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The Tuscaloosa News
Inside the speech that changed Alabama basketball season en route to March Madness run
- Story byThe Tuscaloosa News
- Inside the speech that changed Alabama basketball season en route to March Madness run
LOS ANGELES — The text buzzed on Patrick Murphy 's phone the night of Sunday, Jan. 7.
It was from Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats .
Oats: I might need that mudita talk .
Murphy: Oh yeah?
Oats: Absolutely .
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Murphy: When do you want it?
Oats: Tomorrow, 11:30 a.m.
Murphy was in. The longtime Alabama softball coach had given the speech to six Crimson Tide teams and more than 100 groups, but never the Alabama men's basketball team.
That Monday, Murphy showed up at Coleman Coliseum and arrived in the team meeting room. A staffer helped him set up his equipment to present in front of the room. Then, after practice ran a half hour long, the players arrived to hear his talk.
"I was really, really worried they were going to be tired," Murphy told The Tuscaloosa News. "They were probably hungry as can be. Just walked off the court. And then they walk into their meeting room like, 'Who the heck is this guy? And he's going to talk to us?'"
Oats introduced Murphy, and off the softball coach went. Over the course of his presentation, he offered up a word that would later become the foundation of a March Madness run. He taught the Crimson Tide about mudita, which means having vicarious joy in someone else's success.
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Fast-forward three months, and the message of mudita has not only stuck with Alabama basketball but has been something the players have put into practice. That has remained constant as the No. 4 seed Crimson Tide prepares to play in the Elite Eight against No. 6 seed Clemson. To put it simply, Alabama might not be here in Los Angeles without the speech Murphy gave.
"It's a long season and it's an emotional sport," forward Max Scharnowski said. "Everybody has a moment where they kind of break or can get in their own emotions or feelings. I think that was a time we needed it most to re-center ourselves. We needed it. We needed guys to kind of realize we're not going to win games by ourselves."
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The lesson to Alabama basketball about mudita
Whenever Murphy gives the mudita talk, he never wants to preach. He's trying to help, so he keeps it as concrete as possible.
Murphy provides examples. He gives points of reference that he has seen in softball. Or basketball. Or football. Mudita, a word he learned from a book he read in 2013, isn't limited to a sport.
After Oats introduced Murphy, he showed three short videos. One was of two former players talking about what mudita means to them.
"They really say it better than I do, because they've gone through it," Murphy said.
He also made it specific to the people in the room. Part of the mudita talk is about the opposite of mudita: Envy and jealousy.
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We cannot have anybody in this room jealous of anybody else, because we all wear Alabama on our chests. You should be so happy that Mark (Sears) is wearing Alabama because we don't have to guard him. We can't be jealous of Mark. We're so (dang) glad he choose Alabama.
Then Murphy pointed to Grant Nelson.
It's the same thing with you. We're not jealous of anybody on our team.
Murphy also stressed it's not worth trying mudita until a person is genuine about it. Murphy told the story about a class when he was at Northern Iowa decades ago called the foundations of educational excellence. The professor made a point Murphy hasn't forgotten since: A first-grader can tell when their teacher is fake.
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So, Murphy told the basketball players that if or when they adopt mudita, they have to be all in.
How many first-graders are in this room? There's none. Everybody is in college or older. So don't even try to fake your way through mudita. Just don't do it. Don't say anything. Until you're at a point where you absolutely love your teammate, respect the heck out of what he did, maybe he's taking minutes from you, and you show mudita toward him, that's when you can do it. When it's 100% genuine.
Mar 28, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide forward Grant Nelson (2) celebrates after the game against the North Carolina Tar Heels in the semifinals of the West Regional of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The implementation of mudita in March Madness
Murphy can never know in the moment if mudita registered. In the case of Alabama basketball, he didn't have to wait long, though.
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The next game, Alabama destroyed South Carolina, 74-47. Nick Pringle won the hard hat for the game, having tallied the most blue-collar points. So, he was handed hard hat postgame in the team meeting room. He didn't put it on, though.
Instead, Pringle turned and immediately placed the hard hat on Mo Dioubate's head. Pringle tallied the most blue-collar points over the course of the game, but Dioubate had the most per minute. The room erupted.
"I think the traction started right then and there that night," Murphy said.
Soon, Oats had director of equipment Garrett Walker create mudita shirts. Also before games, the slide that goes up on the screen with core values, main points and tactics has mudita at the center of it.
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It's been more than a nice display, though. The phrase has been put into practice countless times since by a variety of players in a variety of games.
Look no further than the Sweet 16. Late in the game, Oats went to talk with leading scorer Sears. The senior guard told the coach that Nelson needs to get the ball, not Sears.
It was a good call; Nelson dominated in the final minutes to lead Alabama to an upset victory over No. 1 seed UNC, sending the Crimson Tide to its second ever Elite Eight appearance.
"When you have your leading scorer and best player to tell you run plays for somebody else," Oats said, "That's the definition of mudita."
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Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men's basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter .
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Mudita: Inside the speech that changed Alabama basketball season
