Boomo Bugg Show 031926

[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 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 three rides around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, welcome in to the first steps on the road to the Final Four.

Good afternoon, welcome in and have you got your mat on yet? Well, I've got my dancing shoes on today. Happy hoops heaven for everybody. One of the greatest days on the sports calendar of the year. Five SEC basketball teams are playing today in the first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. The state level of Southeastern 16 will break down the games for us. Can Nate Oates and the Crimson Tide advance to the Sweet 16 by Sunday? Our guests will give us their opinion. March Madness is finally here and BB is here right now to give us some of his predictions for round one.

And I'm sure we plan it this way. The man who lives in the state of Ohio, probably got an eye out of the tube right now. As the OSU is taking on TCU in the opening game of the road to the Final Four. He's Bill Bender. He calls Columbus, Ohio home. You know what that means. The shadow of the horseshoe and they're playing football and basketball today in parts unknown. He is the man with the sporting news. Bill Bender, welcome in. How are you? Hey, I'm doing well.

How are you? Hey, Benny. Bill, have you got an eye on that game over there between the Ohio State University and the Horned Frogs and TCU? Yeah, well, somebody better tell the Buckeyes the game started. You know, they're down 15, it looks like, at half. TCU's playing really well. That noon game, I think, is the tradition when I come on with you guys on the Thursday of March Madness. I don't think I ever did the 8-9 game to start the darn thing right to start. But, you know, it's a long tournament.

As long as you don't lose your national championship team by 2 o'clock, you'll be all right. Since we're on the topic, and you know this school, we're in football country here. Obviously, Ohio State, we know the trump card up there. It's football. Your thoughts about Ohio State basketball? Because you would think that with all the resources that Ohio State would be more of a contender year in and year out. Obviously, it's all about the C-word commitment. But your thoughts about the program there? I think Alabama went through the same thing, right?

They're a very similar program to Alabama, I think, in terms of basketball, because it had good runs. What NATO has done in Alabama, I think Fat Mata did in Ohio State. They were consistent. They were in the Sweet 16. It sneaks up on some people here that Ohio State hasn't won a basketball national title since 1960. But I would say, what you're saying is true, because a lot of my buddies and guys that I grew up with, we liked basketball first. So, you know, it's one of those things where, yeah, football's great, and it always will be, but you always wonder, yeah, why can't they do the same as basketball?

It's a very fair question to ask. I want to give you a, of course, you know, we have so much respect for you, but you're one of the few people who this morning put out an article and literally predicted every game today. And I know you'll do the same thing for tomorrow. The first SEC team on top this afternoon, Vanderbilt, five seed against Manese, a 12 seed, that's a 215 on that bastion of sports coverage, True TV. Vanity has not won an NCAA tournament game since 2012. They took Arkansas to the end in the championship game.

But Manese, as you mentioned, leads the nation in turnover margin. Boy, that's impressive. Larry Johnson is a very good player for them. Tyler Tanner, Duke Miles for Vanity, leads the Commodores. Mark Byington's done a great job. Vanity is an 11.5 point favorite. And Bill Bender has predicted McNeese to beat Vanderbilt 78 to 77. Yeah, I mean, you got to pick a couple, right? Like, even if they don't have it, you can't be that guy that said, I picked that one. And, you know, you know what I mean? And that's a, I can see Vanderbilt winning that game because McNeese is not going to sneak up on them.

But that said, McNeese does lead the nation in turnover margin. I think they can slow down Vanity. You never know which team. You see this all the time, Brett. Like, a team that maybe goes to their conference tournament championship and then lays in the net. You know, that happens. So, I'm not saying, I guess I am saying McNeese is going to win the game because I predicted it. But, you know, if Vanderbilt won, I wouldn't be surprised at all. That great 5-12 matchup. They usually have the most intrigue.

[5:22] So, we'll see how that plays out. Let's stay with the SEC, Mr. BB. Bill Bender with the Sporting News. Arkansas with a freshman who's going to make a lot of money. He's going to make a lot of money now. He's going to make even more money down the road. Arkansas and Hawaii. Yeah, you know, Darius Acuff's nasty. He's a really good player. You guys saw him in that thriller a couple weeks ago with Alabama where they were scoring all night both ways. You know, I think Cal's got them playing well.

