My sister-in-law is an Auburn grad and big sports fan. She told me Nate Oates went into the Yale locker room to congratulate them after they beat Auburn in the first round; she was boiling mad and despised Oates. I’m not sure if this is true; if it is true, pretty bush league at first analysis. Being an Auburn fan, she could never root for Alabama in any sport.
But, according to Oats, his pitstop ahead of his team's March Madness opener against Charleston was unrelated to the Tigers. "It had nothing to do with the fact they beat Auburn," Oats said Saturday. "I know everybody wants to make that out to be (something). I actually — you want your league to do well. It looks a lot better for us if our league does really well. It was just (that) I've known coach (James) Jones (and have) a lot of respect for him. I was at Buffalo as a 13 seed playing Arizona. I know the feeling in that locker room. "I didn't talk to their team or anything. I just congratulated coach Jones, who, by the way, is an unbelievable coach. He's done great work at Yale for a long time. He's a great coach and a good friend in the business. I just wanted to congratulate James on a win."
Having trouble deciding who to root for, Bama to deny UCONN, or vice versa. Win-win either way. Rooting for Purdue on the other side as they should have the best chance to beat either.
Possibly, but it just seems weird to me. Especially, considering the rivalry between AU and Alabama is possibly the most intense in the US and often not lawful.
Bama also had a yale transfer on the team a few years ago, so he became friendly with the coach. nothing to see here - he's a good coach, heavily analytical, watched a practice session today, of the boys running full court back n forth for drills practicing getting up and down the court very quickly.