Boomo Bugg Show 020926

[0:00] Now, get ready to roll, Shoals, Decatur, Athens and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. Your exclusive inside track to the Tide, Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC. Now your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Good afternoon and welcome here to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, welcome in. The Monday after they put the footballs into the mothballs.

The big question is, did you have a good or bad weekend? How are you, Brett Beaird? Happy Monday to you and the listeners. Former Alabama and Auburn players play a big role in Seattle's 29-13 win over New England. Jimmy Lay of AO.com tells us about another change in the high school Super 7. And Adam is here right now to talk Super Bowl and recap an interesting weekend in SEC basketball. Spencer's busy at Saturday down south. Adam, welcome in. How are you? Hey, guys. I'm doing well.

How are you? Hey, Brad. Well, was it the Super Bowl or the Super Boar, Adam? Obviously, the old saying came true. Defense obviously reigns skiing. I guess it's all in your perspective on what happened on the field and off the field. Either way, Roger Goodell, he's cashing the big checks, love it or hate it. Adam, your impressions of the weekend show? Yeah, I mean, I think it was pretty instructive of, you know, how you want to build a team. I mean, the star-wide receivers didn't really do much.

You know, Jackson Smith and Jigbell only had 27 yards. You know, Stephon Diggs only had three catches for 37 yards. Those guys are pretty expensive. So, I mean, you know, I don't think you're going to turn down a player like J.F.N. anytime soon. But it was interesting to see that the Seahawks really won this game with their line play on both sides of the ball. You know, they didn't force a turnover until that late one that the defense ran back. So, you know, they just did it by just making life miserable on Drake May and the New England offense.

And, you know, it's not the most exciting football for people who like offense. But, you know, it wasn't even a great showing for people who like defense because there wasn't a ton of flashy defensive plays. It was just sound, smart football on both sides of the ball by Seattle. And here they are. Now they're a champion. So, you know, I think they're going to be around for a while. It's an interesting, you know, the back story to that. A year ago, Jalen Milrow was at Alabama and Ryan Grubb was at Seattle.

This year, Milrow is picking up a Super Bowl ring and Grubb is at Alabama. And the Seahawks, after the departure, they will be cashing the big checks and calling themselves, we are the champions. Well, I think the more important thing, guys, is that Drew Locke, my former Mizzou guy, won a Super Bowl. You know, he's a spot ahead of Milrow on the old depth chart there. So, let's give my Missouri Tigers some credit. There you go. There you go. There's plenty of that to go around.

But, yeah, I mean, credit to Sam Darnold, too, I mean, you know, taking over that offense. But, yeah, I mean, you know, we had a column on the site a couple weeks ago about how, you know, the Seahawks' attention to this level is kind of a bad look for Ryan Grubb because he couldn't figure it out last year. And, you know, now, you know, the offense was far from the star of the show all year for the Seahawks. So, I mean, it's not like the new offensive coordinator, like, took them from, like, bottom three offense to a top three offense.

But they were more confident on that side of the ball this year. But, you know, we'll see if Ryan Grubb can find a little more consistency with his own run game in 2026 for Alabama. Yeah, I think New England was really a year ahead of schedule. Congratulations on having a very good regular season. I know they played some teams who'd lost their quarterbacks, which certainly makes a big difference. But, Adam, you're right. Seattle sank Mays six times. Derek Hall, formerly of Auburn, had two critical plays. In May, he is going in the fourth quarter, 8 of 18 for 61.

And he finished with much better stance. But no question, Seattle's defense won the game. Yeah, that was a master class. I mean, Drake May, you know, banged up shoulder. We don't know. We'll probably get the story today or sometime this week about just exactly how banged up he was. And, you know, don't be surprised if he has a surgery or something on it. But, yeah, I mean, even if he was 100% healthy, that Seattle defense was shutting them down. You know, he wasn't a threat with his legs.

And, you know, how much of that can you attribute to him, you know, not wanting to get hit? You know, that's worth debate. But, yeah, I mean, there just wasn't room for much for the Seattle or for the New England offense at all. So just a very impressive overall effort by Seattle. They definitely deserve to win the game after holding New England scoreless for the first three quarters. Adam Spencer, Saturday down south, changing gears. ACC basketball, Alabama goes into the land of love, in parentheses, the Iron Bowl of basketball.

[5:27] They fall behind by 10 but figure out how to win by four in the end. Your thoughts about the game with the Plains over the weekend. Yeah, I mean, that was an exciting one. Back and forth, you know, exactly what you expect, you know, with Nate Oates' offense and, you know, some of the talent that the Auburn side has. I mean, the Stars came out to play, Pettiford and Murphy each, or Pettiford and Hall each had really strong games for Auburn. Phylon was right there with them.

I mean, those three guys, you know, each getting at least 24 points. That was a lot of fun to watch. They, you know, Phylon's going to be in the NBA next year. And Hall and Pettiford might just be joining in there, too. So, you know, I think that it was a good all-around effort for Alabama. That was one that they really needed to go into Auburn and win that one was a big confidence booster. You know, they continue to work Betty Aco back in. We'll see if there's any updates on that in the coming week.

But, you know, I wasn't super impressed by Betty Aco. You know, only three rebounds and no blocks. I mean, you know, he was fine, but, you know, the Stars really carried the day in this one. And it's just a big-time win for Nato to get the Tide maybe back on track to where he thinks that they can be this year. Yeah, it was quite a week for Alabama to beat Texas A&M and then Auburn on Saturday. Adam, you come out with your power rankings, I believe, tomorrow.

I'm going to guess the Florida Gators may be number one. Texas A&M had scored 92 or more points in each of their last three games. Started the game against – I didn't think this was possible, to be honest with you. Started the game one of 28. One of 28. Wow. In that Florida defense. Now, I do understand teams run into cold shooting, but the Gators looked awfully impressive again against Bucky Ball, who really have been playing exceptionally weighable up until Saturday. Well, I think you're going to win your bet on Florida being number one at the power rankings.

So, yeah, that was a master class. You know, that's the team that – you know, when you have a frontcourt like Florida has, that's a championship-caliber team. They need consistency from their guards, and, you know, Boogie Fland has been coming on strong. And, you know, Davian Lee and Fland only combined for 19 points on one for 11 from three. So, I mean, they had – you know, they've had some strong games in the past few weeks, but this was certainly not one of them. So, you know, I think that it's just really impressive to see, you know, what that frontcourt is capable of doing.

And if they can get just anything from the backcourt in tournament time, they're going to beat both SEC and NCAA. They're going to be really tough to beat. So, yeah, I mean, Texas A&M, you know, they're a good team. They're a good team. Like, this isn't taking anything away from them. You know, they were due for one of these. Maybe it's good that they had it now. And, yeah, when you start off shooting like that, I mean, that's the problem with that style. If you have an off night from three, then you're going to lose.

And, like, that's just the way that it is. And, you know, I think Bucky has made his peace with that, and that's how they're going to play. And I don't expect them to change anything. And I expect them to bounce back with some more strong performances against top-tier SEC teams. It's hard to believe, Adam. Before you know it, March Madness will be here in a team. That seems to be getting their mojo now is Kentucky. Your thoughts about the Wildcats finally getting a return on that heavy investment in that payroll there with NIL.

And how do you figure Tennessee and everybody thought at one time Vanderbilt was bulletproof, and they fall over the weekend to Oklahoma. It's a mess out there in the SEC, is it not? Yeah, I mean, this thing is pretty wide open at this point, which is fun. I mean, that makes it fun down the stretch. Kentucky is now the hottest team. I mean, I got a bunch of c*** talked to me the other week when I had Kentucky at, like, number three or something after, like, and then they immediately got blown out by Vanderbilt.

And it was, you know, but they had won five straight, and now they're bouncing back. They seem to have Tennessee's number this year. So, you know, this expensive roster is gelling at the right, you know, you don't want to be playing your best basketball in November. You want to be playing it in March. So, I mean, they're trending that way, and, you know, we'll see if they can avoid the clunkers that they've been prone to this year moving as we approach mid-February here in the stretch run.

Yeah, the recipe for Kentucky beating Tennessee is to fall behind the 13 and 17 points in the first half. That just ensures they come back to win it. Missouri has absolutely no problem with South Carolina winning 78 to 59, actually. Missouri's still playing well. We'll see where all that goes. I know you've got the power rankings coming up tomorrow. A lot of basketball into the Super Bowl is over with, too. Adam, where can we get online to get your stuff and the teams? Yeah, SaturdayDownSouth.com. We've got you covered this March.

