Duke strolls past Alabama, secures Final Four berth - ESPN

NEWARK, N.J. — In Duke's first meeting of the season, back in the summer, there was a picture of San Antonio up on the screen. The Blue Devils wanted to get to the Final Four for the first time since Mike Krzyzewski retired, the first Final Four of the new Duke era.

«That was our main focus all year,» Tyrese Proctor told ESPN earlier this week.

The top-seeded Blue Devils took the next step in the season-long quest on Saturday night, knocking off No. 2 Alabama, 85-65, to advance to next week's national semifinal in Texas.

The Blue Devils advanced to the first Final Four since Jon Scheyer took over in 2022, and 18th overall, and will face the winner of Sunday's Houston vs. Tennessee regional final.

Kon Knueppel led the way for Duke with 21 points, while Cooper Flagg finished with 16 points and nine rebounds. Labraon Philon had 16 points for Alabama.

It was inevitable that Mark Sears and the Crimson Tide wouldn't carry over their incredible shooting display from Thursday night against BYU, when Alabama set an NCAA tournament record with 25 3-pointers and Sears finished with 34 points, 10 3s and eight assists.

Alabama coach Nate Oats spoke Thursday night after the Crimson Tide's win over BYU about «regression to the mean,» in reference to Sears' performance after he had gone just 5-for-35 from 3 in his previous six games. But on Saturday, it could have just as easily been used to describe the Tide coming back to earth after making history two nights earlier.

Alabama hit three of its first five 3s, but missed nine of its next 10 while Duke jumped out to an early lead by scoring 13 points in the first 3:10. The Crimson Tide shot just 5-for-19 from behind the arc in the first half, and then missed six straight in the second