Auburn, Houston, Duke, and Florida are gearing up for the Final Four in college men’s basketball’s March Madness this weekend. Alabama is out after falling to Duke during the round of the championship known as the Elite Eight. The Crimson Tide is still in the running for a consolation prize in the form of the John R. Wooden Award for outstanding player. Alabama’s Mark Sears is one of the nominees. He thanked his coaches and teammates following the loss to Duke..
“Great season for me, a lot of ups and downs, but you know, I just try to keep my head up and, you know, I haven't thought about anything, not just, you know, Coach did a great job of having me laser focused the whole year,” said Sears.
Johni Broome of Auburn is one of five finalists for the John R. Wooden Award as the outstanding men's college basketball player. The others are Walter Clayton Jr. of Florida, Duke's Cooper Flagg, Sears of Alabama, and Braden Smith of Purdue. Broome, Clayton and Flagg will lead their teams at the Final Four in San Antonio this weekend. The Tide broke the record for most three point shots during its Sweet Sixteen game against Brigham Young. Tide head coach Nate Oats says the team did well during this year’s March Madness, despite losing to Duke during the Elite Eight.
“So like I said, I mean, there was four teams go to the Final Four last year," said Oats. "You know, we were the only one that was in the Elite Eight. The other three either didn't make the tournament or bounce before the Sweet 16.”
The Wooden Award winner will be honored April 11 at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. The other members of the Wooden All-America team announced Tuesday are L.J. Cryer of Houston, Kam Jones of Marquette, Ryan Kalkbrenner of Creighton, Chaz Lanier of Tennessee and John Tonje of Wisconsin.
