Boomo Bugg Show 031326

[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. New 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 where Auburn round ball fans are bracing for a stormy weekend forecast.

In Alabama, basketball fans are saying, who saw this matchup coming? Good afternoon, welcome in and how are you? Happy Basketball Friday to you and the listeners. As you alluded to, Auburn loses to the Tennessee Volunteers 72-62, putting its NCAA tournament chances in jeopardy. The top four seeds are in action today in the SEC men's basketball tournament in Nashville, including the Alabama Crimson Tide playing Ole Miss. Today at 6 p.m., Jimmy is here right now to preview Bama's game with Ole Miss and talk some spring football.

Everybody thought Ole Miss would miss this opportunity, but not so fast, my friend. Jimmy's time on that and everything else as co-host of Locked On, Bama, part of the Locked On Network. Jimmy, welcome in. Happy Friday to you. How are you? Oh, I'm doing great, guys. Jimmy, were you the one who forecast this? Alabama will be taking on Ole Miss? I mean, just a short time ago, it was which Alabama opponents that beat them earlier this year will the Tide be facing today? Would it be Georgia? Would it be the other guys?

But a funny thing happened on the way to today's matchup. Alabama will be taking on Ole Miss. What about those Rebs? It's a surprise. I mean, a real surprise. You would have guessed it would be Georgia or Texas, but it's Ole Miss. And, you know, Chris Beard is one of the best coaches in this league. He's saying a lot. In that sense, it's not a surprise that Chris Beard would have his team playing their best ball in March. That's everyone's goal, and it shouldn't be a surprise when one of the best coaches pulls that off.

Clearly, Ole Miss playing their best ball of the year. They're more than capable. The worry for Alabama beyond Chris Beard just being a good coach is that they're pretty good around the basket. You know, they're post players or good players. So, you know, that's probably, you know, the formula to beating Alabama this year when Alabama does lose in the NCAA tournament, assuming they will. And there's a good chance at some point they'll lose in the NCAA tournament. But when they do, you can almost bet it won't necessarily be to an athletic, hot-shooting team.

It'll be to a big, physical team that's really good in the paint, really good around the basket. I think that's sort of the toughest matchup for Alabama, and Ole Miss presents that to a degree. But I do like Alabama's chances to win tonight. Ole Miss could run out of gas late, playing three games in three days. Let's talk about that part right there, the physical versus, if you will, the mental part. Ole Miss right now, I mean, let's face it, three games in three days, I don't care if you play any kids in the backyard, that would be tough.

But this is their third game in three days. Alabama should be rested. But the other side of that coin is, could they be too rested? And could Alabama, is there a chance that just human nature would kick in and say, oh, we got this. This is Ole Miss. Look what we did in the regular season. They were everybody's punching bag in the regular season for the most part. Your thoughts just about two things there. Ole Miss running right now, let's face it, a challenge, three games in three days.

But on the other side of the coin, could Alabama sit here and maybe take a little bit of a sneak peek ahead at their own cost? Sure. You know, I don't think last year, I don't think Alabama was looking past Florida, but Alabama got shrubbed by Florida in the NCC tournament. And then did well in the NCC tournament. And, of course, Florida would go on to win the national championship. Alabama could, you know, Alabama being a no-show is a possibility here when you have the NCC tournament wrapped up, when you could question whether winning the SEC tournament is high on their list of team goals.

I think those are fair questions. But in terms of how the game will play out, this is my best guess. And in some ways, the script is so obvious it won't work out this way. But due to Ole Miss being very comfortable with the venue, winning two games in two days when Alabama hasn't played at all, I think it's almost easy to predict Ole Miss getting off to a really good start. But in the second half, Alabama gets a little more comfortable. This is a team that's used to coming from behind.

[5:07] They've eradicated some double-digit, you know, some double-digit hills. They've had to climb this season. They've just been a very good comeback team. And Ole Miss is likely to tire in the second half, playing their third game in three days. So I sort of foresee a really good start by Ole Miss and a second-half comeback by Alabama. As Ole Miss sort of runs out of gas and Alabama's superior talent sort of takes over late. But overall, I'm sort of expecting the game to be close. But I like Alabama's chances.

Jimmy, one good sign. Amore Allen came back to scoring and getting rebounds. 16 rebounds, five against Auburn last Saturday night. London Jemison had 11. Bethea had one of the more athletic plays we've seen the entire year. Bo Bowen still trying to do something. Noah Williamson still trying to do something. Jimmy, can they get a little help? Again, they're trying to get, obviously, to Sunday, maybe to play Florida. We'll see how it goes. Can they get some help from their bench? You know, Nate Oates has specifically challenged Taylor Bowl Bowen and London Jemison this week.

He's specifically challenged them to give him more. I think the fact that I'm excited about as an Alabama supporter is the team as a whole, in terms of the 10 guys that play, they're as healthy as they've been. I mean, it's been a struggle to get healthy and stay that way for this bunch, but they are. And that may mean getting more help from beyond the normal five guys that are out there. And, again, I don't think it's a coincidence that Nate Oates, early this week, sort of challenged Bowl Bowen and London Jemison.

I don't think he would have done that if they were playing banged up. Because that's not very fair to look at a banged up guy and say, hey, you've got to give me more, when they're lucky just to be out there at all. So, Bowl Bowen must be as healthy as he's been. Before he was hurt, he looked pretty good in the early part of the season. He could be a real March surprise for Alabama, but it is going to take all 10. I do think, largely, this will be the LeBaron-Fylon show in this postseason.

He's their best player, and he's one of the best players in the country. And I think he's probably playing with a chip on his shoulder, because he's been left off a few of these all-star teams. Yes. The Cousy finalists, he might be out there playing a little mad. That could be helpful for Alabama, too. But it's got to be more than Phylon for the team to advance and achieve something special. Jimmy's time locked on Bama. Every time Bama plays basketball this season, it is the proverbial question, how healthy is Bama coming into tonight's showdown?

Ask again, Harold. How healthy this team is. Every game, we have to ask how healthy the team is, because that's been as big of an opponent for this team this season as the guys on the other bench. No question. I mean, to me, it's been the story of this season. Well, two stories. Number one, you played the toughest schedule in the sport and only lost eight times. That's got to be the headline. That shows how, wow, that's a good basketball team right there. That's all you need to know.

But the number two thing is they did this in spite of being so banged up. They have one player on the team that was available for every single game, just one, in Houston Millette. That's crazy. So, you had nine of your ten regulars miss time. And when you miss time, you're not only missing the games that you missed, you're probably banged up before you went out. And when you return, you're not 100%. So, this team was playing shorthanded and or hurt most of the year. And now, everyone's wish comes true.

Now, they're as healthy as they've been all year. And we'll see if that pays off. Jimmy Stein and Luke Robinson also talk a little Alabama football occasionally. And Ryan Grubb, the offensive coordinator, when asked about competition at left tackle, he said, there is none. We have a left tackle with Jackson Lloyd. He also mentioned Michael Carroll's pretty sad at right tackle. And that Rayson Delgado guy is right now leading at center. Jimmy, your thoughts on some of the comments from Ryan Grubb. Yeah, man, that was fascinating on so many levels.

But, first of all, before anyone dives too deep into the should the coordinator award starting positions in spring practice number three, which is a fair question. It's a fair question. But, Alabama fans, it's good news. Alabama fans should, frankly, celebrate this news because it means that there's some confidence already. Because this is the group that may decide the outcome of the season, frankly. And now, instead of questions, because there's so many questions with four vacant spots, now you've already got answers. Just three practices in. There's answers at left tackle.

[10:16] It means that Jackson Lloyd, who was a five-star prospect, may, in fact, live up to the considerable hype for him to win a starting spot this quickly. And, Rayson Delgado, the center, he's coming from FCS football at Cal Poly. Fair to question how that's going to translate to the SEC. For them to sort of name him the center ahead of several other candidates is, frankly, great news. It means that they have no concerns after working with him as to how his game will translate to this next level.

So, it's really good news. Now, we can debate the philosophy or the logic or the reasonableness of naming starters this soon after spring. And I get anyone that says, hey, shouldn't there be more competition? Well, I would say this. I mean, Zabian Brown, he may be the best player on the team. He's a cornerback. We know he's going to start this fall. Is that detrimental to the team at all? I don't think so. I mean, and I think that Zabian knows that he's got to improve each and every day, not because there's competition for a spot, but he wants to play in the NFL.

There's scouts at practice. There's NFL scouts at your spring practices. They watch tape. The coaches watch tape. There's always someone showing up new who can take the job, and to me, it's not that big a deal that Ryan Grubb, quote, named someone the starter. And one last point, you don't have to submit your starting lineup for East Carolina today. You can say someone's going to start. It doesn't mean they have to. So, Jackson, Lloyd, Rayson, Delgati, they'll have plenty of opportunity to lose the job they can do.

