With Alabama Basketball No. 1, Nate Oats Should Lean on Nick Saban Even More: All Things CW

Getting to the top of the polls is one thing, but staying there is another, and there's no better expert on the subject than the legendary Crimson Tide football coach.

The All Things CW notes column by Christopher Walsh appears in five parts each week, with the latest on the Alabama Crimson Tide. This is ...

Take 1

You kind of envision it like there being a knock at the door, followed by a hand waving a box of Little Debbies as a sort of preemptive offering. 

"Hey Nick, you gotta second?"

Today of all days especially, Alabama Crimson Tide basketball coach Nate Oats should be thankful to have Nick Saban in the neighboring building on campus, as no one has more experience with having a team ranked No. 1 in the nation and dealing with that kind of spotlight. 

Granted, there are some amazing coaches out there who have dominated his or her sport, and at different levels. but not like Saban at this level.  

In case you missed it, Alabama basketball is No. 1 in the polls for the first time in 20 years. 

Alabama received 38 first-place votes from the 62-person media panel that makes up the AP Top 25, moving up two spots to leapfrog No. 2 Houston. The Cougars had 22 first-place votes to remain at No. 2, and Purdue slid down to No. 3 after losing to Northwestern. Somehow the Boilermakers landed two first-place votes. UCLA and Kansas rounded out the top five.

The coaches' poll had 32 first-place votes that Alabama and Houston largely split with 15 each. No. 3 Purdue and No. 6 Virginia received the other two.  

The NCAA's NET rankings have Houston on top of Alabama, with Tennessee at No. 3 despite being 19-6 and coming off back-to-back losses to Vanderbilt and Missouri. The KenPom rankings have it 1. Houston, 2. Alabama, 3. UCLA, 4. Tennessee and 5. Purdue. 

So it's not like the Crimson Tide is a unanimous No. 1. It's barely the consensus poll choice. But No. 1 is No. 1 and a remarkable achievement, especially so late in a season. 

It's also the first time that Alabama has had the big two of revenue sports, football and men's basketball, both at No. 1 at some point of the same academic year. A couple of years ago they were both SEC champions at the same time (2020-21) as well. 

The Crimson Tide went on to reach the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight, and last year Oats pulled in one of the nation's best recruiting classes. This season the Crimson Tide has knocked off two teams at No. 1 and is still undefeated in Southeastern Conference play. 

Along the way, Oats seemed to be taking notes from Saban and with good reason. 

But being No. 1 is a different animal. The tricky part comes from dealing with it and trying to stay there while everyone else tries to take you down. 

Alabama football has been No. 1 at some point of every season since 2008, a statistic that is beyond remarkable, especially considering that previously the longest streak was seven (Miami Hurricanes from 1986-92).

The Crimson Tide has been ranked No. 1 109 times during that span, when only 13 other teams have had the top spot and no one more than 23 times. Saban has coached 98 games as the nation’s top-ranked team, which is 77 more games than any other active coach.  

He's been there so many times that Alabama is often seen as the default team in the preseason rankings, like it was last year. 

Saban said it was "nice to be recognized” but then downplayed it as much as possible. 

“I don’t think it really matters much where you start the season. It’s much more important where you finish," he said. "I do think your team has to have enough maturity to know that it’s great to be recognized and respected as a team but this particular team hasn’t done really anything yet to determine what its identity is going to be. I think that’s key to sustaining over the long haul of the season is to play with some level of consistency to prove what kind of team you can have. It’s nice to be recognized but in reality, it means nothing.”

Here's what Oats said about the No. 1 ranking while making an appearance Monday on The Next Round:

“It’s nice to be [No.] 1,″ Oats said. “It really doesn’t mean anything, though. It doesn’t help you win an SEC championship. It’s recognition, that’s it.

“Coach Saban says it’s rat poison. We’ve got to keep our guys locked in.”

He gets it, in part due to Saban, but his players don't yet. There's no way that they could. 

But this week the coach needs only to remind his players of one thing, the next game will be played on the same campus where football lost it's No. 1 status this past season, and never got it back: No. 10 Tennessee. 

"In practice. Trying to get better."

- Coach @nate_oats on where he was when he heard that @AlabamaMBB was #1 in the AP Poll#RollTide | @Roger_Hoover pic.twitter.com/GHNeKhZEHz

— Crimson Tide Sports Network (@UA_CTSN) February 14, 2023

See Also:

Alabama Basketball Ranked No. 1 for Second Time in Program History

Brandon Miller Selected as SEC Freshman of the Week

With Win Over Auburn, Nate Oats' Commitment was on Full Display