Nate Oats has led Alabama basketball into uncharted waters. With an Elite Eight win over Clemson within the NCAA Match, the Crimson Tide secured a spot within the Closing 4 for the primary time in program historical past, they usually’re simply two wins away from claiming an unprecedented nationwide championship.
It hasn’t been a simple street for Oats, who inherited a workforce that gained 20 video games simply as soon as in seven years previous to his arrival. He failed to achieve that mark in two out of his first three years, although that was offset by an SEC championship and a run to the Candy 16 in Yr 2. By all of the highs and lows, Oats has been capable of lean on one fixed: former Alabama soccer coach Nick Saban, who retired in January after 17 illustrious years with the college.
Although Oats initially “did not wish to hassle” Saban, he nonetheless discovered methods to select the longtime coach’s mind.
“I went and watched practices, I sat in on workers conferences, I shadowed him for a day, I went on street journeys with him to see how they operated,” Oats said following the Tide’s Elite Eight win. “I attempted to study as a lot as I may. It by no means nagged me or bothered me that soccer was large at Alabama. I beloved it. It is higher for recruiting, it is higher for the whole lot for us. I attempted to study from it.
“I really like the truth that he is nonetheless acquired an workplace at Bryant-Denny [Stadium],” Oats continued. “I really like the actual fact he is prepared to speak to me. He talked to me earlier than this run. He texted me in the course of the run.”
Oats’ admiration of Saban started lengthy earlier than Alabama. Because the coach at Romulus Excessive College in Detroit, Oats created an Excel doc containing tabs for, amongst different issues, inspirational quotes damaged down into two subcategories: “common quotes” and “Saban quotes.”
“Each Saban quote I had, it was lined with them,” Oats mentioned. “After which I acquired right here, I am like, ‘Ought to I take advantage of them as a lot as I used to make use of them?’ Trigger he is truly teaching subsequent door. Is it going to hassle our basketball gamers that I hold utilizing the soccer coach’s quotes? Properly, I nonetheless use them. They’re fairly good. I am nonetheless getting extra of them and including them to the listing.”
Alabama’s final roadblock to the nationwide title recreation is top-seeded UConn, the reigning nationwide champions. The Huskies have gained every of their final 10 NCAA Match video games, courting again to final season’s run, by double digits. Tipoff for Saturday’s Closing 4 recreation is scheduled for 8:49 p.m. ET.
