Nate Oats exits Elite Eight 'disappointed' but optimistic about Alabama's future

NEWARK, N.J. – Alabama entered the 2024-25 season with sky-high expectations. And no one was as bullish on the Crimson Tide team’s potential as Nate Oats ahead of his sixth year.

Alabama reached the Final Four a season ago for the first time in program history, but Oats assembled a better roster, both via a top-five recruiting class and a stellar transfer portal haul, to go a step further. The Crimson Tide was one win away from returning to the final weekend of the NCAA Tournament but lost to No. 1-seed Duke, 85-65, in the Elite Eight.

Before Alabama’s first-round matchup with Robert Morris, Oats said, “Anything short of a Final Four would be a disappointment, in my opinion.” Moments after the season ended in New Jersey, Oats was asked what held the Tide back from reaching the lofty goals.

Injuries to key players changed things for Alabama, especially on the offensive end.

“We were supposed to be one of the better shooting teams in the country,” Oats said. “If we would have had Wrightsell and Mallette, maybe that changes things obviously a little bit. But injuries happen. Everybody across the country has some injuries. We adapted and became better on the O-boards, got to the free-throw line better. 

“Tonight we didn’t get to the free-throw line, were 11-of-14. They made 19, we only shot 14. We still were able to make shots, obviously. Two nights ago, we broke the NCAA record, but it wasn’t consistent enough, making threes at a high level for everybody. And you look at the guys that made the bulk of the threes two nights ago, and Sears, Youngblood and Holloway only made one each. What were they, 3-for-16 as opposed to all the ones they made two nights ago?

“When those guys aren’t making them, who else do you have that can knock some down? I thought Labaron and Aiden Sherrell did a good job with five between the two of them, but we didn’t get much help.”

Oats also pointed to some of his own decisions and outcomes throughout the Tide’s season.

“Through the course of the year, we lost some tough ones,” Oats said. “I didn’t do a good job with our end-of-game situation at Tennessee. We win that, maybe things are different. 

“We lost the two to Florida. If you’re a 1 seed instead of a 2 seed, you don’t play Duke. Duke is going to be a 1 seed. You’ve got somebody else in the Elite Eight. So you kind of look to some stuff could you have done things better? We lost a home game to Ole Miss. They’re a good team, but we should never have lost a home game to Ole Miss.”

Oats continued, “Even if you win the home game against Ole Miss, I don’t mess up the end of the game against Tennessee, maybe you’re still a 1 seed, even with those two losses to Florida, and you’re playing somebody else in the Elite Eight. 

“So there’s a lot of things you can look to that I’ve got to do a better job as a head coach, and I will do a better job moving forward. That we’ve got to keep continuing to recruit guys that fit our system and adapt when things happen and do better in the regular season and give yourself a better chance with a better seed.”

Making it to the Elite Eight is nothing to turn one’s nose up at. Alabama has only made three in the history of its basketball program, and two of those have come in the last two seasons.

Oats has led the Crimson Tide to the top of the sport, but it hasn’t made it to the final game of the year. The Alabama head coach left the Prudential Center motivated to get there soon.

“I don’t know if there’s been a better run in three-year history at Alabama. No. 1 overall seed, make a Final Four, and then make back-to-back Elite Eights. While it was disappointing for the standards we’ve set, most teams in the country didn’t set the standards as high as we set them.

“Like I said, there was four teams go to the Final Four last year, we were the only one that was in the Elite Eight. The other three either didn’t make the tournament, were bounced before the Sweet 16, or Purdue lost in the Sweet 16. With the standard of excellence we’ve set across all of college basketball, we’ve established ourselves as one of the best programs in the country.” 

Oats continued, “Are we disappointed tonight? For sure we are, but we’ve put ourselves up there with everybody else. 

“And we’re going to continue to do that year in and year out and keep knocking on the door, keep pounding the stone, if you will, and be one of the teams competing for a Final Four and a national championship and conference championships in the best conference in college basketball every year, and we’ll get back to the Final Four and win one here soon.”

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