Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats tested positive for COVID-19 in July

Nick Saban wasn’t the first head coach to contract COVID-19. During a Thursday Zoom call with reporters, Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats revealed that he too tested positive for the virus in July.

Oats believes he likely contracted the virus from one of his daughters, stating he experienced only mild symptoms. He’s hoping his positive test means he won’t have to worry about catching the virus again and will keep him coaching on the floor this season.

“Luckily for me, I got COVID back in July, so I don’t have to worry about it really, too much, anymore,” Oats said. "Technically I don’t have to wear a mask, but I try to wear a mask whenever I’m around people just to set the standard that that’s what we’re going to do to try to abide by everything.”

Oats’ announcement came after Saban and athletics director Greg Byrne tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday. Both Saban and Byrne are currently self-isolating at home with Saban likely set to miss No. 2 Alabama’s game against No. 3 Georgia on Saturday.

“Maybe I should’ve encouraged them to get it back with me in July, and they wouldn’t be worried about it right now,” Oats said. "I don’t have to worry about being around them, personally, myself. And I wasn’t around them.

"I think it’s unfortunate. I mean, shoot, it’s maybe the biggest football game in the SEC this year, and the best coach in the SEC is maybe not gonna be able to coach the game. That’s unfortunate for everyone involved, in my opinion. I don’t know what to say other than that. Hopefully, they’re both, as far as I’ve heard, fairly asymptomatic, I think. So hopefully they get through it here quickly and get back to doing their jobs.”

Alabama basketball held its first practice Thursday. According to NCAA rules, Alabama is allowed 30 practices between now and Nov. 25. Alabama has yet to announce its official schedule but is set to open up the Maui Invitational on Nov. 30 against Stanford in Asheville, N.C.

While Oats himself was largely unaffected by the virus, the pandemic did make it a bit harder for Alabama to build team chemistry. Due to social distancing, the team had to cancel its summer retreat and was forced to hold most of its meetings through Zoom.

“I think it’s a little harder to build the team chemistry when you’re not able to do as much stuff in person,” Oats said. “Even locker room-type stuff, we’ve had to split guys out, move this kid, have different type situations. They haven’t been able to shower in the locker room. They come in, change, practice, work out, get their stuff and go home.

“The lounge area’s been closed to players. They haven’t been able to hang out and play pool and shuffleboard and all that type of stuff. It’s not the greatest setting for building team chemistry, but the good thing is I think everybody’s on a fairly level playing field.”

Alabama brought in a five-member signing class as well as Yale graduate transfer Jordan Bruner this offseason. The Tide will also see the emergence of guard Jahvon Quineryly, who sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules, as well as forwards Juwan Gary and James Rojas, who suffered season-long injuries last fall.

Fortunately, Alabama returns three scholarship seniors in Herbert Jones, John Petty Jr. and Alex Reese to help with that gelling process.

“I kind of just try to tell them to listen to Coach and buy into the program and know that they’re going to make mistakes but just play hard and play with effort,” Jones said. “The rest of it will come with time, so I just tell them to keep going, play hard and don’t worry about the mistakes early on.”

Jones’ defensive abilities are well-documented. Last season, the forward was named to the SEC’s all-defensive team, leading the Tide in charges taken (22), deflections (84) and floor dives (31).

However, at times the 6-foot-7, 205-pounder left much to be desired on the offensive end. Jones averaged 7.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game while shooting 48.4 percent from the floor but was just 1 of 14 from beyond the arc and struggled to find much of a mid-range game.

This offseason, that’s beginning to change.

“My main focus has pretty much been on my jump shot,” Jones said. “I’m still trying to figure out my decision-making skills on and off the ball. My jump shot has improved drastically, so that has been my main emphasis in the offseason.”

Oats said Jones has been “working his tail off” in recent months, looking to improve his stock for next year’s NBA draft. The head coach said he believes Jones has the capability to be the nation’s top defender and could earn himself a big payday if he is able to develop a capable shooter.

“Offensively, he wasn’t ready for the NBA,” Oats said. “One of the big things people could say is he only made one 3 last year. His work in the gym this summer and this fall and every day moving forward is basically determine whether he’s able to make millions of dollars or not.”

While Oats said Jones’ offensive game still revolves around driving to the basket, the forward’s shot is beginning to build some buzz at practice.

“He’s markedly improved,” Oats said. “Jordan Bruner made the comment in front of the team once: ‘It’s not to the point where Herb can make a shot anymore, no Herb’s a shooter now.’ When teammates are making comments like that, I think it gives him confidence to keep working at his game. I think he’ll do better and better.”

Jones and Petty both entered this year’s NBA draft without representation before electing to withdraw their names and return to school for their senior seasons. Thursday, they both discussed their thought process in coming back for another year.

Jones: “I was talking to Oats through the entire process, and he was telling me the pieces he was having come in. I kind of just evaluated it, and I decided to come back and have a big year with the guys that was coming back with me and also the guys who was new. The pieces that we have coming back, I figure that we’ll have a pretty good year.”

Petty: “I talked to Oats. I talked to the new guys that came in. I just seen all the pieces that we had together, and I figured why not put the two years together, the two teams that I felt like could have went real far in the NCAA Tournament. So I decided to come back and finish my last year.”