Let's talk about the B word.
Ssshhhhh!
Now's not the time, right? The B word isn't really supposed to be uttered right now, what with the 2023-24 Alabama basketball team still bouncing balls here in early April. The book on coach Nate Oats' fifth UA squad won't close for at least one more game, maybe two, and until it does, it's impossible to step back and fully assess what it's accomplished and what its place in history should be.
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The Crimson Tide has roared through March Madness for its first Final Four appearance, and is now preparing for a Saturday showdown in Glendale, Ariz., against the NCAA Tournament's No. 1 overall seed, defending national champion UConn. With that gargantuan task at hand, neither Oats nor his players have the time or inclination to deal with the B word, so they're welcome to abandon this column right here at this period: .
You and I won't take a single shot against UConn though, so we can broach the B word — best — a little early: is this the best Alabama basketball team ever? Best is an awfully big word for four letters. Awfully ambiguous, too. You'd like to think the Cambridge English dictionary would offer some help, but it's a bit nebulous as well.
Adjective: of the highest quality, to the greatest degree, in the most effective way, or being the most suitable or pleasing; superlative of good or well.
Line up five sports fans for their definition of best as it relates to judging a team against its own history, and you're sure to get five different answers. Some might define best as the most talented, and under that logic, last year's Alabama team could hardly be argued with. It featured two first-round NBA Draft picks in Brandon Miller and Noah Clowney, three quality point guards including Mark Sears, an incredibly deep bench, and won a school record 31 games. Then there's the eye-test definition — the of the beholder, that is — which is the most subjective definition of them all. This is usually the guy at the end of the bar who insists the team he saw 10, 20, or 30 years ago would beat any and all comers if it could be reconstituted for time travel to present day. He loves the phrase "recency bias," points out the defensive deficiencies of this year's UA team, and scoffs at the idea that it belongs at the top of the heap.
He might not be right, but he can't be proven wrong.
There's also the postseason-matters-most definition, under which this year's Alabama team lays claim as the best in school history by advancing further in the NCAA Tournament that any UA squad before it. Heck, the 2004 Crimson Tide was the only previous edition to make the Elite Eight, meaning this year's team has advanced at least two rounds further than all but one of its predecessors. And it's not even done yet. Of course, conference tourneys are part of the postseason too, and Alabama bowed out of the SEC Tournament in Nashville with a whimper against Florida. But since then, the Crimson Tide has made sure that a poor showing in Nashville won't be what it's remembered for. It pulled itself out of a slump and came together to play at peak performance when it mattered most, against tough competition, over four consecutive games in two cities, both more than 2,000 miles from Tuscaloosa. Its run to the Final Four has set a new bar for the program. A banner in its honor, surely, will be hung in Coleman Coliseum.
The argument here, after all, is about the best Alabama team, not the best collection of Alabama players. That means team accomplishments come first when discussing the B word. And there's never been a team accomplishment like this one in school history.
Put me on the postseason side of the debate, regardless of what happens Saturday against the seemingly invincible Huskies.
This is the B-word team Alabama's ever had.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama basketball in the Final Four? Time to talk about the B word
