This is an opinion column.

For about 32 minutes Saturday night, Alabama went hoof to hoof with college basketball’s most seasoned thoroughbreds.

Early in the second half, it devolved into a few turns of bloody knuckles — trading blows in this obscene theatre in the round.

It was quite a show for all 74,720 stacked to the roofline of State Farm Stadium, a football stadium by trade that hosted Alabama’s fourth of six Nick Saban national title wins. That classic with Clemson required practically every second of the 60 minutes that January night on the turf.

UConn needed about 33 to reach its peak form on a night Alabama showed it belongs at the table — just has room to prove it belongs at the head of it.

An 86-72 beating in its inaugural Final Four visit didn’t necessarily reflect the totality of the effort while offering hints at the gap between good and great.

While Alabama stuck with this machine of a UConn roster, it took a tip-in 18.7 seconds left to avoid a season-low scoring tot.

You see, it takes a very specific set of circumstances to topple this beast. Conference foes Seton Hall and Creighton bullied the bully for stunningly lopsided wins over the defending national champs.

Alabama could only replicate part of that formula for a portion of the night.

First, it takes lights out shooting. Alabama had that for the first 25 minutes against the Huskies as it drained 9 of its first 12 deep balls. Aaron Estrada’s 3 with 18:27 to play was the high-water mark from the perimeter when cutting the Huskie lead to 48-43.

Making just 1 of the next 9 was part of the problem.

The fact Alabama took just 23 total 3s was the other. That was 13 fewer than the attempt total in the Elite Eight win over Clemson, its fifth fewest of the season and seven below the season average.

Goodman: Historic run for Alabama signals greatness ahead

Where Mark Sears made 7 of 14 from the perimeter against Clemson, he didn’t get one off until the final minute of the first half against UConn. He finished 3-for-6 with a game-high 24 points but the point is UConn’s defense is unlike anything Alabama’s seen.

The Huskie defense was built to run Alabama off the 3-point line and it was clearly effective.

Still, those bloody knuckle rounds alternated hope with reality for an Alabama team that kept pushing that boulder close to the cliff’s edge. The Sisyphean effort just never rounded that corner.

A 7-0 Alabama run cut UConn’s edge to 48-47 before the champs slapped back with a 7-0 spurt of its own.

Another 7-0 response from Alabama had it 55-54 with 13:27 to play before UConn scored the next eight.

The Tide wouldn’t score more than three consecutive points the rest of the way.

Another key for UConn’s previous conquerors was creating havoc and turnovers for the Husky offense. That never happened Saturday.

In fact, UConn committed a season-low four turnovers — also the fewest of any Alabama opponent this year. The Huskies had 16 in the 75-60 loss to eventual-NIT champ Seton Hall. The Tide’s two steals equaled a season low.

“Like Danny (Hurley) says, they’re close to being bulletproof,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “When you’re that great on both sides of the ball, you out-rebound teams, the official box score had us down for zero fast break points. The first time all year that that’s happened to us.”

Troubling, yes. But Alabama’s never seen a team that rivals the efficiency of the Mercedes assembly line just up the interstate from the UA campus.

The difference between good and great.

Managing UConn’s 7-foot-2 game-changer Donovan Clingan was another must. Foul trouble plagued him against Creighton while an ankle injury sidelined him at Seton Hall.

Well, the big fella blocked shots on two of the first four possessions but he didn’t take a shot in the first 10 minutes. He finished with 18 points as UConn outscored the challengers 38-26 in the paint with seven dunks to Alabama’s one.

“Some teams aren’t able to maintain the level we play at for 40 minutes,” Clingan said at his locker Saturday night. “For 40 minutes, we have to break them. Just keep attacking them. They’ll break. They’ll start arguing with each other and we can’t take our foot off the gas.”

They didn’t.

After Alabama last tied it at 56 with 12:41 to play, UConn outscored Alabama 30-16.

“I wish we played more to our standard with blue-collar basketball,” Tide forward Nick Pringle said in a somber Alabama locker room. “I wish I would have played a little tougher. They executed a lot off our mistakes. I felt we were very locked in pregame. But we let some details slip. That hurt us in the moment.”

And showed the difference between a Final Four qualifier and a team in a position to become the sport’s first back-to-back champion in two decades.

The difference between good and great.

For a majority of the night, Alabama competed with the best team in the sport.

It didn’t back down.

The Crimson Tide never got punked like Illinois, a fellow 4-seed that surrendered an embarrassing 30-0 scoring run in the Elite Eight.

UConn’s just in another class. No shame in that.

So while Alabama made program history playing in its first Final Four, it also saw the aspirational standard first hand.

And the difference between 32 good minutes and 40 superior ones.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.