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Of course it ended that way, this game that completed the greatest regular season in the Iron Bowl of Basketball's history. Never before have Auburn and Alabama hoops flown so close to the sun for so long in tandem. Their final regularly scheduled meeting of 2025 demanded an epic, something equally heroic and haunting, a gut-check and a gut-punch all at once.
Alabama 93, Auburn 91 delivered in every way, from a forearm to the back of the neck to a floater at the bottom of the net, as if each school's first national championship in this once-forgotten sport were at stake.
Four weeks from tonight, it just may be.
In a game that meant nothing by conventional standards, both teams gave everything. It's fortunate that Auburn as the 1 seed and Alabama as the 3 won't start SEC Tournament play until Friday. It will take time to recover from this IBOB brawl for the ages.
Has a loss ever meant less in the big picture and hurt Auburn's heart more? The Tigers absorbed the dagger on Senior Day, no less, and the wound, while far from fatal, was somewhat self-inflicted. The SEC's regular-season champions, powered by a veteran roster, went down in part because their talented and versatile elder statesman, Chad Baker-Mazara, lost his head and got ejected for the final, critical 15 minutes.
Has a win ever come without a banner and lifted Alabama's soul higher? The Tide struck a pose and a nerve in its rival's sandbox, forcing the scholars in the Jungle to throw in the towels meant for celebration, not surrender. The villainous visitors, on the final leg of a brutal closing stretch, simply needed the victory more. To their credit, they went out and took it.
These bitter foes could play bigger games before the curtain drops on this unprecedented season, already with a rivalry record 51 regular-season victories and 28 conference wins between them, but they may never play a better game than Saturday's close encounter.
Read the rest of Kevin's March 10th column in the Lede.
Read the rest of Kevin's March 10th
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