3. Nate Oats — Alabama

Petre Thomas/USA TODAY Sports
Oats has helped make Alabama basketball relevant during his five seasons at the football-centric school. The attitude and culture of the program have gone from being content with posting a winning record to expecting to challenge for an SEC title — as well as making deep runs in the NCAA Tournament. After winning 31 games last season, the Tide took a hit getting knocked out of the Sweet 16 by San Diego State. Oats has been excellent at recruiting and finding players who can best run his system. He formerly built up Buffalo’s program into relevance and is now doing the same with the Crimson Tide. A win over UConn in the Final Four would be a significant victory for the program now and moving forward.