Nate Oats has been preaching to the Alabama basketball team and that is a good thing. The message of “pride coming before a fall” is a good admonition and applicable for a team that might ease up a bit against a less successful opponent.
Oats has also been stressing hope for an NCAA Tournament bid if his team can win its last two regular-season games, giving it a 10-8 SEC record. He pointed out two SEC teams with 10-8 records received No. 5 and No. 8 seeds last year. He knows more work will be needed in Nashville, but did not elaborate on how many SEC Tourney wins would also be needed.