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."
