Alabama’s coach never holds back.
No matter what, Nate Oats is going to tell you exactly what’s on his mind. For that, reporters and fans love him. For his players, though, sometimes Oats’ honesty might go a little too far.
Take Saturday for example.
Auburn 94, Alabama 85 was the type of game that people remember for a long time. It was the first regular-season matchup in the history of the SEC between teams ranked one and two in the AP Poll. No.1 Auburn outworked No.2 Alabama at Coleman Coliseum.
Auburn gets the flowers this time, but for both teams it was historic stuff.
“That’s a Final Four-good team,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said of his school’s principal rival.
Most analysts tend to agree, but, according to Oats, there are some major problems with the Crimson Tide’s leadership going into the final stretch of the season.
Oats is one of the best coaches in the country, so I’m going to assume that he knows what he’s doing, but publicly dogging star point guard Mark Sears on college basketball’s biggest stage of the season seemed like a high-stakes gamble that could backfire.
Did Alabama peak too soon? We’re about to find out.
Alabama plays six ranked teams to finish the regular season. For Oats, the answer to that riddle is clear.
“We got to have better leadership this year,” Oats said. “We’ll see what type of maturity and leadership we have.”
It was a direct shot at Sears, who Oats infamously benched earlier this season in a game against LSU.
Sears had another off night, shooting 4-of-17 from the field against Auburn. He was 2-of-11 from 3-point range. But was he the reason Alabama lost to Auburn? That feels like a stretch. His primary defender was Auburn’s Denver Jones, and Jones is no slouch. Pearl praised Jones afterwards as one of the best defenders in the country.
“How do you stay in front of Mark Sears?” Pearl said. “Nobody can and Denver Jones did. He needs to be on the Naismith All-Defensive Team.”
Sears is a proven veteran with Final Four experience. By any measure, he’s an excellent college basketball player and one of the best to ever play at Alabama. Oats is taking an unnecessary risk throwing post-game haymakers at his best player’s confidence.
“We’ve got to play hard when shots aren’t dropping,” Oats said. “It’s a sign of high character guys.”
Ouch.
But Oats wasn’t done.
How was Sears’ finishing at the rim?
“Not good,” Oats said. “Too much ISO…Too many bad shots.”
Auburn had just as many blocks as Alabama had assists in the first half (two). The second half wasn’t much better despite the Crimson Tide’s big run. In the end, Alabama finished with eight assists, a season low.
“The ball just wasn’t moving for the entire team,” Oats said.
It was all a motivational ploy aimed at Alabama’s senior guard. Will it work? Oats even suggested that maybe he should have benched Sears in the second half before acknowledging that the biggest game of the season probably wasn’t the best opportunity for a teaching moment. Oats benched Sears in the second half against lowly LSU. Against Auburn, Alabama had trouble keeping up with Auburn’s perimeter shooters. That wasn’t all on Sears, though. Auburn bigs Johni Broome and Chaney Johnson went 4-of-8 from distance.
“They’ve proven to be the best team in the country,” Oats said of Auburn. “We were not today.”
Alabama has a chance at redemption beginning with a game on Wednesday against No.21 Missouri. From there, Alabama finishes the season with games against No.15 Kentucky, No.22 Mississippi State, No.5 Florida, No.3 Tennessee and No.1 Auburn.
In football, the Iron Bowl at the end of the season determines everything. In basketball, with the way these two teams are playing, it’s not so simple.
Auburn 94, Alabama 85 on Saturday in Tuscaloosa was just an opening course. Hopefully the two best basketball teams in the country will play three more times this season.
If you’re counting, that’s once in Auburn at the end of the regular season, once in the championship game of the SEC tournament and then once again for a national championship in the NCAA Tournament.
I mean, if we’re going to take this Heart of Dixie basketball fantasy to the place of our wildest dreams, then we might as well go all the way to the edge and beyond.
The beginning was bitter for Bama, but things can turn quickly. Sears is the key to Alabama reaching the Final Four. Good thing for Oats, his senior point guard has already done it once.
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