SEC Tournament Leaves Alabama Basketball with “Undescribable” Feeling

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — As blue, gold and white confetti streamed down from the rafters of Bridgestone Arena on Saturday, the players of Alabama basketball were filled with a motion that they couldn’t quite put their fingers on.

Following an emotionally-charged three days of games that led them to the SEC tournament championship moment, a mixture of overwhelming joy and relief swept over the team. Walking along the court following the Crimson Tide’s 80-79 grueling win over LSU to add the program’s seventh tournament title to its trophy case, one could see that emotions were all over the place.

Alex Reese was in tears. John Petty Jr. screamed at the rafters. Herb Jones clutched his teammates. Josh Primo, who injured his left MCL in Friday’s victory over Mississippi State, hurled his crutch in celebration over the team’s biggest win in three decades.

Regardless of the means of celebration, the feeling of relief after three days filled with adversity and tough opponents left Alabama with the title of SEC Tournament champions.

After 40 brutal minutes of basketball against the Tigers — including a career-high 30 points from LSU guard Trendon Watford — the game came down to the final seven seconds. A high inbounds pass saw Watford head to midcourt before returning and attempting a three-point shot, only for the ball to be deflected by Jones. LSU frantically tried to tip in the ball once and then twice, with the ball teetering on the edge of the rim.

Fate ultimately sided with the Crimson Tide on Sunday, and the ball fell to the court as the final horn blew. The resulting celebration was one that will be remembered by the program and its supporters for decades to come.

Following the game, Petty said what the feeling that he and his teammates shared best with an endearing alternative word: ‘undescribable.’

“It's kind of undescribable feeling,” Petty said. “Just everything personally that we've been through, especially me and Herb being here four years, all the ups and downs, all the adversity we went through. Just to see us stay the course, continue working hard and win this, it feels amazing.

“It wasn't our best game, but we got guys that always hold each other together, stay together. We pulled it out. I couldn't be more proud of these guys than I am now.”

The word ‘undescribable’ is quite possibly the best word to use to describe Alabama’s 2020-2021 season. The Crimson Tide was picked in the preseason to finish sixth in the SEC. In coach Nate Oats’ second season, there was a lot of excitement among the fanbase for the program, but not much acknowledgement outside of that small circle.

An SEC regular-season title and tournament championship later, though, and the talking heads of college basketball have changed their tune.

It was fitting that Alabama’s SEC championship hopes came down to a final play on defense. This season, the Crimson Tide’s defense has been its bread and butter. While its offense has had some prolific moments this season, its defense has ultimately been what has kept the team in games.

Jones’ block of Watford was also poetic. Named the SEC Player of the Year as well as its Defensive Player of the Year, having him make the final play to lead Alabama to its seventh SEC title is the perfect period on the sentence. In all honesty, you couldn’t write it better.

Jones doubled down on the ‘undescribable’ season that he and his teammates have shared.

“Like J.P. said, it's kind of undescribable,” Jones said. “Just all the work that we put in, the bad days we had, the adversity we went through, personally like my injuries throughout my entire career, Alex Reese kind of struggled shooting the ball this year, he came up and hit some big shots for us today. He played very aggressive on the offensive end. John Petty doing what he does on both sides of the ball.

"Just a credit to our work. We stay with it. I don't think many guys could go through what we went through and come out on top like we did this year."

No one puts a basketball scene into words better than Chris Stewart 🏀🎙. Here's the play-by-play of the final seconds in Nashville.

"OH. MY. GOODNESS!"🏆🎉#RollTide #SECChamps pic.twitter.com/o0Y8khlJBo
— Alabama Athletics (@UA_Athletics) March 14, 2021

Alabama moves on the NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed — tied for the highest seeding in program history. The Crimson Tide will be facing coaching legend Rick Pitino and his No. 15-seed Iona Gaels. Alabama certainly has the opportunity to repeat history and make it to the program’s furthest point in tournament history — the Elite Eight — but right now, the team isn’t limiting itself to making it to that point.

This team wants to win it all.

Following Sunday's win, tournament MVP Quinerly stated exactly how far his team wants to go when it makes its trip to the Big Dance.

“I have full faith that we can take this thing, take the NCAA Tournament by storm, win the whole thing,” Quinerly said. “I know how hard we work. I know we have one of the — we have the best coaching staff in the country who just prepares us each and every game. I have full faith if we lock in and do what we got to do, we'll be crowned again.

“There's more work to be done.”

If Alabama can manage to do that, then the perfect word exists to express what the feeling that the Crimson Tide and its fans will experience on that day:

‘Undescribable.’