Overall No. 1 Bama ousted
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher has insisted throughout the NCAA Tournament that if his team plays to its strengths, it doesn’t matter what the opposition does.
The Aztecs certainly played the way they wanted to against the top overall seed in March Madness.
Darrion Trammell and San Diego State used a dominant defensive performance to knock Alabama (31-6) out of the tournament, bottling up All-America freshman Brandon Miller in a 71-64 victory in the Sweet 16.
Trammell scored 21 points while Miller, whose outstanding season was marred by offthe-court complications, was held to nine points on 3-of-19 shooting and had six turnovers.
The fifth-seeded Aztecs (30-6) will face sixthseeded Creighton on Sunday in the West Region final.
Each program is seeking its first Final Four appearance.
Roughly 30 minutes after Alabama fell, the tournament’s final remaining No. 1 seed, Houston, lost 89-75 to Miami, leaving March Madness without a single top seed among its final eight teams for the first time since seeding began in 1979.
The other top seeds, Purdue and Kansas, lost during the tournament’s opening weekend.
“It’s just parity,” Dutcher said. “That’s what it is. There’s not a lot of difference between the best team in the country and the worst team in the country. You’re seeing that on this stage.”
CREIGHTON 86 PRINCETON 75
The Bluejays used their size, 3-point shooting and a swarming second-half defense to end the March Madness run of Princeton, beating the 15thseeded Tigers in the Sweet 16.
The sixth-seeded Bluejays (24-12) advanced to their first regional final since they were part of an eight-team NCAA Tournament in 1941.
Ryan Kalkbenner, the two-time Big East defensive player of the year, scored 22 points to lead the Bluejays to their sixth win in seven games. Baylor Scheierman made five 3s and finished with 21 points.
The Tigers (23-9) were led by Ryan Langborg with 26 points and Ivy League player of the year Tosan Evbuomwan with 24 points.