TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Nate Oats tried to get a workout in to keep his mind off everything.

At the end of the workout, the Alabama men’s basketball head coach met director of athletics Greg Byrne in his office at Coleman Coliseum, and Byrne informed Oats that the NCAA’s Committee for Legislative Relief denied Jahvon Quinerly’s eligibility appeal.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Oats said after Monday’s game. “They said they weren’t very happy, and Greg kind of talked to some people on the committee. But it is what it is. It’s one of those deals where it doesn’t fit. They try to make everything so black and white with the NCAA sometimes. It doesn’t really fit in a box. There’s never been an FBI investigation with NCAA men’s basketball.

“I think if anybody knew what Jahvon and his family went through, we just felt like if you knew the whole story, that any reasonable person would have wanted him ... to be able to play.”

After his waiver and appeal were denied, Quinerly will have to sit out the 2019-20 season.

Rated by ESPN as the No. 5 best “sit-out transfer” in the nation, Quinerly played in 25 games at Villanova in the 2018-19 season while fighting through several nagging injuries. He averaged 3.2 points in 9.1 minutes per game as a true freshman. Coming out of Hudson Catholic High School in Hackensack, N.J., Quinerly earned a spot in the 2018 McDonald’s All-American game and was rated as a 5-star prospect, according to the 247Sports Composite.

Oats and Byrne first told Quinerly the news and then informed the entire basketball team.

Alabama men's basketball coach Nate Oats

“We’re going to control what we can control,” Oats said. “It would have been nice to play him. If you guys watch us practice, he’s playing at a really high level right now. He would add a lot to this team, but another way you look at it, we’re adding a McDonald’s All-American next year and a first-team All-American JUCO guy (James Rojas) next year and Juwan Gary.

“All three of those guys will know our system inside and out, as well. We’re recruiting right now to add some incoming freshmen. I think we’re on some really good ones. But we’ll also add three guys in the program that aren’t playing this year that will give us a huge boost next year. So, we’ve got a lot of games to win this year, but that’s just a positive way to look at it.”

Oats will look to add more players to his future roster this week during Division I basketball’s early signing period, which takes place Nov. 13-20. After his first win as the Crimson Tide head coach, Oats shared Alabama’s approach to recruiting for this week and beyond.

“There’s three guys that are supposed to make decisions here this week that we’re on hard, so it’d be great if we got some good news this week,” Oats said. “Whatever we end up doing, we’ll keep it moving. I think we’ve put a lot of work in. If we don’t get them, it won’t be for a lack of effort. We’ll continue to work. I’ll be out recruiting again this week, so let’s see if we can’t get something done. And then we’re concentrating a lot on 2021s, to be honest with you, too.

“So, we haven’t really narrowed our focus in on the 2020s, but if we get a couple of them to pop, it’ll be great news. But we’re going all in on some 2021s -- it’s a big class for us. We’ve had a lot of them on campus for football games. We’re working hard. ... We’ll be on them all week.”

Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).

Get two months of BamaOnLine for $1!