BYU is going to the the Sweet 16 for the first time in 14 years. 11 months after Kevin Young was hired, BYU’s basketball program is going to heights quicker than even the most optimistic fan could have imagined.
BYU will travel to Newark, NJ for a Sweet 16 game next Thursday versus the winner of Alabama-Saint Mary’s. The two teams play each other Sunday at 6:10 ET on TNT.
Below is a quick primer on what each team does and what BYU would expect.
Alabama Overview
KenPom: 6
Record: 26-8
PPG: 91.1 — #1 in NCAA
The Crimson Tide were a final four team last season and play one of the most entertaining brands of basketball in the country. According to KenPom, Bama is #1 nationally in tempo and play at the fastest tempo for any power conference team in college basketball since Washington in 2016. Alabama ranks fourth nationally in offensive KenPom efficiency. Similar to BYU, Alabama plays a deep rotation and goes 10 players regularly.
The headliner is Preseason First-Team All American Mark Sears. The 6-foot-1 fifth-year senior averages 19 points and averages 7 three-point attempts and 7 free throw attempts per game. After shooting 43.6% from three last year, Sears has dipped to 33.5% this season.
Four other Alabama players average double figures. They have shooters, guys that attack the rim, and size. They are talented, big, and athletic. Alabama is ranked fourth in KenPom offensive efficiency and have scored 100+ points eight times.
Defensively, Alabama has solid numbers but have been exposed a handful of times. They rank 7th in the SEC in defensive KenPom efficiency and prioritize taking away the three ball. Opponents in SEC play shot 34% of their field goal attempts from three, which is the lowest rate in the league. Similar to Wisconsin, Alabama does not prioritize turning the ball over. They are 350th nationally in defensive turnover percentage and have the lowest defensive turnover rate in the SEC, turning over opponents on 13.5% of their possessions. Wisconsin did not put much pressure on BYU’s ball handlers, and Egor Demin and the rest of BYU’s team carved them up.
Alabama trailed in the second half to 15 seed Robert Morris, but ended up winning 90-81. Alabama ended the season a bit rocky. After starting 21-3, they ended the season 4-5 before the NCAA Tournament.
A BYU game against Alabama could be in the 100s with both teams tempo and offensive efficiency. Alabama regularly play in the 90s, and had games like a 102-97 win over Kentucky and 110-98 loss to Missouri.
Saint Mary’s Overview
KenPom: 22
Record: 29-5
The Gaels are the Gaels we saw for over a decade in the WCC. They are bottom 5 nationally in tempo, patient in the halfcourt, and tough defensively. They rank 7th nationally in KenPom defensive efficiency and 59th in offensive efficiency.
Saint Mary’s had losses to Arizona State, Utah State, and Boise State in non-conference, but mowed through WCC regular play with a 17-1 record and conference championship. Their top players are familiar faces. Guard Augustas Marciulionis is a two-time WCC player of the year and leads the Gaels with 14 points and 6 assists. His running mate is fifth-year senior Mitchell Saxen (he’s still around!), who averages 12 points and 8 rebounds. 6-foot-8 Arizona transfer Paulius Muraukas is the second leading scorer, averaging 12.2 points and 8 boards. He and Saxen form a physical front court.
Six total players average at least 8 points for the Gaels. Saint Mary’s is not a great shooting team — shoot just 32.5% from three — but they limit turnovers and are second nationally in offensive rebound percentage, rebounding 40% of their misses. Saxen and Muraukas either grab rebounds or are elite at getting their hand on the ball for a tap out. If BYU played Saint Mary’s, I expect they would pack the paint and limit the Gaels’ big man tandem.
Saint Mary’s beat Vanderbilt 59-56 in their first round game, overcoming a 12-point deficit.
Saint Mary’s-Alabama Game Overview and What BYU Can Expect in Sweet 16
This game is fascinating. Both teams play completely different styles. Alabama will mercilessly push the tempo and the Gaels will do everything their power to make this a halfcourt game. KenPom predicts a 77-72 Alabama win while Vegas favors the Tide by 5.5 points. Both teams would give BYU challenges. Stylistically Saint Mary’s is a tougher matchup with their plodding style, but Alabama has more talent and would probably be the tougher game.
The Alabama Crimson Tide are headed back to the Rose Bowl for the College Football Playoff.
One hundred years after Alabama football’s first appearance in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1926, the Tide will face No. 1 Indiana (13-0) in the CFP quarterfinals in Pasadena on New Year’s Day.
Alabama (11-3) rallied from a 17-0 first-half deficit to win its first-round playoff game, 34-24, against the Oklahoma Sooners (10-3) Friday night at Memorial Stadium in Norman.
