Everything Nate Oats said ahead of Sweet 16 matchup with San Diego State
The Alabama men’s basketball team is set to take on the San Diego State Aztecs in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in Louisville on Friday.
With a win, Alabama would advance to just its second Elite 8 appearance in program history.
As the top overall seed, Alabama is considered a favorite over the No. 5 seed Aztecs but will need to play at their best in order to defeat an experienced San Diego State squad.
Ahead of Friday’s matchup, Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats sat down on Thursday to speak to members of the media and discuss his team ahead of tipoff.
Here is everything coach Oats had to say!
Opening statement
“Great to be here Louisville. We were in the Sweet 16 two years ago. It’s a lot different situation this year with having the arenas full. Completely different team.
“Quinerly is the only scholarship player that was on both teams. He is obviously playing great for us now. He played great for us then.
“Come back with two separate teams, you know — all the teams in the Sweet 16 are pretty good. San Diego State is really good. We’ve got two teams, with us and them, that are both top five in the country in defensive efficiency. They’re a great defensive team. They’ve got a lot of players on the offensive side that can create shots. We’re going to have to be great defensively.
“You know, there’s similarities in that. There’s obviously style of play differences. They play a lot slower. We try to get it up and down. So it’s going to be who can make it more their tempo. But I think we have been able to show that we win games in the half court too. When you’ve got a good defense, I think you’re in most games.
“We’re going to have to be great defensively. We’re going to have to rebound the ball well, and we’re still going to try to play fast, but we’re not — if you watch us play, we don’t force the tempo on our defensive end. We’re not gambling and pressing and trying to get the tempo. We play pretty solid on the defensive end.
“So, you know, we’ll push on offense, try to score early. If they’re getting back and not letting us score early, we’ve won plenty of games in the half court too. We’re confident we can win either way.
“But we’re going to have to be tough. They’re an older group. We’re younger. We don’t have near the experience they have. Which with most groups, I think, that worry you, I think this group has shown how much maturity we have. And the fact that we’re young doesn’t mean that we’re immature. Just means guys haven’t played as many games, and they’re a little bit younger.
“I told our guys this morning the NBA drafts a lot of young players, and they start them early in their career, and they’re pretty good. Like I think you guys have been mature, and this lack of experience people are talking about, I’m not worried about it because you guys have shown how mature and prepared you can get. Age doesn’t necessarily matter. It’s more what your mindset is, how focused you are, how mature you are when you walk in.
“So we’re looking forward to playing a great game. We’re happy to be here. It’s a great time for Alabama basketball.”
On his message to the fans who are making the trip
“They’ve been great for us the entire NCAA Tournament. We would love for them to come support us just like they did in Birmingham.
“When you get the No. 1 overall seed, you get to choose your first two locations, so we chose the two closest places, obviously, Birmingham and now here.
“It’s not too long of a drive, and we need their support. They’ve been great all year. We love to hear them. We loved having them in Birmingham. We loved having them in Nashville for the SEC Tournament. Just a little further, you can stop through Nashville on your way up here to Louisville.”
On he and his team enjoying the moment with all that is going on off the court
“Yeah, we’re having a blast. We’re winning games. We know who we are. We’ve got a great group of guys that lean on each other, that have come close.
“We’ve never lost sight of the fact that we have a heartbreaking situation surrounding the program. The fact that we have such a good group of guys enables them to keep that, as they should, be a serious matter, and it has been, but, you know, you play basketball from the time you were young to get to these moments, and we’re going to enjoy these moments. They’ve earned the right to enjoy the moment they’re in, and I think our guys are having a lot of fun.
“You know what, I delete all social media apps off my phone before the season. I encourage our guys to spend more time watching film and everything. We just — we’re going to control the stuff we can control, and our guys have done a great job being cognizant and aware of the entire situation we have going on and the big-picture stuff, but they’ve done a great job of being where their feet are at and focusing on the details at hand.
“When we’re in a video session, that’s where our minds are at. When we’re in practice, that’s where our minds are at. We’re focused on practice. When we come into the games and the ball goes up, our entire focus is on what we need to do to win that basketball game. I think that’s enabled us to enjoy the moment as we’re in the moments too.”
On if college basketball should have a uniform ball instead of every team having a different one
“Yeah, we kind of had the discussion as a staff. I’m big on the players being as comfortable as they can be, the environment. We try to shoot in the arena we’re in. If we get into a place, we shoot the night before.
“Charlie Henry was in the NBA, is on our staff. He is like, I have no idea how college doesn’t have a uniform ball. Like, I couldn’t imagine. You’re in the NBA, everybody plays with the same ball every night.
“So here we’ve got — you know, we’ve got all the different balls we could possibly play with through the year. Our gear, our equipment manager has enough of them that the days leading into that particular game, we play with that ball. Nike, Wilson, whatever, go down the line.
“I do think it would be a lot better if the NCAA mandated a particular ball. I’m sure there’s money aspects involved with all that.”
“Look, I don’t see — I don’t play anymore. I used to play. I still shoot occasionally when we’re in there with the guys. I’ve felt the ball. You can pump up any ball to be too hard. It would be great if the referees actually made sure it was within the guidelines of how hard it’s supposed to be pumped up because, obviously, if you pump it up to where it’s a rock, you’re not going to shoot as well. It’s going to come off the rim every time it hits it.
“I don’t see there’s an issue with the ball. I think defenses get better. You look at the teams that are still winning. Most of them have pretty good defenses. When the defenses get better, shooting percentages go down.
