This is an opinion column.
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Bring on Duke.
Bring on the great Cooper Flagg, the Showtime Lakers and the Harlem Globetrotters, too.
Bring on the world.
No one’s stopping a team that makes 25 3-pointers in a game.
Not Duke, not Tennessee, not Florida, not Auburn and not even the 1992 Dream Team.
Alabama burned the record books to ash and dust on Thursday night with its 113-88 victory against BYU. The Tide got hot in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, and carried that energy to the Final Four. It’s happening again only this time Alabama went supernova.
Five and 20 3-pointers? What’s there to even say?
Just stand there and clap and thank Mark Sears and the Crimson Tide for making history.
It’s your turn, Auburn. Don’t mess this up.
Don’t blow it on Friday against Michigan.
Alabama is through to the Elite 8. The Tide is one win away from back-to-back trips to the Final Four. I have to wonder how Alabama’s performance on a Thursday night in the NCAA Tournament will affect rival Auburn over on the opposite side of the bracket. We already know that at least one Auburn player is rooting against Alabama in this tournament.
Not me, though. I want to see history, Alabama and Auburn in the Final Four and then the national championship game.
Will Auburn match Alabama’s greatness or at least be inspired by it? The Tigers are the tournament’s No.1 overall seed, but after 25 dazzling 3-pointers, the Crimson Tide is now the star of March Madness.
Take a bow. Take a nap. Take a minute to reflect on greatness.
Where were you when Alabama set the NCAA Tournament record for 3-pointers in a game? Some you never forget and some transcend time and space so completely that we remember every last detail, a performance so magnificent it becomes imprinted in our collective consciousness like a first trip to Disney World.
Alabama basketball will live on Splash Mountain for a long time after that one.
Where were you when Alabama dropped 25 3-pointers at Prudential Center? I watched Alabama’s history turn here in Atlanta at the media hotel ahead of Auburn’s Sweet 16 game against Michigan. BYU was actually pretty good. It’s just that the Crimson Tide was playing a different game.
Alabama was sitting on 21 3-pointers when I went up to my room to write this column. In the time it took me to ride the elevator up to the 29th floor and flip on the TV, Alabama had somehow made three or four more triples.
The refs actually took one away after a review, but then Alabama made another in the final seconds to mint its shiny, one-of-kind 25-piece.
It’s not easy making 25 2-pointers in a game, but 25 3s? Impossible. Until now, of course. It had never been done in an NCAA Tournament game before Alabama set the nets alight in the 2025 Sweet 16.
It’s tough to do anything 25 times. It takes work. Fans were exhausted just watching 25 3-pointers. Imagine high-fiving someone in celebration 25 times. Your arms and hands would be sore.
My only concern after Alabama’s record-setting night is that I hope Sears and Co. left some cash in reserve for the Elite 8 showdown against No.1 seed Duke. Duke knocked off four-seed Arizona 100-93 in the New Jersey nightcap.
The Blue Devils feature freshman sensation Cooper Flagg, who is the projected No.1 overall pick in the NBA Draft. I don’t care if he’s better than Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Pistol Pete Maravich combined, Flagg will never make 10 3-pointers in a game like Sears did against BYU.
The ultimate prize is a trip to the Final Four and a shot at the national championship, but sometimes a moment so bright comes along in the NCAA Tournament that it sparkles and shines even after a star fades.
Alabama’s greatness in this Sweet 16 stands alone for all time. Nothing can take it away, but it will be cast in platinum and gold with one more win.
BE HEARD
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Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”