There's five scrimmages. Between now and East Carolina. So, there's still a lot left to prove. Jimmy, obviously, you hear this across the board. Every camp, everybody's fired up. Everybody's going to win a national championship, and I'm sure it's no different in Tuscaloosa. But what are you hearing realistically as far as the vibe overall? This team, by Alabama standards, let's face it, they've got a ways to go because we know where the bar is set. Anything short of a national championship, you've still got work to do.

But what are you hearing as far as the vibe realistically? And if you're going to take kind of a snapshot of that, it seems like, let me get this straight, Ryan Coleman-Williams, correct me if I'm wrong, seems to be optimistic about the vibe overall of this team so far. Yeah, I'm going to go with quiet confidence. This probably isn't a year where you need to talk a lot. I mean, two of the last three times you played, you got blown out. Now, you were playing against elite competition at the end because you earned the right to do it.

We have to remember that. They earned the right to get blown out by Georgia. And then they earned the right to get blown out by Indiana. But you did lose two of your last three games, and it wasn't very close. I don't think it's a good offseason for talking. I don't think it's a good offseason to be publicly upset when things like FanDuel put your over-under win total at 8.5, which is probably the lowest it's been since, I don't know, since FanDuel. I mean, you know, that's a low thing.

But it's not a good year to talk about disrespect. I just think it's a good year to put your head down and go to work. And I do think there's some quiet confidence that the team will be better than the nation perceives it to be. Jamie, where can we get online and get the best podcast on the planet about Alabama sports, number one? And number two, what is Jimmy Stein's prediction for the final score tonight between Alabama and the Ole Miss Black Bear, Rebel, Land Sharks, whatever they are now?

Let's go Alabama 89-81 over Ole Miss. And you can tune in to Locked On at Locked On Bama on YouTube. We have a new show six days a week. So six days a week there's a new 30-minute show about everything going on at Alabama, primarily football, football, recruiting, and basketball. But we mention other sports as well. Locked On Bama. You can find us on YouTube or you can find Locked On Bama wherever you get your audio podcasts. Sounded like a good deal, Jamie. Thanks so much for your time today and have a good weekend.

All right? Hey, I appreciate it, guys. Thanks. Thank you, Jamie. Jimmy Stein goes to Locked On Bama, the esteemed producer, James, with a good get. Guess who's pitching against the Braves today in spring training baseball, Brett Beaird? It could have been David Weathers' son. Ryan Weathers on the mound, the pride of Loretto, facing the boys from the chop shop down in the Sunshine State. Coming up, speaking of the Sunshine State, Brett, hit me up with this name. Can you give me the name of this next guest?

[15:18] Well, it's Harold. It's the other beard boy. And he's next. Stay with us. There are many advantages of doing business with an independent insurance agent. Page Board & Insurance in Tuscumbia and M.J. Carter & Company Insurance in Florence can show you. An independent insurance agent is not tied to just one company in order to get you the coverage you need at a competitive price. Go buy and see M.J. Carter & Company Insurance at 127 South Court Street or call 256-760-9999. Or in Tuscumbia, see Page Board & Insurance at 111 East 3rd Street or call 256-381-1334.

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Tickets are available at Florence locations of Bank Independent. For more information, check out Kiwanis Club of Florence AL on Facebook. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. Time to go stereo. If you don't believe me now, I just listed up. Brett Beaird, will you please do the honors? Harold, our next guest normally takes off the first two days of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, and I'm guessing he called in sick this morning, picked up a 24-hour bug yesterday, watching, I believe, Florida Gators are ahead of Kentucky 16-8 very early in that game.

Brett Beaird, college football analyst for First Coast News and co-host of Second Helping podcast in the SEC with our good friend Travis Reier. Brett Beaird, can you update us on that Florida-Kentucky score? Well, the main thing is Florida has continued to play well. They've been double the score. Listen, the only way Florida's going to lose in the SEC tournament is if they get bored. And so far, they really haven't done that. This will be, if they win today, this will be their 12th straight win. And the conference, that says a lot.

[20:43] So, really, a lot of this is going to be determined on how soon they want to go home. Now, I think once they get going, they'll want to win the whole thing. And, look, if they beat Kentucky today, that will be three wins over Kentucky this year. And they absolutely own Kentucky. And, look, I get Kentucky's got the difference as far as in tradition and overall wins and all that. But there really is no one right now is even close in the conference to Florida. And, by the way, guys, if you haven't heard, and it'll be official come Sunday, they're likely playing their first two rounds of the NCAA tournament in Tampa.

So, then, and they will have wall-to-wall people for that. So, if you're a Gator fan right now, you're pretty happy. Brent Beard lives in the state of Florida. It must be fun in your backyard. I remember we were so old up here, Brent, that Florida used to be a football school. Is it safe to say it's now a basketball school? What makes Todd Golden so good? Well, what they've done this year is they've got this front line that is as good or better than anybody, frankly, in the country.

Ruben Chinlew averages a double-double every game. And they're pretty intimidating. And now, what's happened is the guards have really picked it up. They're shooting better. They weren't shooting real well. So, I mean, Florida is really, really tough to beat. Now, I will admit, in the previous game with Kentucky, just a few games ago, the reality is Florida got ahead by 20-something. I think they just got bored, frankly. And Kentucky came back to get within a couple possessions, but Florida was able to hang on. So, the question is going to be, will Florida be a number one seed or will they be a number two seed when we come on Sunday?

Auburn fans were in a good mood yesterday for about 33 minutes. And then Tennessee went on a 20-0 run led by Nate Amen and put Auburn, I don't know if they're behind on top or where they are on the bubble. Tennessee was impressive. Amen has turned himself into a lottery pick. Your thoughts on Tennessee. How far can they go? And the big question in this state is, has Auburn done enough to make the NCAA tournament? Well, I'll answer that first. That's really debatable. I mean, when you've got, what, double-digit losses, 15, look, they played a much tougher schedule than a lot of people.

But very few teams have ever been given an at-large bid when you've got that many losses. So, that's a real problem. I'll tell you guys, if you saw Bruce Pearl yesterday yelling at the officials and anybody else he could yell at, that was not a good look, any stretch of the imagination. Now, obviously, Steve and Pearl will be back next year, but they have really struggled as of late. Now, Tennessee has a very interesting game with Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt played real well this year, too, and deserve a lot of credit for that.

But here's a reality for Tennessee. For some reason, when Tennessee, with this current coaching staff, when they get into the NCAA playoffs, they get tight, and they don't play with any kind of reckless abandon that they do during the season. And, frankly, Tennessee's got enough talent. They can win a couple games and get to the Sweet 16. The problem is, will they be loose enough in order to play well like they have, or are they going to go back to what they've done with this coaching staff over the last three or four years?

Brent Beard in the huddle with us. First Coast News down in Jacksonville. Brent, Alabama fan says, is it going to be Texas? No. Is it going to be Georgia? No. Is it going to be Ole Miss? Yes. I don't think a lot of folks, if they're honest, saw this matchup coming tonight for Alabama. Your thoughts about Bama and the Rebs? Well, Bama's playing, frankly, better, and I think they're peaking at the right time. I mean, they scored. Now, here's what they really needed to do. They scored almost 60 points in the paint against Auburn.

[26:03] Yeah. But that was really impressive, frankly. I mean, they only shot 26% from three. So, they really needed to show that they could score in the paint the way that they did. And, again, the thing with Alabama, and, again, they beat Ole Miss 93-74 earlier. And, look, I agree with Jimmy Stein. I think at some point, guys, you're talking about three games in three days. I'm not saying Ole Miss can't give Alabama a lot of problems because of how well-coached they are. But, at some point, I don't care who you are.

When you've played three games in three days, and you don't even do that in the NCAA tournament, how much legs do they have left is going to be the big question for them. Especially a team like Alabama that loves to crank it up and run up-tempo. Boy, and maybe in the first half, there's some adrenaline involved and all that. But, in the second half, I think that's going to be the question, Brent. Well, I would agree with that. And, look, the other thing with Alabama is, I mean, Bama could, I'm not going to say that they're going to win it because I don't think anybody's going to win it over Florida right now.

If Florida is awake and alert, no one's going to beat Florida in the SEC tournament, which is an important thing with that. But, at the same time, you know, if Bama, the main thing they've got to do is that they, if they could win a couple of games, I mean, they're in. There's no question about that. Would they go up? Would they be a three-seed? I think is what everybody's looking at at this point. But, at the same time, I mean, when you've got Phylon, like you did in the previous game, 21.4 assists, that's pretty strong.

But, the brethren on the team need to be able to step up, too. And, they've got to play. And, how far they go will be determined on how much they want to play defense. Yeah. Let me ask you about the other surprise before we let you go. The Oklahoma Sooners. Not only has Porter Moser saved its job by winning six consecutive games. They beat Arkansas today, which is going to be a tall task. They may get in the NCAA tournament. They've lost nine consecutive games midway through the season.

