Nate Oats Wants More '10 out of 10s' in Effort for Alabama Basketball

Playing with blue collar effort is a learned art according to the Crimson Tide head coach.

Nov 8, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide forward Taylor Bol Bowen (7) grabs a rebound in the second half against the St. John's Red Storm at Madison Square Garden. | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Nate Oats has defined his coaching style at Alabama with "blue collar basketball." The staff literally charts blue collar points in every single game, and the player with most blue collar points earns the hard hat after a game.

Crashing the glass for rebounds, diving for loose balls, reaching for deflections and lining up to take a charge are some of the things expected by Oats for players that are in his system. But it isn't always easy for players to figure out right away.

"I do think they have to learn it because there’s different levels to it, and our hard looks a lot different than some other places hard," Oats said. "You’ve got to kind of define it for them, and we define it by what chart in our blue collar points.  So, are you getting to the offensive boards? Is your hand up? Are you trying to get deflections? Are you getting offensive rebound tips, even if you don't get the rebound? Are you in there with the activity, keeping it alive to give us a chance? Are you getting defensive rebounds? Are you willing to put your body on the line to take an on-ball charge, move your feet, put your chest in there?"

Oats was publicly critical of Florida State transfer Taylor Bol Bowen after the Crimson Tide's opener against North Dakota, especially frustrated with his lack of offensive rebounds. Bol Bowen responded with 17 points, nine rebounds (four offensive), two blocks and two steals in Alabama's upset win over St. John's.

As a team, Alabama out-rebounded St John's, who has one of the most talented frontcourts in the nation. The Tide finished with 14 offensive rebounds.

"There’s levels to it. Some of these guys needed to figure it out," Oats said. "If you were grading it on a scale from one to 10, I think a lot of these guys thought they were giving max effort, and they were really giving us a six out of 10. They need to figure out how to get to a 10 out of 10. And I think we saw a lot more 10 out of 10s against St. John’s than we did against North Dakota."

No. 8 Alabama will once again need a high level of effort as the Crimson Tide welcomes No. 2 Purdue to Coleman Coliseum on Thursday night for the highest-rated non-conference home matchup in program history. Oats has had a lot of success during his Alabama tenure against top-10 teams, but the Tide is 0-2 against Purdue over the last two seasons.

"They're good, they're tough, they're smart, they've got excellent guard play," Oats said of Purdue. "We've got our hands full tomorrow night. This is a great opportunity for us, great opportunity for our fans."