I tend to trust Cal in the tournament. Hawaii's an interesting team, though. Another one that I happened to catch over the weekend. Seven-footer, Isaac Roberts, he can play. And they're the type of team, if they get going, that March kind of like embraces. But one thing I noticed across that four line, whether it was Arkansas, Alabama, Kansas, I'm blanking on the fourth one, but the spreads are super high. So, there's not a lot of faith among them. I mean, they're all like 12 to 15 points. So, there isn't much faith that there's going to be a 4-13 upset in this tournament.

Yeah, I noticed that, and I usually see some of them. BYU is a two-point favorite over the Texas Longhorns. They won the play-in game earlier this week. That's a 6-25 game on TBS. BYU has got the leading scorer in the nation, A.J. DeBonse, averaging 31 points a game. Texas, when they're on, they've got a 7-footer themselves. But Dylan Swan and Mark is pretty good. This is a toss-up game, and I'm kind of like you. Texas has been up and down this year, but you picked BYU 83, Texas 80.

I think there's a lot of momentum towards Texas in this matchup, though. Dylan Swain, you mentioned him. By the way, Columbus kid from up here. Really good player. Xavier transfer. And then A.J., you get a chance for those that haven't really watched BYU, you get a chance to watch a prolific score. He can play. And I think that's the story of this tournament in a lot of ways. You have so many unbelievable freshmen in the tournament. I think that's going to make it fun. In other words, Peterson, DeBonse, Kim Boozer, et cetera.

You get a bunch, and it's going to be a lot of fun. We mentioned Ohio State and folks saying, why don't they do better in basketball with all their resources? They're in an 8-9 matchup right now. TCU has been having the way. Later on tonight, another 8-9 matchup. And basically the same thing, Bill. See what you think about this. A lot of folks said, why doesn't Georgia basketball post-Stomach Wilkins have more consistency? They've got Atlanta. It is a hotbed for recruiting. It's a brand named Georgia.

And they've taken on a team that I think is going to be a Cinderella pick for a lot of folks. St. Louis, you've got one of the best mascots around. Who else has a mascot called the Billikens? Georgia 8, St. Louis 9 tonight. I don't know what a Billiken is. I have no idea. I've seen the mascot. It's close to a Pelican, I believe. The drawing of the mascot doesn't help. So, I don't know where you are. I'll tell you what. Georgia, St. Louis, both teams get up and down.

They're two of the highest scoring teams in the country. Georgia, as you guys, you've seen them up close. They lead the country in fast break points. And, you know, another thing you said there. Dominique Wilkins' highlights always pop up on my timeline. It's amazing. But I do think some of that or other they can get going. And then, Robbie Amila, you know, he's got many nicknames. The goggle player for St. Louis, he's a fun watch, though. Shooting, he's about to be six. Yes. You know, he's got 100 nicknames.

He's a lot of fun to watch. This is a fun game to me. St. Mary's, the 7th seed, a three-point favorite over Bucky Ball. Texas A&M, it's a 6.30 game on true TV. A&M took the SEC by storm, first part in January. And then, Bucky kind of hit a wall. They had a few injuries. A.G. is a really good player. Rayshawn A.G. for them. But St. Mary's has been a presence in the NCAA basketball tournament for years. They've got some very good players.

I think this is a tight game. I think A&M will reset. But I know you've got St. Mary's winning close games, 79-74. Yeah. It's really a point-flip game. Bucky Ball, as you mentioned, they get up and down. St. Mary's, which style wins out? You can never tell that in a tournament until you kind of watch for a few minutes. And then you're like, okay, they're controlling the tempo. Marock is a really good player for St. Mary's. They've won a ton of games. They're always pretty tough in that first-round matchup.

