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Alabama's Retin Obasohan and Justin Coleman celebrate their 76-69 win over LSU on Feb. 17, 2016, at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La. (USA Today photo)
The last time it happened, Ronald Steele and Squeaky Johnson were the point guards, Mark Gottfried and Mike Anderson the head coaches.
The last time Alabama and UAB both made the NCAA Tournament in the same year, little did we know March of 2006 would be the last time in a number of ways.
Ten years later, it remains the last time the Crimson Tide won an NCAA Tournament game, beating Marquette in the first round. It was the last time Gottfried led the Tide into the tournament, ending the program's streak of five straight appearances.
It also was the last time Anderson coached the Blazers, losing to Kentucky in the first round, then leaving for Missouri.
Alabama has returned to the Big Dance just once in the ensuing decade in 2012. UAB's been back twice in 2011 and 2015.
The good news is, there's a good chance both of them will get to celebrate next month.
It's hard to put an exact number on this kind of thing, but it looks like Alabama and UAB are about three victories each away from turning Selection Sunday into a party in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham.
After beating LSU 76-69 Wednesday night in Baton Rouge, Alabama is 16-9 overall, 7-6 and firmly on the right side of the NCAA bubble. Jerry Palm of CBSsports.com this morning projects the Tide as a No. 8 seed. ESPN's Joe Lunardi sees Alabama as a No. 12 seed playing in the First Four in Dayton.
That rather large disparity means this team's work isn't done. Holding serve at home against Mississippi State, Arkansas and Auburn could be enough to punch a ticket into the bracket. Adding a road win at Georgia would be icing. Beating Kentucky in Lexington would be the entire dessert cart.
At this point, you can't count out Retin Obasohan and friends in any game. LSU's Ben Simmons may have clinched SEC player of the year in a lot of minds, but Obasohan may be the league's true MVP. With Simmons missing free throw after free throw, Obasohan took over the LSU game Wednesday with his career-high 35 points.
He was simply unstoppable.
UAB's path to the postseason is clearer but perhaps more precarious than Alabama's. A strong record (21-5 overall, 11-2 and first place in C-USA) is offset by a terrible strength of schedule of 299, resulting in a low RPI of 95.
According to ESPN.com, UAB has played just one game against a current top-100 RPI team, beating No. 76 Middle Tennessee 78-67 on Jan. 3 in Bartow Arena. MTSU is one game behind the Blazers in the conference, and they'll play a rematch with first place on the line Sunday in Murfreesboro.
The numbers mean the Blazers have virtually no shot at an at-large bid so they'll have to travel the same road as last season. Win three games in three days at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham to win the Conference USA Tournament and the automatic bid that goes with it.
Unlike last year, Jerod Haase and company are expected to cut down those nets. Lunardi has UAB as a No. 15 seed as the conference champ in a one-bid C-USA. Palm projects the Blazers as a No. 14 seed, the same spot from which they launched their upset of Iowa State in last year's NCAA Tournament.
There's still work to be done for both of them, but give Haase and UAB and Avery Johnson and Alabama credit. They've put themselves in position to go dancing.
As basketball fans in this state know all too well, that doesn't happen around here every year.