Nate Oats, Alabama players wary of upsets in wild South bracket
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Top-seeded Alabama is the team with the target on its back in this year’s NCAA Tournament, but Nate Oats still remembers showing up to the Big Dance with the side wearing the glass slipper.
While Oats’ Alabama team will be the favorite in every game it plays this month, the head coach is familiar with what it’s like the be the underdog from his time at Buffalo. He even has a bracket-busting upset under his belt, coaching the No. 13 seed Bulls to an 89-68 victory in the No. 4 seed Arizona in the 2018 tournament.
Entering Saturday’s matchup between No. 1 seed Alabama and No. 8 seed Maryland, Oats is passing along insight on the underdog mindset to his players.
“We kind of try to tell them what the mentality of the other side is,” Oats said. “They’re kind of in a no-lose situation. They’re going to play loose, the shots are going to go in. They’ve got nothing to lose. That’s how we were [at Buffalo]. We’ve got to play hard and don’t put any added pressure on. I’m sure they’ve got enough pressure. We want our guys to play as loose as they can.”
Alabama players don’t need to be reminded about the possibility of upsets. The Crimson Tide’s South bracket has already seen No. 2 seed Arizona knocked off by Princeton and No. 4 seed Virginia bounced by No. 13 seed Furman.
“It’s March,” Alabama forward Noah Gurley said. “Everybody knows crazy stuff happens. That’s why it’s called ‘March Madness.’ That’s why we gotta come out sharp, you know there ain’t no games after this. That’s why the intensity is very high.”
Continued upsets in the South bracket could make Alabama’s road to the Final Four a little easier. No. 3 seed Baylor allowed No. 14 seed UC Santa Barbara to lead at halftime before coming alive after the break to bury the Gaucos 74-56. If the Bears lose before a potential matchup against Alabama in Elite Eight, the Crimson Tide could make it to Houston without playing a seed higher than five.
While that might fuel a few daydreams for Alabama fans, players can’t afford their focus to stray toward such hypotheticals.
“Honestly, we don’t look at other upsets or think about how they would affect us,” Alabam forward Noah Clowney said. “I feel like at this point if you make it our of the first round, it’s not even an upset. You’re obviously a competitive team if you make it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.”
The same goes for Maryland and its approach to the matchup.
“Our focus is on Alabama,” said Maryland head coach Kevin Willard when asked if recent upsets have provided optimism for his team. “We can’t focus on anything else except trying to beat Alabama. That in itself is a challenge, so that’s going to be our sole focus.”
Willard went on to call Alabama the most talented team he has seen since Kentucky’s mid-90s teams featuring Antoine Walker and Walter McCarty. The Wildcats won the NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed in 1996. However, Kentucky’s No. 2 seed team in 1995 interestingly enough saw its run end in Birmingham with a loss to No. 4 North Carolina in the Elite Eight.
Alabama will look to avoid a similar fate in the Iron City as it takes on Maryland at 8:40 p.m. CT inside Legacy Arena. Rest assured, the Crimson Tide is well aware there isn’t much room for error.
“Everybody’s watching these games,” Oats said. “Our players are watching them. … It’s a great time of year to be a basketball fan, and we’re fully aware that there’s upsets.”