Why Nate Oats Doesn't Want to Face 'Cupcakes' in Non-Conference Slate

The Alabama head coach explained how tough opponents impact his team throughout the season.

Oct 14, 2025; Birmingham, AL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats talks with the media during SEC Media Days at Grand Bohemian Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images | Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama men's basketball head coach Nate Oats has raised questions about his non-conference schedule the past couple of years.

Some teams like to start extremely strong, and scheduling opponents with less of a recruiting base is the easy way to accomplish that goal. On the other hand, The Crimson Tide has had the toughest strength of schedule in the country for back-to-back years. It's resulted is some losses, but Alabama's ability to build off the failure has led to back-to-back Elite Eight appearances.

But the SEC showed a different side in 2024-25 than past seasons. The SEC finished its non-conference slate with an overall record of 185-23, including an all-time best 21-8 record against AP Top 25 teams. And after a wild couple of months of SEC play, the conference sent a record 14 teams to the NCAA Tournament with Florida eventually winning it all.

"I don't think playing 13 cupcakes prepares you for SEC play," Oats said at SEC Media Day on Monday. "Whether we win or lose, I've never shied away from playing the best schedule in the country, we've had the number one strength of schedule for a number of years, had it last year, the year before, I believe. You play the best teams, you figure out where your weaknesses are, and you fix 'em immediately. You do it and you repeat it, you repeat it."

Oats and company will face five non-conference teams that were ranked in Tuesday's Preseason AP Top 25: No. 1 Purdue, No. 5 St. John’s, No. 13 Arizona, No. 17 Illinois and No. 21 Gonzaga.

"St. John's will expose one weakness, Purdue will expose another one, Illinois will expose another one, Gonzaga," Oats said. "You go through it. You keep going back to the drawing board and hopefully you're able to win some of these games if not all of 'em. We're going in trying to be competitive and win the games.

"If you lose 'em and you get better... I'd much rather be whatever it is, 8-5, 9-4, 10-3 going into conference play than 13-0 and having no idea what your weaknesses are, where you got to get better, all that. All of a sudden you rattle off four or five straight losses in conference play. The sky's falling. Let's figure out what we got to get better at in November and December and get better before we hit conference play in January."