Flew up to see them play UNC in Charlotte with one of my best friends, we were freshmen in Hume together for the second of the b2b championships. We both agreed we were Final Four good after that one, with a shot to win it all. When Micah later took off his redshirt, we agreed that would put us over the top to win the whole thing.
The Kentucky game for me as well, even in a loss, it was observable this this team checked multiple boxes (except free throw shooting, that night and other nights) that it was a championship caliber team
Georgia on the road. Making an enormous comeback and barely losing to a future hall of fame coach sealed the deal for me.
Beating up on the Vols at home, Auburn away just confirmed we were going to be tough for anyone to beat!
Define "special". I thoroughly enjoyed the pre-conference games and thought we were going to get to the Sweet 16. And then I thought anything can happen in the Tourney after that. I consider that a win in my book. But then, we played #1 Auburn at their home and all indications were that they saw it as a statement game, including their fans. The game wasn't really close. That was the time when I said "wow" like I said after the Elite 8 game (we played a frantic Villanova team two days after we played a plodding and slogging Georgetown team and barely won) in our first NC season. Bama at the end, on their Senior night and the supposed best PG in the nation, was another game that said "yep, this is going to be a championship team." I really did not picture the way they ended up winning their tournament games, but they were wins. They do it in a variety of ways. Too many moving parts to figure out what is the secret sauce. Just know that it looks good in a Gator uniform.
This is a good question, and I had a way to research it for my personal answer. I went back to see when I decided I had to get back on these boards after a long absence. It was right after the Tennessee game. So that's it for me. That's when I knew this was a group that was worth discussing with this knowledgable crew.
Auburn. I expected a 2nd weekend tournament appearance when the roster was finalized with Klav if all went to plan, but it was Auburn I realized things went better than planned. What an awesome historic season.
Special as in win the NCAA tournament special? Probably the Alabama game in the SEC tournament. I incrementally believed we could be special throughout the season, but that game solidified it for me.