So, you know, I think it's a big couple days here for the SEC. It's not so much about Florida and Alabama and the high skis. It's these bubble teams like Texas and Mizzou against Miami. You mentioned A&M. I think those are the teams that you're wondering, you know, when you put 10 teams in the tournament, how many can you get to that second round? Right. Well, folks are wondering, why haven't we asked about the aforementioned Alabama Crimson Tide? They're taking on Hofstra tomorrow afternoon, 2-15, our time.

[10:52] Bill, we know the back story there. Alabama's going to be without their second leading scorer, their top three-pointer in Aiden Holloway. Show must go on. What happens when the Tide takes on the pride from Hofstra tomorrow? Yeah, there's a little momentum around Hofstra, and for those of us who remember Speedy Claxton, it's a cool moment for him, obviously. But this Alabama team absolutely can score, and how are they going to try to limit Alabama's possessions? Because, I mean, either way, without Holloway, they're going to get out and go.

And I think, you know, does it hurt them in this game? Probably not. Would it hurt them in a potential matchup against, you know, Texas Tech or Akron? Even Akron. Akron's a good basketball team. And if we're later against Michigan, yes, it would. So, you know, we will see if that resolves itself in the next couple weeks. But I think in terms of the first-round matchup, I like Alabama. That line's dropped a little bit from, I think it's like 15 to like 11, 11 and a half. But I still think the Tide wins comfortably.

Let me finish up with you on this one. Louisville and South Florida, the Cardinals are a five-and-a-half point favorite. South Florida's won 10 consecutive games. They're coached by Brian Hodgson, who was an assistant with Nate Oates in Buffalo, followed him to Alabama. Wes Enos is a really good guard for them. But Pat Kelsey is. Put Louisville basketball back on the map again. But this was one of my upsets. This guy, when Nate Oates goes to the NBA or wherever in five to seven years, Huntson, I think, is going to be on a short list.

He turned down the Syracuse job, probably still coming after him. I know you've got Louisville 85, South Florida 75. Yeah, South Florida's another team people like, and for all those reasons you mentioned. The Cardinals, though, I think Pat Kelsey is a little bit further ahead where they're going to be. I like him, too, by the way, as a coach. His rise has been impressive through winter. So, another entertaining game. And that's really what it's about. You know, we fill out the brackets. And, you know, this morning was one of – actually, Brett, this morning was so fun for me.

I'm in a bracket at Sporting News and then in a bracket with a lot of my best friends from high school. And the trash talk in that bracket is always a little more considerable. But sometimes you just got to light them on fire and have fun and go from there. And I think it's going to be a fun couple days. Listen, tell me next time we talk, who created March Madness? That was absolute marketing genius. It is the greatest marketing sporting event in the world and how everybody has picked up on that.

Listen, enjoy it. I know it's your time of the year. Where can we get online to get pre-game, post-game coverage? Oh, yeah, yeah. Enjoy all that. And I enjoy talking to you guys. And I know we'll get back into football soon. But for today, let's enjoy basketball. You can find it at sportingnews.com. We have so much content over there. It's a lot of fun. And I think you guys will enjoy it. I appreciate you having me on, as always. Hey, listen, thank you so much, Bill.

By the way, a Billiken was created by an art teacher at Missouri in 1908. It is a mythical good luck figure, quote, God of things as they ought to be. But, Bill, to make it work, you've got to rub his belly. So you have been mourned, okay? I'll get right on that. Thank you so much, guys. Just make sure you wash your hands afterwards. Bill Bender hooking up with us with the Sporting News. Coming up all over the SEC with a Mr. Blake Lovell on deck. Stay with us.

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It's a daily update on Bama sports, and it's brought to you by Crimson Drive, driven by NASCAR. Streaming live each Tuesday and Thursday at 2 p.m. Central on all CTSN social media platforms at UA underscore CTSN. Hello again, everybody. I'm Roger Hoover. On Thursday's Crimson Drive, we'll be joined by Alabama baseball pitcher Tyler Fay. For sure. There was definitely some attention with the draft and stuff like that, and I didn't really know what the plan was going to be leaving campus. And then as the summer kind of went on, got closer to the draft, more conversations were had, and I just kind of felt like we had some unfinished business to get back here.

