Alabama Basketball: Complete Crimson Tide NCAA Tournament History

Alabama Crimson Tide 80 – Syracuse 71

The Orange were the defending National Champion. The Alabama basketball team was not impressed. Mark Gottfried had the Alabama Crimson Tide peaking at the right time.

Jim Boeheim loves zone defense and for a long time, his Cuse teams were very good at it. The Crimson Tide shot Syracuse out of its zone in 2004. Mark Gottfried’s team won because, to the surprise of many, the Crimson Tide was better than the Orange.

Syracuse did not play poorly. The Tide simply played very well. Though the Tide cooled in the second half, it was blistering from outside the arc in the first half. Ernest Shelton finished with 22 points. Chuck Davis and  Kennedy Winston added 19 points each. Antoine Pettway scored 10 points, dished out nine assists and had zero turnovers.

Mar. 27, 2004 – Elite Eight – Phoenix, AZ

Connecticut 87 – Alabama Crimson Tide 71

The Tide’s run had an abrupt end against the Huskies. U Conn was the much better team and showed it by leading 53-29 at halftime. Mark Gottfried’s team battled back in the second half, scoring 42 points, but was never going to chase down the better team.

A snapshot of the mismatch is the Crimson Tide’s three-point success in the first half was 17 percent, compared to 87 percent for the Huskies.

Chuck Davis with 24 points and Kennedy Winston with 21, led the Crimson Tide.