Alabama basketball’s road to the Elite Eight no longer includes a single-digit-seeded opponent. The No. 2 seed Crimson Tide avoided an upset against No. 15 Iona on Saturday afternoon. Then utter chaos broke out in the bottom half of the East bracket.
First came an upset in the game concerning Alabama’s next opponent as No. 10 seed Maryland knocked off No. 7 seed Connecticut, 63-54. Things got even more interesting as No. 11 seed UCLA took down No. 6 seed BYU, 73-62. The madness then carried into the bracket’s final game of the night as No. 14 seed Abilene Christian held on to shock No. 3 seed Texas, 53-52.
All of a sudden, the Tide’s road to the Elite Eight looks pretty manageable — at least on paper.
Alabama (25-6) will now turn its focus to Monday when it will face Maryland (17-13) at 7:45 p.m. CT inside Indianapolis’ Bankers Life Fieldhouse which serves as the home of the Indiana Pacers. The matchup will offer a reunion for the Tide as it goes up against Galin Smith, who transferred from Alabama to Maryland this season. Smith comes off the bench for the Terrapins and is averaging 3.8 points and 2.4 rebounds while playing 14.1 minutes per game.
Maryland finished just 9-11 in the Big Ten and has not won consecutive games since February. However, the Terrapins looked formidable Saturday night as they shot 51.2 percent, including 9 of 18 from beyond the arc, while holding Connecticut to 32.3 percent from the floor.
Meanwhile, Alabama didn’t bring its A-game against Iona but was still able to survive to net its seventh straight victory. The Tide is a 6-point favorite heading into the matchup, according to VegasInsider.
“To me, they're the fifth No. 1 seed, if there are five No. 1 seeds,” Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon said of Alabama following his win against Connecticut. “They won their league and their conference tournament. That's remarkable. They've had an extraordinary year, so talented. I'll start working on it on the bus home maybe. I want to enjoy it as long as I can. And we'll start getting prepared for them tomorrow.”
If Alabama is able to get past Maryland, it will face the winner of UCLA versus Abilene Christian in the Sweet 16. A win in that game would take the Tide to the Elite Eight, the deepest it has advanced in the tournament in program history. The top half of the East bracket is all chalk as Alabama's possible Elite Eight opponents include No. 1 seed Michigan, No. 4 seed Florida State, No. 5 seed Colorado and No. 8 seed LSU.
Even before Saturday’s upsets, Alabama was a popular pick to advance to the Final Four. Auburn basketball legend Charles Barkley reluctantly picked the Tide to win the East bracket, while ESPN’s Jay Bilas also picked Alabama to knock off No. 1 seed Michigan in the Elite Eight.
Those projections appear a bit more possible at the moment. However, as Saturday night proved, there’s a lot more dancing to be done.
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