Nate Oats realized rather quickly that he wasn’t going to be a professional basketball player.
“I fell in love with basketball back in fifth or sixth grade,” Oats told reporters Friday. “By about ninth grade I realized I wasn’t going to play for a living. If I can’t play for a living, I figured I was going to try to get into coaching.”
The young Wisconsinite, now Alabama basketball’s head coach, went looking to learn the craft. One of the first things he found: instructional videos from then-Providence head coach Rick Pitino.
The videos featured the likes of Billy Donovan, Delray Brooks and other stars as demonstrators. Oats doesn’t have a VHS player anymore, but has held onto the tapes throughout his coaching career.
When Oats and his Crimson Tide squad take the floor against St. John’s on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York, it will be against Pitino. Since those days of Oats watching the national champion coach’s tapes, the two have become friends, first meeting during the 2021 NCAA Tournament, when Pitino was coaching Iona during the COVID-19 pandemic-impacted event.
“When we were in a bubble in the NCAA Tournament up in [Indianapolis], everything was kind of, pretty close-knit,” Oats said. “Everybody was kind of in that same bubble if you will. We were warming up, we ended up in the same gym, opposite side of the curtains. I went over and introduced myself. I’ve gotten to know him fairly well the last five years or so.”
Pitino’s St. John’s team is currently the No. 5-ranked squad in the nation. The Red Storm and the Crimson Tide play clashing styles, with Pitino comparing Oats’ preferred method to a track meet this week, while Oats declared St. John’s way to a football game.
Alabama will likely be without Keitenn Bristow for the game. He missed the season-opener against North Dakota, a game the Tide won without Aden Holloway and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. as well, who Oats was more hopeful would play against St. John’s
The game fits Oats usual way of starting a season.
“We don’t schedule these games to have great experiences,” Oats said. “We schedule them to get quality wins. They’re trying to play against good competition. They know we’re traditionally pretty good. We’ll go in as the underdog, which is fine. We’ve been the underdog plenty with the scheduling we’ve had around here.”
The game is scheduled to tip off at 11 a.m. CT Saturday in New York. It will be aired on FS1.
“One of the best coaches to ever coach in basketball,” Oats said. “So, to play against him, at the Garden against St. John’s, is pretty special.”
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