Alabama Basketball: 3 things the Tide should worry about against Duke

Wow.

If anyone truly saw Alabama’s record-setting 3-point barrage coming against BYU – a performance that saw the Crimson Tide set an NCAA Tournament record with 25 made 3s on a record 51 attempts – they should have taken it to their bookie. Because for as much as Alabama’s potent offense has been on display all season, never was it more apparent than the Tide’s 113-88 blowout of BYU on Friday night.

NCAA Tournament games are supposed to get harder as the bracket narrows, but the Tide have instead looked better each time out: struggling for 40 minutes to overcome 15-seed Robert Morris, looking good in spurts against No. 7 seed Saint Mary’s in the second round, and then handing BYU an epic loss in the Sweet 16.

At that trajectory, the Blue Devils will definitely have their hands full Saturday night at the Prudential Center in Newark. The top seed in the East Region, Duke has issued blowouts to Mount St. Mary’s and Baylor before dismissing 4-seed Arizona in the Sweet 16 right after Alabama’s domination.

So what will it take for the Crimson Tide to get past Duke and into their second-consecutive Final Four? Here are 3 keys to an Alabama victory:

1. Try to contain Cooper Flagg

Easier said than done, right?

A finalist for Naismith Player of the Year, Flagg has been electrifying all season as a freshman. He is projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft – if he departs Duke and doesn’t return to Durham for NIL riches – and has been a bona fide headache all season.

Flagg averaged 21.2 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 20 ACC games, and after missing much of the ACC Tournament with a sprained ankle, has picked up pretty much where he left off in March Madness.

Flagg’s effort against Arizona was sensational – including a logo 3 at the first-half buzzer, a no-look alley oop pass and a huge block into the Arizona cheerleaders – en route to 30 points. He added 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks, and the Blue Devils needed every inch of it to overcome the Wildcats 100-93.

“That’s one of the best tournament performances I’ve ever coached or been a part of,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said afterward.

2. High screens for Mark Sears

So much for Sears having a pedestrian NCAA Tournament. The consensus All-American guard scored 19 of his 22 points against Robert Morris in the second half and had just 12 while contending with foul trouble against Saint Mary’s. But it was an entirely different story against BYU, as Sears dropped 34 points – making an NCAA Tournament-record 10 3-pointers.

“Over the last few games, I’ve been struggling from 3. I knew this was the perfect opportunity to let a couple go in – especially the way they were playing us in the first half,” Sears said after the game. “They were such an explosive offense, so we didn’t want to let that happen.”

BYU erred from the start against Sears, allowing him to come off high screens and fire away at will from beyond the arc to help Alabama to a 51-40 halftime advantage. And while the Cougars tightened up slightly on the perimeter in the second half against Sears, he was able to deal out 8 assists to Tide teammates eager to pop from deep.

Alabama will find a Duke team that is stingy against the 3, though, as the Blue Devils entered the weekend ranked 25th in the country in 3-point percentage defense – allowing opponents just 30.5% shooting from beyond the arc.

3. Play the game, not the uniform

Plenty a Duke opponent has fallen short thinking that they are playing not just the 5 in the blue and white but also Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, Bobby Hurley, Zion Williamson and JJ Redick.

That isn’t the way it works, of course, but there aren’t any more elite programs in college basketball than the Blue Devils – winners of 5 NCAA Tournaments and owners of an incredible 17 trips to the Final Four.

Oats’ squad earned its first Final Four berth in program history just last season, and Alabama is still in its Basketball School infancy compared to Duke – though the 2 schools have a shared football coaching legacy in Wallace Wade (1923-30 with 3 national titles at Alabama, 1931-41 and 1946-50 and a football stadium named after him at Duke).

Simply put, Alabama must not get lost in the glitz, glamour and history of lining up against Duke and just play the 5 Blue Devils in front of it.

David Wasson

An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.