Alabama falls to Florida, is slumping heading into March Madness to raise doubts about Tide’s title chances

Alabama dropped four of its last six games entering the NCAA Tournament last season and proceeded to win four straight in the Big Dance while reaching the program’s first-ever Final Four. 

The No. 7 Crimson Tide will be hoping for a similar late-season resurrection in 2025 after suffering their fourth loss in the last six games with a 99-94 defeat against No. 5 Florida on Wednesday.

There’s no shame in falling to the Gators, who remain firmly in the hunt for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will move to the top line in Jerry Palm’s Bracketology after Tennessee’s 78-76 loss to Ole Miss sent the Vols tumbling to a No. 2 seed. But there is mounting evidence that Alabama has more vulnerabilities than it showed during a 21-3 (10-1 SEC) start.

A brutal scheduled to close the regular has laid bare the Crimson Tide’s imperfections, which were again on display against the Gators. Instead of a celebratory Senior Night sendoff for program legend Mark Sears, Alabama (23-7, 12-5) got blasted 19-10 on the offensive glass and was edged 22-10 in fast break points.

Bama, which plays with the nation’s fastest tempo, got beat at its own game and got beat to a bunch of 50-50 balls. Increasingly, it appears the defensive improvement Alabama demonstrated during stretches of this season may have been a mirage. It might just be enough to scratch the Crimson Tide off the “teams that could win it all” list.

The Gators scored 58 second-half points on Bama just two weeks after Missouri hung 110 on the Crimson Tide. Since a Feb. 15 loss to rival Auburn, Alabama ranks No. 79 nationally in defensive efficiency, per barttorvik.com. 

To be clear, a shoddy defense won’t prevent Alabama from piecing together a deep NCAA Tournament run. It certainly didn’t last season.

Even with its team 3-point shooting percentage down to 35.2% this season from 37.3% last season and senior forward Grant Nelson struggling to meet lofty expectations, Alabama still has the firepower to keep up when playing poor defense. The Crimson Tide have reached 100 points six times on six high-major opponents and won all those games. 

The problem is when defense and rebounding become an inconvenience on the path to another offensive possession. if the Crimson Tide truly aspire to cut down the nets on April 7 in San Antonio, they must begin guarding better. 

They are good — even great offensively much of the time — but not otherworldly elite enough to overcome average defensive effort against elite opposition. 

Against Florida, the culprit was transition defense and rebounding. In a 79-76 loss at Tennessee on Saturday, it was shoddy late-game execution.

In the Missouri loss, the problem was that Alabama couldn’t stop a nosebleed as the Tigers shot a whopping 60.3%. When the Crimson Tide fell to rival Auburn in a highly anticipated No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown, the Crimson Tide couldn’t buy a 3-pointer (5 of 26 from deep).

Defense is the biggest problem, but it isn’t the only problem. The Crimson Tide have dealt with some general slop over the past few weeks.

A year ago, a change in scenery did wonders for the Crimson Tide. Once deposited into the NCAA Tournament and away from the grind of SEC competition, Alabama found its stride again.

Alabama will have to hope history repeats itself. But trying to find the “on” switch in March is a dangerous game to play, and things could get worse before they get better. 

Up next is a rematch with No. 1 Auburn.

The Tigers won the first meeting by nine on the road and will be plenty motivated to complete the sweep on their Senior Day. If there’s ever a time for Alabama to channel the best version of itself, Saturday is it.

“I would anticipate us being a lot better Saturday at Auburn,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said.

Whether the Crimson Tide are truly better against the Tigers will be insightful, because the pencil is turned upside down with the eraser pointed towards the paper. 

After the way the past six games have gone for Alabama, it’s going to take something special for the Crimson Tide to retain their place on the “teams that could win it all” list.