:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72082983/1473994957.0.jpg "2023 March Madness bracket: Who is Alabama playing in second round of NCAA Tournament")
The No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament is headed into the first weekend. The Alabama Crimson Tide are thumping the No. 16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders in the first round. Alabama jumped out to a 9-0 lead and it has rarely been close. The Islanders cut the Tide lead to four at the 11:41 mark of the first half, but Alabama went on an 11-2 run and has led by double digits the rest of the way.
2023 March Madness bracket
The Crimson Tide will face the No. 8 Maryland Terrapins in the second round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. The game will take place on Saturday at Legacy Arena at BJCC in Birmingham, AL. The tip time will be determined later late Thursday.
The Terps beat the No. 9 West Virginia Mountaineers in the first round. West Virginia ran out to a 19-6 lead, but Maryland clawed their way back and took a 32-30 lead into halftime. West Virginia went on a 16-0 run early in the second half, but blew an eight-point lead in the final 13 minutes. Kedrian Johnson missed a heave at the buzzer and the Terps advanced.
Alabama has faced Maryland five times in their all-time series with the Terps leading 3-2. Maryland won the first two games when they met in 1984 and 1985. They did not meet again until 2011 when No. 16 Alabama beat then 62-42 in an early season contest. Their two most recent matchups came in the postseason. In the 2013 NIT quarterfinals, No. 2 Maryland beat No. 1 Alabama 58-57 in the quarterfinals. In the 2021 NCAA Tournament second round, No. 2 Alabama beat No. 10 Maryland 96-77.