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all right everyone before we get started
here with the Alabama news conference as
a courtesy to your fellow media members
and team participants please make sure
to silence your cell phones please make
sure to provide your name and media
affiliation each time you ask a question
we’ve got two mic holders in the room
here we’ll get a mic over to you for
those of us joining on Zoom please make
sure to use the raised hand function for
questions reminder we will address
questions here in the room first and get
over to zoom if time allows and one
final reminder recording of this press
conference on cell phones and cameras is
prohibited all right we now welcome to
the dayis Alabama the NCA West Regional
Champions joining us here is Alabama
head coach Nate oats along with student
athletes Aaron Estrada jiren Stevenson
and Mark Mark Sears coach we’ll begin
with an opening statement for you and
then open it up for questions first for
the student athletes go ahead Coach man
I I couldn’t be more proud of a group of
guys we challenged them at the begin in
this tournament that we’re going to have
to pick up our defense and our defense
get significantly better and they
they’ve just been all about winning I
mean it’s nobody really cares who’s
scoring the points and get a little
frustrated and they just keep playing
together I mean I’ve got multiple guys
telling me to keep other guys in the
game and it just there’s been no
selfishness in this four game Run and
different guys have stepped up
throughout the deal I mean jiren shoot
season the high in the biggest game of
his uh life hit big shot after big shot
made tough play after tough play like he
he grew up tonight I mean shoot 19
points on 11 shots is pretty efficient
basketball
so super proud of jiren and then Grant
stepped up for us against Carolina had
the best game of his career mod diat the
game before that had the best game of
his career you know we just have
different guys stepping up all the time
and you know obviously Mark’s been
scoring at a really high level for us
all year and uh you know he struggled
early this game I KN I knew that wasn’t
going to keep going whole game just he
was able to hang in there hang in there
hang in there kept getting stopped so
you know they got up 13 on us and then I
think uh after that we went on a big run
to close the half to have a three-point
lead and you know they they made some
runs on us in the second half man it
just seemed like we hit timely three
after timely three whether it was jiren
or Ryland or Mark hit shoot markk hit
one he felt like it was from half court
and I me it was big three after big
three and ryland’s not up here but his
defense
on the last two games RJ Davis and his
defense on Gerard you know he’s he’s
been really locked in these shooters
that we know they’re going to have
actions for Nick Pringle leadership over
these last four games has been the best
Knicks played since he’s been here so
just really proud of these guys we’re
going to enjoy it for the night
go enjoy Easter Sunday back in tus Lusa
and then figure out the plans when we’re
going to
Phoenix all right we’ll open it up for
questions first for the student athletes
we’ll start in the second
row Beth Harris AP uh jiren you airball
a three there in the first half when you
guys were like one at 13 from from long
range uh as a freshman what gave you the
confidence to just you know keep on
going and um obviously you know turn
things around in that second half well
it’s mainly just practice I knew um just
from practice I can I can knock those
shots down I’m just focusing on the next
shot um even though yeah I airball one
or two threes I’m just focusing on the
next shot um really just helped me shoot
better we’ll go next in the back hey
Mark Meers Associated Press radio for uh
seers to do something not never been
done in the long history of your program
what are you feeling now man it’s uh
just feeling a lot of emotions you know
uh being from Alabama instead of Alabama
and do it to with this group of guys and
you know it’s a it’s
amazing go next to the front row yeah
Charlie Potter with B on line for Mark
and Aaron coach talked about jiren
stepping up tonight just you’ve had
different guys kind of do this the past
three games how big was he tonight for
you guys oh man like like coach said he
grew up tonight man we don’t win this
game without him you know when uh Gerard
was going off from three it was like
jiren hit three after three after three
and kept us in his ball game and you
know he was he was huge tonight yeah I
kind of just agree with Mark uh jiren he
did grow up tonight and I kept telling
him throughout the game like I think he
passed up like only one three that I
