Nate Oats candidly explains why most basketball recruits want to visit Alabama
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Nate Oats has no illusions about why a lot of basketball recruits want to visit Alabama.
Simply put, they want to see a college football game in Tuscaloosa.
The Crimson Tide have won 6 national championships this century and became the class of the SEC under now-retired coach Nick Saban. Oats is trying to build up Alabama’s basketball program and has taken the Tide to 4 straight NCAA Tournaments – and a Final Four last season – and has won a pair of SEC titles since taking the job in 2019, but he knows that football is still king.
And he knows that some recruits are simply going to use a visit to Alabama to just enjoy the atmosphere of an SEC football game.
It’s something he’s tried to make his assistant coaches aware of, Oats explained this week while talking to reporters:
“Some guys just want to come watch a football game. So, I’ve kind of made the point like, if they’re not willing to come on a visit when we don’t have a football game, we probably shouldn’t bring them on a visit during a football game,” Oats explained.
Nate Oats had to address his staff that some basketball recruits just want to come watch Alabama football games. pic.twitter.com/HzlEzyc11j
— Patrick Greenfield (@PCGreenfield) September 26, 2024
Coming off their first Final Four appearance, the Crimson Tide open the 2024-25 season on Nov. 4 at home against UNC-Asheville.
