Nate Oats compares final stretch of season to NCAA Tournament run

Alabama‘s final stretch of the regular season may prove to be the toughest after drawing top 25 matchups in each of their final seven games before postseason play.

While they dropped the first two against No. 1 Auburn and No. 15 Missouri, the Crimson Tide bounced back in a major way on Saturday night, defeating No. 17 Kentucky 96-83 at home. Now, Alabama will take on No. 21 Mississippi State, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 2 Florida and then the rematch against Auburn — all consecutively, and all before making it to Nashville for the SEC Tournament.

“I don’t know if anybody’s played one, two and six in the three-game stretch anywhere in the country this year, let alone to close the year out,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said after the Kentucky win. “But we needed this one tonight. And we’re not going to focus on Tennessee until we get through with Mississippi State. And we’re not going to focus on Florida until we’re through with Tennessee.

“We’ve just got to take it one at a time. The good thing with playing a schedule like this is you’re not going to play three games in a row like that until you get to the Elite Eight, Final Four, championship game, if we’re fortunate enough to get that far. So we’re literally playing three teams that are going to be one or two seeds back to back to back, and Mississippi State’s playing for a good seed in the NCAA Tournament, too.”

Currently, the Crimson Tide is tied for second place in the current SEC Standings with Florida. They both sit two games back from Auburn for the top spot in the conference. All three teams are ranked in the top four in the current AP Top 25 poll, as well.

They sit atop the trend in the SEC, which has nine of its 16 members ranked in the top 25 this week.

“Outside of maybe the SEC Tournament, we’re not going to see three teams like this until maybe an Elite Eight, Final Four, if we’re fortunate enough to get there,” Oats said. “So at least we’ll have some experience playing very good teams back to back to back.”

The first matchup in the gauntlet will be against the Bulldogs at home to round out the month of February. Tip-off is set for 9 p.m. ET and will air live on ESPN2. Alabama won the first matchup 88-84 in Starkville.

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