Prior to the last two NCAA Tournaments, the Sweet 16 had been a house of horrors for Alabama basketball. It felt like a glass ceiling that would never be shattered. Of course, the 2004 team put a pin prick into it in a magical run to the Elite Eight, but that was the furthest the program had ever gotten. Fast forward 20 years later and the Tide sat at 1-9 in Sweet 16 games all time.
Last season's upset of 1-seeded North Carolina in the Sweet 16 felt cathartic. The majority of Crimson Tide fans old enough to know better didn't come in with any expectations against the Tar Heels.
Because we all remembered the year before and being disappointed to be knocked out in the Sweet 16 as the No. 1 overall seed. Or the overtime loss in the same round two years before that against UCLA.
Then there was the 1987 team, perhaps the best in school history prior to Oats' arrival, that was bested by Rick Pitino's Providence Friars.
But the 2024 Crimson Tide did it. Grant Nelson put the Crimson Tide on his back down the stretch and led Alabama past North Carolina. Two days later, Mark Sears and Jarin Stevenson caught fire and the Crimson Tide rolled past Clemson and into the Final Four for the first time in program history.
On Thursday, in the midst of Alabama's 25-point victory over BYU to advance to the Elite Eight for the second straight season, and just the third time in program history, I couldn't shake a completely different feeling this year. Not catharsis or relief. Normalcy. Winning a Sweet 16 game just felt normal.
Alabama was the better team and expected to win. And they did. Being the better team hadn't mattered in the past. You could make an argument that the Crimson Tide was the better team in Sweet 16 losses in 2021 and 2023, too.
But everything has changed now under Oats. He shattered the glass ceiling last season. Against BYU, he and the Crimson Tide stomped on the remnants, ensuring the pieces can never be put back together.
Because the truth is, there's no ceiling on this program anymore. Oats has elevated it to new heights and set a new standard for Crimson Tide basketball. A standard that doesn't just hope to make the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, but a standard that expects to do damage once there and one day, if things break right, maybe be the last team standing at the end.