Some historical perspective on what's shaping up to be Alabama’s dual-sport school year for the ages
We’re less than a month from the postseason and Alabama has a stranglehold on the SEC.
In basketball.
Like, the sport that the Crimson Tide made it to the second weekend of the postseason tournament once in the 21st century. The sport that Alabama has never reached the pinnacle or even the step before that (the Final Four). The sport that reminds Alabama every year that it’s a football school. And a women’s gymnastics school.
Never mind the fact that Alabama hasn’t claimed a regular-season SEC title in men’s basketball since the 2001-02 school year. What the Crimson Tide are on the brink of is something that’s more historic than that.
And yeah, football is part of it. Shocking, I know.
If Alabama wins a regular-season SEC title on the hardwood, it’ll join some elite company. It would mark just the third time since the SEC Championship began in football in 1992 that the same school won both the conference title game in football and the regular-season title in basketball in the same school year. One of those teams was 2000-01 Florida. That other team, of course, was 2006-07 Florida, which not only won league titles that historic school year, but also won national titles in each sport.
For now, that’s an extremely high bar to reach to claim the title of best ever football/men’s basketball combo school year. Obviously. That’s at least on the table with the Crimson Tide having already won a football national title and potentially playing for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament depending on how things shake out down the stretch.
But even if that doesn’t happen, this is shaping up to be a school year for the ages in Tuscaloosa. At least as it relates to the top 2 revenue sports.
Consider: Since Nick Saban has been Alabama’s football coach, the basketball program has 1 more NCAA Tournament win than your park district squad. That’s right. That 1 NCAA Tournament victory came in 2017-18. And who knows if that would’ve happened had Collin Sexton not gone into the phone booth and put on his cape in Alabama’s all-important first game of the SEC Tournament:
SEXTON FOR THE WIN!
Collin Sexton, who had 27 points, hits this buzzer-beater to give bubble team Alabama a 71-70 win over Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament. pic.twitter.com/jJFakgi34u
— 🏀Jake🏀 (@AlwaysMarch_) March 8, 2018
Go figure that was actually the second-best walk-off winner of that school year for Alabama. A couple of months earlier, of course, 2nd-and-26 happened. Alabama famously made the College Football Playoff after missing out on playing for an SEC championship. But even that year ended with Sexton and Co. getting blown out in the Round of 32 by eventual-national champion Villanova.
If we want to focus strictly on the years that Alabama did win the SEC in football like this year, there are only 4 such instances in which Alabama basketball followed that up by winning a game in the NCAA Tournament.
Let’s run through those:
- 1994-95
- FOOTBALL: 12-1, No. 4 in AP after Citrus Bowl win
- BASKETBALL: 5-seed in NCAA Tournament, lost to Oklahoma State in Round 2
- 1989-90
- FOOTBALL: 10-2, No. 9 in AP after Sugar Bowl loss
- BASKETBALL: 7-seed in NCAA Tournament, lost to Loyola Marymount in Sweet 16
- 1981-82
- FOOTBALL: 9-2-1, No. 7 in AP after Cotton Bowl loss
- BASKETBALL: 4-seed in NCAA Tournament, lost to UNC (with a guy named “Michael Jordan”) in Sweet 16
- 1975-76
- FOOTBALL: 11-1, No. 3 in AP after Sugar Bowl win
- BASKETBALL: 6-seed in NCAA Tournament, lost to Indiana in Sweet 16
By the way, that 1975-76 Indiana team was college basketball’s last unbeaten NCAA Tournament champion. On another note, that was nearly a half-century ago.
There’s some bad luck in there with running into juggernauts in the tournament, including facing an emotional Loyola Marymount team shortly after Hank Gathers died. But for the most part, those 4 instances show something that’s been a constant for Alabama hoops. That is, not earning a top seed in the NCAA Tournament. Only twice has the program earned better than a No. 4 seed in March (1987 and 2002). Barring a total collapse in the next few weeks, that should happen for the third time.
Speaking of 1986-87, that was 1 of 2 other school years that should probably be mentioned as it relates to best football/basketball combo years at Alabama. The football program didn’t win the SEC, but it finished No. 9 in the AP Poll after a gauntlet stretch spoiled a national championship bid. In basketball, the Crimson Tide earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but like all but 1 squad in Alabama history, it couldn’t get past the Sweet 16.
The year before that in 1985-86 was when Alabama finished No. 13 in the final AP Poll in football 9 (but no SEC title), and then earned a Sweet 16 berth … only to lose to Kentucky for the 4th time that year.
There’s obviously no guarantee that this year’s squad gets past the Sweet 16.
Here’s the kicker, though. Alabama football didn’t have just another solid top-15 finish this school year. It delivered one of the most dominant seasons we’ve seen in the sport’s history en route to a national title. In the years in which Alabama won a national title in football, it only reached the NCAA Tournament twice (2017-18 and 2011-12). In those 2 instances, Alabama wasn’t better than a 9-seed.