threw him and I said man just shoot the
ball like be confident like you built
for this you put the work in and he was
shooting them and he started making them
so go to the second row Ryan Hennessy
NBC 13 Bingham for Aaron and Mark what
does this say a final four about the
coach that’s sitting next to you I mean
he’s bigname coach but this is another
level now what does it say about him as
a coach I mean this is evident man he’s
a just a great coach all around you know
he lost a lot from last year starting
with the coaching staff so just for him
to rebuild a group like he got us um I
think like I said it just goes to show
how hardworking he is and how much of a
competitor he is as well go to the front
row yeah he just uh you know he give us
all the confidence in the world you know
when we playing when you’re playing for
a coach like this that he wants you to
shoot open shots and if you pass up a
wide open shot he’s going to you’re
going to hear about it when you go back
to timeout you know just playing for a
coach it gives you the freedom within
the system know that’s it’s something
you would love to be around and play
for we’ll go to the front row John Deb
Davis with the Orange County Register
here in Southern California uh Mark can
you walk me through what it’s like when
you’re in the moment when those threes
are going down I could kind of see you I
know you’re not looking at us in
particular but you’re looking towards
the crowd you know you you blowing
kisses you’re making all these faces
like you’re really like enjoying the
moment what does it feel like to to be
in that moment uh you know even though
it’s intense you know we play the game
because we have fun with it and to be in
those moments your dream is as a little
kid and just to have fun with it because
you remember just even though it’s a
business to go out there we still got to
have fun with
it go to the third bro Josh Peter with
USA Today Mark your mom told me a couple
things um one that you wrote down your
goals at one point on a yellow sheet of
paper and that’s kind of followed you
over the years I wonder if you can tell
me about that but the other thing she
said was when you were struggling your
Ohio and just couldn’t find your way
back here that she said that she had
this Vision that you’re going to take
the Long Road Home the long the long
road and that brought you some inter
piece and can you tell me a little bit
about what those two things that meant
to you and getting here oh yeah you know
and you know coming out of high school
you know wasn’t highly recruited and you
know my parents they kept uh encouraging
me that never give up and stay stay
focused put God first you know know I
just put the work in trusted God and now
I’m here you know that’s that’s really
all all I can
say we’ll go to the front row
next for jiren the first game you guys
played against Clemson PJ Hall was able
to do some things against you this time
I was six for 14 he fouled out just what
changed in terms of mentality in the
approach with him just working on my
post defense and my physicality I mean
working with Coach dud he taught me a
few things um the different things and
holding my ground in the post and what
to look out for and he taught me a lot
of things and um just working out with
hen too um our strength coach he got me
stronger and ready for this
moment we’ll go next to the second
row hi uh Haley Sawyer soel newsg group
OC Register uh your coach has talked a
little bit about mudita the last few
days um how have you seen that kind of
vicarious enjoyment at work tonight
start with
Aon uh I think that the mudita thing was
probably the best thing that happened
for this team honestly just because we
have so many pieces on our team and you
know it’s hard to be consistent at this
level without any support you know so
just knowing that you have your brothers
behind you and everybody in our program
behind you I think it just helps on the
mental level and ultimately that helps
you just play better down the stretch I
think yeah um yeah with my two airball
threes um my guys have my back and they
wanted me to keep shooting and
everything time I went to the bench the
guys would high five me have my back and
just cheer each other on and every time
I was on the bench would lock each
other’s arms clap um chant defense and
stuff like that I felt like it was it
was there
today
[Music]
Mark all right we’ll continue with
questions go ahead and raise your hand
if you have a question for the student
athletes they asked about M oh I listen
we’re going to let him talk I was
distracting him I’m going to take he
wants to talk about mudita I was letting
them know that he was the most
outstanding player of the tournament
that’s on me so they asked about mud so
there you go sorry mud man that man that