They out-rebounded Texas A&M by 15, 19-11 on the glass, in 18-1 in second-half points. Some of these former Bama boys, and particularly Darian Reed and Muhammad Wagyu, have played very well. Your thoughts on the Sooner Uprising in the SEC tournament? Yeah. They've really played well, haven't they? Now, I think part of the issue here with Arkansas today, and playing them, Darius Acup, has been hurt. Now, how full goal he is kind of remains to be seen a little bit. But, I'm impressed with both these teams.

I'll tell you what, guys. I'm not sure Cal has not done his best job of coaching in a long time. I agree. With his team, now, you mentioned A&M, and because he's from the great state of Alabama, he needs to be mentioned. What Bucky Ball has done with A&M, frankly, has been nothing short of incredible. They've got to do something about their height. They've got to get some big men who can keep up with that pace that they've got. And they need a week off as much as anybody, don't they, going into the NCAA tournament.

So, I think that's going to be huge for them. But, yes, Oklahoma is turning around. They're making their shots. Their defense is much improved. I think what, if Oklahoma could win today against Arkansas, it's going to be very interesting to see how far they go. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I know you're looking forward to the day we all are, the top four seeds in action in Nashville. But, where can we get online and get all your good stuff, including the podcast? Yeah, and also, let me say, watch this Will Wade thing for LSU.

Now, Wade's obviously at NC State, and he's played dumb with every press conference that they've had. And, listen, the other thing I'll say real quick is, please tell me, why is South Carolina bringing their coach back? That has been an absolute dumpster fire. And, guys, I'll tell you one thing. How bad are they going to be this year after basketball? And if football does a nosedive, their baseball team may have to save them along that line. But, again, first coach news here in Jacksonville, to do a lot with 9.30 a.m.

[31:34] with our friend Terry Norvell on the radio and at Brent Beard, B-E-A-I-R-D. Folks ought to know how to spell that for Brett over the years. But, guys, it's going to be a fun day and a fun weekend. And Sunday will be quite suspenseful for a lot of teams, will it not? Enjoy it, Brent. And, by the way, good luck getting over that March Madness flu, okay? I'll tell you one thing that's also going on right now. Believe it or not, not only do you have the basketball tournament going on, thank God they've changed the time.

The golf tournament is down here this weekend, too, if anybody who's a golf fan. And it's hard to travel anywhere with this. But I'm just glad they used to do it during the NCAA tournament. So they've changed that, which is a godsend, believe me. Absolutely. One of the prettiest courses on the tour. Brent's always good to hook up with you. The TPC Tournament of Players Championship. Watched a little bit of it this morning. Coming up, B.B., is it true that the birthday boy is on deck?

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Bill Shanks, host of the Bill Shanks Show on 93.1 FM in Macon, Georgia. Online at thesesuperstations.com. Contributor for 41NBC and Brent Beard. Is there anything else we can add? Maybe this could possibly be a special day for Bill Shanks? Would you agree with that? You know, we've been talking with our next guest for over 20-something years. Been blessed to do that. Right. And he has frequently mentioned that you and I are older than dirt. Right. Some other comments that we can't rephrase on adult radio, but I'll be honest with you.

I think he's catching up with us now. Yeah. Have you ever tried living without dirt, though? Bill Shanks, I think that it's in order. Happy birthday to you. Have you got your cake and everything else all lined up over there? How are you? Doing great. Well, thank you very much. I do have my cake lined up, but since when did this show become adult radio? I want to clarify that right now. Well, we all have goals in life, Bill. As always, my great mom used to say, I've got to have something to build to.

So we're getting there. It's a process. You've heard that word before. That's right. That's right. That's a good one. Congratulations, man. I hear people joke about age. Look, do you want to get old or do you want the alternative? There's only two choices that I know of, Bill. I'll take old, okay? Well, and here's the thing. I keep reading these things on social media about how if you can last five more years, we'll all last to 120, so h***, I'm just wanting to last five more years.

Absolutely. If that's the case, I'm back at middle age. If that's the case, you know. Let me break it down for you. I'm at a point where they have to call the fire department and not light my candles, okay? I get it. I get it. All right, Bill. Ole Miss and Georgia. Your thoughts, everybody thought over here is going to be Georgia or Texas taking on Alabama in the SEC basketball tournament and the Rebs gets a rolling. Your thoughts about this Georgia basketball, and I'll say it again, Bill, I just don't understand.

Of all the college teams sitting on a Fort Knox of possible recruits, it should be Georgia with what you got there in Atlanta and the greater Atlanta area alone. Well, last night was embarrassing. That was ridiculous. It was just not a very good performance whatsoever. And they've had them that this year. They had one against Ole Miss earlier when they lost home in overtime to them by two points, and you're like, what the heck was that all about? Yeah. So, I don't know. I mean, they just – they're a good team.

They're not a great team, you know, and this is the first time in two decades that they're going to be in two consecutive NCAAs, which is great, and I think every Georgia fan is happy about that. But, you know, you're kind of embarrassed by what happened last night. You're like, well, how are you going to win a game in the NCAA tournament if you can't beat Ole Miss? And for some reason, Ole Miss has got Georgia's number of football and basketball, which I don't like you, Harold Bugg.

That's kind of what that means because you're an Ole Miss fan and we all know it. But last night was weird. It was just like, what's this all about? You hate it when you get into – even the conference tournament and your team just makes you kind of ask those kind of questions, don't you? You do, yeah. The two goaltending calls that were missed by the officials, and particularly the last one, was absurd, quite frankly. But, again, the official has got to make the call before it can be reviewed.

And then, for some reason, Ole Miss decided to foul in the last few seconds, and that was the, quote, one-step continuation rule. I guess they had to get close to the NBA. But, you know, the moral of the story is don't get behind by 23, but Georgia got hosed on a couple of calls. Well, we all know the SEC office has been after Georgia for decades. I mean, we all know that. I mean, God, I sound like an Auburn fan in my old age. What the heck is that all about?

Like, God. Well, you know, there goes my mother passing me on the road, and I don't know where she's going. Maybe she's going to go get me a birthday present. Anyway, so, yeah, that was weird. There were a couple of weird calls, for sure. And it was, you know, but like you said, I don't have any sympathy for them, because they got to have 23 points. It's like, dude, you cannot do that against a team that's got, what, 13 wins coming in there, and it was just, it was embarrassing.

[42:00] It was an embarrassing performance, and, you know, their offense is, I tell you, the thing about having a great offensive team, your defense can't just shock, and theirs does, unfortunately. Yeah. The birthday boy, Bill Shanks in the huddle with us. Bill, how good are the Braves? Well, if we ask the pride of Loretto, he'd probably say pretty doggone good. But right now, Ryan Weathers on the mound, even as we speak, against the Braves for the Yankees, and the Braves are off to a 4-0 start early on, at the second end, last time I checked.

Your thoughts about the Braves so far that you're seeing, Bill? Well, they've been good this spring. They've had a good spring. I was down there last week and was down there for about five full days and got 30 interviews, which you can see on my YouTube page and through Twitter at Bill Shanks. But, you know, their pitching looks good. The kid today, Fuentes, is doing well so far. Grant Holmes did pretty well last night with five hit list innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates, which was good. They look good.

I mean, they're having a really good spring, which, you know, and I asked Walt Weiss about this the other day, and it's like, I know spring training records don't matter, but considering the fact that you're the new manager and considering the fact that, you know, this team was 10 games under 500, doesn't it kind of help a little bit to have a winning spring? And he said yes. He believes that that's the case, and it kind of establishes something right off the bat. And you've got to remember, too, this team last year started 0-7, right?

Yeah, that's right. It was a horrible start to the season, you know, and so to get even spring training off to a good start, I think, is a really good thing. But I like what I've seen so far. I like what I saw last week when I was down in spring training. And, you know, we're two weeks away from tonight is the opening night. Let me ask you that. You mentioned being down there because there's no substitute for being in the environment and kind of absorbing it.

I think sometimes when you see some of these rosters, excuse me, you see some of these rosters and some of these older guys get on there, and they just basically mail it in. When you get a younger team, they are, by nature, going to try harder because they're trying to land a spot on the roster. They don't have the guaranteed contract some of these other guys have. So, what kind of vibe are you getting from this team? Just the vibe part of it. Well, you know, I think when I got there, Harold, they had just had the profile news pop the day before, and they were off that day.

I broke down that Tuesday when they had the off day, and that was when the profile news dropped. And so, when they got back the next day, I mean, they were pretty p*****. They were pretty upset. But, you know, look, we all know, and they found this out more than anybody the last two seasons, in baseball, you've got to adjust and roll the punches, man. And whether it's an injury or whatever, you've got to keep on going because you've got six months and 162 games to come no matter what.

