Nate Oats was disappointed in his Alabama basketball team in the aftermath of a 104-82 blowout loss to Florida in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament. The Crimson Tide trailed by just two at halftime but where thoroughly outplayed in the second half en route to a 22-point loss that ended their hopes of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

It looked like Alabama had potentially turned the corner on the defensive end and with consistent energy and effort as they knocked off No. 1 Auburn on the road to close the regular season and then dominated Kentucky 99-70 to open the SEC Tournament on Friday.

But for the second time in 10 days, Alabama was humbled by an elite Florida squad that looks like a national title contender. The Crimson Tide certainly has enough talent to make a deep run, too, but inconsistent effort, particularly on the defensive end, has led to too many head-scratching moments for this team to be fully trustworthy heading into March Madness.

Nate Oats sent a stern and clear message to his team in the aftermath of the loss to Florida. A message that puts this team’s floor demonstrably lower than anyone associated with the program wants to believe:

“Our players are going to have to really determine how bad they want to make a run because it’s truly player-led more than anything,” said Oats. “With the effort and the toughness I saw the second half tonight, that’s not going to get us very far.”

“It may not get us out of the first round, to be honest with you.”

What has to happen for Alabama to make an NCAA Tournament run

Sometimes you run into a better team in college basketball. That’s what happened last year in the Final Four against UConn. The Huskies were the best team in college basketball and despite tremendous effort from the Crimson Tide, they didn’t have enough to get it done.

I tend to believe that Saturday’s game had more to do with Florida than it did Alabama, but Oats has his hand on the pulse of this team better than I possibly could. The defensive effort certainly wasn’t Alabama’s best of the season, but Florida is an elite offensive team and when their guards play to that level, I’m not sure they’re beatable.

First and foremost, Alabama needs a healthy Grant Nelson in the NCAA Tournament to make a run. Nelson went out of the game with 3:40 to play in the first half and never returned. Alabama led by one point when Nelson went out and was outscored 63-40 from there.

Alabama has to get more from its lead guards moving forward, too. This team won’t go far if Mark Sears stays in the shooting slump he’s been in the last four games. Sears is 4-of-26 in the last four games and is missing wide open looks you would expect to be easy makes for a player of his caliber.

It didn’t help that he got little help from starting backcourt mate Labaron Philon. Philon was terrific in the win over Kentucky and then shot 1-of-9 against Florida on his way to just three points. Aden Holloway saw some shots fall late, but he was a non-factor while the game was still in doubt.

Alabama has to get more out of those three to have a shot at getting back to the Final Four. The Tide should rather easily handle a 15-seed in the first round, but there are plenty of landmines awaiting in the 7-10 range of seeding that are absolutely good enough to beat Alabama if they take it for granted.

“I think we’re close to being an elite team that can make another Final Four run,” Oats said. “I don’t know how many times we can play somebody, and basically the loss is because we didn’t play hard enough. That’s frustrating.”