ever since we first heard of it when
like our when conference play started
you know it stuck with us and it really
changed our season around because you
know we started off six and five and we
heard the word of mud and that that just
changed our season around because
everybody you know you can see it on our
face cheering for others when they’re
succeeding even though we’re not
succeeding you know that really just it
it changed us around I think it CH
really helped us win this final four
because of
mud go over here uh Amanda Scurlock La
Sentinel what’s been a memorable moment
so far just going on this
run uh wait for me or go ahead uh I
would say for me personally just making
a tournament uh I’ve been in college for
5 years and this is my first NCA
tournament so I would just say the whole
experience for myself is
memorable yeah there’s a lot of
memorable moments so far um again I love
mod going off against Grand Canyon that
was very memorable him going in getting
rebounds um getting points and stuff
like that crashing hard and then the
last game with Grant Nelson um shooting
the ball um knocking down shots going in
getting rebounds hit that n one put us
up I feel like those are
memorable I say mine would be uh you
know jiren just uh he stepped up tonight
and he we don’t win this game without
him making them timely threes and you
know just seeing him do that and he
maturing and growing up you know that’s
that’s really a memory and being able to
cut down those Nets when the confetti
came down and you know that’s for sure
another memory Jay
smooth that’s his nickname you smooth
the night any other questions for the
student athletes we go second row and in
the back go ahead start at the
back hey uh Aaron when you’re down um uh
13 thoughts at that time in the first
half that’s a long way to come
back uh I
think that’s I credit our coaches and
just like I said the whole mudita thing
and you know next play mentality I think
that like I said that was the best thing
that probably happened to our team just
because like I said when you know you
hit adversity in the game like it’s easy
to fold and when we’re telling each
other we got each other back then we’re
good and things like like that I think
ultimately it just helps us go harder
and play
better Aon when someone like Nate oats
comes to you and says come to Alabama I
know there’s a lot of things hey we
could do this we could do that but it
happened how does that feel to kind of
have it come true in the first year here
yeah I think it feels really good man um
I believed him from the first time I
spoke to him honestly um I believ the
vision uh the work was evident he had
the number one seed seated team last
year they was number one in the country
country for a good portion of the year
so I really had no doubt I think it was
pretty easy for me to make my decision
to come
here Alejandra V outkick.com eron after
the UNCC game you said that the haters
were kind of your motivators for that
game yeah coming into this one a little
bit of more Swagger what was the
motivation this time uh just the same
thing man you know they they counted us
out really from the very first game and
like I said I’ve been doubted like my
whole life you know under recruited you
know looked upon and I think that you
know it just added more fuel to
everybody really um they actually showed
a edit before this game too of what
everybody was saying about us and I
think that really like I said just fuels
our fire even more when we
play we have time for one more question
for the student athletes
anyone go ahead
yeah
for Mark how have you grown since you
finally arrived here when back at
Alabama how you how you how have you
developed and what were your
expectations uh you
know uh coming to Alabama you know my
expectations you know I’ve pretty much
achieved most of them and you know just
to be able to do it being from the state
of Alabama you know is uh means the
world to
me all right guys thank
you that’s it
we’ll continue with questions here for
Coach
OOTS we’ll start right here in the front
row then we’ll go back I look at you
being polite jiren put the
chairs uh just the same thing I was
asking Jaren about PJ Hall from the
first game to the second game just what
the game plan was to fix what happened
in the first game I I mean we brought
some more doubles we didn’t double
enough the first game we tried to front
too much to first game gave him too many
angles we didn’t want to front him we
wanted to stay between him and the rim
make him score over somebody he had the
one where he spun Baseline and got an
angle with it’s actually I think Grant
Nelson’s fourth foul you know we didn’t
want him doing that we wanted to keep
him be keep a body between him and a rim
