Opening Statement…
“I'll share what I just got done telling the players in the locker room. I mean, we had an unbelievable year. Everybody is really disappointed in the loss. It ended too soon. San Diego State is a very good team. When you get to the Sweet 16, you know, all the teams are good at this point. You know, they're a tough, physical, veteran group. It's a huge accomplishment to get to the Sweet 16.”
Benny’s Breakdown: Falling in the Sweet 16 round for any team is painful but to fall twice in the last three seasons can’t be put into words. Maybe the only way to explain how anyone was feeling rests on Nate Oats’ despondent look after finishing his opening statement on Friday. The normally talkative and jovial head coach had a numb look on his face for his entire post-game press conference. He was shocked, Tuscaloosa was shocked, heck the college basketball landscape was shocked at what transpired in Louisville. It’s a pain that will resonate throughout the offseason and will carry over until next year begins.
On how special this year’s group is…
“I'll say it's one of the most memorable seasons ever. It's not easy to win the regular season, the SEC tournament in the same year and make a Sweet 16 run. It's a great group that really loves each other. I mean, they're going to be close for life, most of them. You know, I love the group, they love each other, and it's just really disappointing that it's ending early. But I think it's one of the most memorable seasons in Alabama history, and they can walk out of here with their heads up.”
Benny’s Breakdown: Oats commemorated this year’s Alabama team for being one of the best in Alabama’s history and he has a point. Outside of falling in the Sweet 16 round, Alabama set the single-season win mark in program history, have a potential lottery pick take the nation by storm in Brandon Miller and developed another potential first-rounder in Noah Clowney. There was a lot of good that came out of Alabama’s season which will be forgotten in mere hours but the program will benefit from this season in the long run.
On SDSU’s physicality…
“I don't know if the press caused as many problems. We had 14 turnovers. I would have to go back and see how many were actually against the press, but their physicality definitely bothered us in the half court for sure. They kind of got us off our drives. Mensah up with five blocks. They had eight blocks in the game. We needed to do a little bit better job being able to make better rim decisions. They're a tough, physical, big, strong, experienced team, and especially in the first half we didn't come out prepared. It's somewhat on us, and somewhat the players have to get comfortable with the way they played. We've had that happen before, but I thought they did a great job in the second half, and then our defense just wasn't quite good enough to overcome the poor shooting night.”
Benny’s Breakdown: Alabama’s had some poor shooting nights in the past, but Friday’s loss to SDSU draws comparisons to the Crimson Tide’s loss to Tennessee on the road. Both nights showed Alabama’s weakness of fighting through contact, especially on drives to the basket. After the team’s loss in Knoxville, Oats said he doubted if an NCAA game would have officials that allowed it to get that physical. While nothing matches the proverbial boxing match that took place at Thompson-Boling Arena, the Aztecs made a conscious effort to use their size and length to bother Alabama and it worked.
On Alabama falling in the last three tournaments to lower seeds…
“You know, we were going to lose to a team seeded lower than us unless we won the national championship this year. We were the No. 1 overall seed. You know, last year we had an injury that nobody expected when J.Q. blew his knee out. Not that that's an excuse. Notre Dame played well. Before that we went 12 of 25 at the free-throw line. Goes into overtime. Shoot 60% instead of less than 50, probably win that game. This year we're 3 of 27 from three, and I know we take a lot of threes, but the system worked for the entire year. You know, we just -- it's one of those deals where I'm going to go back to the drawing board and see what I can get better at. We're going to try to recruit really good players. A lot of programs would love to be in the NCAA Tournament three straight years. A lot of them would have loved to have won the SEC regular season tournament twice in the last three years. We're doing pretty good things at Alabama, and we're going to continue to get better.”
Benny’s Breakdown: While Alabama has won two SEC regular-season titles, two conference championships and has made two trips to the Sweet 16, the question of does Nate Oats’ system work got a little louder on Friday. There’s no doubt that Alabama is one of the most exciting teams in the country to watch when everything is falling for it, but when it doesn’t the struggles are almost unwatchable. While it has shot through shooting slumps in the past, the Crimson Tide couldn’t pull its way through against a tough San Diego State team. Nate Oats probably lost more basketball knowledge than I had to begin with, so I’m not going to pick a side on whether there should be changes or not. But what is clear is Oats will need to have some answers to these lingering questions.
