The Auburn Tigers had a magical 2018-19 season, winning the SEC Tournament and going on to make it to the Final Four for the first time in school history.

Elsewhere in the state, Alabama replaced coach Avery Johnson (who just missed the NCAA Tournament and lost in the first round of the NIT) with Buffalo’s Nate Oats.

Though the two programs are fierce rivals, Oats took some time at SEC spring meetings on Wednesday to praise the job Bruce Pearl has done with the Tigers (via 247Sports):

“I thought it was great,” Oats said. “I know we’re big rivals, but they’ve set the bar pretty high now with going to the Final Four. We have something to shoot at. We need to raise our game. We knew [the situation] we’re in and I think (former Alabama coach) Avery (Johnson) had done a really good job. Shoot, they made the NCAA Tournament a year ago and the talent was really good when we took over.

“I think coach Pearl can really coach, and he did a great job getting those guys to play hard and to play together. I think that’s a strength of his and it’s going to be a really good rivalry, I hope, because they’re really good and we’ve got to get really good. But I think it is good for the state of Alabama. And there’s some talent in the state of Alabama, too. There’s always been talent in Alabama.”

Indeed, the bar is set high in Alabama now after Auburn’s run, but Oats is already doing a good job of bringing talent to Tuscaloosa.

Now, it’ll be up to Oats to have success in the SEC and against Auburn, specifically, to create some magical seasons for the Crimson Tide.