Everything Nate Oats said about Alabama's NCAA Tournament draw

Alabama will be the No. 4 seed in the West Region of the 2024 NCAA Tournament and will face 13-seed Charleston in Spokane, Wash., on Friday, March 22. After the bracket was announced, Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats spoke to reporters about Alabama’s draw.

Below is everything Oats said during a 12-minute Zoom call with the local press.

Oats’ opening statement…

“We’re excited to be in the tournament. We told our guys not everybody gets to do this. You look at the quality of teams that were left out of the tournament, a lot of good players not playing anymore, good teams not playing. So regardless of where we get sent, we’re excited to go there. Spokane, we’ve had good runs out west, personally. We’ve got a long flight out to Spokane. Charleston’s got a longer flight. 

“I don’t know a ton about Charleston. Coach (Pat) Kelsey is one of the better up-and-coming, young head coaches that play a pretty modern style basketball. Pretty similar to us, to be honest with you. I mean, their offense is top 60 in the country. Their pace of play is top 50. Their 3-point rate is top 20. They’re playing fast, spreading it out, taking a lot of threes. We’re gonna have to see exactly how they get it, but I’m about to see. My staff’s already working on Charleston.

“And then obviously, if we’re fortunate enough to get past Charleston, then playing the winner of Saint Mary’s and Grand Canyon. Those are two teams out west. So we’ve played semi-neutral – Arizona in Phoenix, played Purdue in Toronto where Zach Edey had plenty of fans. So we played neutrals that weren’t very neutral. So if Saint Mary’s has a lot of fans, so be it. We’ve gotta beat two good teams to get to LA and make it to the Sweet 16. 

“I do like the fact we don’t have to play till Friday. I think we get our legs up under us a little bit more. Obviously, we were trying to win the SEC Tournament, but it might have been a blessing in disguise for an NCAA Tournament run to get our legs a little more rested and not playing till Friday. It gets us there even more because we haven’t had our full allotment of guys on no minute restrictions since that Texas A&M game when we were playing pretty good basketball. So I think this Friday will be the first time we’ve got everybody healthy, ready to go since that A&M game.

“So we’re excited for it. Gotta get a get done with this Zoom so I can get to work figuring out how to beat Charleston.”

Oats on if Austin Claunch will stick around for the NCAA Tournament…

“He’s definitely sticking around with us. This is his first tournament he’s been in. He wants to make a run.

“He’s been great for the program. I talk about when the tide rises, all the boats rise. We had a good year. Obviously, we would like to have had a better year and when you’re comparing what we’ve done – the No. 1 overall seed last year and two Sweet 16s in the previous three years, four SEC trophies in the previous three years – some people may look at it as a little disappointing. We’re a 4-seed. Alabama has never been a 4-seed or higher in back-to-back tournaments in school history. For us to lose the entire staff and then come in and lose 75-80 percent of the roster, to do what we did this year is pretty good. You’ve gotta give the staff a lot of credit.

“I think the AD at San Antonio, I talked to Lisa for a little bit yesterday. Austin was a great head coach before he got here. I think he’ll do a great job there. I’m super happy for him. Talked to him a lot over the last 24 hours about this. I’m all for taking care of your players, whatever’s best for them. We found out (Noah) Clowney was gonna be a first-round pick, like, you’ve gotta go. Find out Austin can you get a job this good in the American Conference after one year with us, like, it’s a good job to take it. You need to go take it. 

“But we need you locked in on trying to make as deep a run as we can in the NCAA Tournament. So happy for Austin. He’s a great culture guy. He’s a great mind as a head coach, brought a lot to the program. We both learned from each other in the year he was here. I think he’ll do a great job there.”

Oats on stopping Charleston’s run of 12 straight wins…

“They’ve obviously got a lot of momentum. I think they’ve got the second-longest winning streak in the country right now. It’s a pretty good league, too. So it’s not like they’ve been playing bad teams. I played in a similar league in the MAC in Buffalo. Two win 12 games in a row against that caliber of teams, that’s saying a lot. So they’re hot. 

“I told our guys, we’ve lost some games here in the last couple of weeks. We also haven’t been healthy. This will be the first time we’ve got everybody available. We had everybody available last game, but it’s almost like you’re knocking the rust off a little bit with some of the guys that haven’t been in as much.