So, I think it was good. You know, I was – I think there's a little bit of an energy because of the new manager and the managerial change. That's no knock on Ryan Sticker, of course. I think you have any type of change like that. You're rejuvenating a little bit with a new voice, a new sound, and a new push. And so, you know, I'm very – I'm optimistic. I mean, I feel better after I went down there. And, you know, I saw Grant Holmes, who, like I said, pitched last night for five innings.

I saw him pitch on Saturday, and he looked good. I didn't go to the game on Friday night, but they said Reynaldo Lopez looked really good. That's important for that team to have the three and four starters in the rotation do well because that's where our concern was, especially with Waldrop and Schwellenbach. Can't forget about A.J. Smith-Shalver. And now Wentz is gone for the year because of the torn ACL that he suffered on Sunday. So, you know, you've got all those things that kind of creep up on you, and you want some good news, and so far, I think even with the injuries, the positive outweighs the negative.

Well, I've asked you to the point of nauseam about bringing in another starting pitcher, and you have not exactly been optimistic about that. Having said that, and you mentioned Fuentes pitching today. I know you love J.R. Ritchie, Martin Perez, Carrasco, Hernandez. Now that you've been down there, do you feel a little bit better about some of the kids being able to come in? You know, and maybe even later in the year, the depth of pitching, how do you feel now? Well, I've said that I thought Ritchie would start 15 games to the Braves after the Schwellenbach and Waldrop injuries, and I believe that.

I also believe that Schwellenbach and Waldrop are going to be back. I mean, I feel more confidence now that that's not just two guys who are gone permanently. They're going to be back at some point. The Schauber could be back in August. I mean, that's not out of the question. I don't know for what role, but I mean, you could get a little insertion of new arms, rebuilt arms, what do you want to call it, in the latter part of the year, which is not a bad thing, right?

[47:24] I think their plan right now, Brett, is to survive early on, hope nobody else gets hurt, and then they will get Ritchie up at some point, and they will get those other guys back. And, you know, if they have the opportunity to add another arm, if they need to, they will. But I think right now, I'd be really shocked if they, Lucas Chialito is the only one left, the main one left, if you will. I don't see them getting him. I just, I don't. I'd be really surprised if they did.

Bill Shanks, theesuperstations.com. We still get the question, Bill. Some confusion about, we know you can hear the Braves with you and with us here on 93.9. The question is, will we be able to see the Braves? The answer is yes. The question is, will we still get free Braves TV, or is it like everything else now, everything's got a price tag, and they've got to go to one of these streaming services? Well, look, I think everybody should buy the package, and a couple reasons. Number one, you're not going to have to worry about signing the Braves on great television stations, or on your cable system, or your streaming service, it's going to be on your braves.tv no matter what.

And it's not that expensive. And, I mean, I know it is for some people, and they can't afford that. But, I mean, I think for the most part, it's not that out of whack price-wise. And, I mean, if you're going to drive over to Atlanta, I hate to tell you, you're going to spend a h*** of a lot more than what you're going to pay for that TV service. And, you know, the other part is, you are kind of helping the Braves. It's their revenue to make sure they do support that team.

And I hate to say that, because somebody can come back and say, well, what if I pay my money, and that money goes to an office complex in the battery? You know, and I get it. Or a yacht. Yeah, absolutely. But, I mean, I think that it's a well-priced plan. There are going to be games that are going to be put on cable systems and streaming services. That's still to come. And then a select number of games that are either going to be simulcast or available on free TV on the Gray Station.

So, that news is still to come. But, you know, they announced the streaming part first because they want you to pay the money. And I don't blame them. I would, too. And I want to do it. And I think everybody should do it, to be honest with you. Bill, what is it for the folks? I think a lot of people know. But there's obviously some. It was about $99. Is that what it is for the season? I think so. Yeah. And, I mean, there's different kind of levels, I think.

And, like, I get the baseball package, the MLB package every year, Harold. And I think it's only $50 more. Yeah, for everybody. So, I mean, for $200, you get the whole thing. So, I mean, it's not that bad. And over the course of – if you watch a lot of – I mean, if you don't watch a lot of baseball, it won't matter anyway, right? But if you do, if you do watch the Braves, I really think it's a fair situation. And, look, somebody told me earlier this morning, and she said, you know, we had free baseball on TV for decades.

I don't mind paying 100-whatever dollars for a Braves baseball, which is less than a dollar a game. Let me ask you real quick, what are the plans to replace the knucklehead of the year? Once was bad enough. How on the – you know what? He did it twice. What are the plans there? Well, I think, you know, they had already brought in Mike Yastrzemski, who's going to play majority time in left field. They'll platoon him a little bit, which I don't like, really. I don't like platoons.

And they're going to have Eli White. They're going to have – when Drake Ball is not catching, he'll be the DH. I think that the Lugo – Mateo kid, rather, I'm sorry, Jorge Mateo, is going to be another possibility to get some at-bats there. So, you know, they're going to mix it up a little bit, unless they acquire another bat. But I think it's going to provide more at-bats for Mike Yastrzemski no matter what. It's going to provide more at-bats for Drake Baldwin. I think when Drake Baldwin is not catching, he's the DH.

And so we just got to kind of see how they kind of work all that out. But I think they could still bring in a hitter before the season starts. I wouldn't be surprised by that whatsoever. Absolutely. Well, listen, have a great weekend. Enjoy tonight. You know, we'll leave the dirt comments about birthdays. But as much as we enjoy giving you hail, isn't it nice to be celebrating, as Harold alluded to, another birthday? The alternative is not where we want to. Give your mother a hug.

Now, if any of our esteemed listeners would like to call in this afternoon and wish you a happy birthday, how can they do that? Well, they could call in, but I'd just rather them send me cash. Can they do that? I mean, is that possible, Claire? Do I need a GoFundMe page for my birthday just to let the Alabama fans send me cash? That would be good. Theesuperstations.com will be on in about an hour and six minutes and take you up until we've got Georgia and Tennessee baseball.

[52:54] We've got conference baseball starting tonight. We'll have that, so we can't wait for that. But, yeah, we'll be on from 3 until about 5.40 Eastern time and look to have a lot of fun. Hope the Dawes give you a win for a birthday present. Listen, man, again, on behalf of BB, happy 29th birthday again, Bill. 56. So, again, I'm 56, but I'm looking at this as if I've got four or five more years to make it to where I'll live to 120, I'm still middle-aged. Yeah. If you're a bottle of wine, you're just now coming in time.

Okay, Bill. That's right. Have a great weekend, Bill. Thank you, buddy. Thank you, guys. The birthday boy, Bill Shanks, at thesuperstations.com. Coming up in the second hour, we're going to be taking it all over the place. Craig Stevenson is going to be on board. The man from Birmingham, Doug Segrist, along with Mike Huguenin, kicking it all off in the second hour of the Bumult Buck Show. Stay with us. Garnet Electric Company has been serving the shoals and the surrounding areas for over 79 years in commercial, institutional, and heavy industrial construction and maintenance.

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Online health questions required. 1819 News. A bill has been passed by the Alabama Senate that would limit the incentives given to data centers that are coming into the state of Alabama. State Senator Andrew Jones offered the bill. It limits the maximum exemption period to 20 years when it comes to tax abatements being offered to these data processing centers. Jones says the state wants to be competitive but not give out sweetheart deals in light of how data centers use a ton of power to operate in whatever state they are.

[57:59] Another bill offered by state Senator Lance Bell was also passed by the Senate. That bill prohibits the cost shifting of energy required by these data centers to the Alabama businesses and families. The Clean Energy Advocacy Group known as Energy Alabama supports Bell's bill saying that it protects Alabamians from being forced to pay for the cost of the large electric demand of these data centers. Energy Alabama says that data centers should be the ones who pay their own way when they come into a state. I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this.

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40-year-old Richard Smalley is accused of using the AI with a picture of a fully clothed child in order to create a nude picture of that same child. This case will be the first to involve a new state law that was passed by the state legislature back in 2024 that bans the use of AI-generated pornography. I'm Andrea Tox. 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.

Tide fans. Here comes the Tide. Let's roll. At one for the win. Ball game, ball game, ball game. The win. Grab your hard hats and tune in for blue collar basketball with the Crimson Tide all season long on your home for Alabama basketball. Tonight, Alabama takes on Ole Miss in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament. Airtime is 5 p.m. with a tip at 6 here on 93.9, The Score. Brought to you locally in part by… Nationwide insurance agents Michael Noe and Bill Cochran. Garner Pierce Otto. The Alabama Music Hall of Fame.

