Former mid-major stars lift Alabama, Duke to Elite Eight showdown

Graduate senior guard Mark Sears arrived on the campus of Alabama in the summer of 2022. As an undersized recruit transferring out of Ohio in the MAC, he’d already proved doubters wrong by leading the Bobcats to a 25-10 record as a sophomore while averaging 19.6 PPG.

Despite many suggesting he wasn’t big enough or talented enough, Sears immediately excelled in the SEC as a key player on a roster loaded with NBA prospects that ran to the 2023 Sweet 16.

Arriving from North Dakota State the following offseason, graduate senior forward Grant Nelson faced similar concerns about his ability to transition from the Summit League to a high-major.

After averaging 17.9 PPG for the Bison, Nelson helped lift Alabama to the program’s first-ever Final Four appearance in 2024 as a top contributor alongside Sears and a cast of mid-major transfers.

But after falling just short to the eventual national champions in UConn, both Sears and Nelson opted to return to Alabama with their fifth years of eligibility for another chance at postseason glory.

Perhaps adding Chris Youngblood this past offseason, a third mid-major transfer, will help them go all the way?

They got one step closer to finding out on Thursday night, the three of them helping shoot Alabama past BYU, 113-88, into a second straight regional final, now one step away from a second straight Final Four.

And it wasn’t just a good shooting night in Newark’s Prudential Center, it was a historic one. With 25 made 3-pointers in the game, Alabama shattered the previous record for most made threes in a game, 21 by Loyola Marymount in a famous 149-115 rout of defending national champion Michigan in 1990.

Sears was right in the middle of that, finishing with 34 points and eight assists. He hit a stunning 10 of his 16 attempts from outside, just one shy of the NCAA record, held by LMU’s Jeff Fryer in that same game.

“I was just in a zone,” Sears said. “Once I saw the first three fell in, I felt the basket was as big as an ocean. And every time I shot, I felt like it was going in. Just lost myself in the game and just let everything else happen.”

Sears, who got the spotlight during last year’s tournament for his hot shooting, has been having a rougher go of it this year. His 3-point shooting percentage dropped from 43% last year to 33% this year, and he struggled in his last six games, shooting just 5-for-35 from outside during that time.

“I’ve got to teach these guys some math, and I told Sears there’s a thing called regression to the mean,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. “He just kind of set everybody up with that 5-of-35 thinking he was in a slump, [but] he’s going to come out and shoot 63%, which ain’t bad. I think he’s the first guy in NCAA Tournament history that had at least eight threes and seven assists. Not only was he scoring it, he was moving it.”

Sears certainly didn’t waver in his confidence as he went cold. His teammates had confidence in him, and more importantly, he had confidence in himself.

“Even when I was shooting 14%, my confidence was still high. I never stopped doubting myself and stopped believing in myself,” Sears said. “My teammates kept encouraging me to keep shooting it, keep shooting it, keep shooting it. That just shows trust in them that even though when I’m not at my highest peak, they still trust me and want me to shoot the ball. So that’s a big shout-out to them. They went under the ball screen and I was able to get my rhythm early.”

Add in a big night from Youngblood, the former go-to guy between stints at Kennesaw State and South Florida. He led his team in scoring his previous three years — including in 2023, when he helped lead the Owls to a first-ever Tournament appearance. This year, he’s joining a team with established playmakers in Sears and Nelson, and he’s the fifth leading scorer on the team.

Tonight, he stopped up big with 19 points, including five of his team’s record-setting 25 triples.

“I end up with 19 points, or it might be five points,” he said. “But as long as we get a win, we’re considered a winner.”

The man who recruited him led him for three years at Kennesaw State and whom he followed to USF for another season helped give him some of that mindset. That was Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, who tragically and suddenly passed away just before the start of this season. The selflessness has stuck with him as he’s assumed a more complementary role this season.

“The most important thing I think about [that he taught me] probably every practice, every game is playing selfless,” Youngblood said. “Because you know, previous four years I was the main guy. So I’ve got talented players like Mark beside me, so really just being an ultimate team player, not really worrying about myself, playing in the flow of the game and losing yourself within the game, within the team.”

Nelson, who is still coming back to full strength from a late-season injury, didn’t need to contribute a lot offensively – he finished with just six early points for the game – but he pulled down 10 rebounds and opened things up for the shooters to rain threes all game.

Alabama’s opponent in the Regional Final — Duke — hasn’t needed to rely on a lot of transfers this year or any year. But one they did get from the portal this year — Tulane grad transfer Sion James — really helped settle Duke as their 19-point lead dwindled to just two possessions down the stretch against Arizona.

James finished with 16 points, including a huge 3-pointer, two late free throws and an all important offensive rebound with under a minute to play to keep the game out of reach from Arizona in the 100-93 win. He looked every bit of an experienced high-major player as the game reached its tense moments.

“Everything I did over those four years [at Tulane] whether I knew it or not was preparing me for moments like this.” James said.

Averaging 8.4 PPG and 3.1 APG, James worked his way into the primary ball-handling role this season. When the Blue Devils needed him most, he wasn’t afraid to have the ball in his hands.

“Throughout the whole time I was dreaming of being able to compete in this Tournament and play in a Sweet 16,” James said. “Now we get to compete in the Elite Eight.”

Even in a year without mid-majors in the second weekend, players that spent multiple years at mid-majors before reaching the spotlight at high major programs have their fingerprints all over this stage of the tournament.

Top-seed Duke and second-seed Alabama face off for a spot in the Final Four in Newark on Saturday night at 8:49 PM ET on TBS and TruTV.