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Crimson Tide Today is brought to you by Crimson Drive. 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. Welcome back in. Let the madness begin. Even as we speak, TCU having their way with the Ohio State Buckeyes, the NCAA Tournament. TCU up 39-24 at the half. And BB, if Troy is going to be the giant killer against Nebraska, they got some work to do, my friend. Yeah, I was hoping Scott Cross, who's a really good coach for Troy, they would be a little bit.

Maybe they can come back. But listen, does Blake Lovell sleep the next four days? I mean, does he take to drink five Red Bulls a day and just, I mean, just never sleeps during the first and second round? Well, the word is, he just brings one of those kegs full of Red Bull, kegs full of Red Bull. And he just opens it up. He doesn't even worry about putting in the glass. He just puts his mouth up in the spout and drinks over the next three weeks.

Maybe that's wrong. We'll see for sure from the man himself. Blake Lovell there at Southeastern 16. Blue Ribbon is the yearbook. And his podcast is Establish the Past. Blake Lovell, welcome in. How are you? I was going to talk to you as always. Hey, buddy. You too. It's underway right now. Basically, two teams. They're jackrabbits. That would be TCU against Ohio State. A lot of folks down here rooting for Troy to not be the giant killers against Nebraska. But right now, both teams, that is, Ohio State and Troy down by double digits.

[21:28] Ohio State's a half. Troy and Nebraska during the first half. So, your impressions so far, Blake? Yeah. This is where, like, you think about all the time over the past four or five days, myself and many other people have put into breaking down stats and statistical matchups and all this other stuff. Well, when you see TCU go 7 of 13 in the first half from three as a pretty average three-point shooting team, and they've made no more than, like, I don't know, I think it's like they've made no more than nine three-pointers except in, like, one game since the first of January.

That just kind of shows you. It's the NCAA tournament. Anything can happen. And, yeah, and, like, you know, I mean, everybody was kind of writing off Nebraska. Eh, not really thrilled with how they've been playing. But, you know, it's just the tournament, and so that's where we are. I love it. I think it's one of the best sports days of the entire year. You got some neighbors that are going to be feeding that here shortly, and that's your neighbors down the road, by the way, if you're the first-timer, welcome in.

Hope you stay with us. Blake lives in a place called Nashville, same home for the Vanderbilt Commodores, and they're taking on McNeese. A lot of folks want to sit here and say McNeese will be a giant killer. You know Vanderbilt better than anybody. What do you see there coming up at 2.15 on that bastion of basketball coverage, true TV. You've got to love it, Blake. Yeah, you do, and I think if you're Vanderbilt, you'd like to see Troy come back and win this game, because if not, you know, you wonder, because I've hated this matchup all week, and I think some of my colleagues are trying to convince me that it's not a bad matchup for Vanderbilt.

I just disagree. I think it's one that, when you look at what McNeese does well, they just force turnovers, and to me, Vanderbilt's numbers are a little bit misleading. They are one of the top 15 in the country at taking care of the ball, but I can't tell you how many times this season I've seen Vanderbilt get pressured full court, and it just does not look pretty. And I think that's where McNeese is going to do that the entire game. They're going to trap their big man, make them handle the ball, and I just worry about that a little bit for the Commodores.

The good news, I think, is that this is not the McNeese team of recent years that can shoot the ball really well. I mean, this is a team that, you know, basically is in the 300s when it comes to three-point percentage, and the rebounding is bad. They foul a lot, as you'd expect, a team that puts a lot of pressure. So there's going to be a lot of free-throw shot in this game. That may be actually advantage McNeese, if they can get Vanderbilt in foul trouble a little bit.

This is a scary one, and there's no other way around it. It's a 5-12 game. I think it's a tough matchup for Vanderbilt, but we'll see if it plays out that way. Hawaii's a good story in the NCAA tournament. You never think of Hawaii being in the NCAA basketball tournament, but they've got a seven-footer by the name of Isaac Robinson, who averages 14 points a game, the 25th in the nation in free-throw attempts, but I cannot see Hawaii beating Darius Acuff Jr., of course, team All-American, Malik Thomas of Brazil, who should have won the MVP in the championship game, and Billy Richmond.

