TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It's no secret that prior to Nate Oats taking the college basketball world by storm at Buffalo, then Alabama, he was a high school math teacher teaching five classes a day and selling snacks to fund his school's basketball program.
Those five classes covered three subjects: algebra, geometry and statistics. While Oats has left the classroom behind in favor of the hardwood, he still carries math with him at his coaching job. Over the years, Oats has revealed himself to be a heavy stats- and analytics-driven coach. In fact, it's hard to think of a postgame press conference where he hasn't referenced a stats sheet on multiple occasions and — in what has become a well-known mannerism for Oats amongst media members — elaborating at-length about said stats and how they apply to his team.
So what trends has Oats noticed through Alabama basketball's first three games? When prompted, Oats gave his typical well-constructed and detailed answer.
“You know what, Keon Ellis’ plus-63 in two games, that’s a good stat to stick out,” Oats said. “Darius Miles is plus-32 in two games, that’s good. Defensively, our efficiency numbers are not great. I thought we were pretty good for the first 28 minutes in the last game and then we got an 18-point lead and we ended up — the last 12 minutes — our efficiency numbers weren’t good.
"I think we were maybe a .94 at the half and then I think we dropped it even lower than that, if I remember right. Last game we ended up at a 1.11. So the last 12 minutes wasn’t great."
Under Oats, the Crimson Tide has now started the season 3-0 for the first time since 2017. Alabama ran away with a victory in its first two games, downing Louisiana Tech in its season opener 93-64 before turning on the jets against South Dakota State for a 104-88 win. The program struggled on both ends of the court but rallied late for a 73-68 win over an underrated South Alabama squad.
That last game would have been a game that the Crimson Tide would likely have lost in Oats' first two years in Tuscaloosa. The head coach said as much after the game on Tuesday night. That being said, Oats has picked up on a trend of two players in particular that help his team's defensive numbers on the floor.
And when Oats notices a trend, he's going to use it to his advantage against his team's opponents.
“I think when we’ve got Charles Bediako, Keon Ellis on the floor defensively, our numbers are a lot better," Oats said. "We’ve got to get some other guys to get their defensive efficiency numbers up. There’s a ton of numbers out there, it’s a very small sample size in the first two games. You’d like to see something over the course of five, six games before you start making too many determinations off it.
"But I think you can see we’re going to be better defensively when Charles is on the floor and when Keon Ellis on the floor. Darius Miles [has been] giving us some really good minutes the first two games as well.”
While Oats might be a numbers-driven coach, the same isn't necessarily true for his players. Oats certainly brings up numbers during meetings and when the team is spending time in the film room, but the players tend to focus on their game and earning a win for their team rather than focus on the ink-black numbers on a white sheet of paper.
Take true freshman center Bediako for example, a player that Oats referenced multiple times as a primary trend behind solid defensive play on the court. Through three games, Bediako has finished plus-34 in the plus/minus along with 14 rebounds and four steals.
While Bediako admitted that blue-collar points is something that Oats emphasizes each and every practice and game, the up-and-coming starting center for the Crimson Tide says that at the end of the day, he and his teammates are solely focused on contributing to a win.
“Mainly we just focus on everything we have to do to get the win,” Bediako said. “Yes, blue collar is something that coach always stresses — you know, always do the little things. If we do the little things, everything just starts to happen for you. We do really take the plus/minus pretty serious, especially on the defensive end.”
Oats has certainly come a long way since his days of teaching math at Romulus High School in Michigan. While he might have left teaching behind in a classroom, he still utilizes his knowledge of numbers to instruct on a basketball court.
And so far, it seems to be paying its dividends for Alabama basketball.
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November 18, 2021 at 09:00PM
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Nate Oats Analyzes Trends Through Alabama Basketball's First Three Games - Bama Maven
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