Alabama
Alabama.com: How to survive a Nate Oats practice with Alabama basketball
“Full-body cramps hit Noah Gurley after one of his first practices with Alabama men’s basketballon a June 2022 day.
Gurley couldn’t move. Then a recent Furman transfer, Gurley needed the help of trainer Clarke Holter to get to the training facilities. There an IV awaited Gurley, ill-prepared for the practice he’d just gone through.
Gurley knew Alabama played fast. He learned firsthand, cramping when he played against the Crimson Tide while at Furman. The fast pace became part of the reason why Gurley decided to transfer to Alabama for the 2022-23 season.
He just didn’t realize that’s also how the Crimson Tide practices under coach Nate Oats. Not until Gurley went through one himself.
“The only way through is to embrace it,” Gurley said. “That’s why the weak don’t survive at ‘Bama.”
Oats’ success – four SEC titles, four NCAA Tournaments, and one Final Four over the past five seasons – can be tied to a variety of factors. His practices belong high on the list.
Maybe you, reader, have dreamed of playing for Oats and Alabama someday. You’re in the right place if so. Because if you want to achieve that goal, you need to make it through practice first.
Here’s your survival guide.
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate
Fuel. Your. Body. You need plenty of water in the day leading up to your first practice. Maybe even drink a Gatorade. Eat a good breakfast, too.
If you don’t fuel properly, get ready to suffer the consequences. Ask the players on Oats’ first team.
Alabama held the first practice with Oats not long after hiring the coach from Buffalo in 2019, and the session proved punishing. A few players vomited. The bigger guys got IVs. Everyone went to the training room when they could.
By the end of the first practice, walk-on Britton Johnson said something to Oats then turned to look at the wall behind the baseline of the practice gym. There, Johnson saw four or five teammates crumpled up against the wall. They didn’t even make it to the locker room.
“It’s not like it would have been a long walk,” Johnson said, “but guys were just so gassed after their sprints.”
Alex Reese, a forward from 2017-21, had to lay on the floor of the locker room afterward. He didn’t need an IV but did need to visit the cold tub.
“It definitely wasn’t the hardest practice with him. It was more so the adjustment,” Reese said. “Getting back into it. And the way he wanted things done. I think that was the biggest thing for everybody, just how he had things running at practice … How he had us running at practice.”
Tyler Barnes, a walk-on forward for the Crimson Tide from 2017-2022, expected a bunch of skill work in that first practice. Some shooting. Maybe a little two-on-two or three-on-three. Then Barnes and his teammates got a whole lot more than that.
He remembered full-court transition drills, two-on-ones, three-on-twos and more. Players recall it being about an hour. That’s when Barnes had a rare thought.
Maybe this basketball thing, it’s not for me.
Start conditioning now for your first practice, whether it’s tomorrow or in a few months. Still, there’s only so much you can do. The first one is going to be rough either way. Being in shape and being in basketball shape are not the same.
“Come prepared,” said Mouhamed Dioubate, now in his second season with Alabama. “Get some good rest the night before. Get your mind right, your body right. Just be ready when you step foot on the court.”
Prepare yourself mentally
After the first practice with Oats, Johnson returned to his dorm room that spring night in 2019 and made a proclamation to his friends.
This guy’s legit. We’re going to win.
Johnson saw not only how hard Oats ran practice but how he ran practice.
“Competitive, intense, while teaching,” Oats said. “Every drill we do as much as possible.”
Your mental preparation will be almost as important as your physical preparation. Take good notes in film sessions outside of practice. Know what the coaches expect of you based on those conversations away from practice. Alabama wants to play and practice fast.
Also, take the time to put yourself in the right headspace. Bring a mental edge.
“You can’t walk into a Nate Oats practice and not be 100% ready to go and ready to compete,” Johnson said. “You’ll get found out real quick.”
Competition isn’t intangible here. It’s tracked. Alabama divides into two teams each practice, crimson and white. Then, the staff keeps a tally on a whiteboard of how many drills each team wins.
Lose a drill and get ready to run a sprint. If, by the end of the day, you are on the losing team, prepare to run some more. Alabama doesn’t condition on the track.
“They believe you get in basketball shape by playing basketball,” Barnes said.
Especially with strike drill.
The five-on-five drill will test your mental fortitude. Bring it up, and just about every player reacts to it like it’s an old nightmare.
“That’s like the drill that kills everyone,” Dioubate said. “There’s no breaks. No dead balls. You just keep playing.”
You want to score as quickly as possible. Each team is trying to reach 150 points, and when you make a basket, you score the number of points left on the shot clock. So, if you score with 25 seconds left on the shot clock, you get 25 points added to your score. If you turn the ball over, you lose points.
The drill tests endurance and conditioning. It’s full-court, straight transition and sprint. Learn how to thrive and ace this drill more than any other. It can alter the day on the whiteboard.
