As late as two years ago, the season Alabama men’s basketball put together in 2024-25 would have been considered a success.
Top 2 seed? Check. Trip to second weekend? Check. Elite Eight? Check.
All good things. Especially by Crimson Tide standards for most of the program’s history. Then everything changed a season ago. Alabama reached the 2024 Final Four, its first in program history.
“We’ve raised this program to a level where the standard is really high,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said.
So much so that the answer gets complicated whether this season, a year that ended in the Elite Eight with an 85-65 loss to Duke, is a success. Alabama had only made one Elite Eight ever in its history prior to 2024. Now the Crimson Tide’s made back-to-back.
But Alabama (28-9) didn’t enter 2025 with Elite Eight expectations. Once Grant Nelson, Mark Sears and company decided to stay for one more season, it became clear the Crimson Tide was going to be a contender to win it all. Add in key transfers and freshman, and that only increased expectations. The initial AP top 25 ranked the Crimson Tide No. 2 overall.
A Final Four, heck even a national championship, became the goals that didn’t seem all that lofty. Oats didn’t change that after the regular season, either.
“Anything short of a Final Four would be a disappointment in my opinion,” Oats said Selection Sunday. “That’s what the expectation is.”
By that standard, Alabama fell short. One game short.
“99% of college basketball players would trade places with these guys with the year we had,” Oats said. “But we’re disappointed. We had bigger goals, and it’s disappointing to go out like we went out.”
Those goals didn’t change even when Alabama lost players to injuries. But they are worth accounting for. Alabama expected to have Latrell Wrightsell Jr. and Houston Mallette, two veteran sharp shooters, but both missed most of the season with injuries. Derrion Reid, a five-star McDonald’s All-American freshman, missed significant time with an injury himself.
Injuries are part of the game, of course. Every team deals with them to some extent. But is it fair to adjust the expectations and what is or isn’t a successful season because of them? Maybe. Maybe not.
The 2024-25 season included plenty of highs. A win over Houston in November. A win over UNC on the road. A three-game season sweep of Kentucky. A win over Auburn on the road. A record-setting performance against BYU in the Sweet 16.
But there were lows. The Crimson Tide struggled in the back half of SEC play. The bungling of the game against Tennessee on the road. Florida crushing the Crimson Tide twice. Alabama didn’t win either the SEC regular season championship or the SEC Tournament either.
All of it must be considered in the evaluation of the season.
“I didn’t do a good job with our end-of-game situation at Tennessee,” Oats said. “We win that, maybe things are different. We lost the two to Florida. If you’re a 1 seed instead of a 2 seed, you don’t play Duke. Duke is going to be a 1 seed. You’ve got somebody else in the Elite Eight. So you kind of look to some stuff; could you have done things better?”
On Saturday night, Alabama’s left wondering what could have been in a season with such promise at the start. But does it ending in the Elite Eight make it a failure? Or should it be called a success?
Historically, it’s a success. For this season, a disappointment. Alabama basketball has become a victim of its own success.
The Crimson Tide is no longer content with making the NCAA Tournament. Now, with three consecutive Sweet 16 appearances, even the second weekend has become commonplace. The standard has risen.
From a distance, this Elite Eight season will be looked upon favorably. It will take some time. Maybe a few weeks. Or a few years. Or even until after Oats’ time at Alabama is done. But it will happen. An Elite Eight is an accomplishment. Especially when the program only has a handful.
But for now, Alabama fell short of its goals for this season. The chase for a national championship continues.
“Are we disappointed tonight? For sure we are, but we’ve put ourselves up there with everybody else,” Oats said. “And we’re going to continue to do that year in and year out and keep knocking on the door, keep pounding the stone, if you will, and be one of the teams competing for a Final Four and a National Championship and conference championships in the best conference in college basketball every year, and we’ll get back to the Final Four and win one here soon.”