That, I can say with total confidence, is changing this year. Nate Oats deserves a world of credit for that, regardless of what happens in the often-wonky NCAA Tournament. An early NCAA Tournament exit won’t necessarily represent how good this high-scoring, lockdown Alabama squad was for the majority of the year. Herb Jones and John Petty might not be as decorated as DeVonta Smith and Mac Jones, but like their fellow class of 2017 signees, they’ve done their part to make 2020-21 historic for all the right reasons.
Time will tell if Alabama can become the first program since 2006-07 Florida to win the SEC Championship in football and then follow it up with a regular-season title in basketball. The 2000-01 Florida squad with Udonis Haslem and Matt Bonner was the only other SEC team to follow a conference title in football with a regular-season title in basketball (since the SEC Championship began in football in 1992). That team, however, couldn’t complete the clean sweep and win the SEC Tournament championship like 2006-07 Florida, which took “clean sweep” to another level.
For all we know, Alabama is on its way to completing the clean sweep in 2020-21. If we’re using 1992-93 as the starting point because of the introduction of the SEC Championship in football, only 3 SEC programs followed up a national title in football with winning an NCAA Tournament game (1998-99 Tennessee, 2006-07 Florida, 2017-18 Alabama). The non-Florida instances both ended with blowout losses in the Round of 32.
That’s why 2020-21 Alabama has a legitimate shot to rank No. 2 among the SEC football/basketball combo seasons we’ve seen in league history. The fickle nature of college basketball suggests it’s not smart to predict NCAA Tournament finishes.
One thing we do know? It’s been a pretty darn good school year down in Tuscaloosa.
Been there done that.
The Gators had the most dominant season in the history of college football? I didn’t know…
Bama had the second most dominant season in football. As long as we are setting the record straight
Depends on the measuring stick, but yes, to argue between those two seasons would be to split a hair or two.
Two sports dummy….we actually won it all in the same year. That is the premise of the story numnuts.
The premise is the best combined basketball/football year, though the column title says, “dual sport school year.” My premise is that we are already ahead of the pace, having had one of the two best years in college football history. Acting as if anyone has “been there, done that” is a fallacy. I will be beyond surprised, honestly, if we so much as make the final four. However, so far as the best combined sports year goes, we are the leader in the clubhouse right now.
UF basketball went 35-3 and 13-3 in SEC games. But you are the leader in the clubhouse…lol.
Please can we stop with the Greatest Team of All Time crap. We hear this every year now. The media is so lame it’s the only storyline they can come up with. And you can’t reasonably compare teams across different eras. It’s assinine to even try. I remember going into the 2018 SECCG the pundits were calling Bama the Greatest Team of All Time. We saw what happened there. It’s all just hyperbole spewed out by lazy writers.
There’s no splitting hair’s. LSU’s 15 win season was the best SEC FB season EVER.
Hate to be that guy, but Alabama did not win the SEC in Football in 1994-95…Sorry.
Yes that would be Florida 24-23. They did win the West though. Maybe that’s what he was going by.
Quite possibly the best game in SECCG history…2012 UGA v Bama the only other in consideration.
I’d argue that 2020’s SEC Championship was the best one just for pure entertainment purposes and the fact that it was a high octane shootout that Florida came within a hair’s width of toppling the giant that is Bama.
I have to agree. That UA vs UGA game in 2012 was a great, tough, hard fought game. The teams were pretty equally talented, and if UGA had beaten Bama they too would have destroyed Notre Dame.
I Saban would beat the dogsh*t out of trdump what do yall think? Every SEC coach could, except Muschammp who would have found a way to lose. Heck saban would prob beat both trump jrs at the same time I’d love to see that on celebrity dethmatch!
LMAO Celebrity Deathmatch. Hey Willy btw, Ricky Martin and the 90’s just called wants their MTV back. I think you can help.
lol ricky martin? out of all the 90s artist your first thought is ricky martin?!? yikes dont know what that says about you, although now that I think about it ol ricky could kick trdumps obese behind as well. Also I’d like to bet that most readers on this site were born before the year 1994 so why dont you go back to the kids table bucko
Celebrity Deathmatch was a teenie-bopper kiddy show, it only makes sense to assume you were into Ricky Martin, or maneudo as well, and probably were. Celebrity Deathmatch, man I literally laughed out loud when I read that.
You’ve never watched the show obviously as you were 4 when it was airing and I doubt you were watching it, although Missouri is known for some real white trash so who knows. And again, how you connected that to Ricky Martin and found another excuse to bring him up is only a secret your therapist could tell you.
LMAO, substitute Ricky Martin with Alien Ant Farm if trying to prove what bad ass you were in the 90’s is that big of a deal. Move on Johnny Lawerence, the rest of us have.
You moved on because I put you in your place and you dont have anymore to say. Cheers
Ya know, full disclosure>> my original reply was really meant to be light hearted. I had no idea you were seriously hanging on to your heyday, in particular Celebrity Deathmatch all these years. My apologies Screech.
Apology accepted! It takes a big man to admit his mistakes, and you are that big man.
“You moved on because I put you in your place and you dont have anymore to say. Cheers”
You’re a cancer to this site. And I still haven’t figured out if your whole shtick is just an elaborate troll job or if this is actually what you’re like.
