Chris Stewart Sports

Officially, Ronald Steele's Alabama basketball career came to a close on January 20, 2009, with a press release from Tuscaloosa, AL.

In reality, it came to an end March 18, 2006 in San Diego, CA with a three-point shot that hit off the front rim.

Steele would play several games between then and last Sunday, when he limped his way through a five-point effort against LSU. Yet he was never really the same as he was that day in the 2nd round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament.

I have witnessed some sad conclusions to playing careers in my time as a broadcaster with the Crimson Tide Sports Network. Tyrone Prothro's was grotesque. Jeremy Hays and Chuck Davis suffered knee injuries, on almost the indentical spots on the Coleman Coliseum court, that sadly ended their Bama careers prematurely.

However, I've never really witnessed one that lingered, for basically three seasons, the way Steele's did. Few ever really thought Prothro would be able to come back from his injury.

On that afternoon at Cox Arena in San Diego, the then-sophomore just missed capping a 21-point effort with what would likely have been a game-winning trey. Instead, it was just short, and UCLA would advance all the way to the national championship game. I will never forget the sense of optimism on the team flight heading back to Tuscaloosa that night after the loss. Obviously, they were dejected that it had ended, but no one could wait for the next season to arrive. Returning to that 2006-07 squad would be starters Jermareo Davidson, Richard Hendrix, and Alonzo Gee. 

But it was the thought of Steele, a pre-season First Team AP All-American, that had many experts projecting Alabama to wind up in Atlanta in the Final Four.

Instead, Steele's knees failed him as the '07 season wore on, and the team withered around him. And we wound up freezing our fannies off in Amherst, Mass. with a first round loss in The NIT, rather that enjoying The ATL.

The following year, everything was supposed to get back to normal. However, Steele decided in September to redshirt, and that team never found an identity. And while Ron's eventual return this season brought about a few flashes of greatness, he was never quite the same - and the program hasn't been, either.

His knees now healthy, it would be plantar fasciitis - an injury even more difficult to deal with, than it is to say - that would bring his UA career to a close. 

It's been a sad story to follow, for so many reasons. Steele's bad luck over the past three years can not fully explain Alabama's poor play. It would be unfair to him, and also totally inaccurate, to place all of the team's failures on his inability to perform at the level he did as a sophomore. The issues go well beyond Ronald Steele.

Yet it is impossible to ignore that this program's failure to reach its maximum potential, has mirrored the struggles of Steele to do the same.

Ronald Steele was once a great player, and this program was once pretty good - at the very least. Now both the player, and the program, are left to wonder what might have been.