[10:38] We've got some Bracketology publishing here in a few minutes and power rankings tomorrow. So we've got you covered all hoop season long. Adam, as always, good to hook up with you, and I'm sure you can't wait for those Kentucky b******* to touch base with you now and reply with, I told you so. Listen, thank you so much for your time, Dane. Have a great week, okay? Yeah, thanks a lot, guys. You too. Thank you, bud. All right. Adam and Spencer are going to be there at Saturday DownSouth.

Coming up, what's going on as far as Alabama recruiting and everything else, Andrew Bone on deck with the latest. Stay with us. Have you ever seen those halftime scholarships where you have to nail a 40-yard field goal? Yeah, this isn't that. I didn't have to write a long essay or audition or make a half-court shot. I just had to open a bank independent account, use my debit card, sign up for online banking, and have a positive balance. That's it. A 20% scholarship to UNA. When bank independent invests in students like me, they're investing in all of us and the future of our community.

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That's ethos.com slash play. Paid spokesperson. Time span on application may vary. Online health questions required. From the University of Alabama, this is Crimson Tide Today. It's a daily update on Bama sports, and it's brought to you by Guthrie's, America's original chicken finger restaurant. For more information, visit Guthrie'schicken.com. Hello again, everybody. I'm Roger Hoover. Here are post-game thoughts from Alabama men's basketball head coach Nate Oates after Alabama won at Auburn on Saturday. Big rival game. It's always good to get a win in here. Steven told me his first time since 11-12 we got back-to-back wins, and they were tough, hard-fought wins to get.

So, I mean, you've got to give Auburn a ton of credit. I mean, they came ready to play. I thought they were better than us, especially early in the game. We were fortunate to only be down four at the half. I thought our close to the half, you know, we were down ten with two and a half to go to close. Cut six points off that lead. It was huge. Told our guys at the half, and we kind of played much worse. We had nine turnovers.

[15:43] You know, we didn't do anything good offensively, barely. Defensively, we need to be a lot better, and I'll have more in a moment. This year, we honor the most important anniversary ever. An event that reshapes civilization as we know it. A day that would lead to something so flawless that nothing could ever really compare. People have tried to match it, but have failed. This year, we celebrate the 60th anniversary of Guthrie's. The home of the original Chicken Finger. Just talking about it gets me all choked up.

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The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. It is a pleasure for us to say hello to Andrew Ball. Fine columnist and recruiting editor for BamaOnline.com. Part of the On3.com family. His book's called The Road to Bama. Andrew, welcome in. Is it true that you're going to be next year's halftime entertainment for the Super Bowl? How are you? I hope not. I don't know. I mean, people would tune in for that. But, yeah. You know, we actually watched both of them.

We had both the TVs on. So, the question is, Andrew, which was the best one? I don't know. I mean, it was kind of interesting to me. But, you know, my favorite part of the whole Super Bowl was just watching all the commercials. You know, the game was kind of boring. Oh, man. Obviously, a pretty big defensive effort there by the Seahawks. You know, it was good to see some of the, you know, former Alabama players win the Super Bowl. Of course, some of those guys were able to have a big impact, especially Josh Jobe.

So, it's good to see that. But, overall, it was, I don't know, it was kind of a boring little, it didn't hit just quite like the old ones used to. Absolutely. Last week was National Signing Day 2.0, and you've got a very good article out about key needs for Alabama in the 2027 recruiting class. And receiver, for example, Sidarian Morgan, is a lot of anticipation to see what he can do. Alabama picked up M.J. Mathis and Aubrey Walker late. And we've talked with you about in five-star monsoon sales, or monsoon Bama sales, as he calls himself, certainly at the top of that list.

Five-star Xavier Salb, Alabama brought in his younger brother, too. Andrew, who are some promising prospects at receiver for Alabama? Yes, I think Alabama certainly focused in on the receiver position, as you mentioned, Sidarian Morgan, in the biggest name of their class last year. And I don't think they had originally gone into the 26 cycle with wide receiver as a pressing need. And this year is certainly going to be one of those years where they try to load up a lot more. I can see them signing at least, even though they signed three receivers, it was kind of more so.

You get Sidarian Morgan, and then you kind of add a couple of guys late. They weren't really big-time, I don't want to call them, they weren't, they are going to, they could be really good players, but they just weren't highly rated, they weren't heavily recruited, they kind of both got offers very late in the process, and didn't really have a lot of top schools to choose from. So you bring those guys in to kind of develop them over the course of the next couple of years, give you some depth, and if it works out, it works out.

But I think this year there's going to be a lot more focus on kind of your bigger name guys and trying to add some really some big star talent to go along with a guy like Sidarian Morgan from the previous year. And Monsoon Sells, five-star from Indianapolis, visited two weekends ago for junior day, spent multiple days on campus. So he wasn't just in town for just a day, so he was able to see a lot of the campus, spend some time with the coaching staff, and just kind of be around the entire program and the entire community.

So that was a good visit for him, a kid who grew up in the Birmingham area, or was born in the Birmingham area in Inslee before he moved to Indianapolis. So a kid that has always grown up an Alabama fan, but a lot of schools certainly coming after him, Indiana, Ohio State. Those are kind of his top three schools with Alabama. So getting back on campus during the spring, an official visit, I think things are moving in the right direction for him. Jaden Upshaw, another big-time recruit, wide receiver out of Georgia, top 100 kid, has visited a couple times now, including junior day.

[21:23] He has an official visit date set for June the 5th, and he plans on getting back in the spring. So that's a guy that we're watching pretty closely, Xavier Saab, who is the younger brother of Keon Saab and recent Alabama signee, Amari Saab. That's a guy that has been on Alabama's radar for quite a while and has been to Tuscaloosa several times, obviously, to come see Keon play, but now a lot of the attention is on him. He recently connected with new wide receivers coach, Derek Nix.

They're starting to form that relationship, and he plans on getting back down to Tuscaloosa a couple times this spring. He hasn't been back since the fall, but, you know, we certainly expect him to make his way. And another guy that I'll point out is Osani Gales out of IMG Academy, originally from California, but moved to IMG. He's a guy that visited the weekend prior to junior day, just kind of on his own. It was a very quiet weekend in Tuscaloosa, so he was able to get a lot of one-on-one time with the coaching staff.

He's a top 10 wide receiver in the country. Getting guys like that on campus, he had three top 100 wide receivers in town on junior day, right before the dead period. Really good for Alabama, because those are visits that kind of leave a mark on you heading into the spring. As you're starting to set up your official visits, you know, spring plans, you know, where do you want to get back to to go see a spring practice, be with the coaching staff a little bit more. So those are visits that were important for a lot of these kids during January.

Andrew, before we jump in with the Olympic update, your thoughts, the Super Bowl told us one thing. You can have a room full of great receivers, great running backs, but if the line ain't doing the job, it ain't going to work. Your thoughts where Alabama is right now compared to last year with the respective lines, and how much work will they still have to do there to get it up to a championship level? You know, offensive line is going to be really interesting this cycle, just because they signed five in the 26th class.

They got another six via the transfer portal, so that's 11 new faces in the offensive line room, and I think, you know, every single one of those guys is a kid who can return the following year. It won't be out of eligibility, so you have a lot of, you know, you still brought in some young players from the transfer portal, not necessarily, you know, you got a couple guys that are juniors, redshirt juniors, but no seniors. You also got guys that transferred in that are redshirt freshmen.

So you've got some young talent there on the offensive front. I don't know if they are going to really press for a big number on the offensive line this year. Now you have a new offensive line coach in Adrian Clem, and a lot of the guys that, you know, we talked about for months as far as top-end guys in that 27 class at the offensive line, or guys that had been recruited by Coach Kapp for over a year. A lot of those guys had Alabama in their top, you know, top one, top two, top three, and were setting up official visit dates, but, you know, some of those guys have kind of fallen back a little bit.

I think they're kind of waiting to decide if they're going to come back to Tuscaloosa or not, you know, certainly wanting to build that relationship with Coach Clem, because, you know, even though a lot of people don't, you know, they might look at recruiting now and just assume, all right, it doesn't really matter if, you know, as long as these kids are getting paid. It does matter. Relationships are a very big part of the recruiting cycle, especially on the high school front. I always look back at Michael Carroll a couple years ago.

Michael Carroll would have never even probably visited Alabama if not for Coach Kapp because he had extended him an offer at a Michigan State camp the previous year. So then he makes trips to Tuscaloosa because of it and falls in love. So you really want to try to build those relationships. Yeah, absolutely. Andrew, I hate to jump in. I hate to jump in, bud. Listen, always good stuff. Unfortunately, we've got to jump over and get the latest from the Olympics. Listen, man, thanks so much. And quickly, it's called Bama Online, part of the On3.com family.