“Strike drill pretty much controls the whole practice,” Gurley said. “You could be down four going into strike drill. They come out up three drills, a whole seven-drill swing.”
The drill can reset at the discretion of the coaching staff if someone doesn’t meet a non-negotiable. So, the drill can persist for a while until one team reaches 150 points.
There are ways to help yourself in strike drill. Much of it requires staying mentally sharp. Talking is one of the ways to help yourself. It’s a non-negotiable the coaching staff demands. Also don’t BCD: blame, complain or defend.
Other non-negotiables: Stay in a stance, pressure the ball, crash the net and sprint in transition.
Otherwise, expect to hear “game” called. For example …
Game over. Tyler didn’t box out.
The drill stops, and you have three seconds to get on the line and run down and back in the middle of practice, picking right back up with the drill afterward. If you’re not on the line or you don’t make the sprint, you’ve got to run again.
While one team is running the down and back, the other team has a chance to shoot a free throw to earn a point on the whiteboard. That’s why strike drill can be the most impactful on the day.
“There’s nothing worse than having a bad day of practice and you can see the thing going up,” Barnes said, “and you’re just like, ‘I know at the end of this too we’re just going to be running a bunch.’”
One more thing that’s important for your mental approach: Pay attention. Don’t daydream; Dioubate said that’s the biggest mistake you can make in an Oats practice.
“It feels worse than running,” Dioubate said. “You’re just getting yelled at in front of everybody.”
How this will benefit you
If, after reading all of that, you still want to proceed and practice for Alabama, know that there will be payoff. Look forward to games.
“By the time you get to a game, you’re in better shape than everybody because the way we play doesn’t allow otherwise,” Johnson said.
Much of Alabama’s success under Oats has been a result of its ability to play fast and score quickly. It’s no different once again this season. Alabama ranks No. 1 in adjusted tempo among all teams in the country, per KenPom.
“It’s fun to go fast, play in transition, make those good plays and things,” Barnes said. “Once the dust settles, you’re able to appreciate (practice) a little bit.”
And if you’re talented and fortunate enough to play professionally, Oats’ practices will have you prepared.
“If you can make it through a Coach Oats practice, you can make it through 90% of things in life,” Gurley said. “It lets you figure out if you like basketball. It lets you figure out if you have any perseverance in you.”
https://www.al.com/alabamabasketbal...te-oats-practice-with-alabama-basketball.html
Alabama.com: How to survive a Nate Oats practice with Alabama basketball
“Full-body cramps hit Noah Gurley after one of his first practices with Alabama men’s basketballon a June 2022 day.
Gurley couldn’t move. Then a recent Furman transfer, Gurley needed the help of trainer Clarke Holter to get to the training facilities. There an IV awaited Gurley, ill-prepared for the practice he’d just gone through.
Gurley knew Alabama played fast. He learned firsthand, cramping when he played against the Crimson Tide while at Furman. The fast pace became part of the reason why Gurley decided to transfer to Alabama for the 2022-23 season.
He just didn’t realize that’s also how the Crimson Tide practices under coach Nate Oats. Not until Gurley went through one himself.
“The only way through is to embrace it,” Gurley said. “That’s why the weak don’t survive at ‘Bama.”
Oats’ success – four SEC titles, four NCAA Tournaments, and one Final Four over the past five seasons – can be tied to a variety of factors. His practices belong high on the list.
Maybe you, reader, have dreamed of playing for Oats and Alabama someday. You’re in the right place if so. Because if you want to achieve that goal, you need to make it through practice first.
Here’s your survival guide.
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate
Fuel. Your. Body. You need plenty of water in the day leading up to your first practice. Maybe even drink a Gatorade. Eat a good breakfast, too.
If you don’t fuel properly, get ready to suffer the consequences. Ask the players on Oats’ first team.
Alabama held the first practice with Oats not long after hiring the coach from Buffalo in 2019, and the session proved punishing. A few players vomited. The bigger guys got IVs. Everyone went to the training room when they could.
By the end of the first practice, walk-on Britton Johnson said something to Oats then turned to look at the wall behind the baseline of the practice gym. There, Johnson saw four or five teammates crumpled up against the wall. They didn’t even make it to the locker room.
“It’s not like it would have been a long walk,” Johnson said, “but guys were just so gassed after their sprints.”
Alex Reese, a forward from 2017-21, had to lay on the floor of the locker room afterward. He didn’t need an IV but did need to visit the cold tub.
“It definitely wasn’t the hardest practice with him. It was more so the adjustment,” Reese said. “Getting back into it. And the way he wanted things done. I think that was the biggest thing for everybody, just how he had things running at practice … How he had us running at practice.”
Tyler Barnes, a walk-on forward for the Crimson Tide from 2017-2022, expected a bunch of skill work in that first practice. Some shooting. Maybe a little two-on-two or three-on-three. Then Barnes and his teammates got a whole lot more than that.
