2025 NCAA Elite Eight Preview: #1 Duke vs. #2 Alabama (Saturday, 8:49 pm)

2025 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight Preview:
#1 Duke vs. #2 Alabama (Saturday, 8:49 p.m., TBS/truTV)

By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network

With three victories in the NCAA Tournament, Duke could be considered halfway to the 2025 national championship.

The challenge moving forward is that, whereas the top-seeded Blue Devils’ first three victims (Mount St. Mary’s, Baylor, Arizona) were extremely unlikely candidates to win the trophy themselves, their remaining opponents — including #2 seed Alabama on Saturday (8:49 p.m., TBS/truTV) — and potential Final Four foes all rank alongside Duke among the top contenders to cut down the nets in April.

If the Devils can get past the Crimson Tide, third-year Duke leader Jon Scheyer will make his first trip to the Final Four as a head coach. His first two Duke teams were eliminated in the Sweet 16 (2023) and the Elite Eight (2024).

Scheyer, of course, contributed to two of legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski’s five national championships. Scheyer starred for the Blue Devils as the point guard on their 2010 NCAA champions, and he was a young assistant under Coach K in 2015, when Duke captured its most recent NCAA title.

Like Baylor and Arizona, Alabama presents Duke with an intense challenge on the defensive end of the floor. Like the Wildcats, the Crimson Tide are much bigger and deeper than the Bears, and they play at a much faster pace.

Also like Baylor and Arizona, Alabama isn’t quite as strong on the defensive end of the floor. That’s something the Blue Devils, who are #1 in many offensive efficiency rankings, have been able to exploit in their first three NCAA Tournament contests, when they averaged 94 points per game.

Under sixth-year head coach Nate Oats, who took the program to its first-ever Final Four just last season, Alabama has become famous for hitting flurries of 3-pointers and playing at an absolutely frenetic pace.

Fifth-year guard Mark Sears, a two-time All-American, leads the Tide in scoring (19 ppg), assists (5 apg) and free throw shooting (85 percent), and he’s one of their many capable shooters from beyond the 3-point stripe.

In their Sweet 16 victory over BYU, the Crimson Tide converted a stunning 25 threes, which absolutely obliterated the previous NCAA Tournament record.

Among 364 Division One men’s basketball teams, the Tide plays at the fastest tempo. Along with their explosiveness from beyond the arc, that helps explain their 94 points per game average in this year’s Big Dance.

BPI/KenPom/KPI/NET Team Rankings (of 364 teams):
Alabama — 6/6/2/6
Duke — 1/1/5/1

Offensive/Defensive Efficiency Rankings (of 364 teams):
Alabama — 4/28
Duke — 1/5

2024-25 Alabama Crimson Tide
(28-8, 13-5 SEC/3rd; through March 28)

NCAA TOURNAMENT RESULTS

#2 Alabama 90, #15 Robert Morris 81
#2 Alabama 80, #7 St. Mary’s 66
#2 Alabama 113, #6 BYU 88
#2 Alabama vs. #1 Duke (winner advances to Final Four)

STARTERS (stats for entire 2024-25 season)

G Mark Sears, Gr. (6-1/190) — 2022 Ohio transfer (starter)
32 mpg, 19 ppg, 3 rpg, 41% FG, 85% FT, 35% threes, 184/94 ATO, 32 steals

G Labaron Philon, Fr. (6-4/177) — HS signee (top-50 in Class of 2024)
25 mpg, 10 ppg, 3 rpg, 45% FG, 76% FT, 31% threes, 137/62, 47 steals

G Chris Youngblood, Gr. (6-4/223) — 2024 South Florida transfer (starter)
25 mpg, 10 ppg, 2 rpg, 45% FG, 80% FT, 40% threes, 24/30 ATO, 18 steals

F Grant Nelson, Gr. (6-11/230) — 2023 NDSU transfer (2-year starter)
25 mpg, 12 ppg, 8 rpg, 52% FG, 67% FT, 26% threes, 58/66 ATO, 43 blocks, 16 steals

C Clifford Omoruyi, Gr. (6-11/250) — 2024 Rutgers transfer (3-year starter)
19 mpg, 8 ppg, 7 rpg, 74% FG, 72% FT, 0 threes, 32/28 ATO, 39 blocks, 13 steals

KEY RESERVES (stats for entire 2024-25 season)

G Aden Holloway, So. (6-1/180) — HS signee (top-25 in Class of 2023)
21 mpg, 12 ppg, 2 rpg, 47% FG, 78% FT, 42% threes, 71/44 ATO, 23 steals

