Nate Oats wants some anti-rat poison to be spewed about the Alabama defense.

“I’d appreciate it if you guys put a lot more talk out there about how our defense isn’t good enough to win this game,” Oats said Wednesday, “so that we can show our guys that nobody believes in them like last year.”

Last year, the defense was not good. The Crimson Tide ranked No. 111 in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom. This year, it’s much better, at No. 29 in KenPom heading into the Sweet 16. Still, Oats isn’t satisfied.

“It’s still not where we’d like it to be,” Oats said. “It’s going to have to get significantly better to make another Final Four run. Because the next two teams we play, if we’re fortunate to even have a second game, BYU has got the No. 1 offense in the country I think since February 12th or something like that, and then Duke and Arizona are two of the best offenses in the country, as well.”

Oats, in this offense-heavy region, said he thinks the team that plays the defense is most likely to emerge from the region and head to the Final Four.

“I think we’ve got to get our guys’ attention, which we have, and we’re capable of being a great defensive team,” Oats said, “and that’s what we’re going to have to do over these next couple days if we’re going to get out of this four-team bracket here.”

No. 2 seed Alabama will face No. 6 seed BYU in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday (6:09 p.m. CT, CBS) at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for Follow him on X and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.