SEC champ Bama is NCAA’s No. 1 seed
NASHVILLE — Brandon Miller walked along the front row of the stands at Bridgestone Arena, celebrating and slapping high-fives with family and friends. Even his high school coach was in the building.
Playing in his hometown certainly made the Southeastern Conference tournament a friendly location for the 6-foot-9, 200-pound Miller — Alabama’s freshman star who continues to succeed on the court in March, even as he finds himself fielding questions about his off-court actions in January.
Miller scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds Sunday to wrap up the tournament MVP honor, and the fourth-ranked Crimson Tide smothered No. 18 Texas A&M 82-63 to wrap up their second SEC tourney title in three seasons.
“It means a lot just to have my family come just five minutes down the road to watch me play …,” Miller said. “The fun part is just really going out and getting a win with my guys in the SEC championship.”
Hours later, the Tide were announced as the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA tournament’s 68-team field.
The Tide completed a run of three wins in three days for their second SEC double dip in three seasons, having picked up their regular-season trophy Friday, when they jumped into the bracket after receiving a double bye. Alabama improved to 29-5 — adding to its program record for single-season wins — and collected its eighth SEC tournament title in its 15th appearance in the final, both second only to Kentucky.
Alabama coach Nate Oats said sweeping the SEC twice in three years with totally different teams speaks to the talent the program has recruited.
“We’re fortunate to have the best player on the floor this year every time we walked out with Brandon,” Oats said of Miller, who was the AP All-SEC player and newcomer of the year.
The second-seeded Aggies (25-9), who joined the SEC ahead of the 2012-13 season, dropped to 0-3 in the tournament finale. They lost last year’s title matchup to Tennessee.
Alabama entered having dropped its past five meetings with the Aggies,
including a 67-61 road loss on March 4 in the regularseason finale. During pregame introductions, Miller was greeted by a roaring crowd filled with Tide fans. He then posted his ninth double-double of the season.
Miller has been a driving force for Alabama all season, but the team also is dealing with the fallout of former player Darius Miles and another man being indicted on capital murder charges for the Jan. 15 shooting death of 23-year-old Jamea Harris. In February, an investigator testified that Miles texted Miller — they were still teammates at the time — to bring him his gun. Police said freshman guard Jaden Bradley also was at the scene, but neither he nor Miller have been charged and both have been playing.
Oats said the team never loses sight of the tragedy, saying “it’s always there.”
“But today with the team we’re going to celebrate this win without losing sight of that,” the coach added. “Moving forward, we’re going to try to keep the team focused on the task at hand, just like we have, without ever losing sight of the fact it’s an unbelievably sad situation.”
› Memphis 75, Houston 65
FORT WORTH, Texas — Kendric Davis scored 31 points, DeAndre Williams had 16 with 13 rebounds, and the second-seeded Tigers (26-8) defeated top-ranked, top-seeded Houston to win the American Athletic Conference tournament.
Houston (31-3) was without AAC player of the year Marcus Sasser, who strained his groin in the first half of Saturday’s semifinal rout of Cincinnati. The senior guard’s status will remain a question mark for the Cougars heading into the NCAA tourney.
Houston, which is moving to the Big 12 next season, beat Memphis 71-53 in the AAC title game last year and won both regular-season meetings with the Tigers this year.
J’Wan Roberts had 12 points and 20 rebounds for the Cougars, who trailed by 18 at halftime and got within 55-50 with 11:03 left but no closer.
› Purdue 67, Penn State 65
CHICAGO — Zach Edey scored 30 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, and fifth-ranked Purdue hung on to beat 10th-seeded Penn State and win the Big Ten tournament for just the second time.
The Boilermakers (29-5) led by 17 in the second half, only to have the lead shrink to one in the closing seconds before securing their first league tourney title since 2009.
Penn State (22-13) made things interesting in the final minute but fell just short in its bid to win for the ninth time in 10 games and secure the Big Ten’s automatic bid for the NCAA tournament.
Edey, a 7-4 center and the league’s player of the year, shook off the constant double-team defense he faced and delivered another big performance for Purdue’s fifth straight win.
› Arizona 61, UCLA 59
LAS VEGAS — Courtney Ramey made a 3-pointer with 16.7 seconds left to put Arizona in front, and the eighth-ranked, secondseeded Wildcats (28-6) beat second-ranked, topseeded UCLA (29-5) to win the Pac-12 tournament late Saturday and repeat as champion in a rematch of last year’s final.
Ramey’s 3, which made it 60-58, came after teammate Azuolas Tubelis missed a 3 that was rebounded by Pelle Larsson. He tossed to Ramey, who shook a defender and connected from the top of the key.
Bruins guard Tyger Campbell was fouled with 6.8 seconds left, and he made the first free throw but missed the second. Tubelis hit one of two with 5.8 seconds to go, and UCLA’s Dylan Andrews missed a 3 at the buzzer to ensure Arizona’s victory.