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Nate Oats and Alabama


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34 minutes ago, ChubbyHubby said:

I've said all along that Whitesell was the brains behind our team the last couple of years.  

I'm not sure that I completely agree with that statement, as it sounds quite dismissive of Nate's basketball mind. Nate & Jim worked extremely well as a unit, along with Jamie & Bryan. They each had their roles and they were excellent together within them. Yes, Jim has superb basketball brains, but Nate does as well. His biggest obstacle at a school like Alabama (or any other "big" school) is going to get the players to buy in to his unselfish system and play for each other, much as UB has done over the past several years. Many of these high profile players have egos, talkers in their ears telling them how good they are and how they need to get theirs, etc. If the talented players buy in to what Nate sells, they will be phenomenal sooner than later. If not, it will be a struggle both individually and as a team for them in my opinion.

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40 minutes ago, skrabukes said:

I'm not sure that I completely agree with that statement, as it sounds quite dismissive of Nate's basketball mind. Nate & Jim worked extremely well as a unit, along with Jamie & Bryan. They each had their roles and they were excellent together within them. Yes, Jim has superb basketball brains, but Nate does as well. His biggest obstacle at a school like Alabama (or any other "big" school) is going to get the players to buy in to his unselfish system and play for each other, much as UB has done over the past several years. Many of these high profile players have egos, talkers in their ears telling them how good they are and how they need to get theirs, etc. If the talented players buy in to what Nate sells, they will be phenomenal sooner than later. If not, it will be a struggle both individually and as a team for them in my opinion.

I was thinking exactly this - you put it quite well. 

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1 hour ago, ChubbyHubby said:

I've said all along that Whitesell was the brains behind our team the last couple of years.  

If you’ve gone to games and noticed his involvement and how he’s is always talking and consulting to players, it really makes sense at how he was able to retain the entire roster and prevent kids from transferring. It’s what makes me have lots of faith in the teams ability to be successful this season.

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I don’t get the anti Nate sentiment here. I am of course biased since I know him well. Like most of you I was pissed after it was announced he was moving to Alabama. I initially viewed it as lip service to his oft stated goal of building a Gonzaga type program. I came to learn not too long after that there were two main reasons for his departure and it was the university’s inability to support his vision was the reason for the move. The first was the university did not share Oats’ vision and were not willing to do two things Oats felt was necessary to achieve that goal; one to build a rec center to move intramurals and such out of AA so that there was a dedicated facility where the players could access 24/7 to work on their games. This has been an issue for two decades or more. Secondly with the research Oats did to see what was necessary to achieve his vision/goal,  he came to believe that expanding AA was a necessity and the university was not willing to take that’s on. In short he did not believe the university shared his vision or was willing/able to support. 

Skrabukes is right on. Nate had an excellent staff in place. They worked extremely well together. Under Oats we enjoyed unprecedented success culminating with a #15 season end ranking and wins over many power 5 victories including Syracuse which provided great satisfaction to UB fans near and far. 

So no I will not be rooting against him. I will continue to wish him the best and be forever grateful for the success, notoriety and type of recruits he brought to UB, mostly fine young men and tremendous representatives of our university and the greater Buffalo community.  

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Just a note regarding my earlier post.  1. I am not anti Nate.  He was a good Coach and I really liked the guy.  He did great things here at UB.   2.  In no way did I mean it to sound dismissive of Nate's coaching skills.  I think he does a great job of relating to his players and knows very well how to lead a team.  It just always seemed to me that JW was more the strategist of the group.  Sorry of it didn't read that way.

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3 minutes ago, clodney said:

I'm also not anti-Nate, I'm anti-Alabama. I'd root for him at most other schools. I will freely admit I'm a bit anti-Hodgson now though.

 

3 minutes ago, clodney said:

I'm also not anti-Nate, I'm anti-Alabama. I'd root for him at most other schools. I will freely admit I'm a bit anti-Hodgson now though.

I am no Alabama fan either. But I will root for Nate’s and his family’s success.  Did you know that Alnut told Hodgson to pack his bags shortly after Nate informed Alnut he was leaving? He wasn’t with Alnut more than a few minutes and he was off campus. 

