Alabama HC Nate Oats has been consulting with legends, including Nick Saban, for Final Four run
Nate Oats knew when he took the Alabama basketball head-coaching job ahead of the 2019-2020 season that the Crimson Tide had the infrastructure to build a winner.
Obviously, Nick Saban had done so and more with the Tide on the gridiron, but Oats felt comfortable that the university and athletic program as a whole was built to succeed regardless of sport.
“When I got the job, I thought before I ever took the job, Rick, my agent and me talked, and he said, ‘Look, they’ve got all the resources you need to be able to win at Alabama. We need to go get this job.’ I trust him. He knows what he’s doing. They do have all the resources you need to win,” Oats recently told the media (h/t On3) when discussing Alabama’s run to the Final Four. “We put together a few good teams. You just need to keep knocking on the door.”
The Tide have knocked on the door and more during this March Madness run, beating No. 13 Charleston and No. 12 Grand Canyon before two massive wins over No. 1 North Carolina in the Sweet 16 and No. 6 Clemson in the Elite 8.
The last two wins, in particular, were no small deal. Alabama had to dig deep to beat the top-seeded Tar Heels, 89-87, and Clemson was as hot as they come with wins over No. 3 Baylor and No. 2 Arizona ahead of the Elite 8.
Credit Oats’ team for coming up with the big wins, but he also revealed that he spoke to a few legends ahead of the contest with Clemson in order to try to figure out a pathway for the Tide.
How do you make it to the Final Four? Oats spoke with a few coaches who know a thing or two about winning big games.
“We looked at some other teams that were similar to this. Syracuse did it twice. I called Jim Boeheim on that Sunday, like, ‘What have we got to do?’ I called Frank Martin. South Carolina made a Final Four run when they weren’t hot at the end of the year. I asked him what he did. I tried to pick the brain. I called Coach [Nick] Saban. ‘What have we got to do?’ And he kind of gave me the ‘next’ idea — next, next, next,” Oats said.
What’s next for Alabama is a Final Four matchup with the defending national champion UConn Huskies for a chance to play either Purdue or NC State in the final.
“We can make this run. Other teams have done it. We have the capability to do it,” Oats said.
Leave a Reply