Alabama basketball has a ceiling, and UA's most talented team couldn't break through it | Goodbread

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky − Brandon Miller exited the Alabama basketball locker room with a tear in his eye.

Inside, a towel hung over the head of forward Noah Gurley. Noah Clowney spoke through a few tears of his own, and heads all around him drooped in silence.

Sweet turned sour.

Again.

The most talented collection of players in school history did some things no Crimson Tide basketball team has ever done. But in the end, it hit the same familiar wall − the NCAA Tournament's round of 16 − that has blocked this program's best shot time and time again.

Fifth-seeded San Diego State upended No. 1-seeded Alabama 71-64 at the KFC Yum Center on Friday night, primarily with the stifling, physical defense it was known for.

And the history, of course that Alabama is known for.

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The Crimson Tide was eliminated in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet Sixteen round for the ninth time in 10 appearances. That includes twice in the last three years under coach Nate Oats, who vowed to "go back to the drawing board" and see what he and his staff can do better.

The drawing board always seems to lack answers for Alabama at the regional semifinal level. It's the hump the Crimson Tide simply can't seem to get over, notwithstanding the 2003-04 Alabama team that broke through the ceiling and reached an Elite Eight.

Don't put this Alabama basketball team ahead of that one. That Alabama team, with less talent than this one, overcame more when it mattered most. That Alabama team was eliminated by an eventual national champion in UConn. That Alabama team had to knock off a No. 1 seed, Stanford, to reach heights the program had never been, and still hasn't been since.

By contrast, this Alabama team couldn't have asked for more dominos to fall its way.

With the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 seeds in the South Region already eliminated, the Crimson Tide's path to the Final Four in Houston was paved clear and wide. That's not to discount the Aztecs, but Alabama has never had a better opportunity to reach the Final Four or win a national championship, and with the highest of stakes on the line, it shot a miserable 3-for-27 from 3-point range.

Nevertheless, the Aztecs took this win from Alabama; it wasn't handed to them. SDSU's perimeter defense sucked up all the oxygen at the 3-point line, a defensive tactic many a previous Crimson Tide opponent has tried. Alabama has effectively gone to the basket for layups and dunks, along with plenty of pick-and-roll action, to counter defenses playing the 3-point line too aggressively. It generally leads to a big night for center Charles Bediako and Alabama's other big men.

That didn't happen Friday.

What did happen was the unraveling of a more talented but less experienced, less savvy team than SDSU. One that accomplished a lot of things that will look good in a record book, but won't hang from a Coleman Coliseum rafter.

It set a single-season program record with 31 wins.

It reached a No. 1 ranking in national polls later into the season than Alabama ever has.

It earned a No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, also a school first, and won SEC titles both regular-season and tournament style. Add all that up, however, and it points to a better finish than this one.

Add all that up, and it rings just a little hollow without a deeper run in the Big Dance.

Reach Chase Goodbread at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama basketball again finds its ceiling in Sweet Sixteen loss