There’s no need to wait until this weekend’s Final Four to identify the place in history this Alabama basketball team should occupy. Regardless of what happens against juggernaut Connecticut Saturday night in Arizona, this is the best postseason run in Tide history. It’s also the best season in program history. Postseason results are obviously a major part of these rankings, but we aren’t going to let a winning streak of two or three games overshadow the accomplishments of a complete season. So, with regular season and postseason results in mind, this edition of Sensational Sports Sevens ranks the best basketball teams in Crimson Tide history.

Let’s get to the rankings.

7. The slipper fits in 2002: Antoine Pettway, wearing his famous ruby red sneakers, delivered Alabama the 2002 SEC championship with a dramatic home win over Florida. It was the Tide’s first conference championship in 15 years. Behind leading scorer Erwin Dudley, Alabama finished the season with a 27-8 record and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Alabama beat Florida Atlantic before being upset by Kent State.

6. Historic run to the Elite Eight in 2004: There were no signs that the 2004 team coached by Mark Gottfried was going to make a postseason run. The team finished 8-8 in SEC play and lost in the second round of the conference tournament. But they got hot in the NCAA Tournament, beating No. 1 seed Stanford and defending national champion Syracuse to reach the Elite Eight for the first time in school history. Ironically, the magic run came to an end against Connecticut in Phoenix.

5. The best game against the best team in 1976: No team has gone undefeated in college basketball since the Indiana Hoosiers accomplished the feat 48 years ago. Legendary coach Bobby Knight famously said that the closest his team came to losing was in the NCAA Tournament against Alabama. Led by Leon Douglas, the Tide went 23-5 and won the SEC championship before beating No. 3 North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament. The loss to Indiana came down to a controversial late foul call against Douglas.