While Alabama grinded its way to the first Final Four in program history with a breathless combination of resilience and drama, the juggernaut that’s waiting for the Crimson Tide on Saturday night in the desert simply cruised.

If there was ever an easier stroll to a Final Four in history, it would be hard to find. Connecticut bulldozed its first 4 NCAA Tournament opponents by an astounding 39, 17, 30 and 25 points to move within 2 victories of becoming the first team since Florida in 2006 and ’07 to repeat as national champions.

Yeah, Danny Hurley’s Huskies are scary good.

They are Big East battle tested.

They are stifling — just ask Stetson, Northwestern, San Diego State and Illinois, quality NCAA tourney teams who couldn’t break 60 against towering Donovan Clingan and that UConn defense.

And they seem to be enjoying their pursuit of college basketball history.

But it doesn’t mean UConn is unbeatable, even if the No. 1 overall seed looks like it right now.

This team is an absolute terror, but this isn’t the 1991 UNLV team that danced its way into the Final Four with a perfect 34-0 record.

The Huskies have lost a game. Three of them, in fact.

Sure, all of the losses were on the road and 2 of them took place before the calendar even flipped to 2024. Here’s a crazy one: UConn only lost 1 game between Christmas and Easter, and it was way back on Feb. 20. But in staring down and taking down the Huskies (35-3) this season, Kansas, Seton Hall and Creighton showed there is a way.

Alabama is a flawed 4 seed with 11 losses, and the Crimson Tide (25-11) are a 12-point underdog (via DraftKings Sportsbook) in their long-awaited first Final Four foray. But that doesn’t matter this week as Nate Oats and his coaching staff go into seclusion to attempt to devise a game plan to somehow become the 4th team to slay the dragon. The Tide won’t have a deafening home crowd to will them past the Huskies, like the 3 teams who beat UConn did.

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But being in hostile territory in tough-to-win arenas wasn’t the only reason the mighty Huskies fell on those 3 days. There were some common themes as to why they lost. Basketball themes that had nothing to do with the location of the game. We’ll examine the 5 similar things that had to happen for UConn to lose and see if there’s a way Alabama can possibly duplicate any of them — this time on a neutral floor, inside a colossal stadium in Glendale, Arizona, that looks like a spaceship.

Can a Crimson Tide team that’s already made its own history make some more and deny the Huskies’ shot at championship history? Well, maybe.

Here’s a closer look at 5 things that went awry for UConn in its 3 losses — Dec. 1 at Kansas, Dec. 20 at Seton Hall and Feb. 20 at Creighton:

1. Offense got stuck in the mud

In that Friday night showdown at Kansas on the first night in December at venerable Allen Fieldhouse, the Huskies’ well-oiled machine of an offense hit a speed bump, as UConn shot just 41%, didn’t help itself at the free throw line, going 8-of-15, and barely had 2 players score in double figures in a 69-65 loss.

It was ugly, and 19 days later in the Jersey swamps it was ugly again against Big East rival Seton Hall, as UConn shot 38%, went 4-of-21 from 3-point land and had to play most of the 2nd half without Clingan, who suffered a sprained right ankle after putting up 14 points in 14 minutes. The Huskies were completely stifled in the 75-60 loss, turning it over 17 times against a quality Pirates team that will be playing Indiana State for the NIT title on Thursday night.

Exactly 2 months after the Seton Hall fiasco, UConn suffered its only other Big East loss and its last loss to date, falling to Creighton. Winning at Creighton has become brutally tough in recent years, and after the Tide failed to win there early in the season, the Huskies fell hard in February, shooting a putrid 3-for-16 from long distance while the Blue Jays blazed away in an 85-66 victory that was Creighton’s first ever over a No. 1-ranked team.

Key takeaway? In its 2 double-digit losses, UConn shot 7-for-37 from distance (18.9%).