Arkansas, a 15-point favorite. Do they win and cover? Yeah, this is the opposite of Vanderbilt for me. I don't think there's a single SEC first-round game that I'm more kind of convinced on than Arkansas, just taking it to Hawaii here, because I think it's just matchup-based stuff where you look at it. Everybody's kind of talked about Hawaii and the no-help defense that they play. It's a very unique principle where you're basically just having one-on-one matchups across the floor on the offensive possession, and if you're doing that to Arkansas, they're probably one one-on-one teams out there.

Yeah, and I just don't necessarily love that concept here. I get why they do it, because it usually works in their league, because you just can kind of feel pretty good about your guys staying in front of similar athletes or similar kind of skill sets. It's just completely different with Arkansas, and so I think Arkansas should win big here, just because, again, I don't think this is a matchup that sets up that well for Hawaii based on their defensive sets there. Based on what we've seen, the only thing Acuff fears is kryptonite so far.

Let's stay with the SEC. BYU taking on Texas. Can the Longhorns hook the Cougars? Yeah, that's one where good luck trying to figure these two teams out, because it was kind of the same thing with Texas and NC State. I mean, to me, it was just the unpredictability, and you saw the game played out, just a wild finish, and I don't know how we could expect anything less. And the same with BYU. I mean, this is a team that lost, you know, someone like Richie Saunders, who was their best three-point shooter and just one of the best players on the floor, not named A.J.

DeBanca, and now they're coming in not playing that well, to be honest with you. And so I think Texas has a great shot of winning this game. BYU has just kind of been all over the place towards the end of the season. They've given up a lot of points. These two teams just aren't great defensively. So I think this will be an offensive matchup, so you can kind of get their rhythm early on. I think Texas can win this thing, just because, again, it's one player, and I'm not trying to take anything away from anybody else on that roster, but, I mean, BYU is built around one star player just taking over the game, and that could happen, but at the same time, I think Texas got a shot here.

[26:47] Georgia, the eighth seed and St. Louis, the ninth seed. Georgia has not won a NCAA tournament basketball game in 24 years. Now, St. Louis is a pretty good team. Robbie Avila is good, but our listeners remember the catchings kid who went nuts against Alabama and Athens. Wilkerson is pretty good, too. I know this is a night game, but does Georgia finally get a win in the NCAA tournament since 2002? Yeah, this should be one of the most entertaining games of the first round, I think. This is the night game tonight.

These two teams play at two of the fastest tempos of any teams in this tournament. I think there should be a lot of points on the board in this one, because they also both have some defensive deficiencies at times, although St. Louis is top ten in the country in three-point defense. We'll see if Georgia can regain that hot shooting form, which was kind of the outlier for them. That's not been the norm. We'll see if they can regain it here, because I think they're going to need to to win this game.

I actually like Georgia pretty well in this game, and again, that scares me a little bit, because I think it is one where St. Louis has just not played well down the stretch, and you're always going to use a little bit of that recency when you're judging teams at this point in the season. They've been pretty up and down. I mean, remember, they needed a furious rally. They were down by 21 against George Washington last Friday, and they needed to kind of rally to come back and win.

They did. Give them credit for that. But they've not been that consistent, and Georgia's had their own inconsistencies this year, but I tend to think that they have kind of a better path here to score a few more points, and I do think this is probably a game that's played in the 80s. Late level, Southeastern 16. Tomorrow, jam-packed. Come early, stay late. Starts at 11-15. Goes to 9-10 tomorrow. That's if they're on schedule. Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Missouri, all active tomorrow. How do you see those respective SEC teams?

