Nate Oats evaluates Alabama's play in non-conference ahead of final game before SEC slate

Not many basketball teams can feel much better about their non-conference slate than Alabama. The Crimson Tide sit at 9-2 on the year with several big-time wins already to their name. Considering the history of the school and what this stretch can mean for the program this season, Nate Oats is pretty pumped with his team’s resume so far.

Oats felt good about where Alabama is heading into the SEC season during his press conference on Tuesday. He says coming out as good as they have with the schedule they’ve played already says a lot about the job he, his staff, and his players have done to build up their program to this point.

“If you count the 12 games we’ll have before SEC play starts? For us to be 9-2 with a chance to go to 10-2? I think somebody told me it was the 2014-2015 season the last time we had 10 wins heading into SEC play,” said Oats. “To do it with the schedule that we put together? Assuming we play like we’re capable of playing? And do what we’re supposed to tonight and we get to 10 wins? I think that speaks to the level that we’ve gotten the program to here.”

The only two losses Alabama has are more than justified as they came against quality opponents in UConn and Gonzaga. Besides that, they’ve been as good as any team in the nation. The Tide have knocked off a pair of No. 1 teams away from Tuscaloosa in North Carolina and Houston. On top of that, they’ve also knocked off decent competition like Michigan State and Memphis.

Alabama has played the seventh-best strength of schedule to this point of the season per KenPom. Assuming those wins and losses hold the value Oats expects them to from here and they pick up a few more in conference play, Oats says he’s very happy with the projection his team has at the moment for March Madness.

“This was one of the tougher non-conference schedules in the country. So I would say we’ve gotten done a lot of what we needed to get done. We’ve gotten quality wins,” Oats said. “Some of these teams we’ve played are gonna remain Top-5, Top-10 teams…These wins have put us in a spot to get a good NCAA Tournament seed if we take care of business in the SEC.”

However, Oats saw things fall apart when Alabama was in a similar position just a year ago. After being Gonzaga, Houston, and Tennessee early last year, they finished the regular season just 19-12. That’s why, although there’s a lot to be proud of so far, Oats says he wants to continue to see growth starting tonight against Jackson State.

“They’ve put us in a great spot. But I thought we were in a decent spot last year and didn’t continue to improve like we needed to. We need to get better game to game,” said Oats. “(But) we’ve set ourselves up to have a pretty decent NCAA Tournament seed based on what we’ve done in the non-conference so far.”