Known to provide quotes to his players during practice, Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats prepared a special message for his team on Tuesday.
Despite seeing its 10-game winning streak snapped over the weekend, No. 10 Alabama (14-4, 9-0 in the SEC) is experiencing its best start to the season in nearly two decades. The Crimson Tide enters February as the only undefeated team in the SEC and sits three games ahead of the next best team in the conference standings.
Although while the season is setting up to be a memorable one in Tuscaloosa, Ala., February has had a way of providing some forgettable moments for the Tide in recent years. Alabama hasn’t posted a winning record in the month since 2016, going a combined 14-19 over the past four Februarys.
Alabama went 4-5 in the month last year, failing to record consecutive wins while watching its season unravel. The Tide broke even at 4-4 during the February before that, dropping three straight games in the middle of the month. Prior to that, Alabama posted a 3-5 record during the month in both 2017 and 2018.
Three out of those four years, the Tide’s failings in the month ultimately did in its NCAA Tournament chances. Oats wants to make sure his team doesn’t suffer that same fate this season.
So Tuesday, the head coach provided a little wisdom from legendary NBA head coach Pat Riley.
“It’s easier to back away from excellence than it is to give everything you’ve got,” Oats recited Tuesday. “It’s easier to let the frustrations, distractions and fatigue of the long season erode your performance. But it’s not satisfying in the long run.”
That led to a question from Oats to his players.
“When you look back at the end of the season, are you going to wish you put a little more time into it in February?” he asked. “Are you going to wish you would have practiced a little harder? Are you going to wish you would have got in the gym? Are you going to have regrets?”
Unlike the past four Februarys, Alabama isn’t sitting on the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Tide ranks No. 10 in the Associated Press Top 25 and No. 7 in the Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll. It also headed into Wednesday sitting at No. 10 in the NET rankings used by the NCAA tournament selection committee.
Instead of fighting for its spot in the Big Dance, Alabama is posturing itself for one of the most coveted positions in the field. ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi projects the Tide as a No. 2 seed, while NCAA.com’s Andy Katz has Alabama as a No. 3 seed.
The belief in Tuscaloosa is that this team can not only make the tournament but advance into the latter stages. Of course, it would help tremendously if Alabama was able to hit its stride in the final full month of the regular season.
While February has been a dreaded month for Tide players, it hasn’t been a bad period for its head coach. Before arriving at Alabama last season, Oats spent four years at Buffalo, taking the Bulls to the tournament three times. During that span, the head coach went a combined 22-9 in February.
“I thought our teams were peaking every year,” Oats said. “We won the conference tournament three out of our four years in Buffalo. I thought our teams peaked. We didn’t back off.”
So what is the secret to carrying that success to Tuscaloosa? Oats says it starts with focus.
While the head coach stated that Alabama is still a bit banged up heading into the half of its conference schedule, he challenged his players to play through that as they work toward a first SEC title since 2002.
“If we’ve got a mentally tough group, if we’ve got a group that wants to win at a high level, we’re going to figure out ways to win in February,” Oats said. “It’s not like we’re in the third or fourth month of the season and the teams we’re playing are in the first month of the season. No, we’re all at the same place here. So we’ve got to do a better job handling the fatigue of the season.”
Alabama begins its February slate on Wednesday as it hosts LSU at 6 p.m. CT inside Coleman Coliseum. From there, the Tide will travel to No. 18 Missouri on Saturday.
“We’ve just got to beat the statistics,” guard Jaden Shackelford said. “We’ve done it so far this year, and I feel like this team is more than capable of having a winning February going into March. I feel like if me and the guys lock in, then there’s nothing we can't change.”
Added forward Alex Reese: “This team’s different than the years past.”
Despite seeing its 10-game winning streak snapped over the weekend, No. 10 Alabama (14-4, 9-0 in the SEC) is experiencing its best start to the season in nearly two decades. The Crimson Tide enters February as the only undefeated team in the SEC and sits three games ahead of the next best team in the conference standings.
Although while the season is setting up to be a memorable one in Tuscaloosa, Ala., February has had a way of providing some forgettable moments for the Tide in recent years. Alabama hasn’t posted a winning record in the month since 2016, going a combined 14-19 over the past four Februarys.
Alabama went 4-5 in the month last year, failing to record consecutive wins while watching its season unravel. The Tide broke even at 4-4 during the February before that, dropping three straight games in the middle of the month. Prior to that, Alabama posted a 3-5 record during the month in both 2017 and 2018.
Three out of those four years, the Tide’s failings in the month ultimately did in its NCAA Tournament chances. Oats wants to make sure his team doesn’t suffer that same fate this season.
So Tuesday, the head coach provided a little wisdom from legendary NBA head coach Pat Riley.
“It’s easier to back away from excellence than it is to give everything you’ve got,” Oats recited Tuesday. “It’s easier to let the frustrations, distractions and fatigue of the long season erode your performance. But it’s not satisfying in the long run.”
That led to a question from Oats to his players.
“When you look back at the end of the season, are you going to wish you put a little more time into it in February?” he asked. “Are you going to wish you would have practiced a little harder? Are you going to wish you would have got in the gym? Are you going to have regrets?”
Unlike the past four Februarys, Alabama isn’t sitting on the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Tide ranks No. 10 in the Associated Press Top 25 and No. 7 in the Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll. It also headed into Wednesday sitting at No. 10 in the NET rankings used by the NCAA tournament selection committee.
Instead of fighting for its spot in the Big Dance, Alabama is posturing itself for one of the most coveted positions in the field. ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi projects the Tide as a No. 2 seed, while NCAA.com’s Andy Katz has Alabama as a No. 3 seed.
The belief in Tuscaloosa is that this team can not only make the tournament but advance into the latter stages. Of course, it would help tremendously if Alabama was able to hit its stride in the final full month of the regular season.
While February has been a dreaded month for Tide players, it hasn’t been a bad period for its head coach. Before arriving at Alabama last season, Oats spent four years at Buffalo, taking the Bulls to the tournament three times. During that span, the head coach went a combined 22-9 in February.
“I thought our teams were peaking every year,” Oats said. “We won the conference tournament three out of our four years in Buffalo. I thought our teams peaked. We didn’t back off.”
So what is the secret to carrying that success to Tuscaloosa? Oats says it starts with focus.
While the head coach stated that Alabama is still a bit banged up heading into the half of its conference schedule, he challenged his players to play through that as they work toward a first SEC title since 2002.
“If we’ve got a mentally tough group, if we’ve got a group that wants to win at a high level, we’re going to figure out ways to win in February,” Oats said. “It’s not like we’re in the third or fourth month of the season and the teams we’re playing are in the first month of the season. No, we’re all at the same place here. So we’ve got to do a better job handling the fatigue of the season.”
Alabama begins its February slate on Wednesday as it hosts LSU at 6 p.m. CT inside Coleman Coliseum. From there, the Tide will travel to No. 18 Missouri on Saturday.
“We’ve just got to beat the statistics,” guard Jaden Shackelford said. “We’ve done it so far this year, and I feel like this team is more than capable of having a winning February going into March. I feel like if me and the guys lock in, then there’s nothing we can't change.”
Added forward Alex Reese: “This team’s different than the years past.”
