🏀 🏀 Alabama vs. Duke in Elite Eight: Blue Devils end Bama's run with 85-65 victory

Men's Basketball - 2025 Men's Basketball Tournament Central

2025 Men's Basketball Tournament Central for Alabama Crimson Tide Men's Basketball

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[Secondand26]

I'm on the other side of this fence. There are 352 teams in D1 ball and Bama proved they are one of the best eight in the country. I can't see that as under-performing. If we add some of the "injury luck" to the context of this season?

Of all of those 352 teams. Bama was the one from the 2024 Final Four to go the furthest in this tournament, Not bad for a team with seniors who don't give a shit, are the stupidest players on the planet, (the absolutely fucking worst at their respective positions mind you), a coaching staff that can't make adjustments (they got out-coached like every other game), and they had the absolutely easiest schedule in the country (and according to some, the absolutely easiest path in the tournament)!!
So, looking back, it's amazing that they won anything this year! If you don't believe me, it's all written on this site.
In spite of all of that, I think they did pretty damn well.

 

[#80]

That was a great presser by CNO. How could you not want to play for him.

 

[#80]

I want to thank CNO and the team for an excellent season and a good run. We will be back.

 

[Secondand26]

Pretty good chance that 4 of our losses this season were against the national champs. Duke, UF, Aubie or Vol'n'Tears. I'm gonna have to pull for UF or Houston, not that big on Kelvin though.

I agree with you, but Piss on UF also. Guess I'll pull for Duke!

 

[50+yeartidefan]

I agree with you, but Piss on UF also. Guess I'll pull for Duke!

I will definitely watch a Florida-Duke game. What a matchup that would be.

Well. Roll Tide. Making it to final 8 is a great accomplishment.

And to the seniors. Awesome

 

[Kamikazi18627]

Add in "bracket luck". Duke was a buzzsaw and I made those comments as soon as the bracket came out. We got a raw deal there and should have been in the Florida or Houston bracket, which was much more navigable. Our opponents leading to Duke were not bad, but sitting in the Top 5 most of the year and to square up against a 3 loss team was a rough pull. Still unsure why Duke wasn't #1 overall.

I disagree about our bracket. I felt like we got a really good draw. Really, I think we were probably the “worst” or “second worst” 2nd seed. I think we got placed in the right spot.

Duke I think was actually a little under rated and I agree, probably should have been #1 overall.

 

[BamaFan334]

I disagree about our bracket. I felt like we got a really good draw. Really, I think we were probably the “worst” or “second worst” 2nd seed. I think we got placed in the right spot.

Duke I think was actually a little under rated and I agree, probably should have been #1 overall.

St. John's had a good season, but really never jumped in the polls until late in the season. Their region was far simpler than ours. Tennessee was in a good spot and should have probably sat in the St. John's spot and we move down to the Tennessee 2-seed. You say we were the weakest 2-seed, but our schedule was MUCH more difficult than the rest. Even better than Tennessee's I believe. Michigan State was slotted where they should have been, but St. John's should have been where we were, and us and Tennessee being in either of the other 2-seed spots.

 

[bamafan9201]

I think Duke played extremely well yesterday, they shot above their normal average and it couldn't have gone better for them across the board for the game.

That being said, if Bama shoots at the same clip as Duke we'd have won it yesterday. I don't get all the massive analytics or anger towards the defense and players for this loss. I think Duke played exceptionally good and we came out flat and stayed flat all game. We had multiple times where we had 2nd and 3rd chance opportunities on shots and we hit almost none of those shots. How often do we normally miss from 3 after 2 offensive rebounds in a row? That's not normal, we just had a bad shooting day and that's how this system works. If you're not hitting the shots and the other team is, then it's going to be very hard to find a win in those situations. In my opinion, an adjustment we missed would've been to drive into the paint more with the bigs and force more fouls but the Referees were letting Duke get away with a lot of contact during drives especially against our smaller guards. Made it impossible for them to get to the paint if they're being pushed away from the basket.

