Alabama's Nate Oats Comments on Facing Rick Pitino: "I Respect Him"

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — While in the middle of a 4-hour drive to Indianapolis, Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats took to some time to answer questions from the media on the Crimson Tide's 2021 NCAA Tournament draw.

The SEC regular season and tournament champion Alabama is the No. 2 seed in the East Region of the bracket set to face off with legendary Rick Pitino and the No. 15-seed Iona Gaels on Saturday.

Whoever wins that matchup will face either No. 7 UConn or No. 10 Maryland in the second round next Monday.

"Iona is obviously well-coached with Coach Pitino," Oats said. "I just started watching their last game. I got their last five games loaded up on my computer. I don't know a whole lot about them but I assume they are going to be well-coached. They are going to play hard. We are going to have to come out ready to play.

"If we are fortunate enough to get by them, we'll either play against Galin Smith and Maryland or Dan Hurley's group [UConn]. Danny helped me get into the business. So I like to watch UConn when they are on. They have the kid [Jame] Bouknight who is probably a lottery pick. So we have a tough first couple games. I think our guys are built for it."

This will be Oats' first matchup with Pitino. The Gaels coach has won two national championships in his storied career, one with Kentucky in 1996 and one with Louisville in 2013.

Pitino has also coached at the NBA level with the New York Knicks (1987-1989) and Boston Celtics (1997-2001). Oats isn't too familiar with him on a personal level, but is close with his son, Richard, who is the coach at Minnesota.

"I don't know him but I know his son Richard pretty well," Oats said. "We talk and text throughout the year. But I don't know Rick. I respect him. I remember having his coaching tapes back in high school when I knew I wanted to coach. He's a hall of fame coach. He's been coaching at a high level for a long time now. I have a lot of respect for what he has done. But I don't know him personally."