Let's pick this story up on the flip side. Okay, Andrew, down the road, bud. All right. Sounds good. Thanks, Joe. Thank you, bud. All right. Andrew Baum, BamaOnline.com. The Road to Bama is the book and the road to the Olympics and the latest. Don Beck, stay with us. Westwood One Sports presents a special update on the 2026 Winter Games. Currently, not exactly a popular sport in the U.S., but remember eight years ago, the U.S. men struck gold. And today, in Italy, a couple of Duluth, Minnesota natives looking for a semifinal victory in the mixed doubles that would have them assured of winning a medal and maybe a goal.

[26:32] Corey Teasey and Corey Dropkin taking on an Italian team that beat them earlier today, 7-6. But that was meaningless. It just finished the round robin where both were assured of advancing. In the semis, it's been a good day for Switzerland. We'll see how the Swiss do in a women's hockey game coming up. The U.S. comes in 2-0 with two easy victories. U.S. captain Haley Knight, a chance to become the leading career goal scorer in U.S. Olympic hockey history. David is a real Prevagen user, and this is his story.

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[31:39] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and third-party insurers. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. Time to go to the land of reigning iguanas. That's the state of Florida, where Mark McLeod calls home. He's host of the Blitz with Mark McLeod. The Gator Blitz is his podcast. Mark, welcome in. How are you? Hey, doing well, Harold. Good to be on with you and Brett. You too. Mark, the Super Bowl was yesterday. Did you get chill bumps watching the game and the halftime show?

No. That's a good answer. You know, guys, I didn't even see the halftime show. Apparently, a lot of people didn't. And a little bit of a game as well. Just a bit of a game of this because my daughter is getting ready for her. She's a Muay Thai martial arts girl, and she's training for a boxing match. A big charity boxing match. And so she wanted to watch Rocky, and I said, okay, we'll watch Rocky. Well, if she knows martial arts, she do what she says.

Right, Mark? You bet you, man. Mark, obviously, a lot going on. Florida is the defending national championship in basketball. Is anybody going to argue that? Oh, I'll tell you what. Yeah, absolutely. And this bunch is getting better. You know, to start off the season, the backcourt was just a mess. All new guys, you know, as we know. The frontcourt was loaded with returnees. But the crazy thing is that we're watching the defensive play of the frontcourt guys improve before our very eyes over the past several weeks.

So this has gotten even better for the frontcourt and the backcourt guys. We figured they would start to make move and come together and start to gel because these guys all played to different places. They hit the portal and they came to Florida. So you're starting to see that really improve in terms of a little bit of assists, but certainly just in terms of what they're able to do to move around and do some of the things that they need to do. Because even Thomas Hawk, Cheney, these guys will step out.

Certainly, Alex, they'll step out, man. And on occasion, they'll knock down a three-point basket. So, you know, it's a really neat offense for Florida to see as it's developing. I do think, you know, the big issue, though, is still they've improved in turnovers dramatically. They were terrible to start the first month and a half of the season. But, Harold, they really have got to do a better job at that backcourt and knocking down threes. Florida's dead last in the conference, and really it's improved, but very, very little.

Yeah, and that's one of the things that Alabama should have probably done, Mark, is pick the post in the middle and let Florida, to shoot threes and go into a zone, but it didn't happen. Something else that didn't happen in the first part of the game against Texas A&M, they didn't score. They went an astonishing one for 28 after scoring 92 points or more for three consecutive games. I saw that score close to halftime, Mark, and I thought it was a – somebody had made a mistake as far as putting the score on the screen.

That was one of the more amazing defensive efforts I've ever seen. It really was. And, yeah, just as we're talking about, the Florida defense, particularly in the frontcourt, has gotten really so much better. Watching Cheney and Hawk doing some of the things they were doing over the past two weeks, you're going, oh, my goodness. I mean, these guys are struggling just to find a place to get a shot because they're coming out. They're coming away from the basket, and they're coming out on them and saying, okay, we're going to turn you back over to the backcourt guys, but you're not going to get a mid-range shot.

You're not going to stop and pop a jumper here. And Florida's really doing a fabulous job with that. But, yeah, you're right. None of us were really too upset about that score, Brett. We thought it was a pretty good thing down here in Florida, but I'll tell you, the interesting thing to me was the fast starts by Florida. Ever since that loss to Auburn, that really, those guys were not happy, and they knew they blew it. They knew Auburn just handed it to them, and they said, we are not going to be hammered like this again and scolded.

So they came out firing fast early to start the game, and then in the second half, as you know, you watch after tip-off of that second half, and Florida goes on a 22-5 run, and it was over. That's just to say they had nothing left. You know, Mark, coaches will never say this verbally, but sometimes I think they want their teams to lose over the course, and in basketball, not in football, you don't have as much wiggle room, but sometimes it takes that to slap them in the face.

[36:42] The coach can preach it all day, but until they have to suffer the embarrassment of an actual loss, it usually comes against a team they lightly regard, and then it gets their attention, and as I said, the rest is history, but what a job by Todd Golden. Be honest with us. Raise your hand. Tell us the truth. Did you think this boy would be this good at this point in his tenure at Florida when he first came in? No. No, I didn't. And you know what I thought, Harold, and I know I've shared this with you guys a few years ago when he was hired.

My excitement really was the fact that he was such an international recruiter out of the University of San Francisco. That's what they had to do. You know, he turned that way and he leaned on his connections, and he did that, and that excited me because we've watched the NBA draft for many, many, many years now and look at the international players that they are bringing in and into the draft. So, goodness gracious, I mean, to get some of those guys to come in and play college ball and then go to the NBA draft, and you look at what Florida's done with it, and they've been very successful.

We're waiting to hear what the verdict is on the eligibility for Charles Bidiaco. Tomorrow is Pavia versus NCA preliminary injunction hearing. Thursday is Trinidad Chambliss, and Friday is Joey Aguilar. And this is a different set of circumstances, but I couldn't help but look twice when I saw that Florida wide receiver Khalil Jackson has been granted a seventh season of eligibility via the medical hardship waiver. Mark, do you think this may usher in the five for five that people have been talking about for probably 20 years? Great question.

Great question. Yeah, and I can't say I was surprised by it based on some of the decisions, and I think you guys are probably feeling the same way I do. Some of the recent decisions here and there, you know, judges getting involved, the NCAA saying no, and, you know, it just, I wasn't surprised with Jackson and what happened there. Obviously, two years ago, you did suffer a really horrible injury, but, yeah, I'm not in favor. I'm a five for five guy. I'm not in favor of seeing these seven and eight at University of Miami.

What do they have, a nine-year tight end? Nine years. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not in favor of that. I did, and you guys, I'm sure, got a good laugh out of it, too, when John Summerall in a press conference last week said, well, you know, guys, we're talking with Tim Tebow, and we want to see if there's any way we can find some eligibility back for him, because he would love to come back and play. He wasn't joking either, was he? He was serious, wasn't he? We wish he was.

Oh, my gosh. You know, here's the deal, Mark. You look at this, and you've got a case over here where a guy gets the green light and a case over there where he does it. What is the criteria? What is the basis for making these decisions? Because it says, well, here's the fine print for this player, and there's, I agree with you. Why not make it uniform and just say, look, whatever the reason is, is, like, go to Baskin-Robbins, pick a flavor, chocolate, Rocky Road, vanilla.

It's all ice cream. Make it five for five. You choose how you want to sit here and shuffle the deck. But what would be wrong with that? Because right now, what are they going to do? They're going to say, okay, Aguilar, it's okay for you to go, but Chambliss, it's not okay for you to go. I mean, because it just seems like they keep kicking the can down the road and moving the goalposts with these decisions. You're exactly right. I had that very conversation with another show I went on last week, where we got really in-depth about it, and I said, look, guys, this is nothing new.

The NCAA is behind the eight ball, and they've sat on their hands when we watched the transfer portal coming our way. They sat on their hands while we watched NIL coming. They sat on their hands with all of the cheating that is going on. I mean, you've got to be kidding me. And, you know, this is an NCAA problem. Look, I would love to see the SEC and Big Ten tell the NCAA thanks, but no thanks. You've had your opportunity. We're going to do it our way.

And go and tell the members of the ACC and Big 12 and, you know, some other schools, hey, come join us. Well, you guys can start a third conference. We'll go 60 teams and do our own D1 and our own playoff, and we'll be fine without the NCAA making silly decisions. Because you're right, Harold. There has to be some established rules. Yeah, but they're not even making a rule until after the fact. That's the problem. They let everybody do what they want, and then they want to come in after the fact and say, well, here's the rule.

