Alabama’s Nate Oats takes a shot at Coach K for saying college basketball should ‘reassess’ playing during pandemic

By ADAM ZAGORIA

Alabama coach Nate Oats isn’t holding back.

Oats took a shot at Coach K on Thursday after the Duke coach said college basketball should “reassess” playing during a pandemic.

“Let me ask you a question. Do you think Coach K would be saying that if he hadn’t lost those two non-conference games at home?” Oats said on Thursday.

“No, we should be playing in my opinion,” Oats added. “We 100 percent should be playing basketball.”

Wow, Nate Oats coming for Coach K’s grillllllllll…
😬 pic.twitter.com/mbBTw859xY

— Jim Weber (@JimMWeber) December 10, 2020

Duke has lost to Big Ten opponents Illinois and Michigan State, and Coach K made his most recent comments after the Illinois game in a fan-less Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“I don’t think it feels right to anybody,” Coach K said after the Blue Devils lost, 83-68, in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge Tuesday night. “I mean everyone is concerned.”

He added: “You have 2,000 deaths a day. You have 200,000 cases. People are saying the next six weeks are going be the worst. To me, it’s already pretty bad. On the other side of it, there are these vaccines that are coming out. By the end of the month 20 million vaccine shots will be given. By the end of January or in February, another 100 million. Should we not reassess that? See just what would be best?”

A Coach K saga in three epic chapters pic.twitter.com/icgsiSYjNT

— Tate Frazier (@tatefrazier) December 9, 2020

Coach K was aware his comments would be interpreted as coming from a sore loser.

“Look, I just got my butt beat by a lot,” he said. “Anything I say, someone can say, ‘He’s saying that because he got his butt beat.’ Do I think things should be done a little bit different? I mean, yeah. A lot of kids aren’t going to be able to go home for Christmas. It’s probably a time when they should, for mental health. But we’re just plowing through this.”

“I was texting with [Wake Forest coach] Steve Forbes [Monday] night,” he said. “His own son’s got it. Five of his players got it. We should get updates as to how many programs are on pause in a week, and how many cases there were. What’s going on, instead of just plowing through.”

Villanova coach Jay Wright, who is on an NABC ad hoc committee related to COVID with Coach K, John Calipari and others, was asked Thursday about Coach K’s comments.

“What I’ve learned is as basketball coaches, we have [had] our ideas since May and then the NCAA committees just do what they’re doing to do,” Wright said on a Zoom call with reporters.

“So what I’ve learned is we have no control of that. What we’re trying to do at Villanova is work and make our decisions based on our players’ mental health and our players’ safety. Every decision we made up in Mohegan Sun was based on what our players decided. If they wanted to go home, we would’ve gone home. If they feel it’s best for them mentally to play, we’re going to play. If they want to go home for Christmas, they’re home for Christmas. We don’t normally run our program this way but based on this year and the pandemic every decision we make is based on their mental health and their safety.”

Wright was also asked about the possibility of the Big East going to a bubble or pausing altogether depending on how bad the virus gets, as Commissioner Val Ackerman told NJ Advance Media were options.

“We’ve seen the bubble work,” he said. “If the athletic directors and the committees decide on a bubble, I’m all for it. If they don’t, we’re going to continue to worry about our players’ mental health and safety.”

Patrick Ewing rockin’ the Big John Thompson shirt on today’s Zoom call pic.twitter.com/TzMaYOysCM

— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) December 10, 2020

Georgetown coach Patrick Ewing, who was hospitalized in May with COVID, was also asked about Coach K’s comments about possibly reassessing college basketball or pausing all games.

“Well you know, it is what it is,” Ewing said on a Zoom call when I asked him about Coach K’s comments. “Right now we’re playing. They’re not going to stop the season unless things just get that much out of whack that they have to and restart it.

“So all I can do is just get my team to be the best team they possibly can and be as ready as they possibly can to play these games. If they shut it down and tell us that we have to restart then that’s something that we have to do, but right now, I can’t worry about what other people think. I just gotta worry about keeping my guys focused and on task and trying to one, finish this out semester this strong in terms of their academics, and also keeping their minds right to get ready to play whenever we play.”

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