Nate Oats honest about Alabama goals heading into SEC Tournament

Nate Oats knows the goals set by Alabama going into the postseason: win. Whether that is the SEC Tournament or the NCAA Tournament, the goals remain the same.

Alabama is the No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament, behind No. 2 Florida and No. 1 Auburn. After beating Auburn in the regular season finale, Oats’ squad might still have a path to a top seed in March Madness.

Sure, that’s part of it every year. But it’s still a tournament and Alabama wants to cut down the nets at the end.

“I think we still have some NCAA tournament seeding to play for,” Oats said on SEC This Morning. “Whatever they decide, a one or a two seed for us, we’ve beaten a lot of good shoot, I think Houston and Auburn are both going to be one seeds from all indications. And we beat Houston on neutral. We beat Auburn on their own floor. But, you know, we’ve also got beat by Florida on our own floor, and they’re also in the mix for that one seed. So, you know, like we’re in the conversation. I think how we perform at the SEC tournament is going to help. We’re also trying to win a championship.”

Alabama finished the season 24-7 and had an epic win over Auburn in overtime on the road. But Oats knows his team has had other opportunities this year and they can’t miss out on their chance to capitalize in March.

“I mean, we’ve had a chance to win two already,” Oats said. “Out in Vegas in November, we came up a game short on that. And then, you know, we were two games behind Auburn in the regular season championship for the SEC and so this is a third championship.

“I think when you’re in it, you try to win it, and I think you can get your confidence going into the NCAA Tournament. We’re going to go try to win. We’re going to try to win it and if we don’t win it, we at least want to be playing great basketball headed into the NCAA tournament.”

As the No. 3 seed, Alabama gets a bye to the SEC quarterfinals. Oats’ team will await one of Oklahoma, Georgia or Kentucky with a chance to get to the semifinals.

Alabama is in action on Friday, 25 minutes after the conclusion of Florida and their TBD opponent, which tips at 7:00 p.m ET.

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