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The influences of Nick Saban, Avery Johnson on Alabama’s Final Four run

Maybe the time off would help. Maybe Alabama basketball could find answers after a blowout loss in its first playoff game. Maybe head coach Nate Oats could find a roadmap.

The Saturday after the Tide lost to Florida, or maybe it was the Sunday, weekends get mixed up in March, Oats called Jim Boeheim. Alabama studied the data

The best team doesn’t necessarily win the NCAA Tournament. Just ask last year’s UA squad. Syracuse had lost four of six going into March Madness and made a run twice. So did Frank Martin and South Carolina, leading to another Oats call.

Eventually, Oats needed more. His quest for efficiency and a better understanding of his team’s defense powered him. Oats contacted Nick Saban and asked a seven-time national champion what they needed to do.

“He kind of gave me the ‘next’ idea, next, next, next. So guys bought in. We can make this run. Other teams have done it. We have the capability to do it. We’ve got to get back to playing great defense, or start playing great defense, I don’t know if ‘back’ is the correct word,” Oats said. “But we can have the No. 1 offense in the country, we had it for the majority of the year. Let’s put a top-20 defense together and we can make a Final Four. And I think we did that.”

Alabama’s four-game run over Charleston, Grand Canyon, North Carolina and, as of Saturday night, Clemson, was powered by many things. A resounding dedication to defense. A bruising physicality. A most outstanding performance from Mark Sears. Hero ball moments from roll players. At the core of it all was one of the best coaching jobs in program history, and it may not be a discussion.

Oats — adding a Final Four, the program’s first, to four conference titles and a Sweet 16 run in his fifth year leading the Tide — found motivation from various colleagues. Like softball’s Patrick Murphy concept of “Mudita,” of selfless buy-in and collective joy.

Players repeated it throughout the now three weeks out West. When asked for their favorite moments on the run, they referenced Mouhamed Dioubate’s eight-straight points in the Round of 32, the arrival of Grant Nelson against UNC or a late-emerging Jarin Stevenson making history.

When asked to contextualize his success with the program after Alabama’s latest 89-82 win, Oats clarified he didn’t build the program from the ground floor. His agent, Rick Smith, called Oats before accepting the position and said Alabama has the pieces to win

Avery Johnson left a foundation. Oats’ blueprint for a star defender to clean up mistakes was established in Herbert Jones. Alex Reese, John Petty Jr. and Jones made it to Oats’ first Sweet 16 in 2021.

Oats knew it was a football school. He embraced that. He had a spreadsheet with coaching quotes and sayings used to motivate a team — Oats is fond of Bible verses and Saban quotes.

When he took the job, he was worried about the latter. Would players grow tired of hearing the words of a coach next door? Oats is still adding more to the list.

“I went and watched practices. I sat in on staff meetings. I shadowed him for a day. I went on road trips with him to see how they operated. I tried to learn as much as I could. It never nagged me or bothered me that football was huge at Alabama. I loved it. It’s better for recruiting. It’s better for everything for us,” Oats said. ” … I love the fact that we’re a football school and we’re going to try to add another sport to the championship school level because I think we’re knocking on the door there.”