Yeah, I think the one to keep an eye on to me is certainly Kentucky, Santa Clara. I think that's kind of the game that it's going to feel like, okay, it's Kentucky and Santa Clara. Just by default, we're going to pick Kentucky. But, man, Santa Clara does some things that I think will frustrate Kentucky to no end. So that's a game I would certainly keep an eye on. Kind of the same with St. Mary's and Texas A&M. I really like St. Mary's in that game against the Aggies just because, again, it's a matchup-based thing.

And I do like the way St. Mary's matches up against A&M if they can kind of keep it to their pace. And then, of course, you know, when you do look at teams like Alabama, I think with Alabama, you know, there are some obvious differences without Aiden Holloway on the floor that the stats don't lie. I mean, certainly they're a better team offensively when he's on the court versus when he's not. And I think it's really going to come down to pace here. If Hofstra can sort of do what they want to do and that's slow the game down a bit, make this lower possessions, and let's say the threes is not falling for Alabama, then Hofstra's got a shot to pull off the up there here.

I don't want to discount that at all, but I just tend to think Alabama's still going to have a little bit too much offensive firepower, and they just don't beat themselves. And I like teams this time of year that just don't have turnovers, that don't turn the ball over a lot. Those are the teams, to me, you can trust in these kind of situations. So I'd probably still take Alabama, but yeah, I think it's a little trickier than it meets the eye, maybe. Well, it's your time of the year, brother.

I know it was great to see you in Nashville, even though it was very brief last week. I know you're going to have pre-game, post-game coverage, and particularly of the SEC, the best podcast on the planet. Where can we get online and get all the great stuff? Yeah, I always appreciate it, guys. Yeah, check us out, Southeastern 16 on YouTube. You can find all of our game previews for the first round, and of course, we'll be reacting live after all these SEC matchups. So yeah, check us out, Southeastern 16 on YouTube.

Great live, and Blake, it's always good to hook up with you. Enjoy some March Madness, and let's do it again soon, okay? Thanks, guys. You too. Late level, Southeastern 16. Going a little deeper into that Alabama-Hostra matchup with Michael Southern on deck on the Big Moe Buck Show. Stay with us. It's March Madness time, and there's no better place to watch the action than Champy's famous fried chicken. Grab a family pack piled high with crispy golden fried chicken, perfect for taking home or sharing with your crew while you watch the game on one of Champy's big-screen HDTVs.

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So this March, download the ESPN Tournament Challenge app, fill out your women's bracket, and get you and your brain in the game. ESPN Tournament Challenge. Play the number one bracket game. Presented by Capital One. Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93.9. The score. In the NCAA Tournament today, the Troy Trojans will take on Nebraska and Oklahoma City in round one of the NCAA Tournament. The Trojans are number 13 seed. The winner will play either McNeese or Vanderbilt in round number two. Alabama will play tomorrow in Tampa. The Crimson Tide take on Hofstra.

Winner advances to meet either Texas Tech or Akron in round number two. Detroit women's basketball team will play tonight in the WBIT at Kansas. The winner will play either Rice or Louisiana Tech in the second round. South Alabama will take on Elkhorn State the first round of the WNIT. Winner will play Purdue-Port Wayne in round two. Alabama women's basketball team will play Saturday afternoon in the NCAA Tournament in Louisville against Rhode Island. Bundle auto and home, renters or condo, and save with Progressive. I'm John Thayer with the Sports Flash presented by Progressive on 93.9 The Score.

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The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The Score. Welcome back to you. It is a pleasure for us to open the door and say hello to Michael Southern. He's co-host of the Blue Collar Podcast, basketball contributor for Locked on Bama, also the editor of Tide Hoops History, co-host of the Tide Machine Podcast, and former sports writer for the Tuscaloosa News and the Gadsden Times. Michael, welcome in. How are you? Hey, I'm doing well. How are you guys doing? Hey, man. We're doing all right.

Good job by you of peeling back some of these stats. So many folks get caught up, the leading scorer, leading rebounder. But I love the fact that you go in a little bit more in depth and talk about this team relative to the highest scoring team. And would you agree, Michael, to me, one of the stats that kind of gets overlooked in football to me is how you convert on third down and stop third downs. I don't think that's given enough attention. And the parallel to me anyway here is the fastest team.

