ESPN College GameDay crew: 3-pointers are key for Alabama in Final Four against UConn

As Alabama made a run to the first Final Four in program history, it hasn’t looked like the Nate Oats teams of old. Defense was the name of the game as he started his tenure in Tuscaloosa, but this year’s Crimson Tide group used a high-powered offense to advance to the national semifinals.

Alabama now faces a tall task Saturday night facing No. 1 overall seed UConn. The Huskies have a strong presence in the paint, anchored by 7-foot-2 big man Donovan Clingan, but the ESPN College GameDay crew argued the Crimson Tide could have a chance if they dominate from the perimeter.

That means, in the eyes of Jay Bilas, shooting plenty of threes – especially if UConn does what he says and goes straight to Clingan to start the game.

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“There’s no too-high-a-number for them for threes as long as they’re taking the right shot,” Bilas said Saturday. “The only time you really see Nate Oats get upset with his players – there may be an effort thing on defense or something, but on the offensive end, is if they pass up an open three. If you’ve got an open three, take it. And if you don’t make it, we have people to rebound. But if you don’t take it, then we’ve got to get another shot, and that means we have a chance to turn the ball over, and that’s what he doesn’t want. So the first good open three, they’re letting that thing fly.

“And against Clemson, what’d they start out, 1-for-9? And there’d be a lot of teams they might say, ‘We need to change things up. We’re not making them.’ Heck with that. Take them. And they got hot, which they do, and they wound up winning that ballgame as a result of that.”

Alabama is 15-1 this year when it makes at least 12 threes in a game. The only loss, however, came to Purdue – another Final Four team with a dominant big man anchoring the paint in Zach Edey. That’s why Seth Greenberg said it’s not just about shooting and making threes.

It comes down to standing strong on defense and getting out in transition.

“The key to this game for Alabama is getting stops because if they can get stops, then they can play ahead of the defense,” Greenberg said. “If they play ahead of the defense, then they can gain an advantage. Everything they do is about attacking the matchup and gaining an advantage. How do you do that? Play ahead of the defense, No. 1. No. 2, make two people play you. If you make two people play you to that advantage, you play out of it. Now, you draw out the next close-out or you get an open three.

“So I think if they can get stops, get out in transition, play ahead of the defense, find different ways to get that advantage, then they’re going to shoot 30 threes. Can they make 16? If they can make 16, they’ll have a shot.”

Jay Williams, however, expects Alabama to take more than 30 three-pointers Saturday night. But what makes the Crimson Tide so dangerous in his eyes isn’t so much the ability to make those shots. It’s the confidence that comes when a couple start to fall.

“It’s funny watching those guys – I’ve done a lot of Alabama games this year. Even when you score three or four possessions in a row, all they feel is it takes one or two threes and they’re right back in it,” Williams said. “So you can slow down the tempo of the game. You just can’t let them get on that spurt. When they get on those spurts, man, it’s a different type of feeling when they start seeing the ball go in.”