This is an opinion column.
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Alabama lost in the 2024 Final Four to national champ UConn.
One year later, those pesky Florida Gators bounced Auburn out of the Final Four before cutting down the nets.
Was making the Final Four in back-to-back years good enough, or has the bar been raised for hoops in the Heart of Dixie?
Auburn checked out of its hotel a couple days early here in San Antonio, but me and Sir Charles stuck around for the championship game. The NCAA gave me the best seat in the house for the big finale, and I can only assume it was because Alabama is the new capital of college basketball.
Florida led for less than two minutes of game time during its 65-63 victory on Monday, and Houston’s great gaffe at the buzzer looked even more shocking from midcourt of press row. Time seemed to stand still as the ball bounced in a parallel dimension of suspended animation. How does that happen? The entire season came down to Houston failing to get off a shot in the final seconds.
March Madness didn’t give us any Cinderellas this year, but the chaos of college basketball remains undefeated.
The Gators trailed by eight at halftime against Auburn in the Final Four and then by 12 against Houston with 16 minutes to play. The Cougars held Florida sharpshooter Walter Clayton, Jr., scoreless in the first half, but the best player in the 2025 NCAA Tournament delivered another clutch performance with the game on the line.
The University of Florida is now the only school with three national championships in football and three in basketball, so congrats to the Gators. I don’t know what it says about the SEC that Florida coach Todd Golden won the national championship in the same season that it was revealed by Florida’s student newspaper that he received a Title IX complaint for inappropriate behavior, but, hey, it’s not a conference for choir boys.
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The SEC is the conference of winning and making money, and it does that better than any other.
What’s it going to take for Alabama’s delegation to finally bring a basketball national championship back home? More money and better players, of course. It’s not complicated.
Auburn faded because it lacked the depth to hang with Florida. Alabama had a great season, but then lost by 20 in the Elite 8 to Duke.
Should we hold basketball up to the same standards as football, or are deep runs in March enough? After never reaching the Final Four, teams from Alabama have now appeared in three of the last six (2019, 2024, 2025).
For Alabama, that’s as good as it has ever been.
Did we just witness the end of an all-time ride, or will the hoops parade continue in Alabama?
Did the greatest era for college basketball in the state of Alabama end with a pair of losses in back-to-back Final Fours, the greatest player in UAB history (Yaxel Lendeborg) going to Michigan and a home state prodigy taking his talents to Texas?
Five years ago, I wrote a column predicting a Golden Era of Hoops in the state of Alabama. Nailed that one, but missed on my prediction this season of Auburn winning the national championship.
Two wins away. Not bad.
College basketball has never been better, the SEC is the sport’s new super conference and the state of Alabama is at the forefront of it all. The season is over, but before we switch our internal Southern clocks back to football, I can’t help but look ahead. Can Auburn and Alabama sustain their current level of success in basketball?
Was this it, or is there more?
Since Auburn’s regular season title in 2018, the Tigers and Tide have combined to win 12 trophies: five regular season championships, four SEC tournament titles and three trips to the Final Four. That’s a stunning number.
And we were so close to an Iron Bowl of Basketball in the national championship game.
Is there enough money in the coffers for an encore?
Can we count on more trips to the Final Four?
In this age of pay-for-play, good coaching isn’t enough and neither are top-notch facilities. It takes billionaires with egos and desperate cash. It takes seniors who could be playing in the NBA, and length inside and out. It takes investing in players who can at the very least get off a shot for a national championship at the buzzer.
Here’s another big basketball prediction before the sports calendar rolls into A-Day. Bucky McMillan at Texas A&M will win a national championship before Alabama or Auburn. The Aggies have the cash and we learned here in San Antonio that a young coach in the SEC is better than a Hall of Famer at Houston.
Time to rebuild again.
Time to mine the transfer portal for more hidden gems.
Time to call the bank and max out the ATM.
BE HEARD
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Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”