Why don't you tell us that up front, knucklehead? Bingo. Bingo. Exactly. Exactly. They're behind on everything. And then, you know, well, we're going to get a committee to study this. Well, committee to study? This has been going on for nine months or 13 months. Yeah, I know. If we're in this situation 18 months from now, Mark, I think you may see a succession from some of the conferences. Let me ask you about National Signing Day 2.0 for the Gators. They brought in 20 overall, 18 signees, two preferred walk-ons, and I know they've got 30 transfers that they picked up earlier.

[42:14] And Jon Sumrall mentioned it, and I think more coaches feel this way. He just had the you-know-what to say it. Look, you've got to earn your name on the back of that jersey before you play here. I know Florida brought in some impressive guys. Davian Gross or Grossi, a four-star, C.J. Broning, Kevin Ford, just to name a few, your thoughts on this signing class. And, again, he didn't have a lot of time to put it together. Great point. Great point. And that's the key. And, you know, despite Florida parting with Napier early, well, I don't want to say real early in the season.

There were other schools that went ahead of him. But I think that that is a key point, that, you know, Florida was able to really fill their needs. And that was the key for Florida. They missed on some high-profile guys. They really did. But I think if he can do a good job this year and if they can prove that they're developing players, maybe that'll win. Maybe they'll get some of those higher-profile guys. But in terms of, Florida needed a lot of help on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

They needed some help on the back end of the defense. And they really needed to rework the tight end room as a complete rebuild. And the wide receiver room is about a half a rebuild. So, they really brought in all those guys, I think, between tight ends and wide receivers. Correct me if I'm wrong, Brett, but I think they brought in eight. And they have another walk-on at wide receivers. So, yeah, it's going to be a different day in Gainesville. Talk to us about that, if you will, Mark.

What is the vibe right now? Because, let's face it, everybody loves a new coach because they haven't lost a game yet. Things change right after that, about 30 seconds or less from the fan base. But what's the vibe right now with a new kid in town? I think it's very good. And I think there are several reasons for that. I think people, it's interesting. Billy Napier did a bit of marketing. He did quite a bit of marketing for his program. You haven't seen Summerall do a whole lot of that.

You know, the strength and conditioning program, we're not hearing a lot of stuff out of there. We're not seeing guys, you know, throwing up incredible weights and posted, or I should say speed times being posted, improvements in speed, where Napier did a lot of that. But what you are seeing, and I think that's important, is you're seeing people like Steve Spurrier, Urban Meyer, and a lot of former key Florida players who, you know, in the past meant a lot to the program and did a lot for the program, out there on social media, making a lot of comments or in interviews and saying, look, Florida's heading in the right direction.

Florida's got it together. And one thing that they're doing, guys, is a lot of praise for the assistant coaches, because I think that is one thing that John Summerall really did well, was he brought in some assistant coaches who, and it's almost a significant upgrade, we think. Now, we've got to get on the field and see, but think it's a significant upgrade from Napier. Mark, this is an important spring in the SEC. You've got six new head coaches, and even in the other teams and programs, you've got, when you don't have a seventh-year quarterback, you've got their breaking quarterbacks.

It's offensive and defensive lines across the board. When does Florida begin spring practice? When is the spring game? And I hear it's not on a Thursday, which Florida fans appreciate that. When are you hearing about spring practice and the spring game? Yeah, yeah, April 11th is the spring game. And I think it's going to be good. They're going to give the players a week off for spring break and let them get out of there. In fact, I think they're giving them actually a week and a day.

But, yeah, they're going to kick it off here soon, and it'll be a six-week process for spring practice for Florida with one of those weeks being the off week. I think that what the fans want to see, I don't know if it's going to happen. The fans want to see one or two of those scrimmage sessions open. That's what they really want to see. And I just don't know if they'll do it. Although, if anybody asks, spits a microphone in front of Steve's party, they'll say, absolutely.

We should do it all the time. I think they'll be able to get fans out there. That would go a long way to help. It really would, because Napier did that. After saying no, he eventually did that and had a spring practice, I'm sorry, a spring scrimmage open. And it went a long way to kind of calming down the fan base. Mark, the SEC announced last week they had netted $1.03 billion in revenue, so they dispersed, you see, $72.4 million to the 16 schools. Now, Oklahoma, Texas, they're going to get more because they're still transitioning into the SEC.

[47:23] And I don't know if you noticed this or not, but it was another omission from the SEC office. They meant to send a little bit of that to the radio shows that promote the SEC on a daily basis. And, Mark, once again, we got left out. Yep, we did. I'll bet we won't even get a media gift at SEC Media Days either. We'll get a trip around the room. We'll get a free trip around the room and all the air you can breathe, you know. That water with lemon in it and the water container with lemon in it.

Dr. Pepper, Mark. Dr. Pepper. Come on. Yeah, how about that, huh? You know, we were talking before, you know, back when the TV contract was being negotiated right afterwards, and all the talk was $80 million per school, $85 million. And I'm sitting there thinking, doesn't that sound a little low, being Texas and Oklahoma? And I just thought it was low, and then, you know, sure enough, it's over $100 million. Yeah, it's just, it's fantastic. And then you see what's going on at Florida State, goodness gracious. And you know why Congressman Weatherford a few years ago was beating the drum, saying, we've got to get out of the ACC.

And, you know, that's it. And that's why, again, I say, you know, SEC, Big Ten, pull away, because the NCAA is not doing you any favors, and they're not going to. And then let's start, let them go get another conference in all these schools, Florida State, Clemson, whoever, Miami. They can all, you know, all the Big 12 schools get together, about 20 of them, and have their own little conference and go get their TV contract. Well, we've been waiting on that, Mark. Yeah, I think, again, if this nothing is not done in 18 months, that may happen.

Listen, but I always enjoy the conversation about the Gators and the SEC football and basketball. But where can we get online to get you good stuff? Yeah, at McLeod Live on Twitter. And, yeah, it's always great. A lot of fun to be on with you guys. And I'm glad you're knowledgeable guys. I had a question last week on the show with a guy and a very nice young lady that I just couldn't believe. So, it's good to be on with educated guys. Well, if we ever find them, we'll make sure that they get on with it there, Mark.

Okay. In the meantime, thank you so much. And tell the SEC if they want to send that money up to the radio shows, we'll lick the stamp for them. Okay. Absolutely. Absolutely. Good job. Mark McLeod. Thank you, bud. With the Blitz, the Mark McLeod Show, and the Gator Blitz. Coming up the next hour, we're talking to Auburn Tigers with Brian Matthews, the Big Orange Talk with Vince Ferrara, and Jimmy Lay laying it all out right here in North Alabama from AL.com. It's all spread ahead.

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You can get up to $3 million in coverage with no medical exam. Get your free quote at ethos.com slash play. That's ethos.com slash play. Paid spokesperson. Time span on application may vary. Online health questions required. The bill is being offered by a state representative from Mountain Brook that would require the creation of a safety plan for summer camps here in Alabama. The bill is coming from State Representative David Faulkner and is in honor of Sarah Marsh, an eight-year-old girl from Mountain Brook who was killed in Texas last summer as a result of flash flooding that swept through the camp where she was at.

Governor Ivey is supporting HB 381, saying that parents should have confidence that their children are protected when they're away from home. The bill would require camps to be prepared, informed, and equipped for severe storms, flash flooding, and other natural or man-made disasters. This includes gaining a safety license from the Alabama Emergency Management Agency and developing emergency and evacuation plans. Should the bill become law, camps here in Alabama would be required to meet these standards by January 1st of 2027. I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this.

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The mayor of Providence, Brett Smiley, said that this video release is in response to media requests and the public's right for transparency from its government. Smiley also said that none of the video will ever answer the question as to why the gunman, 48-year-old Claudio Valente, decided to do this. Valente was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound just days after this violent shooting. I'm Andrea Tice. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter. Valley Broadcasting Corporation, WITK-FM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, The Shores.

Sports Radio 93.9, The Score. High school basketball season is here and is your home for Florence Falcons athletics. 93.9, The Score is proud to bring you a select lineup of games. This Thursday, the Falcons take on the James Clemons Jets in the area tournament. Airtime is 6.15 with a tip at 6.30 here on 93.9, The Score. Florence Falcons basketball is brought to you by Florence Utilities, Florence City Schools, the law firm of Johnson, Pasteur, Medley & Virtual, North Alabama Bone & Joint Clinic, T&T Fireworks, Yogurt Mountain, Whataburger, Singing River Dentistry, Bank Independent, Lost Pizza, Irons Electric, Cypress Creek Range, and Henniger Johnson & Layton Insurance.

