Alabama men’s basketball head coach Nate Oats did not hide his frustration Saturday after his team got eliminated from the NCAA Tournament.
The Crimson Tide were outclassed by the Duke Blue Devils 85-65 in their Elite Eight clash at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. Alabama kept the game close by limiting Duke star Cooper Flagg to just 16 points on 6/16 shooting. But Duke’s size overwhelmed Oats’ squad defensively.
Alabama shot just 35.4% from the field and 25% from beyond the arc in the elimination game.
Oats gave Duke a ton of credit during his postgame press conference. The 50-year-old coach later expressed the overall “disappointment” he and his squad felt about going out before the Final Four.
“Only one team is going to be cutting the nets down in San Antonio,” said Oats. “Won’t be us this year. We’ve raised this program to a level where the standard is really high. 99% of college basketball players would trade places with these guys with the year we had, but we’re disappointed. We had bigger goals. It’s disappointing to go out like we went out.”
"We've raised this program to a level where the standard is really high. 99% of college basketball players would trade places with these guys with the year we had, but we're disappointed. We had bigger goals." – Nate Oats after Alabama's season-ending loss to Duke in the Elite 8 pic.twitter.com/caJYGtCVUk
— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) March 30, 2025
Alabama had another outstanding year under Oats this season. The Crimson Tide finished 28-9, which was good enough to earn a top-2 seed in March Madness. The team’s appearance in the Elite Eight was also just its third ever.
But with the Crimson Tide reaching the Final Four last season for the first time in program history, it’s understandable why Coach Oats felt like journey this year ended prematurely.
The man expects a lot from his Alabama squad, which is a big reason why the program has been on the rise.