Ok ill admit it. I have no clue what u people are talking about. Can we please just get back to insulting each other?
You suck! Eat sh*t!! :)
The Gators had the most dominant season in the history of college football? I didn’t know…
Was meant to be a reply above.
On an article about great seasons in the top 2 money making sports, maybe you should have just left your comment in your head :)
Get past the sweet 16 and you won’t still be close…lol.
This kind of success calls for ripping down the street memorializing a fallen law enforcement officer and renaming it to SABAN ROAD! Roll tide!
Didn’t Auburn rename Main St to Gus Bus Blvd? Well maybe not
No school in the COUNTRY touches what Florida did in 2006-2008. Two NCAA basketball titles in a row and NCAA football championships in 2006 and 2008 (the 2008 football championship followed the 2007 season). For those two years Gainesville was the true Titletown USA. Total magic! Would love to see Bama do it too.
Word….truth.
Fun fact, 2008 Florida Gators team won their games by an average margin of 30.7 points INCLDUING the Ole Miss loss. That’s more than the 2020 Alabama team who had the benefit of playing in a chaotic 2020 Covid year that was a historical low point for defenses. Statistically speaking the 2008 Florida Gators were a better team, and frankly I agree considering the opponents we faced and completely carpet bombed along the way to the natty.
But Bama played more games, won more games, and went undefeated. How many top-10 teams did Florida beat in 2008?
Actually 2008 Florida played 14 games and Alabama played 13 games. Florida went 13-1 and Alabama went 13-0 so they won the same exact amount of games. Florida beat 3 final AP Poll top 10 ten teams, and 4 that were at the time top 10. Florida also smoked a ranked FSU team. The top 10 teams that Florida beat were Georgia, Alabama, and Oklahoma and technically LSU (who was #3 at the time and the defending national champs). We beat these 4 teams by an average margin of 23 points. If you add FSU to the mix, we beat all of our ranked opponents by an average margin of like 24 I think. If you want to take out FSU and LSU since neither finished in the top 10, then Florida beat Georgia, Alabama, and Oklahoma (3 teams that ended up in the final top 10) by an average margin of 20.
Now let’s look at all the top 10 opponents that Alabama beat from the final CFP top ten poll (the most accurate final poll due to the severe opt outs that happened in the post season). These opponents were Florida, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Texas AM. Yes Alabama technically beat more top 10 teams, but they beat these teams by a average margin of victory of 19.2 which is slightly lower than 2008 Florida’s. However, if I were to take out Florida which was by far Alabama’s closest game, then Alabama’s average margin of victory against top 10 teams goes up to 22.5. I think both teams are very similar in the way they dominated. I think Florida’s overall record against ranked opponents and unranked opponents is slightly better, and it’s 49-10 win over #10 Georgia is impressive af. The biggest concern I have with Alabama is that it’s opponents were piss poor. Ohio State was a beat dog because of injuries and Covid, Notre Dame was overrated yet they still only won that game by 17. Georgia gave them a hard time, and Bama also only won that game by 17. Neither Georgia or Notre Dame were elite… good teams but not elite. A fully healthy Florida almost beat them, and I still stand by my statement that TAMU was overrated and they just happened to find a way to barely win games and got very lucky that they had to face a UNC team that was missing its 3 best offensive players, a UNC team that still almost beat them. Both 2008 Florida and 2020 Alabama are very close honestly. I’m just giving everyone the stats they can decide for themselves which team was better.
UGA didn’t finish in the top 10 in the AP either so take them out as well… Since you’re just providing stats make sure they’re correct…
It’s also funny you’re using the pills prior to the bowls die Bama and the polls after the bowls for Florida…
Congratulations on the 2008 season… That was 12 years ago, Bama has won 6 NCs since then and you haven’t won $hit since LMaO.
Polls, for*
Florida stretch from 2005 to 2010 in every sport was just sick. So glad it ended
Yeah it was great. When does yours start? Kicking y’all’s ass is the most fun we have.
Sad but true and you didn’t mention the CWS trips
Anything can happen in the NCAA tournament. That’s why it’s always such a crapshoot and exciting. I hope Alabama does well, but if they have an off-day and can’t hit threes, they won’t last very long.
I’m a UAB grad, and I remember being thrilled that we beat Iowa State in 2005 as a 13 seed, even though we immediately lost the next game. We should go again this year, and my expectations are low. C-USA is a weak league, as much as I hate to admit it.
Hey Bama fans, just so you know. Your new basketball coach was a product of “DANNY WHITE”, AD at TN. For every win you see your bball team winning, remember who made Nate’s path possible and his development. Bama is lot like the Auburn team a couple of years ago that lived on three pointers. The good news is Bama shoots them well. The bad news is in the dance you always play one team that will take threes away and specialize in that. Here’s hoping we get a rematch between Bama and TN in bball. We know we are better and won’t be shooting 28 percent against you..lol. Congrats on surprising everyone thus far.
UK is currently embarrassing the Vols…