Bob's Tire and Alignment. Alpha insurance agents David Jordan, Mike Mitchell, and Matt Henry. Fake Independent. Champions World Famous Fried Chicken. Garnett Electric. And Elliott Johnson Insurance. Alabama and Ole Miss in the SEC tournament. Tonight at 5 on 93.9, The Score. 93.9, The Score weather. Today sunny with a high around 65. Tonight mostly clear with a low near 40. Tomorrow sunny with a high around 75. Tomorrow night mostly clear with a low near 55. And if you're Sunday partly sunny with a high around 75. 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. Woo! 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. Welcome back to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg. Normally joined by Brett Beaird. He just came down with a case of March Madness Flu. But we're proud that you are on board with us. ACC basketball tournament happening even as we speak. Up the road in Nashville. Home of screen music instead of country music this week.

And right now, as scripted Florida, leading the Miami Wildcats from Kentucky. 37-28 at last report as they get near the break. Mike Hugenden is always on it as National College football slash basketball analyst. Mike, welcome in. How are you? Hopefully we'll be able to hook up here with Mike. Surely he's coming at us from the heart of Florida. And again, it's a busy day today. Kentucky and Florida, even as we speak right now. And it looks like, as we talked earlier with Brent Beard, I don't think anybody's going to catch the Florida Gators unless, as Brent Beard put it, unless they get bored.

Kentucky right now, if you can keep it within 10, getting into the second half, you've still got a Feynman's chance there. We'll see how that goes. Coming up, interesting after this game, it's going to be Vanderbilt and Tennessee. And as we mentioned, a game that you can watch here on 93.9, the score later on tonight, Alabama and Ole Miss, pregame at five, game at six, going to be talking about that in depth here in a second. And then nightcap, the team that I don't think anybody wants to face right now, those Sooners from Oklahoma, taking on Arkansas, that is in the nightcap.

Let's see if we've got Mike back with us. Mike, are you with us now? No, but Brent Beard is. There we go. Obviously, Mike having some issues. He's probably got a case of March Madness flu, too. Your thoughts before you jump off there about the Florida-Kentucky game right now. It's 37-28 at last report. Can anybody, your brother, Brent, put it very well, can anybody realistically knock off the Gators in this tournament? Harold, if they, again, if they're focused and playing well, I would say no. Now, Kentucky has played the Gators pretty close in both games.

[1:03:39] In fact, listen, if you stay within single digits of Florida, you played well. Owe has had a marvelous season playing so far. Mohamed Diabadi, I believe, has played pretty well in this game. I still expect Florida to pull away late, but I'll give Kentucky credit. And again, they've won two in a row, too. We've talked about Ole Miss and Oklahoma winning, too. So has the Cats. It's almost a win if you keep it within single digits at the break. Speaking of Florida, let's go back and see if Mike Hugen is now joining us from the Sunshine State.

Mike, are you there with us now? I am, indeed. There you go. Enjoying some March Madness. Mike, you're from the basketball council of the Southeastern Conference again this season. Is it Florida's world, the rest of us just living in it, Mike? Yeah. I mean, Florida is playing exceedingly good basketball right now. And Kentucky is the only SEC team to keep them, to lose a game by single digits since January to Florida in the SEC. Auburn did win in Gainesville. Missouri did beat Florida. But Florida is destroying teams of late.

It's an extremely well-rounded team. By far the most well-rounded team in the league. They still have a couple weaknesses, but they are playing exceedingly well. You know, obviously, a lot of eyes on Sunday, Selection Sunday, and everybody's talking about the number one seed. If Florida is not one of the number one seeds, I would love to see a team better than the Gators right now. Well, I wouldn't want to face a team better than the Gators right now if they're not. Yeah, I think that the idea that Kentucky, I'm sorry, not Kentucky, the fact that UConn could be a number one seed.

I know UConn beat Florida. That was back before Christmas, early December, first week of December. Basically a UConn home game. Florida, I think Florida has nailed down a number one seed. The SEC might not be as good as it was last year. It's still going to get ten teams in the field. The Big East is going to get three. So I think that shows that Florida has played better teams in its league than UConn has. So I don't think anybody thinks, you know, Michigan is struggling with Ohio State now.

They're going to be a number one. Arizona won the Big 12. They're going to be a number one. I think Florida and Duke are safe, too. I think UConn will be the number two seed in Florida's region. The day's number two game will be Tennessee and Vanderbilt, an all-Vanderbilt and all-Volunteer State matchup. Before we talk about that one, let's talk about the Auburn Tigers. We saw Bruce doing what fathers do. They go to bat for their son. We get that. But you take the emotions out of it, no one's had a more up-and-down season than the Auburn Tigers.

Come Sunday night, what's Auburn going to hear from the committee? 17-16, finished 11th in your league. Personally, I don't think a team that's one game over 500 and finished 11th in its league deserves a chance to play for a national title. And they're not supposed to look at this, but Auburn's lost nine of their last 12. Yes, they have some extremely nice wins. I don't think anybody doubts that. But down the stretch, they lost to Oklahoma, which is sort of a bubble team. They lost to Alabama. They lost to Ole Miss at home, which that might have been the killer game.

Yesterday, you can argue that they should not have lost to Tennessee. They were the better team for 31 minutes. But the Ole Miss loss, I think, sort of sealed their fate. Since then, they've beaten LSU and Mississippi State, arguably the two worst teams in the league. So, I don't think Auburn's getting in. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, as we mentioned, it's the all-volunteer showdown coming up here shortly. Tennessee and Vanderbilt. I would imagine the folks in Nashville love this matchup. Won't be much dust in the seats.

They're going to sell just about every ticket for this one. That's one thing about the seats. What's going to happen on the court this afternoon between Tennessee and Vanderbilt? This is weird, Mike. Tennessee goes to Nashville earlier, and they knock off the doors there. The doors go to Knoxville in the last game of the regular season. They knock off Tennessee on their home court. What comes up this afternoon, that one? By the pace. When they played in Nashville, it was played at Tennessee's pace. The game was in the 60s.

When they played in Knoxville, the game was at Vanderbilt's pace, points in the 80s, and Vandy wins. A slower game is much, much better for the Vols. And in that scenario, they can pound Vanderbilt inside. Tennessee is by far the most physical team. But I would argue that you really can't sort of impose your physicality if it's a fast-paced game. If Vanderbilt's getting up and down the court, the Tennessee size advantage is sort of to dissipate. So, the Vols want a slow-paced game where they can pound the ball inside, get the ball to Nate Amen.

[1:09:04] Hope Jacoby Gillespie plays well. Tennessee, you know, sort of woke up last night, played phenomenal basketball the last nine minutes. I think they're the better team than Vandy. So, in the rubber match, I'll take Tennessee, and I think the game will be in the 60s. Mike, you're getting a national college football-slash-basketball analyst. This is not the epitome of what March Madness is all about. When the bracket came out for the SEC tournament, everybody just had this smart, foregone conclusion. So, Alabama, we know it's going to be there on Friday.

Will it be Texas or will it be Georgia? The intrigue being both those teams beat Alabama earlier this regular season. So, we know it's going to be one of them because Ole Miss is the only thing that's going to stand the way. Here we are on the Friday before the Friday night game, and Alabama is going to be taking on who? Not the Dawgs, not anybody else, but the Ole Miss Rebels. Your thoughts about Ole Miss? Three games in three days. Can they keep the train on track tonight against the Tide?

Blank. Sort of laughing. Ole Miss beat a discombobulated Texas team. They have faded badly down the stretch. Then Ole Miss beat a Mike White coach team, which is not difficult to do. I know Georgia's going to the tournament, but so if I'm Alabama, I'm ecstatic because Ole Miss is bad. They won five games in the regular season in conference play. I think they've shot their shot. They've played well. They've played well offensively. I don't think they can stop Alabama's offense. So, I think Alabama gets a breather of sorts.

I think Alabama wins comfortably tonight. Where do you put – I mean, obviously, there's a lot to be determined, but right now on a Friday, just taking a poke in the dark here, Mike, what would you see Alabama? It seems the conventional wisdom. Is it going to be three? Is it going to be four? Obviously, where they're going to wind up in the tournament is going to have an influence, I would assume, on that. But where would you put Alabama right now in the dance? I think the interesting – what are they going to do with Tennessee and Vandy?

I think the Tennessee-Vandy game will have an impact on the seeding. I think the team that wins tonight will be seeded one line higher than the loser. I think Alabama could be a three if there had been a couple more teams that lost, big teams that lost in their conference tournaments. But I think the title will be a four. I think that will be fine with Nate Oates. And, again, their style of play, it can be difficult if you haven't seen it before. So they get up and down the court.

They're going to play a team in the first round that most likely wants to plod. And for the most part, Alabama doesn't get sucked into those kind of games. The last one that got sucked into was the Vols game in late February, and they won in any way in Knoxville. So I think Alabama is going to be a four, and their offense makes them dangerous, obviously. We mentioned earlier about basketball compared to football as a marathon. And in case in points, Oklahoma, Texas A&M. At one point this season, everybody was already writing off the Sooners basketball team.

