Alabama Basketball: Nate Oats laying bricks in T-Town

New Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats is carefully building the foundation of his Crimson Tide hoops program with staff hires and recruiting moves.

There is basketball excitement in the state of Alabama. Amidst Final Four frenzy, new Alabama basketball head coach Nate Oats is getting plenty of notice for moves in Tuscaloosa. Chris Beard of Texas Tech recently won AP Coach of the Year. Nate Oats came in fourth in the voting, behind Beard, Kelvin Sampson of Houston and Mike Young of Wofford. The next three coaches finishing below Oats were Rick Barnes of Tennessee, Tony Bennett of Virginia and Mark Few of Gonzaga.

Alabama Athletic Director, Greg Byrne has continued to receive near universal praise for choosing Oats to lead the Crimson Tide. Like all new job honeymoons, the one for Oats will dissipate with time. It is noteworthy that in more than a week of social media, there have been almost zero Oats detractors. Such consensus is rare.

After dashing from Buffalo to Tuscaloosa, job on for Oats has been assessing the current Crimson Tide roster and re-recruiting some key players. John Petty removing his name from the transfer portal was the first public success. Still in progress is the re-recruiting of Kira Lewis.

After meeting with all the returning players, the next step for Oats was team practice. The first session reportedly wore out all the returning players prior to its scheduled duration. The off-season sessions allow Oats to introduce his style, schemes and expectations to the team. Attrition will follow, as will roster development.

Nate Oats began recruiting efforts for Alabama basketball almost as soon as he was hired. Complete recruiting results are at least two weeks away. Already added was former Buffalo recruit, 6’9″ Raymond Hawkins. The big plum for Oats and the Tide is Mountain Brook’s, 5-Star, Trendon Watford.

All of Avery Johnson’s commits appear to be sticking with Oats. That could mean the 2019-20 roster only has room to add Watford. More than likely, a player or two other than Daniel Giddens and Dazon Ingram will not return next season, opening up another roster slot or two.

There are rumors former Buffalo commit, 6’7″, JUCO, James Rojas is an option. Point guard, James ‘Beetle’ Bolden, a transfer from West Virginia is another rumored possibility. No doubt, Nate Oats has a list in constant revision. Lesser known players might be on that list as well. Check out the tweet below for a clue into Oats’ recruiting.

One job that is complete for Nate Oats is his Crimson Tide coaching staff. As expected, top recruiter Bryan Hodgson has left Buffalo to join Oats in Tuscaloosa. Though not yet official, it is clear Antoine Pettway will be retained by Oats as another assistant coach. The third assistant is reported to be Charlie Henry.

Henry coached for Fred Hoiberg at Iowa State and with the Chicago Bulls. He was also an assistant for Oats at Romulus High School. Henry was expected to join Hoiberg at Nebraska but chose Nate Oats and Tuscaloosa instead. The most recent position for Henry was as an NBA G-League head coach at Windy City. It will be a young staff. Pettway, at 37, is the oldest Alabama basketball assistant coach.

Nate Oats is making enough changes with Alabama basketball, it is nearly a complete rebuild. The Alabama Director of Basketball Operations (Adam Bauman) and Strength and Conditioning Coach (Mike Snowden) are also following Oats from Buffalo. Even with change, the Crimson Tide basketball program is inheriting some continuity. Pettway and to an extent Henry will have to learn Oats’ program but everybody else is already in stride.

The ‘laying’ bricks title does not infer Oats’ Tide team will be filled with players ‘shooting bricks.’ Just the opposite is expected. Think ‘swishing’ instead, or for those of a certain age, a little ‘string music’ in T-Town.