Chin up, guys. We had a good season, better showing in the tournament also than I even expected after the latter half of the year where we struggled with a lot of things. If you'd asked me before the year I'd have said Elite 8 would be my ceiling and anything lower than that would've been seen as not performing up to expectations. They made it, unfortunately they didn't make it to the final 4 but sometimes you gotta be hot to win it all and we went cold at a bad time.

 

[PurlJam]

Just cant pull for a Dukie. At my age a good one of those during the day = a good day.

 

[PurlJam]

Im good with Mich St. Ive always liked Izzo.

 

[Kamikazi18627]

St. John's had a good season, but really never jumped in the polls until late in the season. Their region was far simpler than ours. Tennessee was in a good spot and should have probably sat in the St. John's spot and we move down to the Tennessee 2-seed. You say we were the weakest 2-seed, but our schedule was MUCH more difficult than the rest. Even better than Tennessee's I believe. Michigan State was slotted where they should have been, but St. John's should have been where we were, and us and Tennessee being in either of the other 2-seed spots.

Nah. Tennessee was better than us this year.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Nah. Tennessee was better than us this year.

Ohhhh.... I'm not sold on that. Both were good, and it's very close, but I'd give Bama the slight edge.

 

[BamaFan334]

Nah. Tennessee was better than us this year.

By a long three at the buzzer, maybe. And that's after we managed the last minute as bad as one could.

 

[Bama Guy]

Oats pretty much just said the same, listing the accomplishments the last 3 years... and said Bama will keep knocking at the door. We ain't going anywhere.

Long as we can hold onto Oats.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Long as we can hold onto Oats.

It'll be a few years before it becomes a concern, if at all.

 

[Kamikazi18627]

Ohhhh.... I'm not sold on that. Both were good, and it's very close, but I'd give Bama the slight edge.

What better way to compare them? They beat us. I’m not saying they were way better or anything. But, the best comparison is head to head. They won. Regardless of how stupid of a way they won.


I guess in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t really matter at this point.


We both got worked over by the #1 in our brackets.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

What better way to compare them? They beat us. I’m not saying they were way better or anything. But, the best comparison is head to head. They won. Regardless of how stupid of a way they won.


I guess in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t really matter at this point.


We both got worked over by the #1 in our brackets.

I agree, sorta. I said it was close. I'm mostly basing it off watching both teams play a lot of games. Yes, the 1 head-to-head should count, but it isn't the end all be all. Plus it was at their place. Kentucky beat the Vols twice during the season and I felt the Vols were still the better team of the two... then the Vols beat them when it mattered most. IMO, Florida and auburn are both slightly ahead of Bama (especially UF).

Also agree that it doesn't matter, more of a discussion point that boils down to opinion.

 

[Kamikazi18627]

Ohhhh.... I'm not sold on that. Both were good, and it's very close, but I'd give Bama the slight edge.

What better way to compare them? They beat us. I’m not saying they were way better or anything. But, the best comparison is head to head. They won. Regardless of how stupid of a way the

I agree, sorta. I said it was close. I'm mostly basing it off watching both teams play a lot of games. Yes, the 1 head-to-head should count, but it isn't the end all be all. Plus it was at their place. Kentucky beat the Vols twice during the season and I felt the Vols were still the better team of the two... then the Vols beat them when it mattered most. IMO, Florida and auburn are both slightly ahead of Bama (especially UF).

Also agree that it doesn't matter, more of a discussion point that boils down to opinion.

man, I agree about Florida and Auburn. UF with the edge over Auburn.

 

[BamaFan334]

What better way to compare them? They beat us. I’m not saying they were way better or anything. But, the best comparison is head to head. They won. Regardless of how stupid of a way they won.


I guess in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t really matter at this point.


We both got worked over by the #1 in our brackets.

So we are just as good as Auburn by your measure? We can play with anyone except Florida. They spanked us twice.

 

[Kamikazi18627]

So we are just as good as Auburn by your measure? We can play with anyone except Florida. They spanked us twice.

I knew someone would say that.

I think Auburn is better than us too. We really are splitting hairs here though. I think Bama, UT and Auburn are all very good teams that potentially can beat the other.

UF to me is ahead of all though. I think they match up best with Duke too.