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Nate Oats compares Alabama basketball to Nick Saban’s best teams

IMG_6598by:Nick Kosko•about 9 hours•

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Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Nate Oats compared Alabama basketball to some of Nick Saban’s best football teams with the Crimson Tide.

Now hang on, pump the brakes. We understand Oats and Alabama haven’t won a national championship on the hardwood yet. But it’s hard not to see the Saban influence on Oats’ program following Saturday’s win.

After slipping up earlier this week, Alabama went on the road and beat No. 8 Kentucky 102-97.

“It’d be nice if we had taken care of business Tuesday, but we didn’t,” Oats said postgame. “And you know what? Sometimes you need a loss to learn some lessons. I’ve tried to study Coach Saban and football, and you go look at most of his championship teams. They took a loss early, got them focused, locked in. And I think that lost against Ole Miss got us refocused. 

“This was a completely different team than the one that played Ole Miss. So if we learned the lessons we needed to in that loss Tuesday and we don’t forget them for the remainder of the year, it may have been the best thing to happen to us. We just got to make sure this is not a one-game deal. We got to continue to do the things we’ve done since Tuesday night.”

Can Alabama use the Ole Miss loss to fuel them the rest of the way? With the way Oats’ ream played Saturday, it’s certainly possible.

The Crimson Tide get ranked opponents in Mississippi State and Georgia on January 29th and February 1st. The impending February 15th showdown with No. 1 Auburn is circled on the calendar.

With how loaded the SEC is, Oats’ Crimson Tide team might need a little Saban magic before the postseason.

“Couldn’t be more proud of a group of guys after the poor showing on Tuesday,” Oats said. “They kind of bounced back and played the way we did here today. This a really good team we beat. They’re a high-powered offensive team. We gave up too many threes there late, but up until we were up there nine, eight or nine and there at the end of the game, I thought we’d done a pretty good job outside of the one stretch we’d given up the five in the first half.”