It’s been a big year for Alabama athletics, and the university continued its cross-sport dominance on Sunday when the men’s basketball team won the SEC Tournament for the first time since 1991.
In just head coach Nate Oats’ second season on the job, Alabama is positioned to be near the top of the rankings for years to come.
The rapid success of the program prompted the question from ESPN’s Marty Smith following the win over LSU, of how close he is to turning Alabama into a basketball school.
Instead of picking a side, Oats took a different approach acknowledging both program’s successes from this past year. He credited a post he saw online calling the school a “championship school”, and that seemed like a fitting answer to Oats.
"We're a championship school!"@nate_oats | @AlabamaMBB 🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/g1JMau2L11
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) March 14, 2021
“We don’t have to be a football school or a basketball school we can just win championships,” Oats said. “We’re a championship school.”
The now two-seeded Crimson Tide turns its focus to the NCAA Tournament to try and accomplish a feat only done by Florida.
Win a championship in basketball and football in the same season.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77