Alabama Basketball: Looking ahead to Monday U Conn or Terps

Alabama Basketball: In NCAA Second Round, the Crimson Tide will take on the Connecticut Huskies or the Maryland Terrapins.

Short of a MAJOR upset, Alabama Basketball will be playing in the NCAA East Region, Second Round on Monday. The opponent will be either the Connecticut Huskies or the Maryland Terrapins.

Picking the winner between U Conn and the Terps is not easy. U Conn can boast the best player in 6-feet-5, sophomore guard, James Bouknight. He leads the Huskies in scoring and third on the team in rebounding. He missed more than a month of the season due to injury. The Huskies won their first two without him, then lost four of their next six games. They have lost only two games since his return, one to Villanova and most recently a close Big East Tournament loss to Creighton.

The loss to Creighton was U Conn’s third against the Bluejays this season. One of the three losses was in overtime. The flip side of the Huskies’ resume includes two wins over NCAA Tournament team, Georgetown. The most recent, on Mar. 6, was a 16-point win.

Nate Oats has a connection to U Conn, head coach, Dan Hurley. Dan is the younger brother of Duke legend Bobby Hurley and in Bobby’s post-NBA career, Dan gave him his first coaching job. Bobby’s first head coaching gig was at Buffalo, where he hired then high school coach, Nate Oats.

The Huskies have some size with five 6-feet-9 guys and two seven-footers. In a largely eight-player rotation, they play five guards and three of the six-nine guys. Two of the bigs, senior Isaiah Whaley and freshman, Adama Sanogo are physical players. The leading rebounder is one of the guards, 6-feet-6, Tyrese Martin. They are a capable rebounding team but had a 9-rebound deficit to Creighton. The big problem for the Huskies in the recent, 3-point loss to the Bluejays was shooting, 21.4 percent from three and 32.8 percent overall.

The main reason it is tough to pick the Huskies on Saturday is they might not have their second-leading scorer. R. J. Cole might miss the game due to a concussion.

Maryland is a bit like Alabama Basketball. Like Nate Oats, Mark Turgeon likes the five-out game. He will play without a traditional big man. When using a big, it is former Crimson Tide player, Galin Smith.

In mid-February, the Terps were not even a bubble team. Five straight wins got them in consideration for a bid. They then lost 3-of-4 and just barely made the Big Dance field. Like Alabama Basketball, the Terps are a guard-oriented team. Also, much like the Crimson Tide, they rise or fall on the basis of defense. Mark Turgeon really has no choice, because his team has games when it does not shoot the ball well.

In their last two games, against Michigan State and Michigan, the Terps made threes at 30 percent and 30.8 percent. In Big Ten play, their 3-point success was 34.6 percent. They are good at defending outside the arc, holding Big Ten opponents to 34.3 percent.

Unlike the Crimson Tide, the Terps ‘small’ lineup is not very good at rebounding. Offensive rebounding is a major weakness.

A pair of junior guards, Aaron Wiggins and Eric Ayala lead the team in scoring. Both have good size and Wiggins is the team’s second-leading rebounder. When the Terps don’t go big (without Galin Smith), their biggest guy in the five-out is sophomore, 6-feet-7, Donta Scott. Scott is perfect for the small lineup in that he can shoot the three-ball well. He, and 6-feet-8, Jairus Hamilton, are the best three-shooters on the team.

The key for the Terps and likely to determine the outcome versus U Conn will be containing James Bouknight. That burden will fall upon Darryl Morsell, who is a solid defender.

Who wins to face Alabama Basketball on Monday? Probably the Huskies, but the Crimson Tide staff will be fully prepared for both teams.