And everybody was pumping sunshine and buckyball at Texas A&M. And then, as the season wore on, we saw the vector line starting to cross. Oklahoma now has the gas. Texas A&M, they've come back to earth. Before we get into tonight's matchup with Oklahoma and Arkansas, your thoughts about buckyball? Personally, I think he's exceeded expectations with the roster he inherited. But, nonetheless, this is a pretty smart league. You play long enough, they'll figure out where the holes are. Really talented team for Buckingham Miller. I think he did a really nice job.

There were not a lot of expectations. I think they were picked to finish 13th in the league, or maybe it was 11th. I know it was above 10th, and it was an odd number. And I know it wasn't 15th. So he's done a nice job, but I think you're exactly right. You watch enough tape, and you realize, okay, this is what they do. As long as we don't do A, B, and C, we should be able to feast on D, E, and F. So let's try to do that.

And I think, for the most part, teams have done that in SEC play. They started off 7-1 in league play. Then they played Alabama and Florida back-to-back. Barely lost to Alabama. Florida hammered them. Then they lost to Mizzou. Then they lost to Vandy. So at that point, they're 7-5, and you realize this team isn't nearly as good as they looked. But if I'm Buckingham Miller, if I'm an A&M fan, if I'm an A&M Athletic Department administrator, I'm extremely pleased with the fact this team's going to the NCAA tournament.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma and Arkansas on a collision course tonight. Two old border neighbors. What's going to happen in that one, Mike? Basketball. Yeah, giving up, left for dead, and Porter Moser, get him out of here. Well, they're hot. They've won eight of their last ten. I think if they beat Arkansas tonight, they get in the NCAA tournament, maybe replacing Texas because Texas has gone the opposite way. And yesterday's game, they embarrassed Texas A&M. You told me three weeks ago, Oklahoma's going to be looking phenomenal in the SEC tournament.

[1:14:38] I would have been, oh, the Oklahoma women? Because the Oklahoma men aren't good, but they're playing phenomenal basketball. And Nigel Pack is getting paid a lot of money. He has Final Four experience when he was in Miami, and he started to play a lot better. Should be a fun day, all four top C's rocking and rolling today. I know you're going to enjoy that, Mike. And I would imagine you've already got the industrial strength popcorn ready for next week when it really gets down to business.

Thank you so much for your time today. Kick back, enjoy, and have a great and safe weekend, Mike. Mike, you're going to hook it up with us. National College Football slash Basketball Analyst down in Orlando. Coming up, time to head on down and check in with Doug Segrist on deck. Stay with us. Wendy's has a new Girl Scout Thin Mints Frosty Fusion. With Girl Scout Thin Mints cookie pieces, rich, creamy, frosty, and a mint chocolate cookie sauce. Which means Girl Scout Thin Mints and Wendy's Frosty, yeah, they're basically best friends now.

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Early detection and treatment are the best tools to save your vision. Take control of your eyesight. Go to stopamd.org to learn more. 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 the Good Feet Store. The Good Feet Store. Start your journey today at goodfeet.com. Hello again, everybody. I'm Roger Hoover. On yesterday's edition of Crimson Drive, driven by NASCAR, we were joined by Alabama baseball outfielder, Logan Devenport. Got dinner with them.

They showed me everything. I just, it made me feel at home. And that was something that I was really looking for in the portal. You know, like a lot of schools, they're very cutthroat. I think Alabama was such a good culture, such good people that are truly genuine and it made an easy decision. That's one thing to see on a recruiting trip, but how have you seen that pop up again once you've gotten into fall ball or even early in the season, the culture kind of stayed the same?

Yeah. So in the fall, like we, we'd have meetings, we'd come in and talk about like our core values and, and what we value as a team and what it's going to take to get to, you know, Omaha. Um, I think that really helps me specifically because that helps me in my game, like the, the mindfulness side and being prepared and what to think. I'll have more in a moment. This is Christian Miller for the Good Feet Store. I know from playing football at Alabama and in the NFL that if you have foot, knee, hip or back pain, it can be a huge challenge.

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Tip-off from Nashville is scheduled for 6 p.m. Central with our coverage on the network starting at 5 p.m. Crimson Tide Today is brought to you by the Good Feet Store. Crimson Tide Today is a production of the Crimson Tide Sports Network from Learfield. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The Score. Welcome back in. It is an absolute pleasure for us to welcome in the man who knows all about radio, TV, newspapers. He's got a wall full of awards down in Beham, Birmingham, Alabama.

His book's called A Storm Came Up. Doug Sigrist, welcome in. How are you? I'm superb. You know, this is the best we talked about last week. Yeah. But this is the best time of the year. I am working from home today. I'm sitting in front of my TV. I'm getting some stuff done, but this is just awesome. Yeah. Are you like Brett? Brett, he is. Now, he kind of takes it seriously. He's not going to take a shower until March manages to play the U.S.

Are you with Brett on that, or what's the deal? No, I'll probably take a shower daily. Okay. At least once, right? Well, I've gotten to the point where when I enter the house, I feel like I'm visiting my grandfather. So, yeah, I need that shower. I hear you, Doug. What are your impressions so far? I think the biggest surprise, the Ole Miss Rebels. Let's start with those guys because no one gave them much of a chance coming in. They were over there in Oxford. They were everybody's punching bag, and here it is.

It's Friday, and the question is how much gas do they still have left in the tank against the team not too far from you, from Tuscaloosa, coming up tonight in Nashville. But your impressions of the tourney so far in Nashville? Ole Miss has turned it on. Oklahoma's turned it on. Oklahoma's on the bubble. They got hot down the stretch. So, that's not a big surprise. But this Ole Miss team, you know, particularly considering who's coaching them, I expected more. Maybe not much more, but I expect teams to be, you know, at least to kind of be playing on the bubble at this point.

You know, they've got scores, but they also got like LSU's two best players from last year, one of whom Alabama wanted. And I thought we would see more out of them. You know, I think it runs out tonight, but I go back to last year when Alabama played Ole Miss, and Ole Miss just absolutely shut them down defensively. That's right. So, Chris Beard will come up with some type of scheme that, you know, if Alabama's off a little, it could cause some problems. Let's face it, Ole Miss is loosey-goosey.

I mean, if they lose, well, everybody said we was going to lose. Alabama right now is expected to win. So, what's the old definition of disappointments when you don't live up to expectations? Is that the biggest enemy in your mind, Doug, is the fact that Alabama might, between the ears, take this team for granted between the stripes? I think they did that with Georgia. And because of that, I don't think they do that tonight. You know, they've got two days off. They're really kind of on a hot streak.

And still, when we look kind of at the national picture, they're still getting doubted a lot. And I've got a feeling Nate Oates is going to kind of remind his team of that. So, I don't really expect a flat performance tonight. Sunday night, Doug, what news will the Auburn fans be hearing about this men's basketball team? When does the NIT start? Not the NIT, but the NIT, right? Yeah. Yeah, it was all there for the taking. And, you know, every chance the last three weeks, you know, they had a, you know, when Auburn had a chance to move forward, they took two steps backwards.

Just, you know, the chemistry wasn't there. I'm not sure the roster was there. This is very disappointing. You know, and I think, you know, you're still kind of hanging on by the thread. I think St. Louis winning today helped, because that would have erased another at-large spot. But certainly Miami of Ohio losing yesterday hurts a lot. And the biggest thing that hurts is just every change you've had to perform, just come up short. And, you know, giving up a 19-0 run, listen, Tennessee's a good team.

I think with the right matchups, Tennessee could go to the Final Four, because of the way they play defense. But, you know, they just mugged Auburn for about a five-minute stretch. You think that even if the NIT is on the table, they'll take it? Because that can be expensive. Instead of making money, sometimes you spend money when you go that route. Or would it be better just to say, you know what, we're just going to hang it up. We're going to sit here, close the door, find out what we did wrong this year, and try to fix it in the offseason.

[1:25:29] What would be the best strategy for Auburn? And to that end, what does Auburn need to do to get back to the standard? Probably sit this one out, and then I think go back to focusing on high school recruitment and kind of match up with the portal as you need to. Because I think, really, one of Stephen Pearl's strengths is his ability to coach and practice and to develop players. And we just didn't see the development this year. It was almost a complete overhaul, and I think that's the biggest reason for that.

But go back to what is your strength, and that's, you know, evaluating talent, getting talent on campus, then helping them grow. And, you know, it certainly saves you a little money, too. But at that point, if you have the nucleus in place, you can kind of pick and choose the portal. There are just so many. Again, I don't blame this on him. I mean, he inherited a bad situation. Oh, man. Potentially a bad roster. You look at all the guys. You've got four guys from last year that have played NBA games this year.

