Alabama's tough season ends in fitting fashion

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The troubles were piling up for Alabama.<br> <br> The Crimson Tide was plagued by injuries, mistakes and foul trouble in Tuesday night&#39;s overtime loss at Massachusetts in the opening round of the National Invitation Tournament.<br> <br> ``I thought we overcame a lot,&#39;&#39; coach Mark Gottfried said in the aftermath of that 89-87 defeat. ``Ronald Steele did not play. Mykal Riley was cramping up. (Alonzo) Gee fouled out. (Richard) Hendrix fouled out.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> In some respects, it was a fitting way for Alabama (20-12) to end a troubled, and troubling, season that saw plenty of things go wrong.<br> <br> A leaner by UMass&#39;s Chris Lowe with 1.6 seconds remaining in overtime ended the Tide&#39;s season. Riley&#39;s 3-pointer as time ran out in regulation gave Alabama&#39;s season what turned out to be a brief reprieve.<br> <br> Neither the Tide nor Steele were able to approach their preseason expectations, factors that were certainly intertwined to a significant degree.<br> <br> A preseason All-America point guard, Steele&#39;s season-long struggle with knee and ankle problems kept him from even earning honorable mention honors on the Associated Press All-Southeastern Conference team.<br> <br> The effects were obvious: Alabama ranked 11th in the SEC in steals, turnover margin and assist-to-turnover margin.<br> <br> The Tide, meanwhile, fell short of making the NCAA tournament for the first time in six years, a victim of several embarrassing losses, inconsistent play and sometimes lackluster effort.<br> <br> In fact, Alabama went from a No. 4 national ranking in December to a No. 5 NIT seed some three months later.<br> <br> The good news for Alabama is the team is only scheduled to lose one key player, Jermareo Davidson. Davidson also had an up-and-down season while enduring the deaths of his brother and girlfriend.<br> <br> The other four starters return, barring early exits. Hendrix proved to be a dominant force inside as a sophomore, averaging team-highs in points (14.6) and rebounds (18.7) while leading the SEC in field goal percent in league games.<br> <br> Gottfried added three signees in the fall, point guard Rico Picket, power forward Justin Knox and shooting guard Senario Hillman.<br> <br> Some encouraging signs also came late in the season that didn&#39;t necessarily translate into wins. Riley scored 24 points he also had six turnovers and Brandon Hollinger had a career-high 19 while subbing for the sidelined Steele against UMass.<br> <br> Plus, freshmen Mikhail Torrance, Demetrius Jemison and Justin Tubbs built some experience, especially late in the season.<br> <br> They played a combined 62 minutes in the finale.<br> <br> But none of that was enough to keep the Tide from losing its final three games and seven of the last 12.<br> <br> ``We&#39;ve got to learn from this,&#39;&#39; Gottfried said. ``We did some good things, but we need to learn from them and make sure that next year, we aren&#39;t in this situation, playing in the NIT.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Information from: The Tuscaloosa News, http://www.tuscaloosanews.com