The most popular college sports in Texas and Alabama traditionally have been football and . . . well, spring football.
But both of those state universities have taken major strides to alter that perception by their extraordinary performances in this year’s NCAA basketball tournament. Texas lost Friday night’s Sweet 16 showdown against Xavier 79-71 in the Atlanta regional.
And Alabama has an Elite Eight date with powerhouse Connecticut at America West Arena in Saturday’s Phoenix regional final.
The Crimson Tide managed to knock off No. 1-seeded Stanford last weekend in Seattle and defending national champion Syracuse here Thursday night to advance to the tournament’s quarterfinals for the first time in school history.
“If you worry about what page in the paper we are on, compared to football, it could bother you,” Alabama coach Mark Gottfried said. “This is a great university and a great basketball program, even though people around the country may not know that. Playing in a game like [Saturday’s] might help our national perception. We can have a great basketball program and have a great football program at the same time. I don’t think it has to be one or the other.”
Three teams from Alabama started the NCAA tournament. Alabama State was the 16th seed in the Atlanta regional, falling to Duke in the first round. Alabama-Birmingham lost 100-74 to Kansas on Friday night in the St. Louis regional.
The eighth-seeded Crimson Tide has a more imposing challenge Saturday than its school’s perception. Favored Connecticut (30-6) swept its first three games in this tournament by margins of 17, 17 and 20 points.
“UConn is a tough matchup for a lot of teams,” Gottfried said. “That’s why they’ve had the year they’ve had.”
The Huskies led the nation in field-goal percentage defense.
“They are a tremendous defensive team for two reasons,” Gottfried said. “No. 1, they do a great job of pressuring the basketball. And then obviously you have a guy in the middle a lot of people don’t have anymore (6-foot-10-inch All-American center Emeka Okafor).
“You can make some mistakes on the perimeter and he can clean it up around the basket. If you are a team that tries to move the ball inside, now you have to deal with him around the basket.”
UConn’s Ben Gordon had 20 points, nine rebounds and five assists to help whip Vanderbilt 73-53 Thursday night. Rashad Anderson had 15 points and Okafor added 12 points and 11 boards for the Huskies.
“A team has to beat us. I don’t want to lose,” said UConn coach Jim Calhoun, who was not pleased with his team’s 18 turnovers against the Commodores.
Calhoun, who won a national title with the Huskies in 1999, does not want to fall into the trap of underestimating hyperactive Alabama (20-12), which features Kennedy Winston, Earnest Shelton, Antoine Pettway and Chuck Davis.
“We are a small team; we are not real bulky. Out of our starting five, I’m the biggest guy on the floor,” said Davis, a 6-7, 230-pound forward who scored 17 second-half points against Syracusenight.
“Guys we go against are going to be stronger. We just have to fight a little harder. We have had to do that all season.”
But Alabama’s lack of bulk has been neutralized with rapid-fire quickness.
“They have somewhat of DePaul’s size, but quicker,” said Calhoun, whose team trounced the Blue Demons last weekend.
“Our goal is just to get by the 40 minutes [Saturday] so we can keep on playing. We are catching a team certainly on a roll.”