And honestly, I thought one would at this point. I thought Broom would. Nobody replaces that. And the fact they played this incredible schedule, it just went south on it. But I'm not sure the roster was really that good. Just not enough size. Yeah. You think Steven called his mom and said, why did Dad do this to me? He talked to him. What was he thinking? No, listen, this didn't happen in the vacuum. I'm sure, hey, I'm probably going to step down, you know, on the timer right.

Steven Pearl would probably, you know, be better off had he gone somewhere else where he could, you know, not be under that glare. But at the same time, it is what it is. And, you know, I think you just try to get back to what you do best next year. Speaking of that, the balance of the schedule today, all top four big shots rocking and rolling up in Nashville. Kentucky having the way right now. But Florida, we mentioned, coming up after this one, Tennessee and Vanderbilt, third time this season.

They're split down the middle so far. Who takes a, say, in baseball, the rubber match this afternoon, Tennessee and Vanderbilt tournament? I just think Tennessee is just too physical when they're getting the calls. And, you know, I think neutral side, they're going to try to bully Vanderbilt. I think Vanderbilt is really overachieved. And I said it when they got off to the great start. I just think Tennessee is the more solid team. All said, I mean, Vanderbilt is still very good. I just, if anybody has overachieved, I think Texas A&M is the only program that has overachieved more than Vanderbilt this year.

And the night camp, pretty good one, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Doug, your thoughts on that showdown for the late date tonight? Yeah, I'm wondering if Oklahoma has solidified everything. I just don't think they can go with Arkansas for a third straight night. You know, the thing is, Calipari has really gotten more tempo this year. The roster's been a little limited the last few weeks. I don't know if they can go as fast as they want to go against Oklahoma. I just think Arkansas is the better team.

And, again, I think there are four teams in the SEC, if everything breaks right, can go deep in the tournament. And Arkansas is one of those four. Well, if Arkansas goes to the script tonight and they take on Alabama tomorrow, it starts, what, in the afternoon? They may wind up Tuesday if the regular season scoreboard is any indication. That's going to be a long one. Doug, it's always good to hook up with you, man. We know that you're going to be kicking back and enjoying. And, quickly, who, in your opinion, will play for all the marbles and cut down the nets on Sunday in Nashville?

I'm going to go Florida, Alabama. Yeah. And I think Alabama right now, that would solidify. I think most people would take Florida in that game, but at least it would solidify maybe as high as a number three C. So, stay tuned, man. Listen, thank you so much for your time today. Kick back and enjoy. And, please, stay away from that March Madness flu, okay? Thanks, Harold. You have a good one. The one and the only, Doug Seeger, is checking in from Beham. Coming up, time to go to ALAL.com and Craig Stevenson on deck.

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Exclusions apply. Visit staples.com slash print for details. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The Score. Coming back in, it is a pleasure for us to say hello to Craig Stevenson. He's busy there at AL.com. Craig, welcome in. How are you? Harold, doing great. How are you? It's a very busy time of year. Yeah. You know, it's funny when you say that, Craig, because everybody, I think, in the back of their minds, they believe that September is the busiest time of the year.

[1:35:38] But in some ways, it's the slowest, is it not? If you're a sportscaster, sports writer in the sports business. Yeah. Because this time of year, it's a Super Bowl, is it not? Yeah, it is. Because, I mean, with football, you're right. I mean, obviously, it's, you know, everybody is dialed in all the time. They're in football season, but it's one game a week, you know? Right. So, and basketball, and you know, you got baseball going on, and spring football, and you know, and off-season, you know, the off-season stuff never stops.

So, yes, it is, you know, I enjoy this time of year, really, March and April, you know, once you get into April, you get the Masters, you get baseball season. Yeah. It's a really fun time of year to be a sports fan. You don't have real football, but other than that, you got everything else. I'm proud you said that, because obviously, you got this going on. Then, by the way, you got the Braves, the Major League Baseball opening up, and then the granddaddy of them all over to Masters.

So, good job there, Craig. So far, so good. Are you enjoying the basketball party that they're pitching there in Nashville? What are your impressions so far? Well, you know, Auburn continues to make life interesting, or, you know, devastating if you're an Auburn fan. Yeah, I mean, I thought that game yesterday against Tennessee, they really had it in hand. You know, they were up double digits with about 11 minutes left, and then evaporated all of a sudden. Not only did they lose, they lost by 10. So, they got blown out over the final 10 minutes, and obviously, they really needed that one to be secure in the NCAA tournament.

There's still a chance they could make it, but it just gave them every margin for error, and basically, everything has to break right for them to get in, and they still might. But again, it was just a brutal, brutal collapse to what has been a brutal, you know, last six weeks or so for Auburn. Craig, I saw that, too. Sometimes, if you lose by a bucket, the committee would say, you know, blah, blah, blah. But when you have the lead, they did, and then you end up losing by double digits.

I mean, where do you start breaking that down? If you're an Auburn fan, I mean, obviously, a man is, he is good. I mean, let's just go ahead and tell like it is. This kid's good, but he's one player. When you've got that kind of lead in that, at that part of the game, you should have at least some strategy, some B plan to go to and say, what can we do to stop the big momentum from swinging this far? Because momentum's always a part of any game.

But when it swings like that, how much of that is on the coaching staff? And speaking of which, your thoughts about Papa Pearl? Yeah. Okay. Well, that's a lot. But let me see if I can kind of dig through it. Yeah. You know, it's easy to say Stephen Pearl is in over his head, which maybe he is. But, you know, it's not his fault. But his dad quitting was, you know, right when practice was starting, Auburn didn't really have any other choice. And it obviously looked pretty good for a while.

But, yeah, there's something off with this Auburn team. You know, the roster, the chemistry just does not seem to be blended very well. And, you know, when you get a new roster every year, basically, you know, they lost all those great, not just Janai Broome, but a lot of the glue guys, you know, Dylan Cardwell and others off of that team last year. And it just seems like we see this quite a bit in college baseball, where you really have to remake your roster every year because you lose guys in the draft.

But it seems like, you know, they just got a bad batch, so to speak. You know, they just didn't. And we've seen teams in the past. There have been a lot of teams. I was actually making a list of this earlier today. There's been something like, the last three years, there have been four teams who made the Final Four and then didn't even make the tournament the next year. NC State last year was an example of that. North Carolina, a couple of years ago, made the Final Four, didn't make the tournament the next year.

So it happens. It's one year. It's an off year. It looks bad because it's Steven Pearl's first year. As far as Bruce, yeah, I mean, just not doing his son any favors or maybe doing his son a favor by pulling the spotlight onto himself. But, you know, yelling at the refs in the crowd yesterday and just some of the crazy stuff he said on TV about Miami of Ohio. And, you know, even if you could just dismiss all the politics that he's involved in, it's just, man, it just seems like there's so much controversy around this program right now.

And maybe they just need to get this one over with and move on to next year. But I don't think Steven Pearl's going to get fired. That would be crazy. But, again, he was put in an impossible spot. Yeah, I agree with you, Craig. It wasn't just what happened. It's when it happened there at the last minute. Craig Stevenson hooking up with us at AL.com. On the other side of the coin, another side of the state, Greg, your thoughts about Alabama. They should be rested.

But before we get into the X's and O's, on that topic, your thoughts about how Nate Oates has put together this roster because, yeah, I know a lot of folks said, you mean they played sports when you were young? Yeah, they did. And one thing that hasn't changed is chemistry. You've got to have that on any team out there. I don't care if it was 1,000 years ago when I played or now. And you look at this team that Nate's put together, and it seems like they finally figured this thing out.

[1:40:46] We need to play as one. They've got some guys on there that they're not opposed to taking the charge. And that's the first thing I see. Can somebody sit there and take the charge? That tells me he's a team guy. And you look at, did you ever think we'd say this, the payroll in Alabama and Kentucky is roughly in the neighborhood of three times what Alabama is spending. It's always been important, but has it ever been more important for a coach to be able to evaluate talent to get the biggest bang for his buck?

For sure. And, you know, they've obviously done a great job of the traditional recruiting. They bring in several four- and five-star guys every year. They're bringing in a couple next year, although they did miss out on Caleb Holt, which was Oh, man. Huge. Which stings a little bit. I know you guys know up in that part of the state. Oh, yeah. Phenomenal. You know, what has been interesting with this team is you thought maybe the Charles Fidiaco's situation was just going to blow everything up when all that fell apart.

But they've actually played better since he's been gone. And it's not just, you know, LeBaron Filon, obviously, is a superstar, going to be a first-round pick. Murray Allen, who's a true freshman, probably will be a lottery pick as well. But it's been those, like I mentioned, those glue guys. Latreau, Reitzel, Houston, Millette have really come on recently. You know, they went and got a bunch of guys in the portal, but none of those guys have really been that great this year. Aiden Holloway is another one, obviously, transferred from Auburn.

