Coaching basketball at an SEC football power has its advantages

Alabama first-year basketball coach Nate Oats will take his 7-5 Crimson Tide into Saturday night's league opener at Florida. / University of Alabama photo
Alabama first-year basketball coach Nate Oats will take his 7-5 Crimson Tide into Saturday night's league opener at Florida. / University of Alabama photo

A pair of Southeastern Conference men's basketball coaches have discovered in recent weeks that playing second fiddle to football has its advantages.

Will Wade's LSU Tigers, who won last year's SEC regular-season championship, have been erratic entering Saturday's league opener at Tennessee. LSU has nonconference losses to VCU, Utah State, East Tennessee State and Southern California - a quartet producing respectable seasons - but not many people have noticed.

Wade's Tigers have been overshadowed by Ed Orgeron's football program that won its first SEC title in eight years and will face Clemson for the national championship in New Orleans on Jan. 13.

"It's been great for us, because nobody is worried that we're 8-4," Wade said this week. "Hopefully, we'll have a few conference wins by the time everybody gets back from the national championship game and they start worrying about basketball. It's been very, very good for us."

The SEC opens Saturday with five head-to-head matchups and three teams facing nonconference foes. The most notable of the three nonconference contests is Georgia's trip to Memphis in a game that was supposed to include freshman phenoms James Wiseman of the host Tigers and Anthony Edwards of the Bulldogs.

Wiseman then was suspended by the NCAA before electing to forgo the rest of the season to start preparing for the NBA.

Alabama first-year coach Nate Oats was formerly the top dog at Buffalo, leading the Bulls to a 59-13 record and to NCAA tournament trips his last two seasons. His first season with the Crimson Tide started 2-4, which was the worst for the program in nearly a half-century.

The Tide have regrouped somewhat and are 7-5 entering their game at Florida, with each of their contests so far overshadowed by Nick Saban's program that went 11-2 but missed out for the first time on the College Football Playoff.

"The football program here is obviously one of the best in the country and probably is the best," Oats said. "Coach Saban does a great job of helping us whenever they can. I've been able to sit in on some staff meetings and watch their practices, so I don't mind.

"I don't have a big ego and feel like we need all the attention on us, and losing as many games as we've lost, we haven't had the full spotlight on us. I think it's allowed our guys just to work and get better."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.

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