News Article: Alabama Hires Nate Oats From Buffalo

BamaFlum

Hall of Fame
Dec 11, 2002
7,176
1,609
287
54
S.A., TX, USA
We might start the year in the tourney with multiple losses, but the difference I hope we'll see is slow and steady improvement over the course of the year with a much stronger finish in Feb./March than we've seen the last couple with Avery.

As others have stated, just an improvement of basic fundamentals and conditioning would equal several wins compared to last year.

Obviously, getting Kira back in the program and/or securing a good PG otherwise is going to be a big part of this.
Improvement over the year is key for next season regardless of wins or losses.


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CaliforniaTide

All-American
Aug 9, 2006
3,693
115
87
Huntsville, AL
Nothing anything against CNO, but I'm going to wait and see how it goes for year 1. I do believe he has potential to lead Alabama to regular trips to the NCAA Tournament, and possibly regular deep runs as well. The biggest unknown is how the players will handle the transition to a type of accountable culture where their best effort is crucially needed. Some players will not like that at all, and will seek to move out. We all thought CNS had a shot at having a solid team in Year 1, and until November hit of that season, they did look like a solid team. My wait-and-see isn't anything against CNO, just changing a culture will take a lot of work. The potential is there for sure, and it can be easier to turn around a basketball team than it is a football team.
 

Rama Jama

All-American
Jan 4, 2011
3,312
267
102
Tuscaloosa
My 1st year expectation is to finish in the top half of the SEC and hopefully get into the tourney. Think about it, if we beat Georgia State, or A&M one time, we'd still have coach Johnson. We gave away just a bunch of games down the stretch. I wholeheartedly believe that once the new strength and conditioning coach works with them for a year, we'll be much better. Why do you think Coach Saban pays Scott Cochran by far the highest salary of any strength coach in the nation? Our kids are simply in better physical condition that 99% of our opponents. The same should happen for basketball.
 

bamacpa

Hall of Fame
Jul 19, 2006
5,008
1,586
182
My hope is subjective - I hope I enjoy watching Bama hoops again!


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RTR91

Super Moderator
Nov 23, 2007
39,407
7
0
Prattville
My 1st year expectation is to finish in the top half of the SEC and hopefully get into the tourney. Think about it, if we beat Georgia State, or A&M one time, we'd still have coach Johnson. We gave away just a bunch of games down the stretch. I wholeheartedly believe that once the new strength and conditioning coach works with them for a year, we'll be much better. Why do you think Coach Saban pays Scott Cochran by far the highest salary of any strength coach in the nation? Our kids are simply in better physical condition that 99% of our opponents. The same should happen for basketball.
Agreed. There's always the chance the players don't handle the changes well, but I fully expect a tournament bid next year barring some roster turmoil from the staff change.
 

CajunCrimson

Moderator (FB,BB) and Vinyl Enthusiast
Staff member
Mar 13, 2001
29,090
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337
Breaux Bridge, La
Agreed. There's always the chance the players don't handle the changes well, but I fully expect a tournament bid next year barring some roster turmoil from the staff change.
I sure hope we find one or two ball handlers on the "waiver" wire....somebody made a joke that we should go after Harvard's point guard -- I'm 100% behind that! Go get him.
 

imauafan

All-American
Mar 3, 2004
3,749
1,201
282
Huntsville, AL
I'm optimistic but also realistic about next season. We have talent, they just need coaching and leadership which I think they will get with CNO. We still have issues with our inside game and a backup PG, assuming Kira does not transfer. If Kira does transfer then we need 2 PG's. Hawkins will help on the inside. We don't know what Fleming can do, he might be a very good player but he is an unknown at this point. Galen Smith is solid but probably not a great fit for CNO's style of play. Reese is built like an interior guy that wants to play on the outside. He is a very good shooter but his lack of athletic ability will hurt him. I don't think it's as much S&C with him as just lacking in overall athletic ability. I think he could be a very valuable role player but probably not a full-time SEC starter. We really could use Watford and I'm feeling more optimistic that he will sign with us. The 3 freshmen signee's that are SG/SF types appear to be talented but until they get on campus and get into a game they are unknowns at this point. So if everything fell just right with the unknowns we could have a very good team next year but if they fell the wrong way then we're probably not much better than last year. Usually things fall somewhere in the middle and if that happened, then we're looking at an improvement over this past season, perhaps a NCAA tournament berth.
 

AlexanderFan

Hall of Fame
Jul 23, 2004
12,996
10,553
287
Birmingham
I'm optimistic but also realistic about next season. We have talent, they just need coaching and leadership which I think they will get with CNO. We still have issues with our inside game and a backup PG, assuming Kira does not transfer. If Kira does transfer then we need 2 PG's. Hawkins will help on the inside. We don't know what Fleming can do, he might be a very good player but he is an unknown at this point. Galen Smith is solid but probably not a great fit for CNO's style of play. Reese is built like an interior guy that wants to play on the outside. He is a very good shooter but his lack of athletic ability will hurt him. I don't think it's as much S&C with him as just lacking in overall athletic ability. I think he could be a very valuable role player but probably not a full-time SEC starter. We really could use Watford and I'm feeling more optimistic that he will sign with us. The 3 freshmen signee's that are SG/SF types appear to be talented but until they get on campus and get into a game they are unknowns at this point. So if everything fell just right with the unknowns we could have a very good team next year but if they fell the wrong way then we're probably not much better than last year. Usually things fall somewhere in the middle and if that happened, then we're looking at an improvement over this past season, perhaps a NCAA tournament berth.
The strength and fundamentals gained from the coaching change will help keep a fade like this years from happening again. The guys might struggle in the beginning, but I look for the end of the season to be when things come together and this team gets dangerous.


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Crimson1967

Hall of Fame
Nov 22, 2011
19,492
11,054
187
I haven’t seen people this excited about a coaching hire since we hired Avery Johnson.


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