BYU Head Coach Kevin Young Praises Nate Oats’ System
The Cougars share a similar playing style to the Crimson Tide, but Young believes Alabama is executing it at a higher level.
Brigham Young Cougars head coach Kevin Young instructs his team during the first half against Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2025 NCAA tournament East Regional semifinal at the Prudential Center.
2-seed Alabama men’s basketball demolished 6-seed BYU 113-88 in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 on Thursday night, advancing to back-to-back Elite Eights for the first time in program history.
Heading into the game, the focus was on how these two teams are among the nation’s best offensively. Questions were raised about whether defense would ultimately determine the winner, or if it would simply be a race to 100 points.
Alabama shattered NCAA Tournament records for most threes made (25) and threes attempted (51), surpassing those marks with more than seven minutes remaining in the second half (the previous records were 21 made threes and 43 attempted) and kept pushing the tempo.
Alabama head coach Nate Oats and BYU head coach Kevin Young employ similar offensive systems, a key factor in their teams reaching the Sweet 16. However, while the Cougars put up an impressive 88 points in the Prudential Center, it couldn’t match Alabama’s relentless pace.
“First off, I think Nate has done an excellent job at Alabama, maintaining consistent success,” Young said in the postgame press conference. “That’s something we’re working toward. I have a lot of respect for him. What they’ve accomplished there is very difficult. A lot of respect to him.”
“Stylistically, Nate and I have discussed—it’s funny because I don’t know many college coaches. He’s probably one of the few I know well. He came to training camp with the Suns, and we stayed in touch. So we had some talks before the season, mainly about spacing.”
Young recently finished his first season at BYU, marking his debut as a college basketball head coach. Prior to that, he was an assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns before taking over from former BYU coach Mark Pope, now at Kentucky.
His NBA coaching experience has transferred well to BYU, and while he boasts a talented roster with several players earning All-Big 12 honors, it wasn’t enough to keep up with Alabama’s dynamic backcourt running Oats’ offense.
“They’re one of the few teams that space the floor like we do. But, as I mentioned, they have more dynamic guard play than we have. With that kind of spacing and guard play, it’s very difficult to defend. They’re committed to their shot profile and shot diet, which is something we also focus on—both of us were ranked 1 and 2 in efficient shot diets. There are a lot of similarities.”
“But for me, it reinforces that this style of play is incredibly tough to defend, especially when you can recruit for it, which they’ve done. All coaches borrow ideas, so I’ll keep learning from these great coaches and strive to be better next year, continuing to build our program.”
