Nate Oats explains why Alabama has a chip on the shoulder

Heading into Wednesday night’s action, just two teams are undefeated in SEC play. Alabama went to 4-0 against Missouri on Tuesday, while Auburn can do the same against Vanderbilt in Nashville. However, Nate Oats does not feel like his team is getting a lot of national attention.

But he is not complaining either. He does not believe Alabama deserves some of the love other teams across the country are getting. Oats scheduled a tough nonconference and ultimately, the Crimson Tide came up short in a lot of the games. Expectations may have been high but to this point, his team has fallen short.

“Nobody is really paying attention to us,” Oats said. “Which is great. They shouldn’t. We don’t have enough quality wins for anybody nationally to pay attention to us. But I think after being No. 1 in the country last year — we got nine new players.

“I think a lot of these guys came in with the expectation we’re going to be a top-five, top-10 team. And we’re not and we don’t deserve to be.”

The toughest portion of the schedule came just before Christmas, facing three consecutive top-10 teams — Arizona, Creighton, and Purdue. Alabama lost all three but just by an average of 7.3 points. Add defeats elsewhere to Clemson and Ohio State and it’s five losses to major conference opponents.

Had two of those losses been wins, maybe there would be a different national conversation surrounding Alabama at the moment. Oats believes the potential is still there, Alabama just needs to go out and secure those big wins.

It’s maybe even put a chip on the players’ shoulders in games.

“We got to rattle off a bunch of wins before anybody gives us any kind of respect,” Oats said. “I think they’re fighting for some respect nationally.”

Saturday will be a great opportunity, going to Knoxville and playing Tennessee. Even with an SEC loss, the Vols are thought to be a favorite to win the conference. Rick Barnes‘ team is playing as well offensively as they have in his tenure thanks to Dalton Knecht.

Just a few days later, Auburn will come to Coleman Coliseum for an intense in-state showdown. Maybe undefeated conference records will be on the line in Tuscaloosa.

Two wins there and Alabama is likely receiving praise on the national scene and being discussed as a serious threat to win the SEC. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi currently has the Crimson Tide as a four-seed in the NCAA Tournament following the Missouri win. A couple of more Quad 1 wins and Oats’ team could be the story of college basketball.