How Nate Oats, Mark Sears Have Fared in Cleveland

The Alabama head coach and guard have dominated in this city due to their previous stops before coming to the Crimson Tide.

Alabama guard Mark Sears (1) talks with head coach Nate Oats during the Final Four semifinal game against Connecticut at State Farm Stadium. / Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

CLEVELAND –– Besides being a 2-seed while the opponent is a 15-seed, Alabama men's basketball already has a couple of advantages prior to Friday's matchup against Robert Morris.

Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats and guard Mark Sears have been perhaps UA's two biggest impacts in the past couple of years, as they led Alabama to its first Final Four appearance in program history. However, they weren't officially together in Tuscaloosa until April 2022.

Oats became Alabama's head coach prior to the 2019 season after a stint at Buffalo while Sears transferred from Ohio. Both of which have experience in the MAC, which often has games in Cleveland.

"When I got to Alabama, we kind of had our first few practices, me and the assistants that came from Buffalo with me to Alabama," Oats said during Thursday's press conference. "We had quite a few kids at Buffalo that could have played here, really helped us. Kind of looked at what Mark was able to do in that league. That's a really good league."

Sears was a MAC All-Freshman, 2021-22 All-MAC and 2022 All-MAC Tourney member in his two years with the Bobcats. He faced Robert Morris as a sophomore and helped Ohio win 85-71 after scoring 16 points and swiping three steals.

"Yeah, what [Sears] did at Ohio, particularly in his second year, was pretty remarkable," Oats said. ..."Even from his freshman year at Ohio to his sophomore year, he kind of came in and could score, but wasn't known as a shooter, so he turned himself into a shooter. And now, he's turned himself into first team All-American."

Sears and Oats have played in Cleveland, the site of the Round of 64 and potentially Round of 32 matchups, numerous times while in the MAC. Their records in the Cleveland Cavaliers' building (Rocket Arena) are certainly favorable ahead of Friday.

"Mark is 4-1 here in Cleveland, so he's got an 80 percent winning percentage here. It's pretty good. I thought I was good, where I'm 9-1, but he's right there with me. So between the two of us, we've won a few games down here in the arena we're going to play in."

"It's good to see guys that work hard get rewarded for their work, and I think Mark is a prime example of it, and I think the MAC got him a great start, got him some confidence that he could play at a high level in college, and he kind of took that, ran with it, and he's done really well for his home state team in Alabama."

Oats and Sears aim to continue their past dominance in Cleveland on Friday at 11:40 a.m. CT against Robert Morris.

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