Ty Simpson threw two touchdown passes to freshman receiver Lotzeir Brooks, cornerback Zabien Brown had a 50-yard interception return for touchdown, and Daniel Hill capped the scoring with a 6-yard touchdown run as the Tide closed the game by out-scoring Oklahoma 34-7 over the final 36:52.
Conor Talty added two clutch field goals in Alabama’s win, its 10th victory overall in the College Football Playoff since 2014, and its first since the Crimson Tide defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats, 27-6, in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve 2021.
After Alabama’s rally, Tide players did some celebrating on the Sooners’ field.
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NORMAN, Oklahoma — The stage was set for Oklahoma. Heck, the Sooners earned the right to set it. This was supposed to be the ushering in of a new era of postseason football for the No. 8 team in the country that had won 10 games in what was one of the toughest schedules this year.
No. 9 Alabama was even one of those teams that Oklahoma beat on its way to earning this spot. And Saturday night, all was going well for the Sooners. It was going so well, in fact, that after the first quarter, some Oklahoma fans might’ve peeked at flights and hotel rates for the Rose Bowl from inside Memorial Stadium.
And then the Alabama Crimson Tide curled and rolled the Sooners, 34-24, and are headed to Pasadena. After opening with 17 unanswered points, Oklahoma collapsed under the weight of that wave, becoming the only team in College Football Playoff history to blow a 17-point lead. And now, the Sooners have done it twice — before Saturday, in 2018 against Georgia.
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Here are my takeaways from Alabama’s College Football Playoff first-round victory against Oklahoma on Saturday:
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Zabien Brown #2 of the Alabama Crimson Tide stiff-arms John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners during the second quarter during the 2025 College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson is an avid reader and listener of college football news. Following the largest comeback win in Alabama postseason history, Simpson took a moment to facetiously thank media members for choosing Oklahoma to win on Saturday night.
“I guess we can thank you guys for that,” an emboldened Simpson said. “You guys kind of wrote us off in a sort of way. So I appreciate that.”
After building a three-score lead, the Sooners watched the Crimson Tide recover a fumbled punt, pick off Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer and return it 50 yards to the end zone — all before their First Team All-American kicker Tate Sandell missed not one but two field goals in the final minutes to solidify the worst collapse in College Football Playoff history.
Meanwhile, the Alabama Crimson Tide will prepare to take on No. 1 Indiana in the Rose Bowl for the CFP quarterfinal game. This team that punches back and played its best football with its back against the wall is one that the Hoosiers must prepare for on New Year’s Day.
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NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners is hit by Deontae Lawson #0 of the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first quarter during the College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
The Crimson Tide began down — just like they did against Georgia in the SEC championship game. But the last three quarters of Saturday’s game demonstrated Alabama to be just who it says it is: the kind of team that can open with a loss to a bad Florida State and also be the first team in six years to walk into Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, and come out with a win.
DeBoer’s task now is to find a way to make certain that the team that showed up at Georgia earlier this season and at Oklahoma in the first round is the same one against the Hoosiers. Linebacker Deontae Lawson said that’s his job too. But Bama’s best trait isn’t one that shows itself until it’s in a fight for its life.
“Man, I just think we’re a resilient team,” Lawson said. “And even though we were down 17-0, we didn’t really look at the scoreboard. Coach DeBoer always says, ‘Keep playing the game. The game will come back to you.’ … We just keep fighting.”
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Head coach Brent Venables of the Oklahoma Sooners speaks to an official during the fourth quarter against the Alabama Crimson Tide on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Let’s look at the bigger ones:
These are blunders. Errors that aren’t forced but self-inflicted. It’s difficult to win any game with those kinds of mistakes on your drive chart. It’s nearly impossible in a game of this magnitude, against a team as talented and as resilient as the Crimson Tide.
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Keon Keeley #31 of the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrates after defeating the Oklahoma Sooners in the College Football Playoff first-round game. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Oklahoma usually plays 50 Cent’s “Many Men” before the start of the fourth quarter. In an attempt to make a statement for its first CFP game at Owen Field, the Sooners brought the rapper himself out onto the field to perform the song for fans in a Hard to Kill Hoodie.
“I didn’t know it was live,” DeBoer said.
“I didn’t know who 50 Cent was,” Simpson said, “but I know that song.”
“We play that song at practice on Fridays,” Lawson said.
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him @RJ_Young.
Hello college football fans, and welcome to The Athletic’s live coverage of the 2025 College Football Playoff!
Yes, after a 2025 season full of an incredible amount of twists, turns, controversy and pure chaos, the second edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff gets underway tonight. Our opening matchup is a battle of blue-bloods whose first meeting this season contributed to that chaos, as No. 9 Alabama takes on No. 8 Oklahoma in Norman.
Follow along for live pregame build-up and the latest news, play-by-play updates and real-time analysis from The Athletic’s college football staff!
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