Nate Oats sends message to Alabama fans ahead of Sweet 16

On Friday, Nate Oats will lead Alabama into the Sweet Sixteen. There, the Crimson Tide will take on San Diego State with incredibly high expectations from fans and the media alike on their shoulders.

Ahead of that game in the Sweet Sixteen, Oats sent out a message to Alabama’s fans.

“They’ve been great for us the entire NCAA Tournament,” Nate Oats said. “We would love for them to come support us just like they did in Birmingham. When you get the No. 1 overall seed, you get to choose your first two locations, so we chose the two closest places, obviously, Birmingham and now here.”

The game between Alabama and San Diego State is going to be played in Louisville. There, Nate Oats expects Alabama fans to be the dominant force in the building.

“It’s not too long of a drive, and we need their support. They’ve been great all year. We love to hear them. We loved having them in Birmingham. We loved having them in Nashville for the SEC Tournament. Just a little further, you can stop through Nashville on your way up here to Louisville.”

There is a ton of external pressure on this Alabama team. In particular, because of upsets in their region, it’s almost mandatory that Alabama makes it to the Final Four.

“No, I think they’ve moved a lot closer to winning it,” Paul Finebaum said. “A week ago, there were some major obstacles even within the South regional. There really aren’t anymore.”

Meanwhile, Jay Bilas argued that Alabama is the obvious choice to win the South Region now.

Nate Oats is stressing the big picture

As Alabama goes deeper into the NCAA Tournament, Nate Oats wants to stress the big picture to his team.

“We talk about we’ve got big picture items and we got to be concerned with that. And then we have the details that matter when you get to practice, in the games, when I say matter, they matter to the game. Like you have to focus on what matters in practice. You have to focus on what matters in the game. And you are where your feet are,” Oats said.

“When we’re in practice, we’re focusing on that. When we’re in video, we’re focused on the preparation for the practice or game. When we’re in the game…I think they have done a really great job for two straight games here. First two rounds focusing on what they need to focus on when they are at practice, video, games, whatever it is. And then, you know, the appropriate big picture stuff will take — you know, our guys know they are dealing with on that other stuff.”