The Alabama Crimson Tide men’s basketball program is entering the 2024-25 season with the highest preseason ranking they have ever received, coming in at No. 2 in the AP Top 25 and widely considered to be a strong contender to win a national championship.
Despite that, Nate Oats is not letting the team’s highly regarded status get to them as they prepare to embark on what will be a challenging season. In a fascinating dramatic shift from the way things have been, the hoops team is ranked higher than Kalen DeBoer’s football team which is obviously going through a bit of a struggle right now.
Oats was asked about that fact this week, and in true Nick Saban fashion, he kept things in perspective as to how little that actually means:
"Nate Oats on being ranked higher than the football team @abc3340
"You know we're still 18 national championships behind football." pic.twitter.com/cVcrlhmpns
— Chris McCulley (@ChrisMcCulleyTV) October 15, 2024
“You know we’re still 18 national championships behind football and it’ll be 12 teams going to the playoff and I’m assuming Coach DeBoer is gonna have his team in that 12, they looked pretty good when I was at that game against Georgia,” Oats said, adding that he’s just focused on his team for now. “We’ll see how good they can be, I don’t know where they’re ranked I don’t really pay attention to it. I think what matters is they get in the top-12 at the end of the season and try to win a national championship.”
Oats is correct in saying that his program is 18 titles behind football, but maybe just maybe, after this season that gap could close to 17.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.
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