David Sanders Jr. explains ‘great’ Alabama visit as 5-star recruit, top-ranked OT sees Kalen DeBoer’s vision
Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day School five-star David Sanders Jr., the No. 2 overall prospect and No. 1 offensive tackle in 247Sports’ class of 2025 college football recruiting rankings, returned to Alabama this past weekend. During the Crimson Tide visit, Sanders spent time with head coach Kalen DeBoer, offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic and the new staff.
“My experience this past weekend was great,” Sanders told 247Sports. “I was really excited to get back to Tuscaloosa and see how the new staff an coaches operated. My family and I had a great weekend.”
NCAA Tournament: Caitlin Clark reflects on Iowa crowd, win over West Virginia in final home game
but Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes made enough plays down the stretch — and hit their free throws — en route to a 64-54 victory. Clark’s team is back in the Sweet 16 after she led the way with 32 points and eight rebounds.
“There’s a lot of positive to take away from this when maybe we didn’t even play our best basketball or look as pretty,” Clark said. “That’s more fulfilling of a win for us than going out there and winning by 30 points.”
In what’s likely the final home game of her career prior to entering the WNBA Draft, Clark and the Hawkeyes scored only six points in the second quarter and led by two points at halftime before getting some breathing room in the third quarter.
The Mountaineers trailed by 10 in the fourth before tying things up, but that’s when Iowa responded at the charity stripe, making 14-of-17 in the final frame.
Here’s what Clark said about advancing to the Sweet 16, Iowa’s crowd and her team’s victory:
Yeah, I think for sure. I think our team is really good about playing until the final buzzer. I’m really proud of Hannah. She missed two free throws early in the fourth quarter and comes back and makes four in a row.
That’s tough to do, as somebody who’s really worked on her free-throw shooting. We all have confidence in her to be in those pressure situations, and really step up to the line and make four in a row after missing two in a row is tough.
She extended it to a three-possession game for us, and that gives you a lot of confidence. With the way our defense had been playing all night, I knew, if we could extend it to three possessions, we were going to be really good from there on out. So I’m just really proud of her honestly.
“This is definitely up there with the best of them mentally and emotionally and physically, grinding this out and getting the win. To be honest, looking back on our journey last year, to me, this is one of the hardest rounds in the NCAA Tournament. Everyone is really good.
You’re expected to win. You’re on your home court. You have all the pressure in the world. They have absolutely nothing to lose to come in here and upset us. That happened my sophomore year, last year, we were in a game that was even closer than this one.
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