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12 minutes ago, UB85 said:

 Did you know that Alnut told Hodgson to pack his bags shortly after Nate informed Alnut he was leaving?

This sounds like an exaggeration.

I was all for everything you were saying but now you changed your rhetoric from supporting someone because they brought success to Buffalo to defending someone at the expense of our own leadership. 

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Just now, BullsFan14 said:

This sounds like an exaggeration.

I was all for everything you were saying but now you changed your rhetoric from supporting someone because they brought success to Buffalo to defending someone at the expense of our own leadership. 

Just giving you the facts. Choose to accept them or not. 

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10 minutes ago, UB85 said:

I would add that my information comes from the Oats/Hodgson side. Perhaps there is a different version somewhere. 

There are probably multiple different versions of the story. I believe everyone is pretty comfortable now.

I will always support Nate and I put ESPN notifications on my phone for the Alabama basketball program. He took UB to a level none of us could ever dream of. How could you not support him! But I agree with @skrabukes comments above. The type of play Nate uses requires players to put egos aside. I am not sure how long that might take for some players but with people expecting quick results, that can be a little bit of an issue. He took his three values with him to Bama, one being selfless love. If you watched the game against Penn, it was pretty selfish basketball but all of that can change by February/March. 

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29 minutes ago, BullsFan14 said:

There are probably multiple different versions of the story. I believe everyone is pretty comfortable now.

I will always support Nate and I put ESPN notifications on my phone for the Alabama basketball program. He took UB to a level none of us could ever dream of. How could you not support him! But I agree with @skrabukes comments above. The type of play Nate uses requires players to put egos aside. I am not sure how long that might take for some players but with people expecting quick results, that can be a little bit of an issue. He took his three values with him to Bama, one being selfless love. If you watched the game against Penn, it was pretty selfish basketball but all of that can change by February/March. 

To Nate (and the coaches) credit, UB had some players that really bought in to what he and his staff were trying to do.   They committed (for the most part) on the defensive side and embraced the team ahead of the individual -- especially the leaders.    It may take some time with Alabama.  Heck...he may not even have the right guys (yet) for what he wants to do.  

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3 hours ago, UB92 said:

To Nate (and the coaches) credit, UB had some players that really bought in to what he and his staff were trying to do.   They committed (for the most part) on the defensive side and embraced the team ahead of the individual -- especially the leaders.    It may take some time with Alabama.  Heck...he may not even have the right guys (yet) for what he wants to do.  

Exactly. That’s what made them great....just fantastic team players  

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6 hours ago, UB85 said:

Secondly with the research Oats did to see what was necessary to achieve his vision/goal,  he came to believe that expanding AA was a necessity and the university was not willing to take that’s on.

I would much rather have a Gonzaga situation than an Ball State/Ohio situation.  If we are winning enough, add more seats, play marquee games at KBC if you can pull a HUGE crowd, but Alumni Arena as a basketball venue is fine without say doubling seating.

5 hours ago, UB85 said:

Did you know that Alnut told Hodgson to pack his bags shortly after Nate informed Alnut he was leaving?

Then why would he try to still get the UB job after that?  Unless Hodgson said something along the lines of "Give me the job or else I'm going to Tuscaloosa" (which would warrant that response from Alnutt) I can't see Alnutt saying that out of the blue since we retained two assistants and the now DOBO.

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1 hour ago, UB05 said:

Yeah I’m not saying you’re wrong.... but I’m going to choose to treat them as rumors and not facts

Obviously I was not part of any conversation between Alnut and Hodgson. But that’s what I was told by someone who  100% knows Hodgson’s version. And same with Oats. 

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56 minutes ago, rma said:

I would much rather have a Gonzaga situation than an Ball State/Ohio situation.  If we are winning enough, add more seats, play marquee games at KBC if you can pull a HUGE crowd, but Alumni Arena as a basketball venue is fine without say doubling seating.

Then why would he try to still get the UB job after that?  Unless Hodgson said something along the lines of "Give me the job or else I'm going to Tuscaloosa" (which would warrant that response from Alnutt) I can't see Alnutt saying that out of the blue since we retained two assistants and the now DOBO.