F Jarin Stevenson, So. (6-11/215) — HS signee (top-100 in Class of 2023)
19 mpg, 6 ppg, 3 rpg, 43% FG, 60% FT, 31% threes, 29/30 ATO, 21 blocks, 17 steals

F Mouhamed Dioubate, So. (6-7/215) — HS signee (top-150 in Class of 2023)
16 mpg, 7 ppg 6 rpg, 63% FG, 60% FT, 48% threes, 41/39 ATO, 24 blocks, 33 steals

F Derrion Reid, Fr. (6-8/220) — HS signee (top-25 in Class of 2024)
14 mpg, 6 ppg, 3 rpg, 45% FG, 58% FT, 27% threes, 16/18 ATO, 5 blocks

F Aiden Sherrell, Fr. (6-10/240) — HS signee (top-25 in Class of 2024)
9 mpg, 3 ppg, 3 rpg, 51% FG, 46% FT, 32% threes, 13/15 ATO, 7 blocks

*—2023-24 starter (started at least 50% of Alabama’s games last season)

2024-25 Duke Blue Devils
(34-3, 19-1 ACC/1st; through March 28)

NCAA TOURNAMENT RESULTS

#1 Duke 93, #16 Mount St. Mary’s 49
#1 Duke 89, #9 Baylor 66
#1 Duke 100, #4 Arizona 93
#1 Duke vs. #2 Alabama (winner advances to Final Four)

STARTERS (stats for entire 2024-25 season)

PG Sion James, Gr. (6-6/220) — 2024 Tulane transfer (4-year starter)
26 mpg, 9 ppg, 4 rpg, 52% FG, 81% FT, 42% threes, 114/44 ATO, 10 blocks, 32 steals

G Tyrese Proctor*, Jr. (6-6/183) — HS signee (top-30 in Class of 2022)
30 mpg, 12 ppg, 3 rpg, 45% FG, 69% FT, 41% threes, 82/37 ATO, 4 blocks, 29 steals

G/F Kon Knueppel, Fr. (6-7/217) — HS signee (top-25 in Class of 2024)
30 mpg, 14 ppg, 4 rpg, 48% FG, 91% FT, 40% threes, 100/51 ATO, 6 blocks, 36 steals

G/F Cooper Flagg, Fr. (6-9/205) — HS signee (#1 in Class of 2024)
30 mpg, 19 ppg, 8 rpg, 49% FG, 83% FT, 37% threes, 148/73 ATO, 46 blocks, 50 steals

C Khaman Maluach, Fr. (7-2/250) — HS signee (top-10 in Class of 2024)
21 mpg, 9 ppg, 7 rpg, 71% FG, 76% FT, 25% threes, 17/27 ATO, 48 blocks, 6 steals

KEY RESERVES (stats for entire 2024-25 season)

F Maliq Brown, Jr. (6-9/222) — 2024 Syracuse transfer (starter)
17 mpg, 3 ppg, 4 rpg, 64% FG, 38% FT, 33% threes, 37/22 ATO, 9 blocks, 31 steals

F Mason Gillis, Gr. (6-6/225) — 2024 Purdue transfer (Big Ten 6th Man of Year)
15 mpg, 4 ppg, 3 rpg, 42% FG, 83% FT, 34% threes, 29/14 ATO, 0 blocks, 17 steals

G/F Isaiah Evans, Fr. (6-6/175) — HS signee (top-25 in Class of 2024)
14 mpg, 7 ppg, 1 rpg, 43% FG, 81% FT, 42% threes, 18/16 ATO, 3 blocks, 6 steals

G Caleb Foster, So. (6-5/202) — HS signee (top-25 in Class of 2023)
14 mpg, 5 ppg, 2 rpg, 42% FG, 67% FT, 33% threes, 50/32 ATO, 3 blocks, 23 steals

C Patrick Ngongba II, Fr. (6-11/250) — HS signee (top-30 in Class of 2024)
11 mpg, 4 ppg, 3 rpg, 72% FG, 74% FT, 0 threes, 19/7 ATO, 16 blocks, 11 steals

Departures from 2023-24: PG Jaylen Blakes (Jr./transfer/Stanford), C Kyle Filipowski* (So./early NBA entry/Utah Jazz), WG Jared McCain* (Fr./early NBA entry/Philadelphia 76ers), BF Mark Mitchell* (So./transfer/Missouri), BF TJ Power (Fr./transfer/Virginia), C Christian Reeves (r-Fr./transfer/Clemson), WG Jeremy Roach* (Sr./transfer/Baylor), WG Jaden Schutt (r-Fr./transfer/Virginia Tech), BF Sean Stewart (Fr./transfer/Ohio State), C Ryan Young (Sr.)

*—2023-24 starter (started at least 50% of Duke’s games last season)