Oats said he'd spoken to a longtime friend in the NBA who told him it's all down to getting back to fundamentals, including improvement in guarding one-on-one, boxing out, sprinting back and communicating. He added that leadership on that starts from the top down, including himself.

For Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats, the week after Auburn felt a lot like the week after last season's loss to Tennessee. Why he reminded players.