Nate Oats gives initial thoughts on playing Robert Morris in Cleveland

Alabama’s men’s basketball team received a No. 2 seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament and will open postseason play against 15-seed Robert Morris in the first round on Friday, March 21.

The Colonials won the Horizon League Tournament championship game on Tuesday, March 11, to punch their ticket to the big dance. Robert Morris (26-8, 15-5) has the Horizon League Player of the Year, Alvaro Folgueiras, Defensive Player of the Year, Amarion Dickerson, and Coach of the Year, Andy Toole – the last of which Nate Oats is familiar with.

“I played them when I was the head coach at Buffalo,” Oats said on Sunday. “They had the same coach. Coach Toole’s done a really good job there. They’ve moved from the NEC to the Horizon. Horizon’s kind of back in that area, Detroit, midwest area where I’m from. 

“And shoot, they’re on a 10-game winning streak. They’ve got the Player of the Year in that conference, they’ve got the Defensive Player of the Year and they’re good.”

Robert Morris has one more win than Alabama (25-8, 13-5 SEC) ahead of the March Madness matchup and has not lost a game since a 2-point defeat to Wright State on February 2.

The Crimson Tide players may not know much about their next opponent, but they will soon.

“We will make them understand how good of a team Robert Morris is by the time we play them,” Oats said. “There’s been 15 over twos throughout the course of the tournament. There’s been 16 over ones a couple times now. So you can’t afford to overlook anybody.”

Should UA get by the Colonials, it will face the winner of Saint Mary’s-Vanderbilt in the Round of 32. But that’s for the coaches to worry about. The players need to focus on Robert Morris.

“I just explained to these guys after the selection show revealed the bracket that we’re in a 4-team tournament right now,” Oats said. “That’s all we care about, and really, all I need those guys focused on is Robert Morris to start. And then we will, as a staff, get ready for Vanderbilt and Saint Mary’s.”

Alabama will spend the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, which is home to the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. Again, while it may be a new venue for the Tide’s players, Oats won four MAC Tournament titles during his time at Buffalo.

“They sent us to Cleveland, which is fine,” Oats said. “It’s a short flight. I’ve got a lot of people in Cleveland for my MAC days. Personally, I’ve had a little bit of success in that arena in the postseason, in the MAC Tournaments. But Cleveland’s a good city. Enjoyed my time in Cleveland during the MAC.

“And we just got to go up, take care of two games, get our guys locked in, get healthy, get our legs fresh and kind of take it from there if we are fortunate enough to win these two games this weekend.”

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