Alabama Basketball 'Not Letting Rankings Go to Our Head'

After moving up in the polls, Nate Oats says it would be stupid for his team to focus on the rankings.

Alabama center Clifford Omoruyi (11) celebrates against Arkansas at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, AR on Saturday, Feb 8, 2025. | Alabama Athletics

Alabama has been one of the best teams in college basketball all season and came in to the year as one of the favorites to win a national championship. Despite all that, the Crimson Tide has been able to somewhat slide under the radar because of some of the other dominate teams in college basketball within its own league like Auburn and Tennessee.

But there is no hiding anymore as Alabama moved to the top of the coaches poll and No. 2 in the AP Top 25, setting up a massive No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown with Auburn this Saturday in Tuscaloosa. But the Crimson Tide will have to face Texas on the road first on Tuesday.

"Obviously we’re not letting the rankings go to our head," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said Tuesday. "That’d be stupid. We’ve got to keep these guys preparing for Texas as if it was a national championship game. And then you get your reps prepping for big games all year. And at least with us in the SEC this year, there’s no bad games. I mean, this is a great game. They're really talented. There’s first-round picks on this team, so I don’t think it does a whole lot different for us.”

Oats said he showed his team a clip of longtime Alabama football coach Nick Saban on Pat McAfee's show talking about when coaches asked him what he did differently to prepare for a national championship game. And Saban looked at them like it was a stupid question. The preparation and attitude can't change just because Alabama has a bigger target or is playing in bigger games. '

The Alabama head coach spoke to the media minutes before the AP poll was released, where the Crimson Tide was one spot behind Auburn. So Oats knew Alabama was No. 1 in the coaches poll, but unaware of where his team would be ranked by the AP voters.

"I don’t know where we’re gonna end up being ranked, but like I said after the game, it doesn’t really matter to me," he said. "But it does tend to get other fanbases more hyped up, more ready to go, puts a bigger target on our back the higher the rankings go. It’s nice for our fans to be ranked.

“As far as us internally, it should have zero effect on anything we do, so we’ve just got to get ourselves ready to go Tuesday night." 

Alabama (20-3, 9-1 SEC) sits in a tie for first place in the SEC with eight games to go. The final seven games will all be against teams currently ranked in the top 25.