“It’s a new season. A lot of teams are done. There’s not that many teams left playing meaningful games. We’re treating it like it’s a whole new season and we’re playing a really good team. I’ve been on the other side of this. I’ve been a 13-seed playing a four at Buffalo and came in and beat Arizona, so I’ve got a pretty good idea of the mindset of that group. And they’re hungry. I’m sure they can’t wait to play us. They’re excited. 

“Now, this is a program that’s been really good for the last two years under Coach Kelsey. so we’re not going to necessarily look at they’ve won 12 in a row, they’re on momentum, we’re not. It’s the first game of a new season and who comes ready to play for 40 minutes in that first game.”

Oats on if he can retrace when he identified defense as an issue…

“We talked about it from Day 1 because two out of the last three years we were third, 92nd and third. Everybody came here to win championships. The two years that we were third, we won four trophies in the SEC. The one year we were 92nd, we had some very quality wins, but we had some really bad losses. So we talked about it from Day 1 what it’s going to take. The guys said the right things – ‘We’re all bought in.’ Early on, we had some games where we didn’t play the best defense in the non-conference. We also played a pretty tough schedule. 

“I think maybe the first time it really got us was probably that Ohio State loss, and I thought we bounced back and were a little better against Oregon. But Oregon is a tournament team, they’re in the NCAA Tournament. So it’s been a little up and down all year. Personnel-wise, I think we’re better than what our numbers show. It’s a decision some guys are going to have to make, like how bad do I want to keep playing? Because Charleston’s a really good offensive team. If we don’t come out and guard, Charleston is gonna put some points up on us. And I don’t like putting that much pressure on our offense every night out that we got to go score 100 points or whatever. 

“So I think we’ve shown the capability to be a quality defensive team enough. I mean, you go back and look at some of the better teams we played. We’re up nine against Purdue on a neutral site and then go up six against Arizona on a semi-road game, pretty much an away game. Up at Creighton in a road game. Kind of go through it, throughout what we were able to do against South Carolina that’s really good team defensively. When we’ve been locked in and giving our best effort, we’ve been alright. Maybe not top three but not where we are. We’ve got to do it for two straight games, 40 minutes a game. We do it for two straight games at 40 minutes a game, we’ll be playing in LA the following weekend.”

Oats on if he likes playing a team that is similar to Alabama’s style…

“I think we play the most modern style basketball in the country. They’re pretty similar, like I said. So I think they’re playing a brand that makes the most sense how to play. I think it’s the toughest one to guard. We had the No. 1 offense in the country. The last time we were fully healthy against A&M, we were No. 1 by a longshot. So in that regard, it’s a hard offense to guard. I gotta figure out how they get their 3s. As soon as I get off this with you, I’m gonna get up with my staff who’s been on since it was announced. 

“But I think it’s a hard system to guard. I’ve gotta figure out how they get them. But I think that we guard it every day in practice, so we do get a little bit of help. Now, it’s the same going the other way. Charleston guards something similar. Their offense is ranked a lot higher than their defense, similar to ours. I think both of us will have a little bit of an advantage because we guard something similar every day in practice, and we’re just going to have to see who does a better job.”

Oats on what veteran players have been telling the team about the NCAA Tournament…

“We kind of went around and talked about who’s played in the tournament. There’s only four scholarship guys that have played in the tournament – our three from last year and then (Latrell Wrightsell) out at Fullerton. (Mo) Wague was on the West Virginia team, but he was injured and didn’t play. So they didn’t talk a ton yet. I’m sure they will be talking as we go on, we reconvene to go over how to beat Charleston. But I think helps to have some tournament experience, but a little bit, it helps. The biggest thing is how much do we want to play for each other? How much do we want to keep playing together? How good of defense do you want to play? 

“Because at the end of the day, there’s a lot of distractions around the NCAA Tournament, which makes it great. It’s the best sporting event on the planet. Over a three-week stretch, it’s all eyes in the world in sports are all on this. It’s an unbelievable sporting event that these guys will remember for the rest of their lives. But there’s 40 minutes where the best team is going to come out on top, and there’s another 40 minutes where the best team comes out on top. So the best thing we can do is eliminate all those distractions as much as possible, enjoy the environment and the moment without letting it be a big distraction and get locked in on what we’ve gotta do for the 40 minutes both games.”

Not a member, Alabama fans? Join BOL today!

Have you subscribed to BamaOnLine.com yet? You can sign up for ONE MONTH of premium access to our Alabama coverage for just $11.99! Be able to read all of BOL’s premium articles and nuggets covering Alabama sports and recruiting and also join thousands of other Crimson Tide fans around the globe on the BOL Round Table message board! CLICK HERE!