Nate Oats and Alabama basketball are on a historic run as they prepare to face Connecticut in the Final Four on Saturday.
This will be the program’s first Final Four appearance, although the Crimson Tide have experienced ups and downs this season. During a period when Alabama basketball was suffering late in the season, Oats contacted Nick Saban, who watches ‘all’ of the Tide’s games.
“I think just about every year that he won a national championship, they lost at some point during the year,” Oats told reporters on Thursday. “Football is clearly different. There are many more games in basketball. But this year, they lost the Texas game, and he did an incredible job of turning the season around. So I called him and asked, “How can we turn this thing around this late?”
Saban advised Tide basketball players to keep their thoughts focused on the next play.
“Coach, guys gotta go to the next play,” Saban told Oats.
Alabama basketball will attempt to maintain this approach when they face UConn on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:49 p.m. CST.
