Alabama needed points in the second half against San Diego State. It needed Brandon Miller, the player at the center of everyone’s attention, the future NBA Draft pick with all the talent.

It wasn’t his night, and another postseason basketball run ended for Alabama in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

In the defining minutes of Alabama’s season, with a clear path to the Final Four in front of the Crimson Tide, Miller made one shot in that second half and finished the game with nine points. It was the difference in the game. Final score: San Diego State 71, Alabama 64. In what surely is his last collegiate game, Miller missed his last eight attempts on the court, shot 3 of 19 from the field and made 1 of 10 from 3-point range.

How will this season be remembered? If only it was as easy as Alabama missing an excellent opportunity to reach its first Final Four in school history.

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Alabama recorded its best record in school history, 31-6. The team finished first in the SEC and then won the conference tournament. That’s not what defined these last couple months, though. Was it a good season of basketball? How will it be remembered? For choices it made, that’s the question that will hang above Coleman Coliseum like a banner.

At what cost?

In this transactional era of collegiate athletics, the best players are now paid like professionals and expected to deliver. Did Alabama get what it paid for? What was the return on investment? Was it worth it?

For many, 2023 Alabama will be remembered for one thing above all else and that is the shooting death of Jamea Harris that involved players on the team. Who cares about a game, really, compared to that? A fully loaded Alabama team went out in the Sweet 16 once again, but a game of basketball will not be what chases this team and the University of Alabama into the offseason and beyond.

No, it will be a shooting on The Strip that haunts memories, and avoiding that truth would only add to the tragedy of it all.

Harris was killed on Jan.15. Basketball player Darius Miles was charged with capital murder along with friend Michael Davis. Now they await trial and other players at the scene could be used as witnesses against their former teammate.

How did the weight of all that affect a team? Probably a lot, but that’s not the question that will linger. That’s not what people will remember. That’s not what matters in the end.

At what cost? That will be Alabama’s albatross, and it is a heavy burden. Death and then significant pain could have been avoided if different decisions had been made before and then after the shooting.

Decisions have consequences, as Alabama football coach Nick Saban said earlier this week. He was talking about his own team’s problems involving drugs and a gun, but his candid wisdom underscored the importance of choice.

For Alabama basketball, there is everything before Harris’ death and everything after. It marked this team more than any win or championship ever could. How the University of Alabama reacted to that tragedy is a stain on the school. Choices were made, and they need to be questioned. No one ever wants to see a season end with a team surrounded by crisis management professionals in the locker room.

Another postseason collapse for the Crimson Tide basketball team? There have been so many. They’ll play games again next season, and the team will have another chance. Sometimes in life you only get one chance to make the right decision when it really matters, though, and for playing Miller and Jaden Bradley immediately after the shooting of Harris, the decision makers who determined that was an appropriate choice added unnecessary conflict to a tragedy.

On Feb.21, it was revealed by police in a pretrial hearing for Miles and Davis that teammate Brandon Miller transported Miles’ gun to the scene of Harris death. Bradley, police said, was at the scene, too. In addition to those details, police said that Miles texted Miller to bring him his weapon.

Why was Miller allowed to play after that courtroom revelation? His season should have ended that day, but even a suspension would have been better than nothing. One day after the hearing, Miller was playing basketball against South Carolina.

Alabama coach Nate Oats made a mess of it, too, saying Miller was just in the “wrong spot at the wrong time.” He then issued a statement apologizing for his words. The decision to play Miller wasn’t Oats’ alone, though. According to athletics director Greg Byrne, the choice to play Miller was a group decision that included the president of the university, Stuart Bell. Later, Oats also said the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees was involved.

When everyone makes a decision, is anyone really making a decision at all?

Byrne hasn’t spoken publicly except for a podcast with ESPN’s Rece Davis. Why? He can’t clear the air fast enough. Had he handled this differently perhaps this postseason would have been entirely different both on and off the court.

This was the best basketball team in the history of Alabama, talent wise, and it was overshadowed by a clear failure in leadership.

Alabama’s greatest sin in all of this? It was hubris. This all could have been handled so much differently. Without Miller, would Alabama have made the Sweet 16? With Miller on the bench for a couple games after the pretrial hearing, does Alabama invite the firestorm of scrutiny that it invited?

Alabama put basketball above people. That is how this season will be remembered. Whether that’s reality or not, that’s the perception. It was sports at all costs, and it came at a price.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama: A season of hope and the making of Nick Saban’s ‘ultimate team’”. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.