How Alabama's blue-collar defense finally emerged to secure Elite Eight bid

Alabama is headed to the Elite Eight, with a shot at the Final Four after their upset win over the North Carolina Tar Heels on Thursday.

During the latest episode of Andy Staples On3, On3’s Bracketologist James Fletcher III joined the show to discuss why the Crimson Tide’s defense has truly made all the defense during their unexpected run at the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

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“This Alabama team, that has struggled with defense all season, you knew that the DNA was there, that kind of blue-collar mentality that Nate Oats preaches. … When we came into this, that was kind of the thinking, was an offense that is elite, that has always been elite under Nate Oats. But the defense is not there to go on a title run,” Fletcher III started. “Well they get through Charleston, which we all expected. Thought they got a good draw there, to advance. and What happens? They avoided St. Mary’s, because of an upset on the other side of that bracket. Now they get Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon, they roll through that. They get to North Carolina, and now you start to believe. You’ve made it through the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, and you start to think, ‘We are one upset away from making it the furthest that any Alabama team has made it in program history.’ They become the second team to make it to the Elite Eight, and now an upset happens on the bottom of the bracket, they are just one win, that they’re probably going to be favored in, away from making history for that program.

“So this is kind of the madness of March. This is what happens. If you are elite in one area, you’re gonna give yourself a chance. They have done that, and they have really brought together that defense as well. And people are playing just a little bit harder, with so much on the line here late in March.”

In response, Andy Staples shared his belief that the defense still scares him a bit, especially when facing teams that can really score the basketball.

“The Grand Canyon game, the North Carolina game, the defense showed up, especially at the end of the game,” Staples added. “But that’s the that’s my concern with Alabama going forward, is one of those games where somebody just drops 105 points on them.”

Fletcher III relented that Alabama will have to continue overcoming that, and show they can be formidable on defense, but they’ve already done so thrice in March, and they’re one win away from the Final Four if they can put it all together.

“Yeah, and that’s the thing that they’re going to have to overcome. They’re gonna have to show us that they are a different team than they were in the regular season on the defensive end of the floor, which they have done in some of these games over the course of the last week,” Fletcher III explained. “… Everything that they accomplished this year, they have overcome the odds, and now they’re overcoming what was a subpar defense for most of the year, to show that they are something different in March, and create school history here. It is something that is — should be talked about, and should not be diminished in any way.”

Alas, the Clemson Tigers stand in Alabama’s way of making history. We’ll see if the Crimson Tide’s defense shows up once again, or if Nate Oats’ squad’s run comes to an end at the hands of the ACC program.