Alabama Basketball Preparing to Face Fourth 1-Seed This Season

With the Crimson Tide's matchup with Duke in the Elite Eight, Alabama will have faced every team that received a 1-seed for the 2025 NCAA Tournament at some point this season.

Mar 27, 2025; Newark, NJ, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide guard Chris Youngblood (8) celebrates on the bench during the second half against the Brigham Young Cougars during an East Regional semifinal of the 2025 NCAA tournament at Prudential Center. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

NEWARK, N.J.–– Alabama basketball has traditionally scheduled hard under head coach Nate Oats. The strength of schedule has just continued to climb with the growth of the SEC.

It would be easy for a team to get intimidated by the magnitude of Saturday night's Elite Eight matchup with Duke based on the name on the front of the jersey and the seed number in front of their name. But this Alabama team isn't easily intimidated and facing a No. 1 team is nothing new.

In fact, the Crimson Tide has already played the other three team's that are seeded No. 1 in this year's NCAA Tournament with a 2-3 record against Houston, Auburn and Florida.

"The schedule we went through was like a war, honestly— the stretch we had to go through and stuff like that," Alabama forward Derrion Reid said. "I feel like we’re battle tested, and I don’t feel like anybody has gone through as many ranked games or as physical games as us. I feel like it just builds us for times like this.”

Alabama ended the regular season with a seven-game stretch against all ranked opponents. The final three games of the regular season were all against Elite Eight teams.

The Tide had mixed results in those matchups with a thrilling, overtime win at No. 1 Auburn to close out the regular season with a devastating, buzzer-beating loss at Tennessee exactly a week before.

Every player on the roster has been battle tested, and the Crimson Tide has a strong veteran presence, like fifth-year guard Chris Youngblood.

"We've played in a lot of meaningful games against a lot of good teams," Youngblood said. "We understand what it takes to win it. We've lost some close games, too, so we understand the value of each possession in high-level games like this. So we'll be ready."

On the other side, because of the weakness league-wide across the ACC this year, Duke hasn't played in near as many close games or games against top-25 opponents.

The Blue Devils do have a win over Auburn back in December during the SEC/ACC Challenge. But one of Duke's three losses came to Kentucky in the second week of the season, who Alabama beat three times.

Building a tough schedule has dual purpose for the Crimson Tide. It improves Alabama's metrics to get a better seed in the NCAA Tournament when Selection Sunday rolls around, but it also prepares the Crimson Tide for whatever tough opponents in might face in the big dance.

"We've played against tough teams all year," Oats said. "I think we've played pretty well. In our last regular season game, we were on the road at Auburn, Auburn played these guys tough, we played Kentucky, Kentucky beat this team. It was a long time ago. So I think our league has got us ready for it, but we're going to have to play well."

Duke will be one of the greatest challenges yet. The Blue Devils have been one of the best teams in college basketball all season long and have the potential national player of the year in Cooper Flagg. But the stage, moment and opponent won't have Alabama shuddering in fear.

This season has prepared this Alabama team for this moment.