Nick Saban has words for ESPN’s Jay Bilas about NCAA tournament bracket
Nick Saban made it clear Saturday: There just no consequences.
The Alabama football coach, who was interviewed at the Crimson Tide’s Pro Day on Thursday ahead of April’s NFL draft, playfully jabbed at ESPN’s Jay Bilas about the former Duke center’s insight into March Madness and how it left Saban’s NCAA tournament bracket a mess.
“Can someone tell Jay Bilas that I listened to his basketball picks and completely messed up my whole bracket,” Saban said in a segment re-aired on “College GameDay” on Saturday.. “Completely.
“Every team he said. He said, ‘Utah State is really good,’ and they got beat right off the bat. Can you pass that along?”
Bilas only laughed as pontificated why Saban would listen to the “rat poison.”
Saban’s team fell in the Sweet 16 on Friday night.
Darrion Trammell and San Diego State used a dominant defensive performance to knock top overall seed Alabama out of the NCAA 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 off-the-court complications, was held to nine points on 3-of-19 shooting and had six turnovers.
The fifth-seeded Aztecs will face either Creighton on Sunday in the West Region final as they seek their first Final Four in program history. San Diego State trailed 48-39 midway through the second half before going on a 12-0 run and controlling the game from there.
Mark Sears had 16 points and Jahvon Quinerly and Charles Bediako scored 10 each for Alabama, which shot 32% overall and a miserable 3 of 27 (11.1 percent) from 3-point range. The Crimson Tide fell short of the second Elite Eight berth in school history.
Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.