Florence and James Clemons in the area tournament. This Thursday at 6.15 on 93.9, The Score. Hey, Florence Falcons fans. Can't make it to the games? Join Kevin Johnson and the rest of the Falcons radio crew streaming live on the 93.9, The Score app. Available for both Apple and Android users. Live streams are also available on your Amazon Alexa devices. Just ask Alexa to tune in to 93.9, The Score. And go Falcons! 93.9, The Score weather. Today, mostly sunny with a high around 70. Tonight, mostly cloudy with a low near 50. Tomorrow, cloudy with a 20% chance of afternoon showers and a high around 70.

Tomorrow night, mostly cloudy with a 40% chance of showers overnight and a low near 55. And your Wednesday, partly sunny with a 30% chance of showers and a high around 70. Your weather from 93.9, The Score. Now, get ready to roll. Shoals, Decatur, Athens, and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. Your exclusive inside track to the tie. Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9, The Score. Welcome back in our tour to the Boomo Bugg Show.

[58:34] I'm Harold Bugg, alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us a street ride around the Tennessee Valley. And for Jimmy Lay, taking time out of his busy schedule there at AL.com. Jimmy, welcome in. How are you? Hey, guys. I'm doing great. How are y'all doing? Hey, Jimmy. I'm doing all right. Are you ready, Jimmy Lay, for some area play when it comes to high school basketball? It is here, whether you are ready or not. A lot of schools have already played a few games.

I think everybody is almost at the area final. The lower classifications are. I know 7A don't start until a little bit later. But, yeah, it is here. Yeah, Jimmy's 7A begins Thursday. I know in area 7, of course, is at Huntsville. Huntsville at Grissom at 6. We mentioned Jack Dawson, 900 wins in a few minutes, Spartan at Albert Bowl. And then the area 8 is at James Clemens on Thursday. Bob Jones at Austin. James Clemens at Florence for the second game. That's going to be very interesting matchups, Jimmy, for class 7A come Thursday.

Absolutely. I think Huntsville is probably the head of the class there. They've been number one here and there during the season. They've lost a couple times to 6A May Jemison. But, all in all, I think they have probably the best team in these two areas. Bob Jones and James Clemens, the top two in area 8. James Clemens beat them twice, but tight games. But, you know, James Clemens didn't beat Florence by much earlier in the season. And so, that's not going to be a gimme for those guys, even though they're hosting.

So, it's a really good team. No matter who comes out of this, you've got some really good teams. Sparkman and Albertville, all fit the shame that one of those teams is going to go home and not have a chance, you know, to make it. And that's just because it's so tough. You know, there you have Grissom, the fourth-place team in that area with such a legendary coach like Jack Dawson, as you just mentioned. It seems a little strange that they probably will get eliminated. Talk to us about it, Jack, before we move on to the 6A Area 15 and Muscle Shoals.

Do people realize what a treasure Jack Dawson is? I mean, this guy, people don't realize he's not exactly a spring chicken, and he still loves it. He's out of the old school. Chad doesn't do it for the money. He does it out of passion, out of heart. But the people realize, I don't care if you're playing tiddly wings. If you win 900 ballgames, especially at the level that he's won at, that's pretty incredible. It really is. And just, you know, people here in the Huntsville area, they know, you know, what he did at Butler and how he was able to just, I mean, really just dominate there, you know, at that school.

And now Butler, you know, is not even a school anymore. And then he was going to retire, and then he jumps over to J.O. Johnson, which they won a couple of state titles there before they changed schools to May Jemison, won another state title, you know, for them. Thought he was going to retire again, and then he just couldn't. He just had to scratch that edge, and then Grissom came calling, and he jumped in there. He's not had the best teams that he would like to have at Grissom, and mainly because he's so tough, as we just talked about him.

That's right. He's on school. Such a tough, I mean, I've seen they get knocked out on some crazy last-second, you know, shots. I think Sparkman knocked him out a couple of years ago on a last-second, you know, 30-footer that was just so improbable. He got beat. Got knocked out of the Final Four berth from Huntsville a couple years ago. Just couldn't beat those guys. But, man, he's just done it, you know, all the places that he's been. I mean, Hayes, Butler, Johnson, Jemison, now Grissom. When's he going to retire?

I don't know. They probably have to just eventually just say, okay, Jack, that's it. You've got to retire, man. That's right. I tell you, when he's going to retire in 19 victories, when he gets number 920 at the end of that season, Harold mentioned this earlier, most of the shows has really played well. They've won. Jimmy, I always look for teams that are hot going into the area of play. Most of the shows has won. 13 of 16, in fact, they lost to Albert Bull last week. In fact, the source tonight, Decatur Hartzell at 530, and then most of the shows taking on Athens after that.

Your thoughts on that? And also, we've talked about Huntsville quite a bit during the course of the year. It still amazes me, Jimmy, that May Jemison beat Huntsville not once but twice this season. They're tough. They really are. And they get after you. They turn you over. And that's how you beat a team like Huntsville is when they have so much size. You've got to really get after them and turn the ball over so you get more possessions than they do. And if you can get more possessions, that's how you're going to have a great chance.

[1:03:46] You're not going to beat them on the boards more times than not. You're going to have to, like I said, you've got to turn them over and get some easy baskets that way. Muscle Shoals is on a roll. They're the class, you know, of that area. And I look for them to win this area and go to sub-region play and win there and get to the regionals. I'm not sure if they're regions. I believe they're in Hanceville, right, when they win out, I believe so. It's strange how they decide every year which areas are going to go to Hanceville, which are going to go to Jacksonville.

They change it sometimes, and sometimes they change it, and you end up having the best teams in the same region. I know last year, Hanceville and Hoover were the two best teams, but they had to play in the region final. That should have been a state final game. That was such a great Hanceville team last year. But anyway, I really think that Muscle Shoals is going to win that, but, man, Hanceville's good. They always are. You know, Athens and Decatur, they're not bad. I mean, they have some talent that if you don't play your best game, you can get beat.

I saw a game this past weekend in the girls, 4A girls, area 15. Madison Academy got upset in double overtime by JP2, and they had dominated them during the season. It just got to win that one game to move on, and that's all it takes. Jimmy, lay, AL.com. Jimmy, obviously a lot of good teams. In terms of Shoals area teams, in the greater Shoals area, on the boys' side, obviously you've got tournament play there at Brooks, West Morgan, Lauderdale County. Your thoughts about what stands out as far as those host sides at Brooks, Lauderdale County, West Morgan, Lawrence County?

I tell you what, I got to see West Morgan up close just last week playing Westminster, and they just, I mean, Westminster is a pretty good little team. They got upset by Randolph over the weekend, but, man, they just took them apart. I mean, they just, they're just so sound. They don't turn the ball over. They've got some really good shooters. They've got some big guys that can step outside and hit the, you know, hit the three. So, I really like them. You know, Brooks is usually, you know, pretty solid.

I believe they are hosting their area, I believe, is that right? I would tell you this. If you're hosting an area, it's because you dominated during the regular season more times than not. Most of these teams that are hosting, it's because they went undefeated in the area. They beat everybody. And so, when they win again, it shouldn't be a surprise when they do that. You know, very few of these teams, they're so good that they don't get complacent. They don't allow teams that are not as good as them to rise up and, you know, upset them.

And so, I look for Brooks to be able to, I think they got, well, they got Deschler. I mean, Deschler, man, they're always solid. You never know they're, you know, but I think Brooks is probably going to be able to handle that. Wes Morgan, they're probably going to beat, you know, East Lawrence. And you mentioned, we mentioned Florence earlier. I think Florence is going to give James Clemens a pretty tough game. I don't think that's going to be, because they played them tough during the regular season.

So, like I said, you can't get this far into the season and not be playing your best basketball, because if you don't, if you have that one bad night, man, you're going home. Jimmy, the Alabama High School Athletic Association has had a very interesting year so far with the announcements, the reclassification raised quite a bit, splitting public and private schools for the postseason. Now, again, they can play during the regular season. And the central board came out last week with changes. Again, it's going to Mobile, and this is going to be a four-day event beginning in 2026 in Mobile.

In Class 6A, they've expanded it from 16 to 24 teams. The top teams, actually, the teams that finish first or second in their respective regions will receive a first-round buy in the playoffs. That's going to be interesting. The other thing they tried to do, Jimmy, was what we talked about with you last fall, was trying to keep some of these travel expenses down, because teams from Huntsville and Mobile went to their respective areas, and that cost some of these schools $20,000 in travel expenses. Jimmy, your thoughts? And then, I don't mind, Oakwood Academy is denied their appeal, because they played one more game.

