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Nate Oats says Alabama 'achieved a lot this year'

Barkley-Truaxby: Barkley Truax03/03/23BarkleyTruax
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AUBURN, ALABAMA - FEBRUARY 11: Head coach Nate Oats of the Alabama Crimson Tide reacts to a big play during the second half of their game against the Auburn Tigers at Neville Arena on February 11, 2023 in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images)

Alabama clinched its second SEC regular season championship in three seasons with its 90-85 overtime thriller against Auburn Wednesday night. After the game, head coach Nate Oats reflected on what has been a whirlwind of a season for the Crimson Tide.

“We achieved a lot this year. Shoot, we swept our in-state rival, which is a big deal around here. We went undefeated at home,” Oats said postgame. “That’s not easy to do. As I said, we won the SEC regular season. We’ve still got things we wanna accomplish ahead of us. The guys have worked hard. I’m super proud of them.”

The Crimson Tide’s 16-1 SEC record has seen Alabama dominate its conference competition all season long, including wins against every single SEC team except for Tennessee, who is responsible for ‘Bama’s single blemish on their conference schedule. There is another team Alabama hasn’t defeated, though, which is the Texas A&M Aggies, who the Tide matchup against this Saturday for their regular-season finale.

Defeating 12 of 13 different teams in your conference is an impressive feat to say the least, especially amid the drama that has surrounded the program of late involving the Darius Miles, Brandon Miller handgun situation that led to the death of Jamea Jonae Harris.

Even with the outside noise louder than ever, Alabama has doubled down and won eight of their last nine games and currently holds the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, according to the latest updated Bracketology from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. They’re likely to play their first two rounds in their own backyard in Birmingham, Alabama.

Still, if they want to lock up the top seed in the tournament later this month, they need to take care of business against a tough Texas A&M team on the road before anything else. Tip-off between the Tide and Aggies is set for Saturday at Noon ET live on CBS.