'We Know We're Underdogs': Nate Oats' Initial Thoughts on Facing Michigan

Alabama basketball is just days away from one of its toughest challenges of this season.

The 4-seed Crimson Tide advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 for the fourth consecutive year, and it'll face 1-seed Michigan on Friday evening in Chicago. The Wolverines have been ranked inside the top-3 of the AP Top 25 for 14 of 19 weeks, with the other five still being inside the top-7. Alabama never entered the top-7 this season.

UA head coach Nate Oats gave his initial thoughts on facing the Wolverines during Monday night's 'Hey Coach' radio show.

"We have a great group of guys that fully has bought into wanting to play together as long as they can, and that's what it's going to take to beat Michigan," Oats said. "Some people have them as the best team left standing. KenPom has them as the No. 1 team. They're very good.

"We know we're underdogs. Sometimes that's not the worst thing. You come in with a chip on your shoulder. We were small underdogs against [Texas] Tech — they were favored by a point and a half."

The Wolverines cruised past 9-seed Saint Louis 95-72 in the Round of 32 on March 21 in Buffalo, New York. All five of Michigan's starters finished with 10-plus points, including a team-high 25 on 9 of 13 from the field (3 of 5 from deep) from Unanimous First Team All-American Yaxel Lendeborg.

But Alabama is also coming into this one with some momentum following some late-night magic on Sunday, as the Crimson Tide obliterated 5-seed Texas Tech 90-65 in the Round of 32 in Tampa, Florida. Alabama started strong on both ends of the floor with a 49-25 halftime lead, and it was more than enough to get the job done. It was the largest scoring margin between a 4 and 5 seed in NCAA Tournament history, as Latrell Wrightsell Jr. led the way with 24 points.

"I think this group, the way their mindset is at right now, what they want to get done, we just need to continue to pump confidence into them," Oats said. "That's the way we need to play. If the ball moves like it did, our intensity on defense is like it is — let's play with anybody in the country."

As previously stated, this is Oats' fourth straight Sweet 16 appearance. The only other teams that have reached the third round of the NCAA Tournament that many times in a row are Houston and Tennessee.

Alabama is the only program in the country to reach the Elite Eight in each of the last two seasons, and an upset win over the Wolverines in the Midwest Regional semifinal would add another tally to that remarkable achievement.

"This is not easy to do," Oats said. "Please don't take it for granted. Let's get everybody supporting this team any which way we can. We're going to give it everything we've got. Michigan is not going to be easy. But we've been underdogs before in this game. We've come out with some big wins in the past. And we've lost some of these Sweet 16 games, too.

"I think our guys will be ready, and we're going to have to have an elite coaching performance, elite playing performance. But our guys are ready. Super excited to coach this game. We've had great success in Chicago. We played at the United Center once earlier and got a win. And Illinois is still standing, too."

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