[1:08:51] Scottsboro is upset. Been an interesting year so far for the central board. I tell you what, they can't get out of their own way sometimes. No, that's correct. And somehow, Oakwood is in the middle of it, again. Again. More so, this is probably their fault. I know they had some discussions. They claimed that they had spoken to somebody at the state office and said that their game with Whitesburg, which put them over the top, was going to be allowed, and then afterwards said it wasn't. I just hate it for the kids, because they've had a great seat.

They're ranked number one in single-A. They've played some really tough teams this year, had a chance to probably get to Birmingham, win a state championship, and then you just lose it because of that. But the other thing that a lot of people don't realize is they're in that area with Skyline. Skyline should have been elevated to the number one seed in that tournament. Well, they didn't do that. They didn't receive the tournament, so Skyline ended up being the number two. And they have to play Eider, and so Eider should have been the number two seed.

So Eider and Skyline should have been one and two. They didn't do that, so they had to play each other. One of those teams probably deserves to go on to the sub-regional, but one of them is going home. Wow. Because they just, why would you not do that? It doesn't make sense to me, but they didn't do that. Scottsboro, you know, they tell all the schools, if you have any problems, if there's anything that needs to be clarified, if there's any errors, let us know. Scottsboro spoke up and said, yes, there's an error.

And so because of this error, you've counted too many students in our average daily, and so therefore we shouldn't be in 5A. They said, okay, thanks, but you're still in 5A. I'm like, that don't make any sense. Why do you want schools to, why do you tell them, hey, tell us if there's an error, and then they tell you, and then they're like, well, thanks for letting us know, but we're not going to change it. Wow. So it's just, I don't know any coach, really, that says, yes, we're absolutely in favor of this change with the private and the public schools.

The top 7A schools doesn't affect them, probably helps them a bit because it sort of dilutes. You know, they're dropping down into what used to be 6A, you know, and so they're playing a lot of those same teams, again, that they used to play, that they used to dominate. So the best schools in 7A, the Thompsons and the, you know, the central Phoenix cities and those schools, they're still going to dominate regardless. It's a lot of the private schools. I mean, I think I sent you this, Brad, Westminster's region where they got two schools in Birmingham, a school in Tuscaloosa and a school in Auburn.

Man, when you've got to go to Lee Scott Academy, and it's not just football. You've got to go there for anything else on a good week game. Come on, man. You're going to have to basically, yes, it's an eight-hour trip, round trip, you know. So not really sure the thinking there. There is some discussion about changing something, about letting some of the schools, the two largest schools, McGill-Tulin down in Mobile and Briarwood, allowing them to still play in the public, you know, put them back into the public school regions.

Not sure how, you know, where that will go. That might help a little bit. But one of the athletic directors I talked to told me, he said, it's just two years. We've got to get through it. You know, everybody hates it. There's nothing we can do. But we've just got to make the best for these two years. And I thought, man, I just hope that it doesn't cause some irreparable harm in these two years that we see that happens for years to come. I just hope that doesn't happen.

Jimmy, great stuff as always, bud. The area of plays here really gets rolling this week. Man, I know you've got some of the games covered. Ben Thomas, Tim, Thomas Ashworth. But where can we get online and get the results, game stories, and everything else? Absolutely. Go to preps.al.com. And, again, as we always say, if you're at a game and there's a last-second play, man, get your camera out and video that thing. And go to the al.dotprepsx account. Put that thing on there because without people out there doing these videos like that, we all get to see some of these great finishes, and I'm sure we're going to see some.

Jimmy, enjoy the area of play. Stay safe out there. And thanks so much for your time to have a great week, okay? You got it. You too, guys. Thank you, bud. JimmyLayAL.com. Why don't you say we get the latest from TN with a V-Man? Vince Barr on Tennessee next. Stay with us. Silicon carbide was discovered in 1893 when a meteorite crashed to the earth. In Arizona, it was discovered by a French chemist named Henri Masson. And originally, he thought it was a diamond. When he realized it wasn't, he named it after himself.

[1:13:58] That's right. Moissanite is meatier. I know we've all kind of been divided here lately, but I think we can all agree from deep down in our soul that we all hate Valentine's Day. It is the most fabricated and made-up holiday ever. So in celebration of that, I'm now declaring Moissanite the official anti-Valentine's Day gym. And at Medford Jewelers, we are going to be running one carat, emerald cut, moissanite, bezel set, and both pendant and earrings for $75 each. Or you can get the pendant and earring pair for $125.

At Medford's, we wish everybody health and love and happiness whenever and wherever you can find it. And we are proud to be the anti-Valentine's Day headquarters since 1945. Welcome back to Winter Hack Radio, the place for clever hacks to survive the season. Icy driveway? Well, try spreading sand or bird seed to help with traction. Snowy puppy paws? Well, grab a whisk, brush it off, done. Catch COVID-19? Well, just get… Actually, there's no hack for COVID-19. But if you test positive, prescription medications for COVID exist. Ask your doctor if they're right for you.

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Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back again. Quick reminder, the latest Olympic update just moments away at the bottom of the hour. But in the meantime, a pleasure for us to welcome in the man who can always answer the question, the V-Man at 99.1, the sports animal in Knoxville. The question, V-Man, how do you consistently provide gold medal winning performances? How are you? I'm good. That actually was not the expected first question I was going to get from you. I thought it would be, why does Tennessee keep giving up double-digit leads to Kentucky?

Well, that's a question that a lot of fans are still asking. Frankly, a lot of media are, too. I'm consistent and I have a good dog. So, that's my reasoning. Well, everybody's at the kennel right now trying to mock you there, V-Man. Your thoughts about this Tennessee team. And is it safe to say that every fan base in the SEC at one point or the other this season has pretty much said the same thing? How can you beat this team this much and then lose to this team this much?

Obviously, Kentucky has Tennessee's number, but is it the year of every weekend is unpredictable across the SEC landscape? Yeah, I think it's today's college athletics. It's, you know, guys moving around so much. It's guys, you know, trying to develop the chemistry and it still, you know, will be a little bit of ebb and flow and up and down. And then, you know, you just never know with all that's going on in kids' lives with NIL and, you know, social media and everything else, just the focus of guys.

[1:19:20] And that can fluctuate within the game. And that was certainly the case. Tennessee was absolutely lights out in the first half from three. You know, just an incredible performance by Tennessee. And that's really not something they rely on. So, their numbers weren't very good inside in the paint where typically they are outstanding. But they were shooting the three so well they didn't have to go inside. Then they couldn't turn it on when they needed it. And when that became something that Kentucky was able to drive on Tennessee and be aggressive inside, Tennessee didn't have answers to that.

And then it was kind of similar to the first time, it just kind of chipped away. And I think Tennessee fought better. They still, you know, they got a better chance to win this game in the end than, you know, last time they kind of, you know, whittled a little bit in the phrasing, I think, of Rick Barnes. But it was different. But they still, you know, it's still disappointing that they couldn't get enough guys to have good, enough performances besides Amen, who was incredible again, and Jacoby Gillespie.

They really need a more consistent third score. Now, it doesn't have to be the same guy every game, but they need a third guy to be able to not only be a threat, but have a good offensive game. And that just hasn't been the case. And they turn the ball over too much, and they miss free throws, and they miss shots around the basket. And when they lose games, all those three things are a factor in their losses. So those are things that you should be able to be better at.

The free throw shooting percentage, I don't know how much you could improve that within a season. And making shots around the basket, that's poise. So you should be able to do that. And turnovers, a lot of times it is self-inflicted and poise also. So they're going to improve on some of those. But, you know, that's why it's frustrating for fans. They're like, all right, these are fundamental things in basketball. If we do that, we should be good enough to win a lot of games. Well, and they did that against Alabama and Auburn.

And they seem to have been able to do it this year, except everybody, except Kentucky. You mentioned, Nate, Amen, 24, averaging nearly 25 points in the last four conference games. J.P. Estrella, who made some key baskets against Auburn in the second half. Bishop Boswell scored 10 against Tennessee. But Dwayne Brown looked good against Auburn, too. But you're right, B, that third score that I know they're still looking for. In SEC play, Nate, Amen, it's averaging about 21, Gillespie about 19, and then it's Boswell and Estrella about eight. Now, those numbers aren't bad overall.

You would like to have a third guy in double figures. It's just been so wildly inconsistent on who gives it to you. Boswell should not be the guy. He has the potential to, but they ask so much of him in so many other ways. To ask him to be a much bigger scorer does not sound like something that is, you know, is in the cards right now. We talked to Mauro Morgan, assistant coach who comes on weekly on our show, Sports Talk. And he said Boswell's doing exactly what we asked him to do.

