Kalen DeBoer understood the assignment. He had just finished his second scrimmage with Alabama football and stepped in front of a microphone with a message after addressing the team.

“We’re gonna make this quick,” DeBoer said. “We’ve got a big game we’ve got to get ready for tonight, right?”

Most of the Crimson Tide fanbase didn’t have its eyes on Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday — the scrimmage was held in front of UA boosters but no reporters —, instead, attention turned west to the desert. The Tide basketball team will make its Final Four debut against top-seeded Connecticut (7:49 p.m. Central) and get a chance at a national title.

Alabama football is known for the championships in Tuscaloosa, but Nate Oats has added his load of hardware in the last couple of seasons via the hardwood. UA has won four total conference titles and an NCAA Tournament regional crown through five seasons.

“I’m probably not to break down the basketball game other than who I’m rooting for,” DeBoer joked when asked by a reporter later in his news conference. “I guess on that note it’s just been really fun seeing our team here in this last part of the season. I don’t wanna say catch fire, I think they knew what they were capable of doing but just staying the course and the grit, the fight.

“There’s things that I’ll take from comments made in the media by coaches and players and we’ll use some of those little nuggets to talk about this fall as these guys go on the run and learn from that. But yeah, I can’t wait to watch the game tonight.”

Like Oats, DeBoer has been open to adopting motivational messages and techniques from his fellow coaches. UA basketball has embraced Patrick Murphy and the softball program’s “Mudita” belief, the collective joy and buy-in to seeing others, in this instance teammates, succeed.

Oats and his players credited a late-season talk with Nick Saban that’s helped fuel a run to Glendale, Arizona. Saban has also provided counsel to Alabama’s new football coaches. Saban also discussed his desire to be an outlet for the athletic department.

The Tide and Huskies will tip off in State Farm Stadium on TBS.