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NEWARK, N.J. — Either Duke reaches its first Final Four of the post-Mike Krzyzewski era, or Alabama makes its second Final Four in a row.
Either Cooper Flagg achieves something Zion Williamson and Jayson Tatum could not in their lone years at Duke, or Mark Sears extends an electric career in the NCAA Tournament.
Those are the stakes when top-seeded Duke and second-seeded Alabama collide in the East Region final on Saturday night.
Duke (34-3) withstood a 35-point night from Arizona’s Caleb Love and beat the Wildcats 100-93 in the Sweet 16, as Flagg put up 30 points, six boards and seven assists. The Blue Devils are sure to have their hands full again with Sears, whose Crimson Tide (28-8) took the floor first on Thursday for a record-setting 113-88 victory over BYU.
Alabama took 51 3-pointers and made 25 against the Cougars, smashing two single-game NCAA Tournament records. Sears was 10-for-16 from long range and came one triple shy of tying Jeff Fryer (1990, Loyola Marymount) for the individual tournament record.
BYU, though, gave up 3-point attempts at a high rate all season. Duke has a stronger perimeter defense, holding opponents to just 31 percent on 22.2 attempts from 3-point range this year.
“I think we have a great game plan going into the game,” Duke guard Tyrese Proctor said Friday. “And just not changing what we do. I think when we play together on the defensive end and stay connected, we’re the best defensive team in the country.”
Sears was in a cold spell at 5-for-35 shooting from outside (14.3 percent) in his six games prior to Thursday. Crimson Tide teammate Chris Youngblood explained why he was shocked to hear Sears’ recent numbers.
“All I know is when he gets the ball, the defense is collapsing on him, so it doesn’t even feel like he’s shooting 14 percent,” Youngblood said after the win. “Regardless, if he is or not, his gravity that he has on defense is something I never played with before.”
Sears now stands at 2,833 career points between his seasons at Ohio (2020-22) and Alabama (2022-25). He ranks 19th on the Division I career scoring list and is within reach of No. 18 Larry Bird at 2,850.
Sears is preparing to play his 14th career NCAA Tournament game. While Duke has a fairly young lineup, four of Alabama’s five starters — Sears, Youngblood, Grant Nelson and Clifford Omoruyi — are in their fifth season of college basketball.
On paper, Duke’s edge is on defense, where it allows 62.5 points per game (seventh in D1). Alabama plays at the fastest tempo in the country, but that contributes to allowing 81.2 points (347th) on the defensive end.
“They have one of the best rim protectors in the country in (Khaman) Maluach. … It’s hard to score on them at the rim,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “They’ve got (Kon) Knueppel, who shoots it really well, and Sion James and Proctor, who shoots it great. They’re good, got length everywhere. That’s why they’re good on defense. We’re going to have our hands full.”
Jon Scheyer, who succeeded Krzyzewski in 2022, guided the Blue Devils to the Elite Eight last year as well, where they lost to North Carolina State. A Duke win would extend the ACC’s streak to four straight years with a Final Four team.
“Frankly, every decision we’ve made since March 31 of last year was to put ourselves in this same position and have the opportunity to capitalize,” Scheyer said.
“I think the biggest thing to understand for our team and our players is you don’t have to do anything different once you’re here. You have to do it at a high level, but you don’t have to do anything different.”
Maliq Brown (dislocated left shoulder) made his first appearance since March 13 by playing four minutes off the bench while other Duke forwards dealt with foul trouble. Scheyer said Brown is “not close to” 100 percent.
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media
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