“I’m sure the NCAA is on top of making sure the balls are all going to be correctly inflated and all that here for these Sweet 16 rounds. But we’ve got to do a great job of getting our shooters open shots. And I’m not going to be too worried about the ball. I’m going to worry about the stuff I can control.
“We preach it to our players all the time. I have zero control over the ball. I don’t think there’s an issue with it. Let’s make sure we get our really good shooters as many good looks as we can and get the percentages up to where they need to be.”
On coach Saban's remarks Monday night and if he took offense to it
“Yeah, so he and I talked that night. I didn’t take it that way at all. I got a ton of respect for Coach.
“I said, my opening press conference when I got hired at Alabama, that he may be the best coach for team sports in modern sports history. I mean, when I was a high school coach back in Romulus, I had a whole section of Saban quotes in our practice plan. I still have it. I probably use them a little less now that we’re here, and they get plenty of Saban quotes just in the regular media.
“I’ve got a ton of respect for him. He has been tremendously supportive of our program since he has got here. He says it all the time. He wants the entire athletic department to do well. He has been at multiple games this year. He came yesterday to speak to the team.
“He was good. Players loved it. He and I have got a great relationship, and I’m really thankful for the support that he has given us and continues to give us with the basketball program at Alabama.”
On if athletes are counseled on guns
“Yeah, and we’ve had — like you said, we bring in speakers of all different types throughout the year. You know, we’ve had — that’s been addressed, certainly, and we’ve got an unbelievable administration with us, and they take the opportunities when it’s appropriate to reemphasize things that have been previously talked about and need to be emphasized, and that’s been done.
“I think our administration and our coaching staff has done a great job using the resources we have at Alabama to help — to really help these young men grow into better adults and better citizens moving forward.”
On the message to his team about guns
“We emphasize you have to follow university policy. There’s university policy. As a student-athlete, you should be well above reproach on all university policies regarding any of that type of stuff.”
On San Diego State's perimeter defense
“Yeah, if you look at the way they guard, a lot of teams get their threes off, you know, running the ball screen or an action, and you have to pull a third defender in, that guy has to go from rotation to help.
“They switch a lot one through five. I think they switch all the time one through four on ball screens. A lot of times they switch with the five. Sometimes they don’t.
“They definitely have it in their package, but when you switch, you don’t have to pull a third defender in. You guard the pick and roll with two. You may have to get some help on a post-up or helping your big. But they do a great job, A, as a whole concept about they guard defensively. Their coaching staff does a great job, but then their players individually.
“You know, we get a lot of threes. Our guys are able to beat players one-on-one. So, obviously, they switch. They’ve got their power forward or center on our point guard. They can beat them, get in the lane. All of a sudden help comes. We spray the ball out. They do a great job of not getting beat.
“So, I mean, people can look at, yeah, get out, challenge. Well, it’s more than that because if you don’t help once you get beat, you’re giving up a layup. You see some teams just refuse to help. They’re scared of the way we shoot it. So they’re not going to help, and we end up with 40 at-the-rim attempts and shoot 80 percent of those.
“So you can’t just choose to not help off our shooters, or you’re going to give up layup after layup after layup, unless you can sit down and guard the ball and not get beat. They have really good individual defenders that don’t get beat. We’re going to have to do a great job on our offensive end.
“We’ve played some really good defenses in the SEC. I mean, you look at Tennessee. If you look at the top five defenses, I think we’re one of them, and then after we play San Diego State, I think we’ll have played three out of the four.
“We played get great defenses. They’re not fun. We lost at Tennessee. This is another one of them we’re going to have to be on point. They’re tough. They’re physical. They’re big. They’re strong. They move their feet. They take pride in it.
We’re going to have to do a good job and be sharp, and we can’t turn the ball over. That’s another issue. They will force turnovers with how physical they are too.”
On playing in the tournament as the "Goliath" or No. 1 overall seed
“Yeah, I think what makes the NCAA Tournament such a great event is what you are talking about. I mean, I go back to when I was a kid, and you see these — I’m thinking about Bryce Drew and hitting his shot at Valpo and just all those great upsets and shots.
“But you’ve also got great games between two great teams. I’m thinking about, you know, Bobby Hurley’s Duke team or Christian Laettner hits the shot against Kentucky. That’s one of my best memories watching two really good teams play.
“So you don’t just have to have the upsets to make for great TV and for the fans. You can have really good teams go going at it, which is what I think we have here.
“We never lie to our team and try to tell them — no, we don’t try to — we tell them the truth. We tell them, you know, when we’re focused and concentrating on what we’re supposed to be focused on, we should be the best team in the country.
“Now, we need to play like it, and we’ve had enough games this year where we haven’t done that. So we’re not trying to flip it and tell them anything different. They know we’re the No. 1 overall seed. They know what we’re capable of when we bring it, but we need to bring it.
“They also know we’re capable of losing at Oklahoma by a large margin, and we lost at Tennessee. We didn’t guard very well against Gonzaga. Took a loss the last regular season game of the year. Went to A&M. Weren’t what we needed to be.
“We’ve taken enough losses against good teams and some that weren’t as good to where they know what they have to do on any given night.
“So, no, the David/Goliath thing, from here on out I think we’re going to be playing really good teams. It’s going to be two great teams going at it, and it will be good for college basketball and our guys just have to be ready to go.”
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