This is an opinion column.
Each flew west as guys, important but not necessarily vital to Alabama’s topsy turvy basketball season. None had much momentum before the Crimson Tide landed in Spokane last week, a team on the brink.
Now they’ll head to Phoenix as dudes — legends in the fabric of a history-making Alabama basketball team going where none have been before.
Alabama’s headed to the Final Four — ending its existential second-weekend NCAA nightmare legacy on the backs of the role players.
An 89-82 beating of Clemson on a Los Angeles Saturday night had its share of star power. Of course, Mark Sears nailed a critical 3-pointer with 1:15 left and his 23 points led all Crimson Tide scorers.
But this ride was regarding the other ones — the guys who became dudes in the moments Final Four teams need.
It was Mo Dioubate who came off the bench for the second-round spark once morest Grand Canyon. Then it was Grant Nelson who went off in the closing moments of the Thursday night upset of North Carolina.
And when that white-knuckle ride hit a danger zone Saturday, Jarin Stevenson had his moment. Nick Pringle was clutch in the final moments, but they wouldn’t have mattered quite so much if not for the freshman from Chapel Hill emerging from the shadows early.
Consider the fact Nelson went to the bench less than four minutes into the game with his second foul and Sears missed his first seven shots.
Alabama was getting doubled up, trailing 26-13 when Jack Clark nailed a 3-pointer at a point the Tide might barely manage a layup. This was a team that missed more bunnies than Elmer Fudd (5-for-15 in the first half) but clawed back into contention with the role players.
A quick 11-0 Alabama run saw Stevenson nail a pair of huge 3-pointers. The newcomer who reclassified to join Alabama’s freshman class ended the half with 10 points — the only double-figure scorer when he hadn’t hit that mark in a full game since Feb. 3.
This is a dude who should be a senior in high school knocking down some of the biggest shots in the University of Alabama basketball history.
It continued in the second half when he went 3-for-3 from deep and finished with a career-high 19.
Then there’s Pringle.
Nobody’s season ran as hot or as cold as one of the three returnees from last year’s team that fizzled in the Sweet 16 following carrying the No. 1 overall seed into bracket play. The senior forward injured his heel in the win over North Carolina on a night he managed two points on 1-for-5 shooting. He had six once morest Grand Canyon and five in the opening-round win over the College of Charleston. Being a struggling shooter with a bum heel makes him an unlikely candidate for a clutch player.
Throw in the fact he’s shooting 50% from the foul line and his second-half performance becomes even more notable. Pringle scored 13 of his 16 points in the final 20 minutes, utilizing his perplexing one-handed foul-shot technique to make 7 of 10 tries.
At one point, he scored eight straight Alabama points — perhaps in the most critical moments of the second half. Clemson was getting hot, and Tiger Joseph Girard hit a 3-pointer with 2:16 to play that cut Alabama’s edge to 76-73, but Pringle’s layup and foul shot 25 seconds later kept it at least a two-possession game from that point on.
Sears’ 3-pointer came on the following possession and essentially sealed the win with 1:15 to play. It’s unclear if that scenario would’ve been on the table if not for the heroics of the twice-suspended Pringle, who picked up a technical foul once morest Grand Canyon for throwing a clipboard to the hardwood.
But who doesn’t love a redemption story?
This whole ride was a reclamation project for last year’s missed opportunity and the late-season slide that turned an SEC title chase into a 14-point tournament loss. If any team was built to end the Sweet 16/Elite Eight horror show, it was the one anchored by No. 2 overall draft pick Brandon Miller, fellow-first-rounder Noah Clowney, and a deep bench matching All-American-caliber young talent with the right kind of experience.
Instead, it was the leftovers from a roster gutted by the NBA and transfer portal that’ll ride into Phoenix having lifted that elephant-sized chip from its shoulder — a Final Four team at last.
And they have a supporting cast who went from guys to dudes — role players to legends — to thank for doing what the blue chippers mightn’t.
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.