What Sweet 16 teams have a head coach advantage? One subjective ranking, provided by Kyle Boone of CBS Sports, has Nate Oats near the top. The only two coaches above the Alabama Basketball coach are Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Houston's Kelvin Sampson.
As a high school coach, Oats would visit Michigan State practice sessions, soaking in the coaching of Izzo. Oats estimated he made over 100 trips to Lansing to learn everything he could from Izzo and the Michigan State program. Not only did Oats learn much about coaching, but his connection with Izzo gained Oats a reference from Izzo for Alabama to hire him.
It is also somewhat ironic that the No. 2 in the coach rankings, Kelvin Sampson, has lost two games to Nate Oats in the last three seasons. After Alabama upset Houston on the Cougars' home court in 2023, Sampson commented that the Crimson Tide physically dominated his team in a way he had not thought was possible.
Top SEC Basketball Sweet 16 Coach is Nate Oats
Alabama basketball fans will enjoy Nate Oats being ranked above every other SEC head coach in the Sweet 16. After Oats at No. 3, came Bruce Pearl at No. 5, Tennessee's Rick Barnes at No. 8, Kentucky's Mark Pope at No. 9, Florida's Todd Golden at No. 10, Arkansas' John Calipari at No. 13, and Ole Miss' Head Coach, Chris Beard at No. 15.
Many national college basketball experts expect Duke's Jon Scheyer to be voted the National Coach of the Year. Boone ranked Scheyer No. 6 in the Sweet 16 rankings. The Crimson Tide's coaching opponent on Thursday night, BYU's Kevin Young, is ranked No. 11.
More variables than coaching abilities influence the outcome of games. Once the Elite Eight field is settled, an updated ranking from Kyle Boone would be interesting, especially for Alabama basketball fans, if that Elite Eight ranking includes Nate Oats.