I haven’t posted much in the basketball thread this year after following it daily for as long as I can remember. Life has its ways sometimes, I suppose.

I won’t regale everyone with more stories of Gottfried, Grant, and Avery; and won’t dwell on opportunities lost over and over again with more talented teams we’ve had in this past. It’s time to celebrate a little, not reminisce.

We finally broke through. Finally shattered the glass ceiling of generations worth of Alabama basketball fans’ expectations. We always lose the big one. We always shite the easy one away. We always lose the key player or miss the shot that would have made the difference. Throw a ball out of bounds or inexplicably miss our last 18 FT attempts.

And of all the years, of all the teams, of all the times we expected it and didn’t get it, this was the one. It’s so amazing that it’s almost laughable. A ragtag bunch of newcomers, an entirely fresh staff, a few young guys with talent, one guy leftover with enough leadership to make you think we might be competitive, and Nate Oats left standing. You never know when your number is going to get called or when your moment is going to come, but it’s a pretty good (if not corny) analogy for the way we’ve won games in this tournament and this team as a whole. Nelson, Rylan, Stephenson, MoD, Pringle, Sears… everybody has had a moment. Hoping for a few more to come.

I absolutely hate comparing basketball to football. It came up so often that it was an infuriating and insulting comment on the basketball program as a whole. It was always, “this team reminds me of Saban’s team in 20XX” or “this season feels like the SEC Championship team back when” or something the occasional football fan would pop in and drop off after a big moment.

And for all that annoyance, last night was the first time since Tebow cried on that sideline in Atlanta in 2009 that I felt that kind of enjoyment about a victory in any game of any sport. It wasn’t just a win or a FF banner, it was finally doing it. Finally getting the thing you knew was possible, but seemed like it wouldn’t ever come to fruition.

So, for everybody still carrying the torch in here, keep fighting the good fight. Happy Easter. And as for UCONN, well… They can get it too.

This post was edited on 3/31/24 at 12:13 pm