Nate Oats comments on recruiting transfer portal vs. high school: ‘We’ve done it both ways’
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Nate Oats has seen sustained success at Alabama across his 4 seasons with the Tide.
And as he sets sail on Year 5, Oats was asked Thursday about where he and Alabama prefer to do their work in recruiting.
College basketball is very affected by the transfer portal. There are 362 Division I teams and plenty of talent across the board, so at what point does it become worth it to recruit solely (or at least mostly) out of the portal with so many names entering each offseason?
But as Oats pointed out on Thursday, Alabama has done it both ways. The Tide recruited Brandon Miller, Josh Primo and JD Davison, but this season they’ll be led by Grant Nelson, Aaron Estrada and LaTrell Wrightsell, who all transferred into Tuscaloosa.
So, to answer the question, Alabama can excel at both.
Nate Oats on high school players vs the transfer portal: “Every kid that we’ve had drafted here, they’re not transfers. Three of our better players this year, our starters, are transfers. So we’ve done it both ways.”
— Blake Byler (@blakebyler45) November 9, 2023
The Tide started its season strong with a 105-73 win over Morehead State on Monday. They’ll look to improve to 2-0 against Indiana State this Friday.
Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.