make him shoot over us you know we knew
they would you know I mean they shot 18
non Rim twos so we they made nine of 18
it’s pretty good but you know we we were
one .29 on offense we were 1.17 on D so
nine of 18 is just a 1.0 which you know
if that’s what they’re going to be even
though it’s good percentage from like
non- RM twos it’s enough for us to win
we thought our offense be good enough so
you know we kept them from getting
downhill getting angles brought doubles
at appropriate times off appropriate
people we we weren’t able to do it quite
as much as we did with Carolina and Bott
because they didn’t have as many
non-shooters out there and
but you know we definitely we we changed
the game plan up from the first time
because it wasn’t very good the first
time this coaching staff didn’t into a
very good job getting this team ready
first time our players you know weren’t
tough enough but we we the coaching
staff needed to do a better job and we
did a better job this time I thought
over there on the left Nate Brian
Hamilton from the athletic given your
journey what does this mean to you be at
this point I mean it’s surreal you go
back 11 years
ago and I was want to state championship
rhyme this high back in Detroit area so
as been that long and you know Bobby
Hurley gives me a
[Music]
chance you know and obviously the Hurley
family’s got a lot of respect for High
School coaches or Dad’s all Fame coach
and you
know and I was I caught a few breaks and
it’s ironic I get to coach against Danny
I don’t know if gets a the correct word
because they’re they got a pretty good
team but I’m in the final four and get
to go against you
know Danny who helped get me in this
thing along with you know obviously
Bobby’s the one who hired me but two of
those guys kind of came into college
together and have been great to me the
whole time but you know when I was a kid
I big basketball fan I used to going of
date myself a little bit you had the VHS
tapes so every T I had every one of The
Shining Moments labeled on a VHS just
tape so I go back and watch that thing
all summer then you start to grow up in
the coaching profession and just want to
be at the final four be in the hotel
lobby so I can see the big name coaches
that are there
and somehow I caught enough breaks I’m
coaching in one which is unreal I mean
give hope to a lot of High School
coaches tonight that’s for sure but I
don’t know if it’s really hit me yet it
probably won’t hit me until after uh the
final four is over and cuz I’m going to
enjoy it tonight a little bit and then
we got to try to figure out how to beat
ukan cuz they’re pretty they went on a
30 run I heard tonight is that
correct that’s unheard of in Elite 8
that’s crazy so think you guys at the
athletic wrote some article about
Danny’s got the formula figured out his
formula is working pretty well so I’m
GNA have to figure out figure out that
formula myself here soon go to the
second row next coach a little bit of a
full circle moment you were in
Birmingham I asked you about being the
five seed in the SEC going into the
preseason uh you know obviously Underdog
going to this but what did you tell to
your players throughout the season and
never give up because you guys weren’t
the one seed going in and everything
like that I mean I’m G be honest the
last time they picked us the fifth best
team in the SEC we won the whole thing
so my plan was to win the whole thing
but didn’t happen we lost the game
against Tennessee at home which you know
I thought we had a chance to win that if
we’ have won that we’d won the SEC again
but they weren’t far off cuz we finished
tied for fifth tied for second tied for
fifth it was all there’s a four-way tie
there so we ended up with the three seed
but you know for a team pick
fifth and really we didn’t we haven’t
been healthy for a while like the last
time we were fully healthy we beat Texas
A&M who’s a really good team as at shoot
they almost beat Houston you know they
uh when Houston was healthy you know we
beat them by 25 so this has turned out
to be a pretty good team when we were
healthy for us to win these two games to
go to a final four without ritel who was
playing unbelievably well as good as any
guard we have shows a lot about the
character of this team and Rito was as
good of an assistant coach as we had on
the bench these last two games he he’s
been great but you know this team’s come
a long ways the program the staff I got
three brand new
assistants you know I’m happy for the
three assistants that left that help lay
this foundation for other people that
have moved on that lay the foundation to
be honest with you some previous coaches
I mean we walked into a pretty good
talent pool you
know Avery did a pretty good job getting
Talent here and we were able to win in