1. Oats talked to Few, Stephens and others who developed what he envisioned for UB long before he left for Alabama. And having an on campus basketball only facility of ~12k was according to them and Oats agreed a necessity. 

2. Why? Because he wanted the job. There was also talk that Tunney was a Hodgson booster so perhaps Alnut felt a token interview was necessary. Hodgson got a telephone interview with the agency assisting in the search and that was it. Although he felt the interview went well he understood that Alnut had a certain type coach in mind. As you may recall it took several weeks before Jim was officially named the head man. 

Edited by UB85
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9 hours ago, UB85 said:

I don’t get the anti Nate sentiment here. I am of course biased since I know him well. Like most of you I was pissed after it was announced he was moving to Alabama. I initially viewed it as lip service to his oft stated goal of building a Gonzaga type program. I came to learn not too long after that there were two main reasons for his departure and it was the university’s inability to support his vision was the reason for the move. The first was the university did not share Oats’ vision and were not willing to do two things Oats felt was necessary to achieve that goal; one to build a rec center to move intramurals and such out of AA so that there was a dedicated facility where the players could access 24/7 to work on their games. This has been an issue for two decades or more. Secondly with the research Oats did to see what was necessary to achieve his vision/goal,  he came to believe that expanding AA was a necessity and the university was not willing to take that’s on. In short he did not believe the university shared his vision or was willing/able to support. 

Skrabukes is right on. Nate had an excellent staff in place. They worked extremely well together. Under Oats we enjoyed unprecedented success culminating with a #15 season end ranking and wins over many power 5 victories including Syracuse which provided great satisfaction to UB fans near and far. 

So no I will not be rooting against him. I will continue to wish him the best and be forever grateful for the success, notoriety and type of recruits he brought to UB, mostly fine young men and tremendous representatives of our university and the greater Buffalo community.  

I have a hard time believing this. I mean Nate had to realize the limitations UB has. They can't just snap their fingers and make all the changes he wanted. It was going to be a slow go. The fact he left for 'bama hours after they lost to Texas Tech tells me he had a foot out the door the entire time. Ironically if Nate had waited a bit he might have been a candidate for the Michigan job. That's a job I would have totally understood him grabbing.

That said I'm not sad he stubbed his toe in his first game. Enjoy that new Power 5 pressure, Nate. Bona losing was also fun.

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2 hours ago, UB85 said:

1. Oats talked to Few, Stephens and others who developed what he envisioned for UB long before he left for Alabama. And having an on campus basketball only facility of ~12k was according to them and Oats agreed a necessity. 

FFS. That is complete nonsense!

Alumni seats 6,800.

Gonzaga just built a new arena and guess how many it seats. 6,000. 

Gonzaga has cited the lower capacity as one of the best decisions it made   It kept tickets scarce and ensures every game is sold out and packed because if someone can’t attend a game there are other people that want to get to a game even if it isn’t a big game because it is so hard to get tickets to a game.

and Hinkle at Butler is 9,100  it is the smallest venue in theBig East.

Anyone that says a new arena needs to be built doesn’t have a clue.  Not to mention it is glaring that in saying such a thing they don’t grasp the climate of UB athletics where money can’t be wasted.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alumni_Arena_(University_at_Buffalo)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthey_Athletic_Center

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1 minute ago, UB05 said:

I just find it almost impossible to believe Alnutt would tell Hodgson to “pack his bags” right after Oats left. It makes zero sense. There’s absolutely no reason in my mind I can come up with for that to happen.

Unless... if Albutt didn’t like or trust Hodgson and didn’t think he should be a part of the program in the first place...

 

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18 hours ago, UB85 said:

I would add that my information comes from the Oats/Hodgson side. Perhaps there is a different version somewhere. 

Given Oats / Hodgson literally tried to sneak out without addressing the players I take their side with a grain of salt here.

I don't wish ill on either of them, I understand why they left, I just don't care what / how they do beyond checking in from time to time.

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So, we forked over the largest athletics salary in the history of New York and Nate Oats leaves because UB doesn't want to commit to building a multi-million dollar basketball-only facility and an arena with a capacity that's 30% higher than Duke? That makes me think even less of him.

Edited by clodney
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