instigator on a team that I swear needs to embrace its villain role a bit more often. Labaron Philon went into the season expected to see limited minutes, and instead became a critical piece of the offense and a first round NBA possibility en route to All-SEC and All-American Freshman honors. Nate Oats became the winningest post-season coach in Crimson Tide history with the Tide’s victory over BYU. Mark Sears became Alabama’s first two-time All-American, and just the second First Teamer. Watching Little Mo blossom into an all-around player has been a pure joy.

For each of these 15 players, we could tell a story.

What Went Wrong

I’m not going to belabor this too much; we all have eyeballs and can see what happened.

Out of the gate, what was expected to be a strength — depth — became an instant liability. Naas redshirted. Mallette redshirted, and then after it was too-hastily pulled off of him, he was injured (ahem). Alabama lost its best three-point shooter, and one of the core pieces of its offense when the oft-injured Latrell Wrightsell went down for the year. Chris Youngblood was not even available for a third of the season, and then took another half-dozen games or so to be integrated into the offense and get up to SEC-speed. Alabama’s best rim defender was banged up for ‘Bama’s postseason run. It was not a healthy team, and certainly not the one that Nate Oats envisioned trotting out in October.

Then all of that was exacerbated by a schedule, which was already daunting, turned out to be the toughest in the country.

Despite the accolades, Mark Sears regressed almost across the board in every meaningful way. Jarin Stevenson was all over the map on both sides of the ball, playing shut-down ball one game, getting roasted like a luau the next, alternately finding his stroke and laying more bricks than a construction firm. Alabama turned it over far more than last season, and forced far fewer — in fact, it was the worst ‘Bama team Nate Oats has ever fielded in terms of forcing mistakes. It began the season shooting sub-30% from the arc. It regressed in free throw accuracy. There was a leadership meltdown on several occasions. Getting their brains beat in by defensive teams. You can insert your own here.

If there was a touchstone of 2025, it was inconsistency. It won’t get easier, either. So long as the SEC keeps its commitment to basketball intact, with resources allocated to coaching and programs, it’s not going away. Alabama will have to learn to compete in this environment: This is the new normal.

Getting Over The Hump

For the third straight season, Alabama was bounced out of the NCAA tournament for, what I like to call the Three Ts: Toughness, Talent, Temerity. Teams played harder, they played smarter, or there was a talent deficit (or some combination of these).

It has simply not been much of a physical team — even when it had an elite defense, as in 2022 — and at times ‘Bama has lacked a great deal of high-end, natural talent. National Runner-up San Diego State bullied the nation’s best player two years ago, turned Mark Sears into the MAC player he was, and rendered the SEC’s 6th Man of the Year a nullity. Last season, the eventual-champion Huskies out-coached and out-executed the Tide out of the locker room, leveraging their massive size and leaving Alabama to their own worst devices: smart decision-making against better talent. This year, no such locker room adjustment was necessary since Duke kicked their asses out of the gate.

In two of those three exits, the talent differential has been stark. Saturday was especially telling: it was glaringly obvious which team’s best guys were a three-star MAC player and a 1-star low-major transfer, and which one had the No. 1 recruiting class in the country. Alabama simply must get more high-end talent. You could not watch that Duke team and point to a single spot on the floor where an Alabama player would start. Not one. Name a person on the Alabama roster that would unseat Sion, Proctor, Malauch, Knueppel, or Flagg? And I don’t know that there’s anyone on this roster that would be the sixth or even seventh man off the Blue Devils bench either, not with Caleb Foster and Isaiah Evans waiting in the wings.

Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

That hurts to admit. But it also is a source of consolation, as this is something that can be remedied, and not just through the Portal either, but in living rooms. Houston and Duke didn’t draft one-year mercenaries, they home-brewed powerhouses. Admittedly, it’s a bit more difficult here, given that Oats has now lost five coaches in six years to helm other teams and continuity is difficult to come by, especially with the portal and tampering (as Georgia is doing with Reid at the moment). And the relative newness of Alabama as a national power makes Alabama still a bit of a novelty, though that perception is rapidly fading.

Still, addressing that high-end talent gap is a must. Half of Alabama’s rotational bench cannot be midmajor transfers and anyone expect the Tide to win a title. It’s a Jimmies and Joes issue, and you saw it with your own skull blobs. The solution is simple, at least on paper: Tougher in the frontcourt, taller in the backcourt, more talented all-around.

