This is an opinion column.
It started with a shot Nate Oats despises.
And ended with history.
All Mark Sears needed was a mid-range jumper to spark a record-smashing night -- a dizzying display of 3-point dominance.
A 113-88 vaporization of BYU saw the Crimson Tide’s All-American emerge from the Pine Barrens as the catalyst of a mystifying performance.
It was … insane.
At times disorienting.
Sears couldn’t hit Ohio from Cleveland last weekend before setting the whole state of New Jersey on fire Thursday night. His 10 made 3s against BYU set the tone for a Crimson Tide shooting night for the ages.
The 25 made 3s smashed a 35-year-old record set by a Loyola-Marymount team that scored 149 points that night in 1990.
It was Sears’ bomb with 7:41 left in the game that broke the old mark of 21 on a night Alabama showed the high end of its performance spectrum.
Notice served for the rest of the tournament survivors of the damage Alabama’s capable of inflicting when they find a groove.
Just baffling considering the previous two NCAA tournament games.
The Crimson Tide made just 13 from deep in 38 attempts while beating Robert Morris and St. Mary’s.
Even more incredible when you consider Sears had made just 16 of his 63 deep balls over the previous six games.
The All-American was due.
BYU paid the toll.
He was 10-for-16, nearly doubling BYU’s perimeter output as the 3-point-dependent Cougars made just 6 of 30 tries.
And it all started with an innocent little jumper from about eight feet just 31 seconds into a game no witness will forget.
The opening few moments, however, didn’t foreshadow the sledgehammer performance. Sears appeared hesitant to pull from the perimeter on the first few possessions before missing badly on his first 3-pointer.
BYU even appeared to sag on defense, practically daring Sears to strike the match for his left-handed 3-point stroke that made him a beloved figure in Alabama basketball history.
From there?
Fuhgeddaboudit.
Sears made 6 of his next 7 to close the first half with 17 points. That alone tied his season-high for made 3-pointers.
It caught on from there as the other Alabama guards who were equally MIA in Cleveland reanimated alongside Sears.
Aden Holloway dropped 23 making six 3s.
Chris Youngblood had 19 while making five.
Alabama was also dead-eye from the foul line as it made 18 of 21 tries there. Cliff Omoruyi made all six.
Perhaps there’s something in the New Jersey water?
Alabama finished 25-for-51 shooting 3s.
The 51 tries also broke a tournament record but was four fewer than Alabama’s season high from the South Dakota State game. The 49.0 success rate was the third-highest of the season -- not bad considering the number of attempts.
Alabama came close to outscoring BYU on 3s alone as it netted 75 from the deep balls while the Cougars finished with 88.
BYU never got closer than seven points in the second half and it was a Holloway 3 just 14 seconds later that sent the margin back to double-digits for good.
The record-breaking sequence was even more impressive.
Sears’ stroke with 7:41 for the 22nd successful 3 capped a streak of six straight makes. Youngblood, Holloway and Sears took turns digging the BYU grave deep in the swamps of Jersey.
This was a game that promised offensive fireworks as Vegas set the over/under in the NCAA tournament record neighborhood of 175.5.
They cleared that bar by 26.
It was a game that science should study one day. Sears should be poked and prodded to see just how he returned from hibernation to come one made 3-pointer from tying the individual single-game NCAA tournament record.
All of that is great, Oats acknowledged after the game.
The moment shouldn’t be underplayed considering this program had just one Sweet 16 entering last March.
Now it has two-straight.
And this is where their celebration ends and the focus shifts.
With that trip to Arizona last April comes standards that reach beyond Sweet 16 parties.
Anything short of the Final Four would be a disappointment, Oats said on Selection Sunday and that’s still true.
“Obviously,” Oats said, “we’re not gonna shoot it like that all the time.”
And they’re not gonna hang a banner in Coleman Coliseum for 25 made 3s so regrouping for Saturday’s Elite Eight is all Alabama needs to do from here.
But wow.
Who saw that coming?
A mid-range jumper as the Archduke Ferdinand of a Nate Oats’ team making NCAA tournament history.
March is a hell of a drug.
