Head coach Nate Oats led the Alabama Crimson Tide to their first Final Four in program history. Then, the Crimson Tide ran into the top overall seed, UConn, who hasn’t lost an NCAA Tournament game since 2022 and were eliminated.
After the game, Oats emphasized how much the support the program has gotten matters to him and made a point of saying that this is just the beginning for the program.
“I want to thank ’em,” Nate Oats said. “They’ve really supported us since we’ve gotten here. They’ve gotten behind this when I took the job. A lot of people said it was a football school. There’s a large contingent of basketball fans. No reason you can’t be both.”
“Florida — we’ll see if UConn wins it on Monday, if they go ahead and win it on the Monday, first team since Florida to win it back to back. Florida is a pretty good football school. They became a pretty good basketball school. I think we proved you can be good at both,” Oats said.
“They’re good at a lot of sports at Alabama. I mean, they’ve been great to us since we’ve been here. I’m glad that I was a small part of bringing the Alabama fan base some joy through the basketball team and making the Final Four.”
Nate Oats first got to Alabama in 2019 and by his second season in Tuscaloosa, he had Alabama in the NCAA Tournament. The Crimson Tide since made the Sweet 16 twice before this year’s run to the Final Four. That run to the Final Four ended in a loss, but Oats believes it’s just the beginning for the program’s success.
“But while it was great and I want to thank them and thank our players for getting us here, we’re not finished. We’d like to get back here and win this whole thing. I think that’s what our goal’s going to be. We’re going to aim to get back here, aim to get back here and win the final game,” Oats said.
“We just got to keep knocking at the door, ask for them to continue to support us like the way they’ve been, and we’ll continue to put a winning product on the floor for them.”
Charles Barkley: ‘Nate Oats and his kids made Alabama proud’
After playing at Auburn, Charles Barkley likes to joke with Alabama and the Crimson Tide fans. However, he did also make sure to praise the job Nate Oats and Alabama did this year.
“I want to say this. Obviously, I have great hatred toward Alabama, but let me tell you something. Those kids — Nate Oats and his kids, man, they made — I’m gonna say it right, Ernie — they made the University of Alabama proud,” Barkley said.
“It was awesome, they had a great season. Obviously, we’re gonna celebrate UConn, but as an Auburn guy, this is painful. I’ve got to take my hat off to Nate Oats and his entire coaching staff and his team. They were awesome.”
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