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NEWARK, N.J. — After a record-shattering Sweet 16, Alabama basketball fell flat in the Elite Eight.
Three NCAA Tournament wins made it easy to forget the sins that cursed the Crimson Tide before the program’s fifth consecutive March Madness run began. However, it was only a couple weeks ago that the returning Final Four team didn’t play well down the stretch through the SEC Tournament. That was the version of Alabama (28-9) that showed up for the East Region championship.
No. 1 seed Duke crushed the Crimson Tide 85-65 on Saturday at Prudential Center, and in the words of Blue Devils guard Sion James, it was “by committee.” To coach Jon Scheyer, the keys were not taking “the bait” of getting spread out and his guys not being “spooked” by the 25 3-pointers that took place in Alabama’s win over BYU.
For folks who have been following the Crimson Tide since the season opener in October, Saturday was another case of Alabama beating itself because it didn’t adjust to the pressure, and by the time coaching staff made the changes to try, it was too late.
“They kept playing hard,” Oats said of his team. “Just Duke was good.”
“We were switching a lot. Especially in the second half,” James said.
Just as much as guards Tyrese Proctor or James, 7-foot-2 freshman Khaman Maluach was locked on All-American Mark Sears. Showing the fifth-year senior bodies on bodies saw Sears finish 2-for-12 with six points with a team-high six assists that were dulled by five turnovers of 11 total for Alabama.
Alabama basketball crumbled to Duke: Breaking down how the Tide missed a return ticket to the Final Four
“The big thing for him was just making sure that whoever was guarding the ball knew they weren’t on an island by themselves, and making sure Sears knew that he wasn’t on an island with our big,…
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Publish date : 2025-03-30 05:46:00
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