He remembered full-court transition drills, two-on-ones, three-on-twos and more. Players recall it being about an hour. That’s when Barnes had a rare thought.
Maybe this basketball thing, it’s not for me.
Start conditioning now for your first practice, whether it’s tomorrow or in a few months. Still, there’s only so much you can do. The first one is going to be rough either way. Being in shape and being in basketball shape are not the same.
“Come prepared,” said Mouhamed Dioubate, now in his second season with Alabama. “Get some good rest the night before. Get your mind right, your body right. Just be ready when you step foot on the court.”
Prepare yourself mentally
After the first practice with Oats, Johnson returned to his dorm room that spring night in 2019 and made a proclamation to his friends.
This guy’s legit. We’re going to win.
Johnson saw not only how hard Oats ran practice but how he ran practice.
“Competitive, intense, while teaching,” Oats said. “Every drill we do as much as possible.”
Your mental preparation will be almost as important as your physical preparation. Take good notes in film sessions outside of practice. Know what the coaches expect of you based on those conversations away from practice. Alabama wants to play and practice fast.
Also, take the time to put yourself in the right headspace. Bring a mental edge.
“You can’t walk into a Nate Oats practice and not be 100% ready to go and ready to compete,” Johnson said. “You’ll get found out real quick.”
Competition isn’t intangible here. It’s tracked. Alabama divides into two teams each practice, crimson and white. Then, the staff keeps a tally on a whiteboard of how many drills each team wins.
Lose a drill and get ready to run a sprint. If, by the end of the day, you are on the losing team, prepare to run some more. Alabama doesn’t condition on the track.
“They believe you get in basketball shape by playing basketball,” Barnes said.
Especially with strike drill.
The five-on-five drill will test your mental fortitude. Bring it up, and just about every player reacts to it like it’s an old nightmare.
“That’s like the drill that kills everyone,” Dioubate said. “There’s no breaks. No dead balls. You just keep playing.”
You want to score as quickly as possible. Each team is trying to reach 150 points, and when you make a basket, you score the number of points left on the shot clock. So, if you score with 25 seconds left on the shot clock, you get 25 points added to your score. If you turn the ball over, you lose points.
The drill tests endurance and conditioning. It’s full-court, straight transition and sprint. Learn how to thrive and ace this drill more than any other. It can alter the day on the whiteboard.
“Strike drill pretty much controls the whole practice,” Gurley said. “You could be down four going into strike drill. They come out up three drills, a whole seven-drill swing.”
The drill can reset at the discretion of the coaching staff if someone doesn’t meet a non-negotiable. So, the drill can persist for a while until one team reaches 150 points.
There are ways to help yourself in strike drill. Much of it requires staying mentally sharp. Talking is one of the ways to help yourself. It’s a non-negotiable the coaching staff demands. Also don’t BCD: blame, complain or defend.
Other non-negotiables: Stay in a stance, pressure the ball, crash the net and sprint in transition.
Otherwise, expect to hear “game” called. For example …
Game over. Tyler didn’t box out.
The drill stops, and you have three seconds to get on the line and run down and back in the middle of practice, picking right back up with the drill afterward. If you’re not on the line or you don’t make the sprint, you’ve got to run again.
While one team is running the down and back, the other team has a chance to shoot a free throw to earn a point on the whiteboard. That’s why strike drill can be the most impactful on the day.
“There’s nothing worse than having a bad day of practice and you can see the thing going up,” Barnes said, “and you’re just like, ‘I know at the end of this too we’re just going to be running a bunch.’”
One more thing that’s important for your mental approach: Pay attention. Don’t daydream; Dioubate said that’s the biggest mistake you can make in an Oats practice.
“It feels worse than running,” Dioubate said. “You’re just getting yelled at in front of everybody.”
How this will benefit you
If, after reading all of that, you still want to proceed and practice for Alabama, know that there will be payoff. Look forward to games.
“By the time you get to a game, you’re in better shape than everybody because the way we play doesn’t allow otherwise,” Johnson said.
Much of Alabama’s success under Oats has been a result of its ability to play fast and score quickly. It’s no different once again this season. Alabama ranks No. 1 in adjusted tempo among all teams in the country, per KenPom.
“It’s fun to go fast, play in transition, make those good plays and things,” Barnes said. “Once the dust settles, you’re able to appreciate (practice) a little bit.”
And if you’re talented and fortunate enough to play professionally, Oats’ practices will have you prepared.
“If you can make it through a Coach Oats practice, you can make it through 90% of things in life,” Gurley said. “It lets you figure out if you like basketball. It lets you figure out if you have any perseverance in you.”
https://www.al.com/alabamabasketbal...te-oats-practice-with-alabama-basketball.html
