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Nate Oats bashes ACC in defense of Alabama's resume

IMG_0985by:Griffin McVeigh•about 12 hours•

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Feb 15, 2025; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats directs his team against the Auburn Tigers during the first half at Coleman Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Will McLelland-Imagn Images

As much of a grind as the SEC was this year, no team had a tougher stretch than Alabama to close out the regular season. The Crimson Tide’s final seven games were all against ranked opponents. All but two were top-15 games and four were inside the top five. Three of them were wins, capped by a dramatic win against in-state rival Auburn.

Going 3-4 may have not been the goal for Nate Oats but considering the circumstances, not the worst record. In fact, Oats made sure to point out that those three ranked wins were better than anything an ACC team has done this season.

“We’ve had more top 25 wins in our last 7 games than any ACC school did the entire season,” Oats said.

Duke won the ACC regular season title outright but wound up with just two wins against ranked opponents and both came during nonconference play. Jon Scheyer‘s team beat Arizona and Auburn around the Holidays before facing 23 consecutive unranked teams.

Not a knock on Duke as they cannot control what teams on the other side of the court are ranked when playing. But more so putting into perspective how difficult Alabama’s close was before heading to the SEC Tournament in Nashville.

Both teams are fighting for a one-seed too. Duke is viewed as more of a lock while Alabama is hoping a couple of wins at the SEC Tournament will elevate them from the two-line.

Funny enough, Alabama did get a ranked matchup during the SEC/ACC Challenge. North Carolina was No. 20 at the time but fell out of the AP poll when Oats’ squad came into Chapel Hill with a win. They never re-entered the poll after being a preseason top-10 team.

As of Wednesday, On3’s James Fletcher only has three ACC teams in the NCAA Tournament in his latest bubble watch. North Carolina finds itself on the bubble with wins needed in Charlotte, beginning against Notre Dame. SMU and Wake Forest find themselves in the ‘More to do’ category.

Alabama is unlikely to face a team on the outside of the NCAA Tournament picture from Nashville. If seeding holds, Kentucky will be the quarterfinal opponent but Georgia or Oklahoma will have something to say about that.

Nothing will beat the matchups Alabama just played, though. Head coaches love to have a battle-tested team heading into the postseason and Oats certainly has one.