I think the guy should be Estrella, Estrella, Kerry Brown, Alcparra. I think that's where the third scoring, because then you're getting inside out versus everything on the perimeter. So that's where I think Tennessee can take the biggest jump is in scoring. And some of that is just hitting your bunnies around the rim, and then the numbers will look a lot better. And you could argue they win a couple more games if they just do some of those fundamental things. But, yeah, Amen has been phenomenal. And you can just see him taking over and looks like a lottery pick in the NBA draft right now.

No question about that. V, just quickly, Tennessee finishes number eight on National Signing Day, the highest they've been since 2015, according to Ryan Callahan of GoVos247. Files on Brandon, the quarterback, T.K. Keyes, and Gabriel Ascenda, some of the jewels in that class. But a nice signing day to be in a couple minutes, a nice signing day for Tennessee. Yeah, no doubt. And they need to hit on these guys, because, you know, honestly, there are some positions that they brought in a lot of guys, especially on defense in the secondary and the defensive line.

[1:24:36] They are going to need them to play and have bigger roles early. I don't know that they've been in that position that much in the past. So, you end up in the composite rankings of everybody with two five-stars. But Ascenda, some services have them as a five, some of them as a four, however you look at it. They're going to need a big hit percentage if they're going to make up for some of their losses in the portal and losses in graduation from last year and, you know, fill some holes.

Because they do have still some question marks on this team, especially when it comes to that D-line and how deep they'll go. One thing about it, V-Man, when it happens, you've got it all covered there. Listen, man, thanks so much for knocking it out of the park this week, okay? All right. You guys are the best. Always enjoy. I appreciate it. Thank you, buddy. The B-Man, Vince Rohr at 99.1, the sports animal. It's coming up on 1.30 in our neck of the woods. Why don't we go where it's 8.30 already to the home of the Olympics and the latest next.

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Welcome back in. You know, baby, it's a shame that you see these folks work all their lives to get to the Super Bowl. And then politics has a way of sitting in the thunder. But in spite of all that, I thought one of the more inspiring stories yesterday was a fellow who turned out to be the MVP, Kenneth Walker III. You look at the way he performed yesterday, and he says, what's the problem? This kid's in the peak health, and he is now. But he basically was giving up a very slow chance when he was a kid.

And then as recently as 2018, he was diagnosed with blood clots in both lungs and goes all the way back to when he's in high school there in the Memphis area, Arlington. If you're familiar with that part of the woods, you know, that's a town north of Memphis there. He had pulmonary embolism in his lungs as a child, and then even more issues just eight years ago. So when you see those kind of stories, BB, it makes you just say thank you so much for having a story that's aside from all the politics going on.

Well, he was the reason, certainly one of the reasons, besides the defensive line, which ripped the Patriots' offensive line the entire game. Walker runs for 135 yards. And, Harold, I thought the team that ran the ball in this game more, and Seattle's done that, would end up winning the game. But, yeah, he's also not the tallest player on the team, which I think everybody noticed that yesterday. But I'll tell you one thing, when he gets a crease, he's got tremendous vision. When he gets a crease, he's gone.

And the thing about it is, the Memphis area is right there in the middle of SEC country. You've got, obviously, Ole Miss down the road, Tennessee, the state, Arkansas is right up the road, Mississippi State not too far, and he winds up at Michigan State. And that's the thing about the Super Bowl. You can't always go by that college and the rankings of a high school. Well, sometimes it takes a while for the grape juice to turn into good wine. Brian Matthews has got a pretty good story as well, following the Super Bowl, a senior editor for AuburnSports.com.

Brian, welcome in. How are you? It was good to see Derek Hall go out there and have a great game for Auburn. I had a couple of tracks there. That was exciting. One of the best all-around football players and persons I've covered at Auburn. And for the folks who don't cover him on a daily basis, Brian, let's forget all the numbers. In a few years, we'll forget statistics. Talk to us about Derek Hall's story to get this far. Well, I mean, I think a lot of people know that he was born premature.

I don't remember the exact details of it. It's been a minute. Like four months, I believe it was. Something like four months premature. He had basically had a 1% chance to live. Yeah. And, you know, so from that, you know, he grew into just, you know, an incredible athlete, football player. And just, you know, when he was here at Auburn, just a great leader, a hard worker. It's just amazing if you look at Auburn's defensive line, it seems like they have one of these guys every three or four years.

Keldrick Falk, of course, was the last one. And, you know, Derek was the guy that would be out there at practice, would work harder than anybody, you know, even though he was, you know, Auburn going to be a starter no matter what. He's one of Auburn's best players. But that didn't matter to him. And, you know, just a tremendous human being off the field, too. So I think a lot of people are just really excited for him to have this success. Well, he was amazing. Money musings I always enjoy.

[1:35:00] I usually bring it up. By the way, I also enjoy the music. Going back and reading this thing about some of the bands and the singer, you mentioned last week, just to throw this in real quick, the Midnight Special, I can't tell you how many times my dad came into our room at about one o'clock in the morning and said, boys, you better get your you-know-what to bed. But that started a lot. And that track, some TBS, was another one that I remember vividly. But you mentioned, and we talked with you about him last week, Gus Malzahn.

And you always had some very interesting stints. Malzahn never had a losing record in 11 seasons in all, including three as offensive coordinator. Since he left, the Tigers have had five consecutive losing seasons in their 0-10 against Alabama in Georgia. Yeah, that's kind of good. I can understand where people felt like, you know, he had reached the end at Auburn, right? I'm not disputing that. But if you're going to replace him, I guess Malzahn, you better have a better plan, and Auburn hasn't shown that they have that.

We'll see if this new coach changes that. You know, I'm not going to make any predictions because I'm not going to do that. Ah, go ahead, Brian, go ahead. But speaking of the Midnight Special, which was last week, but of course you can go back and find that. But just, you know, that era, unless you went to a lot of concerts, that's the first opportunity you ever had to see some of these bands, some of these singers that you heard on the radio perform live. That was a really important time, you know, it was back in the 70s, it's been 50 years now, but it still was a really important time for a lot of people.

And me too, I got to watch that on TV at the time, and, you know, you can go back now, they're in the process, or I don't know if they completed it yet, but putting all the old Midnight Specials on YouTube TV. Go back and find those, you can find all the different bands that were on there, you know, Country, Popular, you know, David Bowie, you know, Prince. You know, Fleetwood Mac, some of my favorites, you know, it was just incredible, the different bands, the different singers that were on there.

And they would highlight different people in there, and I had an opportunity to interview one of the guys that came to a guy named Wolfman Jack. I don't know if it was. Yeah, yep, that's right. I had an opportunity in another market, he came through, and to say the least, he was an interesting character. Brian, where's your thought right now as far as this team? Obviously, just like down at Florida, and any time you bring in a brand new boss, everybody's all fired up. And as I've always said, they still haven't lost a ball game.

We'll see after that how the fans react and how they lose, and who you lose to. But, Brian, what's your vibe right now with this new staff? It's pretty good. I don't, there's no negatives that I've seen or heard or felt from the football staff and goalers. I think so far they're doing a good job. I think transform portal-wise, they went out and added a lot to the team. I have concerns about the D-line, O-line. We'll see how that works out. They've got some numbers there, but we'll just have to see.

But I like bringing in Byron Brown at quarterback and bringing in a bunch of his receivers and guys he's worked with. I think that's going to help them make that transition quicker. I think offensively, that's been always the biggest issue over the last five years, right? Most times. So having that's going to make a big difference. So far I like the approach from those guys, and we'll see. We got a chance to speak to Goldish and Joel Gordon, the offensive coordinator. And, of course, E.J. Durkin again with D.C. last week.

And then this week we're going to have a roundtable with some of the assistant coaches. So that'll be good to catch up with them and start getting to know them a little bit better. Tell us again about spring. When does spring practice begin? It's going to be so critical. We talked about this a little bit earlier with our Florida guests. Six new coaches in the league. Transfer portal now. Going to be a critical spring. When does spring practice begin for Auburn? And tell us again the spring game.

Yeah, I got the numbers. I'm not sure if I got them right, but I think is it March 18th and the spring game is the 17th or is that reversed? Yeah, that sounds right. So mid-March is going to start, mid-April, Saturday, the 17th. I believe it is the 8-A game. It's going to be a more traditional game. The biggest changes I see to spring is, you know, just a few years ago. I don't know if I mentioned this last time I was on the show, but we were talking about spring practice or 8-A games.

