For the past 20 years Alabama basketball has been irrelevant. Often performing far below the expectations of excellence set by the football team.

In the 10 year span from 2008 to 2018 the Crimson Tide went through five different head coaches. And made the NCAA tournament just twice. Each year struggling to win games in conference and posting a win percentage of just .485 in the SEC.

Meanwhile on the other side of the state the Auburn Tigers were making their first final four in school history. And was looking to only get better from there. If the Crimson Tide wanted to keep up with instate rival Auburn they would have to find a coach that could change the culture entirely.

Insert Nate Oats…

During the dark ages of Alabama basketball Nate Oats was a high school math teacher at Romulus High school right outside of Detroit, Michigan. Beginning his coaching career there in 2002 and serving as the head coach for 11 years boasting a record of 222-52.

Romulus instantly became a state power. In 2013 Oats had his best year at the school. With an impressive record of 27-1 and a Class A state championship.

That year senior captain E.C Matthews started to gain interest from a lot of mid-major programs across the country. Bobby Hurley who would shortly after be named Head Coach at Buffalo was one of the many college coaches looking to sign Matthews. In his recruitment of Matthews, Hurley grew more impressed by the coaching of Oats than the play of Matthews and hired Nate Oats as an assistant in 2013.

Oats was a major part of the success of Buffalo and became interim head coach in 2015 when Hurley left for the job at Arizona State. Danny White who was Athletic Director at Buffalo at the time, was reluctant at first to hire Oats as the full time head coach.

Who could blame him?

Just 2 years ago Oats was arguing with 16 year olds about taking too long of a bathroom break and now would be expected to run a Division 1 program. Hurley, who knew Oats was the right man for the job. Told Danny White that he would be hiring Oats at Arizona State if he was not named Head Coach at Buffalo.

At this same time White was holding interviews with players which all reflected well on Oats. When speaking to ESPN about what made him hire Oats full time with such little experience he said “What stood out is the connections he had with our players. His reputation as a high school coach -- most people I asked said he ran it like a Division I college program.”

Simon Obi who played under Oats at Romulus said “Coach O was the best coach I ever had, he had me right, that was some of the best basketball I ever played under him.” Another Romulus high school player Jerome Bivins said “Oats had so much control through the whole thing, if you was a 8th grader he had you getting ready for the next level already.”

Nate took over for the Bulls April 13th 2015 and the rest was history.

In his 4 years as head coach he notched three NCAA tournament berths and three conference titles, and was named MAC coach of the year twice. In his last year with the Bulls Nate led his team to a 32-4 record and finished the season ranked no.15.

Oats never forgot about Romulus during his tenure at Buffalo, signing three former Romulus players in his four years at Buffalo.

Oats was becoming one of the most innovative offensive minds in college basketball. With his teams averaging over 81 points per game during his four years at Buffalo. Like Hurley a few years prior Oats was becoming an attractive coaching candidate for many schools with job openings.

Including Alabama.

On March 27th 2019 Oats took on the challenge of building a winning culture at the University of Alabama.

Moving to Alabama has given him a chance to showcase his unique style of basketball to a national audience. A style which is now regarded as ‘Ball n Oats’. A run n gun style of basketball where the offense plays fast and shoots a lot of threes. So far this season Alabama leads all major programs in 3pt field goals attempted with 734 threes attempted in just 25 games.

Oats offensive style is Hingent on four things. 3 point shooting, Pace, Ball movement and spacing. These four components play a key part in pulling defenders to certain spots on the floor to increase scoring opportunities. Oats calls this “Gravity”.

Alabama plays a 5 out style of basketball which means all 5 players on the offensive stands spread out across the 3pt line. Because Alabama shoots so many threes defenses have to guard the three point line heavily or else they will get torched. This leaves the paint wide open for potential driving lanes for shifty guards.

When the guards drive each player on the offense will shift. This makes it hard on defenders who are left with the choice of do I help in the paint to stop the drive or do I follow my man who is cutting across the three point line.

The offense sounds simple but with Oats at the helm it's run to perfection. In Oats' first year Alabama averaged 82 points per game which was the most they’ve averaged since 1976.

Though his first season was a struggle, things started to change for Oats and his crew in his 2nd year. The Tide went 26-7 and was a 2-seed in the NCAA tournament and won both the SEC regular season and tournament championship.

This year Oats looks to continue his success and has a team that no one in the country wants to see in March. The Tide have already knocked off no.1 Gonzaga and defending national champion Baylor. And will look to make a deep tournament run come March.