You see what it looks like when Alabama has someone like Philon or BMill or Clowney: they were touted as being stars, and they looked the part. But there haven’t been nearly enough of those guys in Tuscaloosa over the last half-dozen years on the same team, at the same time, to be a meaningful title contender. We all love the plucky underdog story like Sears and Nelson. We love the chip-on-the-shoulder midmajor mentality that Coach Oats brings. But in a blind taste-test, you’d rather have Kneuppel or Proctor or Clingan.

And Alabama simply must have better evaluation and/or luck in the portal too: 2024 Wooden Finalist and UConn triggerman Tristen Newton was plucked out of East Carolina. 2025 Finalist Johni Broome matriculated in from Morehead State. Walter Clayton arrived in Gainesville from Iona. Far too many of Alabama’s portal additions have been injured, inconsistent, mid- and low-major project players that had to grow into their game, or some combination thereof. Koby Brea was from Dayton. Tennessee landed Jordan Gainey (USC Upstate), Chaz Lanier (North Florida), and Dalton Knecht (Northern Colorado) in back-to-back seasons. Miles Kelly (Georgia Tech). See a trend here? Alabama has not had as much luck in the portal signing impact players that can stay healthy and be the reliable guy from day one.

Will that require slowing down a bit, and running more strategically a la Florida to open the talent pool? Perhaps. There is not a single tempo team remaining the tournament — the Gators are the fastest (59th). Because, to get over the hump, a title team over the last several years has looked like the following: elite offensive rebounding paired with good defensive rebounding, Top 20 offense and defense, excellent three-point defense, smart ball-handling, competent three-point shooting. Everything else has been gilding the lily.

While Alabama has excelled in some facets of the formula, in others it has not been so great, as time and again the Tide have been bullied in the post in meaningful games, allowed too many perimeter shots, not been able to move the ball to find their own shot, or get in position for easy put-backs. Some is talent, sure. A lot is willingness to grind it out and put in the work every possession, on both ends of the floor. A lot is god-given measurables: Alabama has to get bigger in the backcourt and it must get tougher in the frontcourt. Alabama is a long team. It’s not a tall one though, especially in the backcourt. Against the squads that were demonstrably taller, the Tide went home with an L more often than not: Florida twice, a split against Auburn, Duke, Oregon, Purdue etc.

Toughness. Talent. Temerity (and you could add tallness to that if you wish). Alabama had enough of them at times to compete, but were just limited enough in all three areas such that ‘Bama’s title hopes were always going to be slimmer than we wished.

Now, there was a year when Alabama met the formula, and to which fans could bemoan the one that got away. But that was in 2022-2023, not this season.

Part of the new reality of being a basketball school for many fans will be having to recalibrate their football mentality.

The expectation is not “national title or bust.” Because of the fluidity of rosters, scheduling and the like, the expectations will change from year-to-year. Nate Oats has stoked the expectations of a title and embraced them.

But we need to temper his confidence and salesmanship with a good grasp of reality too — winning a title is exceptionally hard in basketball, even for the old school blue bloods. Duke is among the winningest programs in history, and it took nine Final Four appearances, and five runner-up games, before the Devils broke through. UConn is an undoubted powerhouse: they didn’t win a title until the 90s, and have had two separate decade-long breaks between them. UNC is the second-winningest program in the sport, and despite playing for 120 years, the Tarheels have claimed just six titles despite making the Final Four two dozen times — and even had a 35-year drought at one point. Kentucky is the winningest team in the sport — and the Wildcats have one crown in the 21st Century.

This isn’t football; the cadre of oligarchs is not as certain; the winds can and do change in one year; and national titles are not the measure of a great season.

Was the ending disappointing? Sure, but it will be for 363 teams. Were some of the losses maddening, particularly how they unfolded? Yes. Did too many victories against overmatched opponents show an inconsistent team that could not or would not play to a standard each week? For an ironclad fact.

But keep your eye on the larger picture here. The Tide didn’t underachieve, neither did it underachieve. Alabama played to its ceiling: It did not lose to a single team that did not make the tournament (none were ranked lower than 29th). And of its nine losses, eight came against teams making the Sweet 16 or better. Alabama finished 4th in offense and 29th. Against the three better offenses, the Tide went 1-4. Alabama finished 29th in defense, and against the 28 teams that played better, Alabama went 4-9.

In short, Alabama generally beat who they were supposed to and lost to who they were supposed to, at least on paper. This year we saw both the ceiling (Auburn, Houston) and the floor (Oregon) — and that revealed an Alabama team that was good enough to earn an Elite 8 berth…just not one good enough to claim a national title.

And that’s okay.

Roll Tide

Next Week: Looking ahead to the 2025-2026 season