Alabama’s Tumultuous Season Ends With Loss to San Diego State

Since his presence at the scene became public at a pretrial hearing on Feb. 21, Miller has been the center of attention as Alabama has pushed forward, with national examination of the school’s handling of the case. Darius Miles, who began the season on the Crimson Tide, is in the Tuscaloosa County Jail on capital murder charges, along with his friend, Michael Davis, who is accused of firing the shots that killed Harris.

The scrutiny had not seemed to bother Miller’s performance much — until Friday.

At its best, Alabama races up and down the court, relentlessly attacking the rim and creating clean looks from behind the 3-point arc for its shooters. Whatever defensive intensity the Crimson Tide play with is often sparked by their offensive pyrotechnics. The biggest challenge for opponents is how Alabama can send wave after wave of elastic-armed defenders, led by 7-foot sophomore center Charles Bediako, a premier shot blocker.

“I’ve done this long enough to know we watch tape and we think this will work and that will work, and we’ll take advantage of that, and you step on the floor and you see their length,” Aztecs Coach Brian Dutcher said on Thursday.

But San Diego State, a physical, muscular team — a Mountain West version of Tennessee — did a masterful job of mucking the game up. The Aztecs grinded out each possession on offense and sprinted back on defense to shut off any transition opportunities for Alabama. When the Crimson Tide ran their offense, San Diego State covered gaps and raced to the perimeter to contest every shot and, with few exceptions, put a body on anyone lurking for offensive rebounds.

“Every screen, every drive, every rebound, we wanted to put a body on them,” the San Diego State assistant coach David Velasquez said. “That’s our No. 1 strength — be physical without fouling.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/25/sports/ncaabasketball/alabama-san-diego-state.html