Alabama
San Diego State
Final Preparations Put in Place as Crimson Tide Holds Final Practice, Meets with Media Thursday Afternoon
3/23/2023 3:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide spent approximately 90 minutes on the KFC Yum! Center floor ahead of Friday’s contest vs. No. 5 San Diego State
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Top-seeded Alabama made its final preparations Thursday on the KFC Yum! Center floor. While there, the Crimson Tide student-athletes along with head coach Nate Oats met with national television and radio crews along with media interviews.
The No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide will take on No. 5 seed San Diego State Friday at 5:30 p.m. CT/6:30 p.m. ET on TBS.
Sweet Home Alabama at Sweet 16 practice ??#MarchMadness @AlabamaMBB pic.twitter.com/jgYBlBuRth
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 23, 2023
Friday's contest marks the second time in three years, and the ninth time in program history, that Alabama will play in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16. The Tide has advance to the Elite Eight just once over the previous eight trips (2004).
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Alabama Team Notes
- For the first time in program history, Alabama earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament
- Alabama is looking to advance to its second NCAA Tournament Elite Eight appearance with a victory over San Diego State
- The only other occurrence came in 2004 the then-No. 8 seed Crimson Tide, with the help of current assistant coach former guard Antoine Pettway, defeated No. 9 Southern Illinois, No. 1 Stanford and No. 5 Syracuse before falling to eventual national champion and second-seeded UConn in the regional final
- The Crimson Tide has reached the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 for the second time under Nate Oats and ninth time in program history
- Oats has a record of 10-3 (.769) in his 13 postseason games at the helm of the Crimson Tide
- This year marks the second time in three years that Oats has led Alabama at a No. 2 seed or higher in the tournament (No. 2 seed and Sweet 16 appearance in 2021)
- Out of the Tide's 36 contests, 20 games (14 teams) were played against teams that reached the NCAA Tournament with UA holding a 16-4 (.800) record in those contests
- Oats has a record of 4-2 in NCAA Tournament games as the head coach at Alabama and owns a 4-5 (.444) record across his five previous tournament appearances as a head coach
- Oats has guided his teams to NCAA Tournament appearances in six of the seven years the event was held during his coaching career, including each year as the Tide's head coach (tournament was cancelled in 2020 due to the worldwide pandemic)
- Alabama captured both the SEC regular season and tournament championships in the same year in two of the last three years, the first time that's happened in program history
- Alabama has won a program-record 31 wins this season, surpassing the 2001-02 team for most wins in a single season (27)
- Alabama's newcomers have scored 2,243 of UA's 2,963 points (75.7%) this season
San Diego State Team Notes
- The Aztecs are making their 15th appearance in the Division I event, owning an 8-14 all-time record
- Head coach Brian Dutcher has been on the Aztec sidelines for 19 of the program's 22 all-time tournament games and all eight of the program's victories, including his first as the program's head coach in the team's first round game last Thursday
- This is the fourth NCAA appearance for Brian Dutcher, the two-time Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year, in his six seasons as head coach with a likely appearance in the 2019-20 event, canceled because of the COVID pandemic
- San Diego State owns a 105-22 record (82.5 percent) since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. That's the third-best record in the nation, trailing Gonzaga's 119-12 (90.7 percent), and Houston's 116-21 (84.6 percent), and ahead of Baylor's 103-24 (81.7 percent) and Kansas' 111-26 (81.6 percent) records.
- San Diego State won its 21st game at Fresno State on February 15, marking the sixth straight season the Aztecs have reached that win total
- San Diego State has played in the South Regional on three occasions (2013, 2015 & 2023) and has advanced to the round of 32 in each of those appearances
- San Diego State has won 57 of last 62 games when leading at the half
