Takeaways from Alabama Basketball's Season-Ending Final Four Loss to UConn

Final thoughts and observations from the Crimson Tide's Final Four game, and 2023-24 season.

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Alabama basketball's historic 2024 season came to an end on Saturday night, as the Crimson Tide fell to top overall seed UConn 86-72.

So for the final time this season, here are my thoughts and observations from Alabama's season-ending loss, as well as its season in its entirety.

1. UConn was simply better.

Alabama competed about as well as it could in this game, but when it came down to it, UConn was simply the better team.

The Crimson Tide gave the No. 1 overall seed and the defending national champions as much as they could handle through the overwhelming majority of the game. Every time UConn threw a punch, Alabama got right back up and punched back.

Despite a few too many turnovers and some poor transition defense in the first half, Alabama was within four points at the break thanks to 8-of-11 shooting from distance, which everyone knew was going to be needed if Alabama was going to stay in the game.

In the second half, the teams traded run after run. The threes kept falling, and Grant Nelson even made one of the best dunks in recent Final Four memory, posterizing Donovan Clingan in the process.

For 32 minutes Alabama was right there, only trailing by six at the under-8 timeout. But a slight scoring drought ensued, and those can't happen against these Huskies. Dan Hurley has this team executing at such a high level that even Alabama's best defensive effort couldn't get stops down the stretch.

There wasn't one primary mistake or one glaring hole in the gameplan that caused Alabama to lose. It had the feel of the way some Alabama football teams in the early Saban years would slowly choke teams out until the final whistle blew. UConn was simply too good and too well-coached to lose, you just have to tip your cap and go home.

2. Nate Oats' best coaching job yet.

This wasn't supposed to be the Alabama basketball team that made the Final Four. If anything, that was supposed to be last season, when it was the No. 1 overall seed and had the No. 2 pick in the NBA Draft on its team.

This year's Alabama team was strange. It started 6-5, and a lot of people jumped off the bandwagon early. But they learned from their losses, they grew, and started out blistering hot in SEC play with an 11-2 start. The ealy-season disappointment turned to a midseason spike in expectations now that an SEC regular season title was once again in reach.

But down the stretch, they faltered. Not only did they suffer a good number of injuries, but they lost four of their last six to end the regular season after such a strong start to conference play. Alabama didn't win the regular season SEC title, and in the SEC Tournament, flamed out with a double-digit loss in its first game in Nashville.

Everyone was out on this team, and had every right to be. They didn't play defense, they didn't have many wins against quality teams, and they got ran off the floor in the majority of their losses in February and March.

Not to mention when you go back to even before the season started, Nate Oats lost all three assistants to head coaching jobs, lost Brandon Miller and Noah Clowney to the NBA, lost Jaden Bradley, Nimari Burnett and Jahvon Quinerly to the transfer portal, and unexpectedly lost Charles Bediako, who was supposed to be around to anchor this year's defense.

All the chips were stacked against Oats, and he delivered. He got a team to buy into the defensive side of the floor in mid-March, after failing to do so for the majority of the season up to that point. They got healthy, they played loose, and they made a run no one in Tuscaloosa will ever forget.

Easily Nate Oats' best coaching job to date.

3. There's no reason Alabama can't get back here.

The glass ceiling is broken now.

Alabama finally broke through and made the Final Four, and with Nate Oats at the helm, there is no conceivable reason the Crimson Tide can't get back to one while he remains in Tuscaloosa.

Since Oats has been at Alabama he's seen an unprecedented amount of success. He's the fastest coach in program history to reach 100 wins, he's won four total SEC titles in five seasons, he's made four straight NCAA Tournaments, he's made the second weekend three times, and now he's made a Final Four.

That list alone makes him arguably the best coach in Alabama basketball history, and he's only in his fifth year at Alabama and ninth year as a Division-I head coach. Oats has a proven track record of being an elite recruiter both in high school and out of the transfer portal, he's already proven he can replace staffers at a high level, and now, he's proven he can win in March.

As long as Oats is at Alabama, the Crimson Tide is going to be competing for the SEC, nationally relevant, making the NCAA Tournament, and competing to get back to the Final Four.

Enjoy it, Alabama basketball fans. You're living in the golden age. Don't take it for granted.