our second year with the talent that He
had brought in herb Petty reys so you
don’t want to ignore the fact that a
pretty good foundation Greg burn knows
what he’s doing gives us everything we
need to succeed and here we are and you
know on School’s first ever final four I
when I got the job I thought you
know before I ever took the
job you know Rick my agent and me talked
and he said look they’ve got all the all
the resources you need to be able to win
at Alabama is if we need to go get this
job so I trust him he knows what he’s
doing they do have all the resources you
need to win and we put together a few
good teams you just got to keep knocking
on the door you know last year number
one overall seed we should have been in
the final four but doesn’t work that way
like the best team doesn’t always win
because it’s a one game elimination
tournament you got to be hot at the
right time and we looked like we were
not hot at the right time losing what
they lose four of our last six or
something going into this tournament but
I I our staff was good we we looked at
some other teams that were similar to
this Syracuse did it twice I called Jim
beheim on that Sunday like you know what
do what do we got to do you know I
talked to maybe it’s that Saturday uh I
called Frank Martin
uh South Carolina made a final four run
when they weren’t hot at the end of the
year you know I asked him what he did I
I tried to pick the brain I called coach
Sab you know what do we got to do and he
kind of gave me the the next idea next
next next so guys bought in we can make
this run other teams have done it we’ve
got the capability to do it we got to
get back to playing great defense or get
to start to play in the great defense I
don’t know back’s the correct word but
you know we can have the number one off
in the country we had it for a majority
of the Year let’s put a top 20 defense
together with him we can make a final
four run I think we’ve done that front
row Nate Kelly Tusa news Nate how do how
do you feel like the run you guys have
made now reaching the final four has
Vindicated the system that you run
that’s a great question because a lot of
people question can they can you win big
in March shooting all the threes you
shoot I don’t know how many do we shoot
tonight I don’t know for all the
naysayers is 36 too many
16 out of 36 ain’t bad though 48 points
from three-point line isn’t too bad so
look it’s not and here’s the thing
people don’t understand we’re not trying
to shoot 53s we’re trying to take the
most efficient shots we can so we were
1.29 today you know our effective field
goal percentage was pretty good we took
two non- Rim TW all right we didn’t
finish at The Rim as well as we should
have I thought we blew some easy layups
we should have made in the first half
you know our analytics company uh we’ve
got a third party analytics company when
he use they were here with us for this
run they told me at the half uh we were
winning the game by 11 unexpected value
expected points just keep doing what
we’re doing I told the guys that guys
expected value like we’re winning this
game by 11 we just got to make the
they’re taking tough shots and happen to
be making them we’ve got some easy
layups and and we’re missing them we got
to finish at the rim and just keep doing
what we’re doing well we shot up made a
few threes there in the second half what
10 of 15 in the second half ain’t bad so
I think you can win playing this way
they win playing this way in the
NBA uh we’ve just proven you make a
final four run and you know what yukon’s
a pretty good team and they play
somewhere now they play through the post
a lot but Danny’s Big on offensive
efficiency playing the right way getting
the right shots now their defense a lot
better than ours we’re going to have to
figure out how to beat them but I think
more college teams are starting to play
more efficient style basketball like
we’ve been plan we have time for two
final questions back then you hey Nate
when you uh share a sports Department
with the greatest football coach perhaps
in college history I think it’s obvious
or natural that you might be
overshadowed your team your program so
what you did here tonight first I want
to ask how much did that nag at you over
the years and then what your team is
able to accomplish tonight forever
changes the perception perhaps of your
program the the school’s basketball
program yeah I look I when I came to
Alabama I knew it was a football school
like there’s no denying it but I also I
somebody asked me that a couple years
ago I think it’s a championship school
there’s the whole mudita thing like I’m
gonna pick the brain of all the ultra
successful coaches throughout the
department and we’ve got multiple