2. It was Tristen Newton or bust

Newton is 1 of the best point guards in the country, he makes the defending champions go, and the Huskies wouldn’t be 2 wins from another title without him. But Newton couldn’t rescue UConn all by himself in those 3 losses. The senior from El Paso, Texas, went crazy for 31 points in the showcase matchup at Kansas, but he almost scored half the Huskies’ points. No balance, no victory in Lawrence.

The Seton Hall loss should have a bit of an asterisk next to it because of the sprained ankle that took Clingan out of the game early in the 2nd half, leaving Newton on an island. He scored a team-high 16 points, but he and Clingan were the only Huskies in double figures.

Newton was sensational in the loss at Creighton. He pumped in 27 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in 37 minutes. But nobody else scored more than 12 points, and that kind of imbalance probably isn’t going to go over well in Omaha. It didn’t. But don’t blame Newton for any of UConn’s 3 losses.

3. Clingan’s impact was minimal

OK, the 7-2 sophomore can’t really be blamed for disappearing in the Seton Hall loss, since he was literally forced to disappear from the acton with that sprained ankle. Still, he had only 1 block before suffering the injury and was in foul trouble.

In the Kansas loss, Clingan took only 8 shots, scored only 8 points and had just 7 rebounds in 32 minutes. He did block 3 shots, but Clingan only shot 4 free throws, so he wasn’t exactly making his presence felt. Not nearly good enough in a hostile environment like Allen Fieldhouse.

And in the Creighton dud, Clingan had a non-impactful 12 points and shot 0 free throws, which is pretty remarkable for someone his size. He also had 2 more turnovers and fouls (3 each) than he had blocks (1). For a powerhouse team like UConn that wins almost all of the time, the Clingan theme is a definite red flag, and somehow making him a non-factor again on Saturday night could be Alabama’s path to 1 of the biggest upsets in Final Four history.

4. No production from the bench

And even a little production from the Huskies’ bench might’ve made a difference, especially in the close loss at Kansas. But it just wasn’t there in any of the 3 losses. UConn had all of 7 bench points in Lawrence, 10 at Seton Hall and a paltry 4 at Creighton.

Sometimes, a burst from the bench can turn a certain loss into a victory. Well, that didn’t happen this season on those 3 rare occasions when UConn really needed it.

5. The opposition shot the lights out

This is where Alabama ears have to perk up. Because the Crimson Tide lead the country in points per game at 90.6. They’re 2nd nationally in made 3-pointers per game (11.2). The Crimson Tide can shoot the lights out, just like Kansas, Seton Hall and Creighton did. The Jayhawks only scored 69 points, but they were very efficient, shooting exactly 50% from the field and 64% from long distance. Seton Hall was on fire, too, shooting almost 52% against the defenseless Huskies.

And Creighton? How about almost 55% from the field and exactly 50% from 3-point land, as the Blue Jays took off early and ran away that night.

Can Alabama run away from UConn, too? That would be very hard to fathom. Creighton had its raucous home crowd. So did Kansas and Seton Hall when they slayed the dragon. The Tide won’t have Coleman Coliseum to lean on Saturday night. But they won’t be in hostile territory, either. It’ll be nice and neutral inside cavernous State Farm Stadium, and yes the potent Tide can go on a shooting tear, yes they can keep UConn’s bench under wraps and yes the 6-10 Nick Pringle and 6-11 Grand Nelson can wear down Clingan over 40 minutes.

Bama also has 1 of the few players in the country who can cancel out Newton because it has its own superstar point guard in Mark Sears.

But can it keep UConn in the 60s like Kansas, Seton Hall and Creighton did? Or even the 70s?

That’s the really shaky one, because the Crimson Tide’s defense has been really shaky even during this special season, you might have heard. And even though UConn doesn’t have a scoring reputation, the Huskies still average 81.4 points per game.

Bama is in the Final Four because it has managed to outscore teams. And because of that cold, hard truth, it’s hard to see a path past college basketball’s current juggernaut that doesn’t include the Tide doing exactly that yet again.