Maybe, you know, not having them anymore just because of the spring transfer portal and people concerned about other players being scouted. Now they've taken the spring transfer portal away, although I think people can still transfer if they want to. But you've also got a situation where Auburn's got around 90 players on campus in the football program right now. So, you know, a few years ago those numbers were around 50 most years. And it was hard to have a real spring game because you have enough players. But they'll certainly do that.

[1:40:25] They've almost got a full team. You can almost do a baseball. I don't do a doubleheader, Brian. If you keep going to add to that numbers there. Brian Matthews, AuburnSports.com. Brian, a ball game over the weekend in your backyard. The Iron Bowl of basketball. What did we learn about Alabama and Auburn on the hardwoods? Well, I thought Alabama deserves credit. I thought they made some really great shots. I thought they played really hard. You know, and I thought when the game was on the line, they made the plays and Auburn didn't.

So, they deserve credit for the win. You know, I just think the last five minutes of that first half, you know, as Auburn had built that 10-point lead and Alabama was able to whittle it down, I thought that was big. I thought that was big in a good way for Alabama and big in a really bad way for Auburn because that gave the title a lot of momentum going into the second half. And they scored, I think it was 59 points in the second half, which, you know, if you're Auburn, you're at home, you know, playing in a very loud, very full, that's unacceptable to allow that to happen.

So, you know, while you give credit for Alabama, you know, playing so well offensively, making those shots, you know, from the Auburn perspective, you've got to play a lot better defensively. So, that is their only path to beating good teams is playing that really intense physical defense, and they didn't get it done against Alabama there in the last 25 minutes of that game. And we'll see, you know, what they can do with Vanderbilt touches tonight. Right, let's face it, in tennis terms, Auburn is in a better position to hold serve than anybody.

Is there a more intimidating environment for a visiting team than right there in your backyard? I know everybody's got loud crowds, but the way that baby is built, that sound just sits here and amplifies. I mean, you've got to hold serve when you're home. I think it's safe to say it's one of the toughest, if not the toughest place to play in the SEC. I have not been to every venue there, so I couldn't say it with certainty. I know I did not get the chance to go to Duke when Auburn played there.

Was it last year, I think, or maybe the year before? But the people that were there and the people that have been there before just talk about how the people are on top of you there. Plus their tradition, I would imagine that's a pretty tough place to play, too, especially if you're not used to it. But, yeah, I think, you know, starting with Bruce and the administration and, you know, building it and the plans for making it, you know, a little bit smaller than Beard Eves and certainly putting everybody close to the court has really paid off for all minutes.

It's just the perfect size, and it's filled up. It's loud every game. I don't know the number of sellouts straight it is, but it's a lot, and it is a great place to play basketball. It's a great place to go watch a basketball game. Overton had four threes. Keyshawn Hall, who did not have a good first half, that's some credit to Alabama, really got started in the second half, finished with 24. Boy, he can get to the rim in a hurry, and I thought Pettiford had a much better second half, too.

But, again, as you mentioned, Alabama just made some threes down the stretch, and as you alluded to, Vanderbilt tomorrow night at home, and then they go to Hog Heaven on Saturday. A pivotal, tough week for Auburn basketball this week. Very tough. You know, they had the four-game winning streak. They went up to Tennessee and got, you know, out-muscled, out-physicaled, and then they came home with a week off against Alabama and just had that game. So, yes, now they're in a really tough position. Backs against the wall in a lot of ways with Vanderbilt coming in, which, you know, a couple weeks ago was the best team in the SEC.

They've had some setbacks themselves, but still a very, very good offensive team, for sure. Very tough to stop and do a lot of different things. And then, you know, going to Arkansas, which, you know, Arkansas was here a few weeks ago. Calipari came in here and said, that's not us. That's not how we play. I think he probably felt like they played one of the worst games of the season at Auburn. I'm sure Auburn has something to do with that, but you know that Auburn going up there, he's going to bring that back up and challenge his team.

Not let that happen again. So, this is two really, really tough games for Auburn coming up, and they're going to have to play really well to win either or or both. So, and it starts on defense. I think you'll know within the first, you know, five to ten minutes of this game, you know, whether or not Auburn's going to be able to compete, by the way, because it's how they play on defense is going to be a great sign. And if they're checking up threes again like they have the last two games, that's not enough.

Obviously, March Madden's right around the corner. Even, Stephen, correct me if I'm wrong, Auburn's sitting there at 5-5 in the conference. Your thoughts, what does Auburn need? I know any time every team's got something to work on, but specifically, what would you like to see Auburn work on, on the balance of this team heading into March Madness? You know, we're ten games in SEC play, so you want to say, well, they need to shoot threes better, but I think they are who they are now. Maybe I'm wrong on that.

[1:45:25] Maybe they will get hot there, but that's been an issue for most of the season, so I'm not sure how that changes. To me, they're basically playing seven guys a lot of minutes. And, you know, of those seven, Yovic only played like 12 or 13 against Alabama. So that puts a lot of strain, especially with the way that they need to play defensively. You know, all these players play 30, 35, 36 minutes every single game, twice a week. So I think the one thing that can help them is if they can find some guys that can give them more help.

I don't know if that's possible or not, but we'll see. I know they played Kevin Overton at Point a little bit, which might open some things up other places. We'll see if he can maybe get a full rotation there or something, you know, going forward. I don't know if that's really possible or not. We'll see how that looks. But that's really it to me. I just think they're limited right now with the guys they trust to be on the floor and the way those guys have to play in order for Robin to win.

I just think that puts them in a really tough position. When we talked with you this time last week, we were headed into National Signing Day 2.0. And Auburn actually ended up finishing number 30. And believe me, they're not used to that. But it's really, again, I've said this, it's not fair to judge the staff. I mean, Lord have mercy, they just frankly walked in the door, but they were able to salvage the recruiting class. They signed to Hunter in the freshman class. I believe 10 on offense, 9 on defense, and 2 on special teams.

And they got some jewels and Deshaun Spencer from Sourland, the Toodle Boys, Wilks, who had an incredible season. Be mad. Again, we'll get into more of this a little bit later. But just in a couple of minutes, your thoughts on Auburn and how they finished. Yeah, I don't see a bunch of guys in that class that are going to step in and be stars, you know, like Keldrick Falk was a few years ago. And players start right away. I'm sure there's going to be a surprise here or there.

But, you know, you can see the potential in all those guys that sign. I like Wilks a lot. I love small school guys that play like three, four positions and the big physical dudes, and they come to Auburn. And, you know, once they concentrate on one, they can get really, really good. And once they get, you know, into a college, you know, weight program, an nutrition program, I'm just pretty high on his future. But, you know, I don't know if he's going to be able to contribute as a freshman or it's going to be a year or two.

But, you know, that was not the type of class that Auburn needs to sign. And I don't really – certainly don't blame Gullish for it. I don't really blame Freese for it. I think that's the John Cohen class. That's what I'm going to call it from now on. He made a decision back in the summer to limit Auburn's NIL and how they were able to offer deals to recruits. And it's submarine that class when he did that. And, you know, he thought he was doing the right thing at the time.

And we'll see how that turns out for him and Auburn. Absolutely. Well, listen, baseball getting started this week. Yeah, I know you had an article on them going to be fascinating to see where they go. ACC going to be awfully tough. Again, then the two basketball games this week. And if there's any news, in fact, I believe it's Youngstown State this weekend be mad in baseball. Where can we get online to get yours and the team's good stuff? Yeah, and there's going to be a lot of information this week.

Just finish talking to Pearl about the story from that. Baseball, as you mentioned, starting up. We've got a roundtable with the assistants. So plenty softball, of course, started this past weekend. All that and more. AuburnSports.com. You can follow me on Twitter, such as X at BMATAU. Sounds great. Good time to thaw out, get outside, and play ball. Brian, listen, man, have a great week. And thanks so much for your time today. I appreciate you guys. Thanks. Thank you, bud. Brian Matthews, senior in AuburnSports.com.

BB, are you ready for some UNA home cooking on the hardwoods? Yeah, they, Harold, fortunately, I believe the next four games are going to be at home. They play tonight and also on Wednesday night. Every time UNA plays a team lately, it seems like they're leading the league. Central Arkansas is on the heater themselves. They got Central Arkansas, West Georgia Wednesday night. So I know Tony Pujol and the guys are looking forward to having a little home court advantage this week. Starting at six tonight at CB&S Bank Arena in Florence, Alabama.

Going to take care of business for now. On behalf of BB, Greg, James Blair, the entire crew here. Harold Buck, thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again tomorrow, noon to two with the Boom Up Buck Show. Back here on Sports Radio, 93.9 The Score.