“I'll share what I just got done telling the players in the locker room. I mean, we had an unbelievable year. Everybody is really disappointed in the loss. It ended too soon. San Diego State is a very good team. When you get to the Sweet 16, you know, all the teams are good at this point. You know, they're a tough, physical, veteran group. It's a huge accomplishment to get to the Sweet 16.”
Benny’s Breakdown: Falling in the Sweet 16 round for any team is painful but to fall twice in the last three seasons can’t be put into words. Maybe the only way to explain how anyone was feeling rests on Nate Oats’ despondent look after finishing his opening statement on Friday. The normally talkative and jovial head coach had a numb look on his face for his entire post-game press conference. He was shocked, Tuscaloosa was shocked, heck the college basketball landscape was shocked at what transpired in Louisville. It’s a pain that will resonate throughout the offseason and will carry over until next year begins.
On how special this year’s group is…
“I'll say it's one of the most memorable seasons ever. It's not easy to win the regular season, the SEC tournament in the same year and make a Sweet 16 run. It's a great group that really loves each other. I mean, they're going to be close for life, most of them. You know, I love the group, they love each other, and it's just really disappointing that it's ending early. But I think it's one of the most memorable seasons in Alabama history, and they can walk out of here with their heads up.”
Benny’s Breakdown: Oats commemorated this year’s Alabama team for being one of the best in Alabama’s history and he has a point. Outside of falling in the Sweet 16 round, Alabama set the single-season win mark in program history, have a potential lottery pick take the nation by storm in Brandon Miller and developed another potential first-rounder in Noah Clowney. There was a lot of good that came out of Alabama’s season which will be forgotten in mere hours but the program will benefit from this season in the long run.
On SDSU’s physicality…
“I don't know if the press caused as many problems. We had 14 turnovers. I would have to go back and see how many were actually against the press, but their physicality definitely bothered us in the half court for sure. They kind of got us off our drives. Mensah up with five blocks. They had eight blocks in the game. We needed to do a little bit better job being able to make better rim decisions. They're a tough, physical, big, strong, experienced team, and especially in the first half we didn't come out prepared. It's somewhat on us, and somewhat the players have to get comfortable with the way they played. We've had that happen before, but I thought they did a great job in the second half, and then our defense just wasn't quite good enough to overcome the poor shooting night.”
Benny’s Breakdown: Alabama’s had some poor shooting nights in the past, but Friday’s loss to SDSU draws comparisons to the Crimson Tide’s loss to Tennessee on the road. Both nights showed Alabama’s weakness of fighting through contact, especially on drives to the basket. After the team’s loss in Knoxville, Oats said he doubted if an NCAA game would have officials that allowed it to get that physical. While nothing matches the proverbial boxing match that took place at Thompson-Boling Arena, the Aztecs made a conscious effort to use their size and length to bother Alabama and it worked.
On Alabama falling in the last three tournaments to lower seeds…
“You know, we were going to lose to a team seeded lower than us unless we won the national championship this year. We were the No. 1 overall seed. You know, last year we had an injury that nobody expected when J.Q. blew his knee out. Not that that's an excuse. Notre Dame played well. Before that we went 12 of 25 at the free-throw line. Goes into overtime. Shoot 60% instead of less than 50, probably win that game. This year we're 3 of 27 from three, and I know we take a lot of threes, but the system worked for the entire year. You know, we just -- it's one of those deals where I'm going to go back to the drawing board and see what I can get better at. We're going to try to recruit really good players. A lot of programs would love to be in the NCAA Tournament three straight years. A lot of them would have loved to have won the SEC regular season tournament twice in the last three years. We're doing pretty good things at Alabama, and we're going to continue to get better.”
Benny’s Breakdown: While Alabama has won two SEC regular-season titles, two conference championships and has made two trips to the Sweet 16, the question of does Nate Oats’ system work got a little louder on Friday. There’s no doubt that Alabama is one of the most exciting teams in the country to watch when everything is falling for it, but when it doesn’t the struggles are almost unwatchable. While it has shot through shooting slumps in the past, the Crimson Tide couldn’t pull its way through against a tough San Diego State team. Nate Oats probably lost more basketball knowledge than I had to begin with, so I’m not going to pick a side on whether there should be changes or not. But what is clear is Oats will need to have some answers to these lingering questions.
