“We have another chance” - Alabama HC Nate Oats expresses optimism for 2024 college basketball season

Nate Oats eyes nothing short of Alabama’s last year’s success for the 2024-25 season. The program made waves in the NCAA tournament after defeating the top-seeded North Carolina before cruising past the 6th-seeded Clemson. With that, the Crimson Tide made it to their first-ever Final Four before the eventual champions, the UConn Huskies, ended their run.

Now, as Oats prepares his squad through summer workouts in the off-season, he claims that his roster has the potential to embark on another deep run in the coming season.

“It’s refreshing to have a new team,” Nate Oats said the Front Row Podcast while speaking to Mark Gottfried. “We had a great run last year and I think we have another chance to make another great run this year. We’ve got the guys on campus and we’ve started working,” he added.

Crimson Tide has won two SEC regular season titles in the last five years and will be the frontrunner to win it again. They clinched the second spot out of a four-way tie behind a 13-5 record last season.

Nate Oats’ SEC journey begins on January 4 as the Crimson Tide is slated to host teams like Kentucky, Auburn, Oklahoma, and Florida and travel to face Arkansas, South Carolina, Tennessee and others. The conference will see two newcomers to the pool in Texas and Oklahoma but the conference schedule is aligned for just 18 games.

Nate Oats' roster is the favorite to take it all home

Nate Oats made the Crimson Tide rank first in scoring last season but failed to secure the chip. Nevertheless, as college fans anticipate another thrilling season, Alabama is considered to be one of the top contending teams. With that, their starting lineup could look something like this:

• Mark Sears
• Latrell Wrightsell
• Naas Cunningham
• Grant Nelson
• Cliff Omaruyi

The return of players like Marks Sears, Jarin Stevenson, Wrightsell and Nelson makes for solid pillars for the program.

Moreover, the addition of Aden Holloway, Omaruyi and Chris Youngblood makes up for plenty of rotational and lineup opportunities. With that, several way-too-early predictions for the 2025 NCAAB title saw Oats' roster as the favorite to win it all in recent weeks.