Alabama coach Nate Oats sees the biggest problem in college basketball through a simple lens: money.
In a recent 247Sports survey of top coaches, Oats was asked, "What worries you most about college basketball right now?" His answer put the financial divide front and center.
"Just the difference in rev share between the haves and have nots," Oats explained. "The money, it's getting to be a wider gap between the haves and have-nots."
That concern stood out in a survey that also surfaced other major issues around the sport. Michigan State’s Tom Izzo pointed to the lack of "camaraderie" among coaches and players, while Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd and Miami’s Jai Lucas cited the instability and inconsistency that make roster building so difficult.
Oats said he has questions of his own beyond the money, including the murky rules around eligibility. But he made clear that the financial split is what worries him most.
"It'll sort itself out eventually, but there's definitely a big gap, even within conferences," Oats said. "That's probably the biggest thing. and then figuring out who's eligible and who's not and actually getting a real answer on who's going to be able to play.
Especially with the fifth-year thing, the foreign kids, the Euro League. We don't have a great answer on who's actually eligible to play college basketball."
Oats also addressed the question of Class of 2022 student-athletes receiving an extra year of eligibility after a federal court ruling in Colorado on Friday, July 31, in another 247Sports story. His response was blunt: "... our money's gone, so I'm not really going to do anything."
In January, The Tuscaloosa News reported that Alabama’s revenue share contribution to men’s basketball is approximately $2.9 million, which is 14% of the $20.5 million required to be paid to student-athletes under the House v. NCAA lawsuit settlement.
Alabama opens its season on Tuesday, Nov. 3 against Sam Houston.
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