HUGE SETBACK: the Alabama key player explained why he will no longer play for the team…
Auburn had to pass through an Alabama team warming up to take the floor in the corridor next to them as they made their way back to the locker room on Friday following an unexpected 78-76 loss to Yale, the No. 13 seed, in Spokane, Washington.
Or rather, Nate Oats, the head coach of Alabama, does. He was in the Yale locker room, not there.
“It was unrelated to their victory over Auburn,” Oats stated at his press conference on Saturday, ahead of their rematch with Grand Canyon in the second round. “I understand that’s what everyone wants to think it is. You want success for your league. If we have great success in our league, it looks much better for us. I simply have a great deal of respect for Coach Jones because I’ve known him.”
Oats also has close relationships to James Jones, the head coach of Yale. Oats therefore merely wished to congratulate Jones. He claimed not to have spoken with the Yale team.
Jordan Bruner, a forward from Yale, was named by Oats at his news conference as a graduate transfer for the 2020–21 campaign. Graduate students are not allowed to play in the Ivy League. Bruner led the Crimson Tide in scoring that season with 5.6 points per game and 23 starts.
But as they discussed Bruner during the hiring process, Oats grew to know Jones much better.
The reason Oats and Jones’ paths crossed previously was also due to an upset.
It’s a small world, and Oats was playing at the same location the previous time Yale triumphed in the NCAA Tournament, defeating Baylor in the opening round in 2016. Then, in Providence, Rhode Island, Oats and Jones, along with their head coach at Buffalo, were starting March Madness.