How about that season? As noted by KY, picked 12th in the B12, finished 3rd. Ended an NCAA tournament winning drought of 14 years and became part of the 4 teams that set the new record for the most Sweet 16 teams in conference history. This team won 11 of the last 13 games (losing only to two Elite 8 teams). There's no fun way to lose your last game, but that season was an absolute blast and pairing that with what we have to look forward to, I honestly can't think of any time in BYU Basketball history where we have had it better than this as fans. What a treat and so I have nothing but a huge thank you to every player and coach on this team! Thank you for representing BYU and playing your hearts out.

On the game, I thought BYU competed well and played an effective game in every area except the three point shot (both on offense and D). A good bit of our shooting woes was Alabama's defense, like Knell's blocked 3 point shot at the end of the half, for example. We also saw players taking 3 pointers that don't usually take them, which was likely a result of effective gameplanning by Alabama. Credit where credit is due there. But a lot of it was our team just having an off shooting night from 3 point land, even on the open shots we were getting that we usually hit at a much higher rate.

Obviously Alabama was feeling it from 3 point land and, while we could have absolutely done a better job covering those, they were jacking up shots from way beyond the line at very high percentages as their confidence built up over the game. We were taking what their defense was giving us by going inside to the basket and that translated into trading twos for threes all night long. Our strategy would have worked out fine if we could have hit more 3 pointers on kick-outs, but we were just flat. When Alabama shoots that well from the 3 point line and your team is having an off shooting night, all you can do is congratulate them on a game well played and say they deserved to win.

Lastly, while not a major factor in the outcome, how the crap did we get Tony Freaking Padilla as the official for our Sweet 16 match up? He is BYU Basketball's Kryptonite like Dick Bavetta was for the Jazz. Could not stand watching him allow Youngblood (who is a freakishly talented, but also a freakishly dirty player) throw cheap shot elbows at our guys all night long. The two swats at Keiba's neck before Keiba reacted should have been resulted in a double technical. I could see a tech if the official only saw the retaliation (that happens all the time), but to call a flagrant 1 after reviewing the video is a complete joke. Neither of those shots to Keiba's neck were basketball plays. Inexcusable calling that a flagrant 1. I was also not a fan of the tech on Knell after the 3 point shot considering the Alabama players were clearly talking to BYU players after many of their made 3 pointers. To be clear, there were some bad calls against Alabama too, that seemed to happen when there was a flurry of whistles in the lull midway through the second half, but every time there was a momentum changing call, it was Tony with his smug face and his way to tight uniform making a call against BYU. The B12 needs to keep that loser out of its rotation next year. He's awful and everyone knows it.