Nate Oats explains leaning on starters over bench players

Nate Oats leaned on his starting lineup more than his bench players during Alabama‘s Round of 32 victory over Maryland, but it’s not because he’s not confident in his entire team.

The Crimson Tide leader explained his thought process behind the decision to ride his starters longer than usual, hitting all the right notes in his elaboration with the media.

“They were playing well. You know, I think getting into your bench is a lot more important in your first game when you play two games in three days. I kept asking them if they needed one. Quinerly needed one, come out, Charles needed one. We got Pringle in. If they needed a break, we would get them one. If I could tell they were a little tired, we would give them one,” stated Oats. “You also have longer timeouts in the NCAA Tournament. These timeouts seem like they go forever. So, you know, you get a little more rest time than their standard media timeouts. And we had some timeouts close, you know, rested guy. I think there was 8:44 mark. Rest them. For those, get the next media timeout. Kind of, they didn’t sit that much game time, but were able to sit a lot real time.

“I trust our bench. Just our starters were playing pretty well. And we, kind of, rolled with them. You know, first game I think Rylan led us in minutes with over 21. Today all the starters were, you know, at least 27 minutes. So we can go either way with it. Nimari played double-digit minutes. He was the only one off the bench. Trust the guys. I thought the starters were playing well. And we kind of rolled with them a little bit more tonight.”

As long as the Crimson Tide keep up their winning ways, Alabama faithful won’t mind who’s on the court, just keep the offense scoring, defense fresh and the victories coming.

Now, Alabama is one win away from the Elite Eight, and it’s San Diego State standing in their way. The Crimson Tide have opened as a 7.5-point favorite over the Aztecs, and they’ll be looking to hit that mark and more come time.

Starting lineup, reserves or whoever, Nate Oats has continued to find the right mix regardless of his opponent. Alabama is moving onto the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for a reason, and they could go much further in the coming weeks.