Alabama Crimson Tide All-Time NCAA Tournament Team
Going into Friday's 50th NCAA Tournament game for the Alabama Crimson, look back at Alabama's All-Time best players in the Big Dance.
By Ronald Evans
Alabama Crimson Tide All-Time NCAA Tournament Centers
- Leon Douglas - The NCAA Tournament career of Douglas can be highlighted by one exceptional game in 1976. Alabama played against a heavily favored North Carolina Tar Heels team coached by Dean Smith. Led by future NBA players Walter Davis, Mitch Kupchak, Phil Ford, and Tommy LaGarde, the Tar Heels were expected to cruise by the Crimson Tide. Leon Douglas owned the paint in the game, scoring 35 points and pulling down 17 rebounds. Douglas held Kupchak to eight points in the Crimson Tide 79-64 win. The previous season, in an NCAA Tournament loss to Arizona State, Douglas had 29 points and 21 rebounds.
- Antonio McDyess - McDyess played only two seasons for the Alabama Crimson Tide. His career numbers as a college player were only slightly above average at 12.8 points and 9.8 rebounds a game. McDyess exploded in the 1995 NCAA Tournament in a Crimson Tide win over Penn and a loss to Oklahoma State. In the two games, McDyess scored 61 points and pulled down 36 rebounds. He added four blocks, three assists, and two steals. Had McDyess returned for his junior season in Tuscaloosa, he would have been one of college basketball's very best big men. But the NBA beckoned and it led to a 16-season NBA career.
Alabama Crimson Tide NCAA Tournament Honorable Mentions
- Guards - Terry Conor, T.R. Dunn, Anthony Murray, Gary Waites and Collin Sexton
Among the five guards, Anthony Murray was one of the Tide's all-time great defensive players. He held Phil Ford to two points in Alabama's NCAA Tournament blowout of North Carolina.
- Forwards - Melvin Cheatum and Jean Felix
Some Alabama basketball fans might be surprised at Jean Felix making this list. Felix scored 31 points in a 2006 NCAA Tournament win over Marquette. He made eight of 11 three-point shots.
Note: Team and player stats provided by Sports Reference.