coaches current coaches that have won
national championships whether it’s
men’s golf women’s golf softball I we’ve
got you know Sarah Patterson retired
from gymnastics she’s a huge basketball
fan has her own season tickets won
multiple national championships in
gymnastics but coach Sabin I’m a big
football fan I came to Alabama loving
the fact that I was going to be able to
work in the same athletic department as
arguably the best maybe not even the
best football coach the best coach of
any team sports in
modern history whether college sports
anything and I didn’t want to bother him
but I certainly picked his brain when
when it was appropriate I went and watch
as I said on staff meetings I showered
him for a day I went on road trips with
him to see how they operated I I tried
to learn as much as I could it never
nagged me or bothered me that that
football was huge at Alabama I loved it
like it’s better for recruiting it’s
better for for everything for us I I
tried to learn from it you know and
different people would make comments you
know football foot we’re only 18
national champ championships behind them
we got a few to catch up so we just
let’s just keep grinding let’s get to a
final four first and let’s put oursel on
a big stage so I love the fact I love
the fact that he still got an office at
Brian Denny I I love the fact he’s
willing to talk to me he talked to me
before this run text me during the run
you know I I so before I got the job at
Alabama I had I’ve got a SCH like a
practice schedule I had it in high
school Alex St sheet and you got
different tabs and quotes is one of the
tabs you go pull quotes up for the day I
had regular quotes and then I had say
saing quotes and every saving quote I
had was lined with them and then I got
here I’m like should I use them as much
as I used to use them because he’s
actually a coaching next door is it
going to bother our basketball players
that I keep using the football coaches
quotes well I still use them they’re
pretty good I’m still getting more of
them and to add them to the list so it
never bothered me I love the fact we’re
at a football school and I we’re going
to try to add another sport to the
championship School level because I
think we’re we’re knocking on the door
there final question over here uh Ben
goer Washington Post just to go back to
what we were talking about with modern
basketball a minute ago Clemson’s coach
came in and said hey it looks trly
pretty if a team like you plays fast
makes a bunch of Threes but it could set
up a coach for second guessing if those
shots aren’t going in I’m curious you
guys hit your run about 10 minutes in
but let’s say that didn’t come is there
ever a moment with your season on the
line where you’re potentially flinching
or thinking about a plan B and then
what’s the key to getting your players
to stick to the discipline shot
selection when they’re not going early
because it’s easy to say hey the numbers
say this but it’s not as easy if you’re
feeling a game slipping away yeah I mean
we I I I don’t know a second guess the
plan but the plan does involve we’ve got
a layup package in there if we need like
team’s going on a run how do we try to
get a easy layup we know we’ve got post
UPS you saw we posted Grant yesterday
post them today again got in there got
foued and it got fouled off his post up
so we’ve got some different options to
get efficient shots they don’t always
have to come flying up and down taking
quick threes
so quick threes are efficient if you’re
from the right Shooters there’s other
efficient shots too so we’ve got
different packages to get efficient
shots I don’t I like guys come in in the
summer we teach them how to play
efficient we don’t eliminate any
efficient shots from their Arsenal right
away I don’t want guys playing second
guess themselves we gradually educate
them as to how to be the most efficient
player Brandon Miller became pretty
efficient moved from like projected 23rd
pick in the draft to the second pick in
the draft when we got him all summer and
fall over a third of his shots were non
Rim TW by the time we got the conference
play he was 12 12% of his shots were non
Rim twos throughout all the SEC play he
learned how to play fishing and moved
his stack stock way up in a draft so
we’ll educate the guys and they stuck
with it I mean we were one of two on
non- rim twos today and I’m not telling
our guys not to shoot them we probably
should shot two appropriate non- Rim
twos Aaron was one of two he’s a really
good non- Rim two shooter and sometimes
it’s the appropriate shot but we do have
a package that we can get appropriate
shots we don’t want to Feast on
inefficient
shots that answer does that answer
question
enough we’re all say coach thank you
thanks appreciate
you
congrats
