One is a mid-40s former high school math teacher with an obsession for analytics and a stickler for shot selection. The other is a mid-50s ex-NBA head coach with a penchant for marketing and a knack for blending talent.
In many ways, Alabama coach Nate Oats and Arkansas coach Eric Musselman are very different. Their career paths couldn’t be anymore divergent, for instance, and their personalities are far from identical. Even their approach to the game varies.
But it’s not the differences that have them and their teams here, still dancing in the NCAA men's tournament’s second weekend.