Aidan Sherrell hit multiple 3-pointers in a game just three times all season entering the Elite Eight. But the 6-10 freshman canned his first two looks from beyond the arc after checking in for Cliff Omoruyi following the first media timeout. If he can draw Duke rim protector Khaman Maluach away from the basket, it could open things up for Alabama. Sherrell is just a 31.6% 3-point shooter for the season. Cooper Flagg has two early turnovers for Duke.
Duke came ready to play. The Blue Devils drilled their first three 3-pointers, with Cooper Flagg leading off the action on the game’s opening possession. Tyrese Proctor and Kon Knueppel have also hit 3s in the opening minutes as the Crimson Tide try to find their bearings. Grant Nelson has drawn the assignment of guarding Flagg for Bama, which has committed three quick turnovers.
BYU tried and failed to beat Alabama at its own game. Duke is not going to fall into that trap. The barrage of unguarded 3s that Alabama got to take in the Sweet 16 will not be there against a Duke team that has big guards who can also move laterally extremely well. Duke has allowed double-digit unguarded catch-and-shoot 3s just five times this year. Tyrese Proctor or Sion James are going to be draped on Mark Sears like white on rice from the opening tip.
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Duke forward Maliq Brown played a limited role in the Blue Devils’ Sweet 16 win over Alabama as he made his return from a shoulder injury. Here’s what coach Jon Scheyer had to say about Brown’s situation:
“Yeah, I mean, I think it speaks a lot about who Maliq is and what he’s all about. Look, he’s not 100 percent. He’s not close to it. And ideally he wouldn’t have played in last night’s game. It was more in an emergency. All of a sudden Khaman got two fouls and Pat got two fouls. I thought he did some really good things in his minutes. We’re going to have him ready to go in the next game. He’s been a key guy for us all year-round. What he does for us, he doesn’t necessarily shoot a lot, so it’s about his health and physical readiness, and he just wanted to give it a shot for us, and I think that says a lot. We want to protect him at the same time, and you’re balancing when he’s fully ready with also the time is running out for the season.
“So that’s been a balancing act for me, to be honest. It’s been something we’ve struggled with. But the fact that his mindset is to do whatever to help us win, I think is an incredible thing as a coach to have a guy that thinks that way.”
We rarely get a regional final with two teams this good on offense. Alabama hit 113 points vs. BYU in this building on Thursday; Duke ticked exactly 100 in beating Arizona. The potential for potent offense and powerful performances is palpable from a pair of programs that were ranked high in the preseason (Bama No. 2, Duke No. 7) and have stayed steady for the most part over the past four-plus months.
ROMULUS, Mich. — There is no Nate Oats Gymnasium or Nate Oats Hall of Fame. The school isn’t located on Nate Oats Parkway, and the legacy of basketball success at Romulus High School transcends Oats’ 11 years as the coach here.
But if you know where to look inside this school located just around the corner from the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, you can see the legacy Oats left behind and the footsteps of his unlikely journey to the Final Four.
Now in his sixth season leading Alabama, Oats is one of the biggest names in college basketball.
Story from last year profiling the rise of a college basketball coaching star
Alabama broke the all-time record for most 3-pointers in an NCAA Tournament game as the No. 2 seed Crimson Tide flew past No. 6 seed BYU in a record-setting 113-88 victory. Bama rang up 25 triples on 51 attempts, led by a 10 of 16 clip from star guard Mark Sears. As CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander wrote from the Prudential Center in Newark, the 3-pointers “came down like meteorites, one after another after another.” The previous record of 21 made 3-pointers set by Loyola Marymount in 1990 stood for 35 years until the Crimson Tide obliterated it with over seven minutes left.
No. 1 seed Duke has so rarely been tested by quality opposition in recent months that it was fair to wonder how the Blue Devils would respond when put in a pressure situation during the NCAA Tournament. But in a 100-93 Sweet 16 win over No. 4 seed Arizona, freshman phenom Cooper Flagg showed everyone why he’s considered a lock to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. The Wildcats mounted a second-half charge to infuse the Sweet 16 battle with some drama, but Flagg’s multi-faceted brilliance won the day. The versatile forward finished with 30 points, seven assists and six rebounds. He also blocked three shots and had a steal while bringing the Blue Devils within one victory of reaching the Final Four.
NEWARK, N.J. — What’s so glorious about sport is how frequently it gives us something that seems so rare, it feels sent from another dimension. As if it could never happen again.
What transpired at the Prudential Center on Thursday night surely applies.
Who knows how long it will take, if ever, for the world to witness something equal to or better than what the second-seeded Alabama Crimson Tide accomplished here. Nate Oats’ sniper-minded squad sank an NCAA Tournament-record 25 3-pointers against No. 6 seed BYU en route to a record-setting and program-defining 113-88 win in the East Regional semifinals.
NEWARK, N.J. — What spectacle this city took in Thursday night, a pair of regional-semifinal rarities that boosted the “wow” factor of a 2025 bracket owned by the big boys.
In absence of Cinderella, give us the scintillating.
In the early tip, Alabama put on one of the best offensive outputs this glorious NCAA Tournament has ever staged, with 25 3-pointers on 51 attempts and 113 points against BYU. The singed nets took on even more heat in the nightcap: Duke vs. Arizona. Cooper Flagg and Caleb Love. The matchup meant either Flagg (a freshman) or Love (a fifth-year senior) would walk off the floor for the final time as a college player.
