"A little bit too late" was the way coach Mark Gottfried described Alabama's resurgence at the end of the season. It allowed the Tide to finish with a winning record, albeit only 17-16, for the eighth consecutive season.

That wasn't good enough to get the Tide into the postseason, but it does give the team some hope for 2008-09.

The Tide closed the regular season with an overtime victory over NCAA-bound Vanderbilt and beat Florida handily to open the SEC tournament. The Tide then took Western division winner Mississippi State to overtime before losing in the tourney quarterfinals.

Gottfried looked at the positives for the Tide after that finish.

"We beat Arkansas, beat Vandy, beat Florida," he said, ticking off the late wins. "I thought down at LSU we played great. We went down to Ole Miss and played for 39 minutes and 50 something seconds.

"I'll tell you, with our guys, I'm disappointed obviously, but I'll tell you, this group of guys, they played hard, they competed hard, they practiced hard, they were focused in mentally."

At the very least, it is something for the Tide to build on for next season. But the makeup of the roster leaves some question as to what the foundation for the 2008-09 club could be. Richard Hendrix went to the NBA and Ronald Steele, despite multiple knee surgeries, is still being counted on to contribute.

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