He has been that secondary scorer to Filon a lot of the time. But yeah, it just seems like Madoz is a really good coach, obviously. You know, he says and does some dumb things off the court, but he is a basketball savant. There's no question about it. And got him going again, and they're playing great right now. You know, can they win the SEC tournament? I'm not sure anybody's going to beat Florida, be honest with you. Can they win the NCAA tournament, get to the Final Four?

I don't know about that either. But they have, you know, they've got it rolling right now. You know, Final Four, Elite Eight, probably at least a Sweet 16 this year. So, yeah, this is, you know, you've been following Alabama basketball a long time, as I have. And this is the glory days of Alabama basketball, as far as I'm concerned. You have to agree. I think right now, Craig, if you agree or disagree, something that's going on kind of behind the scenes over the last few days. And I think if you're a serious Alabama basketball fan, you better keep a close eye on it.

And that's up in a place called Michigan State, where Izzo looks like there's rumblings that he might hang it up. And of all the jobs out there, I think Nate Oates has pretty much said, I'm staying at Alabama until I at least try to have a legitimate chance to win a national championship. But he, I think in his heart, loves Michigan State. What are your thoughts about that? I don't want to sit here and throw anything out there, just about the potential down the road. Yeah, I don't doubt.

That's what I have always said, too. If he was ever going to leave, you know, potentially the NBA, too, because they do play very NBA style. But if he ever left for another college job, it would be Michigan State again. You know, like you said, he came up as a high school coach in the state of Michigan. Tom Izzo's one of his mentors. And yes, I think if that job came up and he would give it some serious thought, you'd wonder, you know, would the timing be just right, potentially?

You know, because there have been some other people like that in the past in other sports. It's like, well, he's going to go to that job when it comes up. And like Kurt Cignetti at Penn State, you know, you'll figure, well, Penn State comes up and he's going. Well, he didn't. Then he won a national championship in Indiana. You go back 20 years. Les Miles is going to go to Michigan if that job opens up. Well, he was on the verge of playing for a national championship at LSU and he didn't take that job.

And then he won a title at LSU. So all that is to say, if Michigan State came open, yes, I think Nate Oates would give it serious consideration. Is it automatic that he would go? I don't know about that. Yeah. So if it does come open, would Lane Kiffin consider that job, correct? Yeah. Well, he's always, yeah. If you're making a hot board, you know, like the websites do, he'd be at the top of every one of them. Yeah. I don't even know. You know, I will say this.

If Nate Oates were to go, you know, Brian Hodgson down in South Florida would probably be a pretty good candidate because he has done a great job both at Arkansas State and at South Florida. And of course, he is Nate Oates' right-hand man. He's been on those great teams in the last few years at Alabama. So anyway, just put it right out there. Yeah, there you go. Well, appreciate it. Before that happens, obviously some business tonight on the hardwoods. We know what it looks like on paper, Alabama and Ole Miss.

Right. We've been around this thing called basketball a long time. You don't play the game at roughly 2 o'clock in the afternoon. You've got to wait and play it tonight. Your thoughts realistically, what's going to happen tonight? Well, you know, I was kind of, I thought, well, you know, Georgia, if they end up playing them, that's going to be an interesting game. Texas, you know, if they end up playing them, it's going to be an interesting game because they lost to both of them. And then all of a sudden there's carnage in the bracket and they're playing Ole Miss, who they beat by 19 just like whatever it was a couple of weeks ago.

So, and Oxford, by the way. So, no, I don't expect Alabama to have much trouble with that one. If they, you know, they get past them, assuming Arkansas wins as well, you know, that could be a really, really interesting game tomorrow because they played that classic game in Tuscaloosa just a couple of weeks ago. So, I'd be shocked if they lose to Ole Miss. But, you know, beyond tonight, it's definitely going to be really, really hard fought if it's Arkansas and then presumably Florida in the championship game.

[1:46:11] Yeah, that's, to me, it's a what-if situation right now. But doing the hypothetics, I'm borrowing one of the big words here, Alabama wins. Then they would sit back and see who wins the nightcap, Oklahoma and Arkansas. You bring up a good point about Arkansas. But the way Oklahoma's playing, they get a lot of love as the dark horse right now and sports about momentum. Oklahoma's right in the top of the wave right now. But who do you see tomorrow? Can Oklahoma continue their wave against Arkansas?

And if Arkansas prevails, what do you see tomorrow? What would be the over-under, what, 420 in that game? Yeah, I know. Yeah, yeah, you're right on all those counts. Yeah, Oklahoma's good. You're right. And, you know, speaking of Auburn, that's a team they've got to be really worried about. And somebody that could come in and steal that spot, it would be Oklahoma, I think, if they make a real run to the final, at least, or even to win tonight over Arkansas would be big for Oklahoma. And, you know, I do, yeah, you know, there are no gimmies, like I said.

But I do think that if it's Alabama-Oklahoma, Alabama would win. Alabama-Arkansas, though, I mean, you know, all bets are off on that one, because that's a tough one. Craig Stevenson to AL.com. Craig, help us figure out this UAB situation this season with their schedule. Yeah. Are they the proverbial Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde? Do they want to play every game in the world? Are they the only team in the world that wants to play every game away from home? Yeah, we've seen some teams like that in the past, and I don't know.

It is unusual. I would think that it bodes well for them if they get in a postseason tournament, even if that's the NIT, you know. That they're just, you know, because basketball traditionally is such a huge home court advantage, home field advantage sport. But for some teams, it doesn't seem to matter. I don't know. Yeah, I can't explain it. I just think it's probably just a bleaky thing. But, you know, I haven't ever really been to a game, an UAB game at home in a long time.

And if there's something particular about their home crowd or home arena that doesn't really inspire them much, I can't really say. That's a good question, though. It is weird. It is odd. I'll say that. It's odd. Something else that's true, too. Scott Cross, a pretty good coach at Troy. What I like about us getting together here, we know that Alabama and Auburn, they're the premier schools of the state. But there's a lot of good basketball teams out there. And Troy is one of them. And Scott Cross, he's almost like he's in the shadow.

But, oh, by the way, I'm going to see someone else be a 300-game winner. You've got to be pretty good to win one game, let alone 300. Yeah, he, you know, last year was really a bit of a surprise the way they did. But then they lost four starters, all of them to, well, three of them to major conference programs. And none of those schools that they went to are going to make the NCAA tournament, by the way. But he did bring back nine guys that were on the team last year, including a couple of key contributors.

Thomas Dowd, who's a 6'9 forward out of the Dothan area. Really solid player. And they've got some shooters as well. But yeah, Cross, a great coach. You know, to do it back-to-back, double back-to-back, double championships, regular season and tournament two years in a row. I mean, you can't, that's not, there's no fluke to that. He's a good coach. UT Arlington fired him about eight years ago. He's an alum, took them to the NCAA tournament, never had a losing season. And they are regretting that because they've had four coaches in eight years since he left.

And Cross is an excellent coach. You know, he's starting to see his, you're starting to see his name mentioned for some big jobs. Georgia Tech is open, and Brent Jones, the former Troy AD, is now the deputy AD at Georgia Tech. So I expect Scott to be up for that job. Will he take it? It's a good question. I kind of thought he was going to leave after last year. He's from the Dallas area, and North Texas opened up, but he ended up staying. And apparently he could have had that job if he had wanted it, but he decided to stay.

I think he's got a son that I think is a junior or a senior in high school. And that was part of the reason that he stuck around. But if he stays, man, that would be big for Troy because he's really got him rolling there. But it may get to a point where it's like, man, I've got to see what I can do at the highest level because he's certainly capable. I think I saw the guy who let him go at his last stop up there at McDonald's.

He wondered if I wanted fries for that order. Yeah, they said, the UTA AD at the time said, we want to be the next Gonzaga. Yeah, that's right. They have not been. I'll say that. Yeah. You can be the AD one day and D-E-A-D the next day if you make the wrong decisions. Craig, for the folks who want to hook up with you, where can you take us online anytime? Sure, AL.com slash sports. I'm all over the place there writing about South, Troy, SEC, and State, you know, all kind of pro sports and all that sort of thing.

So I appreciate your time, Harold. Man, we appreciate you taking time out. Have a great and safe weekend, Craig, okay? All right, bud. Take care. Craig Stevenson, AL.com. That's going to put a ribbon on today's show, but keep it right here on 93.9. The score coming up pregame, 5 o'clock, Alabama in the rim. Black Bears, whatever they are, Ole Miss coming up tonight up in Nashville. 6 o'clock tip time again here on 93.9. The score, enjoy that. And the weekend, stay safe. We want to get back in the huddle with you coming up on Monday.

[1:51:39] But in the meantime, on behalf of BB, Greg, James Blair, the entire crew here, Harold Boggs, thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again Monday, noon to 2 for the Boom Up Buck Show, back here on Sports Radio 93.9. The score.