“Alabama won’t guard well enough to win 4 games in a row in March.”

“Mid-major stars don’t often translate in high level, Power 6 basketball.”

“It’s been a great run, but North Carolina is a terrible matchup for Alabama.”

“If last year’s Alabama team couldn’t get past the Sweet 16 with a lottery pick and a No. 1 overall seed, why would this one?”

These are all quotes made about Alabama basketball since March 1 by various media members, including former players and coaches turned analysts.

The Crimson Tide heard them all on their way to the program’s first Final Four, where they will play in Phoenix on Saturday night after rallying to defeat North Carolina and Clemson in Los Angeles over the weekend.

The Crimson Tide will face more skeptics on Saturday night when they face No. 1 overall seed and defending champion UConn in the Final Four. The Huskies have obliterated every opponent in their path on their way to Phoenix, and were promptly installed as 11.5-point favorites over Alabama, via DraftKings Sportsbook.

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UConn is tremendous, and the Huskies deserve their flowers.

But don’t let the spread fool you.

Alabama can win the game.

The Tide will be the best offensive team UConn has played all season. They’ll have the most complete backcourt, led by All-American Mark Sears, that UConn has played all season. And they’ll get a version of Alabama motivated and spurred on by all the people fixated on what the Tide don’t do well, instead of how they have propelled a program to its first Final Four.

“Honestly, we just kind of used it all as fuel,” Alabama senior guard Aaron Estrada told the media following the Crimson Tide’s win over West Region No. 1 seed North Carolina in the Sweet 16. “We just have to go and play as hard as we can. The fact that people think we can’t defend, or we don’t have the star power the blue-bloods have, or whatever else, we hear it, but we just use it and play as hard as we can.”

Was there merit to some of the criticism? Of course.

Alabama entered the NCAA Tournament with a defensive efficiency ranking of 114th in the country, a clear deficiency on a team that boasts one of the 10 most efficient offenses in college basketball over the past decade, per KenPom.

Before the Sweet 16, Nate Oats used the media for what felt like the hundredth time this season to call out his defense, but with one caveat. The Crimson Tide had just played their best defensive game of the season, in his mind, suffocating a 30-win Grand Canyon team in a 72-61 win where the Antelopes shot just 10% from beyond the arc on 20 attempts.

“We have to defend better, that’s no secret,” Oats told the assembled media in Los Angeles. “Our defense, to get to the Final Four, will have to be a lot better than it was most of the season. We had our best defensive game yet against Grand Canyon. Our offense in that game was not good. We won because we guarded. We better to that again starting Thursday night against North Carolina.”

The Crimson Tide weren’t perfect against North Carolina, but after allowing the Tar Heels to explode for 54 first-half points, Alabama held Carolina to just 33 points on 26% shooting in the second half. The Crimson Tide also harassed and harangued North Carolina All-American guard RJ Davis all night, using Rylan Griffin and Estrada to chase him around screens, play physical on him well beyond the arc, and force him to his less preferred right side consistently. Davis shot a season-worst 4-20 from the field (0-for-9 from distance) and Alabama won by 2 points.

When Alabama guards just a little bit, they can beat anyone, even UConn.

It starts with elite offense.

Entering the NCAA Tournament, Alabama’s offensive efficiency rating of 126 ranked 7th overall among college teams in the past 10 years. All 6 of the other teams with efficiency ratings as high as Alabama made the Final Four, including Purdue and UConn, the only two teams ahead of the Crimson Tide in offensive efficiency this season.

It starts with Oats and his scheme, which commands players to find shots at the basket or 3-pointers and does so by spacing the floor for drivers and cutters better than any team in the sport.

The production side of the Crimson Tide’s elite offense is led by Sears, who commands help with his explosive first step and ability to get into the paint as a driver and stretches defenses thanks to his stupendous range, which he displayed in the Elite 8 against Clemson, where he made 7 3-pointers, including 3 of 23.5 feet or more in distance, per Synergy.

Sears grades out as 1 of the best 3 players in the sport, per Bart Torvik’s “Players Above Replacement” metric, behind only Purdue’s Zach Edey and Illinois guard Terrence Shannon Jr. Sears scores a 6.5 in the PAR stat, which similar to the “WAR” statistic in MLB, measures the value of an individual player when on the field as opposed to the production of a typical player that could replace him.

“He’s the guy that makes them go and makes everything they do in that offensive possible, from how they space the floor to how they get points off late cutting action to why they hit so many corner threes that are open,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said before the Sweet 16.

He’s right, but it doesn’t stop with Sears. Alabama’s “other guards,” especially Aaron Estrada and Rylan Griffen, can fill it up, too.

Estrada, who like Sears transferred to the SEC from a mid-major (Hofstra), was instrumental in Alabama’s win over the Tar Heels, pouring in 19 points on consistently difficult finishes to drives.

Estrada also picked up his defense against the Heels, landing the RJ Davis assignment when Griffen was off the floor and picking up 2 steals, which created 4 transition points for the Crimson Tide in a game Alabama won by 1 basket. Estrada is the type of physical guard who, standing alone, can wear on an opponent. Together, Estrada and Sears draw 8.5 fouls per game, the 2nd-highest total for a backcourt combination in the country this season, behind only Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. and Zyon Pullin. If UConn has a weakness, it might be that they can be a bit foul prone (201st in the country in fouls per 40 minutes). For the first time in the NCAA Tournament, UConn will face a team with multiple guards who can pressure a defense into fouls inside.

Griffen is the X-Factor of the group.

A top-50 overall recruit and the son of a doctor, Griffen is a tireless worker and dogged defender who exerts immense energy chasing the opponent’s best perimeter scorer on most nights. Like most freshmen, he’s a work in progress in some respects offensively, but he’s as pure a shooter as the Crimson Tide have unless Latrell Wrightsell, a bomber who missed the second weekend due to injury, returns. Griffen is shooting 39% on high volume (184 attempts) from deep this season, and when he makes shots, as he did in the Elite 8, Alabama becomes virtually impossible to guard.

UConn has not faced a backcourt as diverse or complementary all season, and if Wrightsell (44% 3-point shooter) plays, that group becomes even better.

Is it possible UConn simply overwhelms the Crimson Tide, as they’ve done to every opponent in their path over the past 2 NCAA Tournaments? Absolutely. But styles make fights in the NCAA Tournament, and Alabama’s backcourt makes this fight fascinating.

In other words, keep doubting Alabama at your own risk.

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