After beating St. Mary's, the Alabama basketball program has 31 NCAA Tournament wins and 25 Big Dance losses. The Crimson Tide has produced several big wins, going back to 1976 and its first, a 79-64 upset of the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Alabama fans who have followed the Big Dance closely for decades also know the Crimson Tide has produced some embarrassing losses. In many of those losses, a favored, higher-seed Alabama team lost by double-digit points.
A repeat of such embarrassments will not happen to Alabama this year. BYU might beat Alabama, but the Cougars are a good team, and Alabama is only a slight favorite. A loss in an Elite Eight game and beyond would be disappointing, but nothing worse.
Seven Alabama Basketball NCAA Tournament losses are listed below. They are listed from the least embarrassing result to the most.
Alabama Basketball Huge NCAA Tournament Failures
- Mar. 18, 2022 NCAA Tournament First Round - 11-seed Notre Dame beat 6-seed Alabama 78-64. Notre Dame's sizzling three-point shooting at 62.5% was highlighted by Cormac Ryan making 7-of-9, and scoring 29 points. Alabama's offense could not keep up, hampered by Jaden Shackelford shooting 4-for-17.