[37:10] Translated, Alabama has almost 75 possessions per game. Sometimes that can skew this stat or that stat. But good job by you. I won't steal your thunder by peeling back some of those stats. But good job in coming up with some stats like the possessions per game. Common Sense says if you keep the ball a lot, you have a good chance of scoring a lot of points and winning. Well, yeah, look, you know, everyone knows what Alabama is trying to do. And for the ones who think Alabama just lives and dies by the three, that's not the point.

Alabama is trying to get, like you said, as many possessions as possible because they want to beat you in the total aggregate. They believe that the more shots you take, the more opportunities you're going to have to score, which you do, and the more points you can score. And look, if the other team is going to give you open threes, they're going to take them. But if they're not going to give you open threes and they're going to give up the lane and drive to the rim, they're going to take that.

But all they're hunting for is the most efficient shots as fast as they can take them. Because, again, usually the better team, the more possessions you give them in any sport, the odds favor that team. That's exactly right. Michael, I've heard all week long, and everybody knows about what happened to Aiden Holloway. Hopefully he gets straightened out. We'll see what it means for next year. But a lot of people have asked, well, how can Nate Oates compensate for that? Well, he can. And we've been asking this week, who are the players that need to step up?

And, again, he's scoring 17 points a game, but there are two or three players who can really step up and help this team. Jalil Bethea seems to be playing a little bit better. He's got to play within himself. He's certainly a possibility. I don't think Wrightsell is going to go 0 for 5, as he did against Ole Miss. And Murray Allen, in the last four games, he's averaging six points a game. And, again, you can throw Houston Millett in there, too. Your thoughts on how Nate Oates is going to compensate for losing Holloway?

Well, you know, you never want to lose your second-leading scorer, and someone who contributes, on average, three three-pointers a game is your leading three-point shooter. But I think Nate Oates even said it himself that there is a position that, unfortunately, they're going to take a hit in. Alabama does have some depth. But the obvious choices, it's got to be your graduate seniors. If Houston Millett and Latrell Wrightsell don't step up now, then they're never going to step up. This is when you need those guys. That's why they're on this team.

You need Latrell Wrightsell to be the Latrell Wrightsell that you saw glimpses of in 24 and then some of the final four run in the tournament. You need that from Latrell Wrightsell. You need the Houston Millett that came out and hit a bunch of threes earlier this season. And you're right. The other wild card in this is you now need Jaleel Bathea not only to be more locked in on defense, but then keep that athleticism that he's shown that has Alabama basketball fans just excited. Just even in those microbursts when you see the athleticism that he possesses, people just think about, man, if he could just ever connect all the dots and have an offensive game and a defensive game, really the sky's the limit for Jaleel Bathea just based on his potential and his athleticism.

So, you know, if they're not going to do it now, they're never going to do it because you're not going to get another chance. So I'm looking for big things from Latrell Wrightsell, Houston Millett, and I'm anxious to see what Jaleel Bathea contributes tomorrow against Hofstra. Michael Southern hooking up with us, Colts, the Blue Collar Podcast, also a fellow by the name of Phylon. Let's face it, you've got to believe he's got a man on here, March Madness himself. He was third team on the All-American team.

You know, coming in, he saw himself as a first teamer, at worst a second teamer. How fired up is he to build some value going into the draft? Well, you know, here's the thing. I don't think, you know, obviously you want LeBaron Phylon to have a good tournament, but let's be honest, what LeBaron Phylon has done during this season has more than improved his draft value and added millions of dollars to what he's going to make. The fact that he's added a step-back three, transition three, his outside shooting has come a long way, and then he's shown that killer instinct to be able to drive and close games.

So I think, you know, that was a great decision by LeBaron to come back. He's done everything that he wanted to do to enhance his draft status. And, yes, obviously you need a LeBaron Phylon. You know, for teams to make a deep run in the tournament, if you're not one of the Uber teams, you know, the number one seed that usually don't have that many apparent weaknesses, there's a couple of things that you need to have on your ledger to be able to make a deep run.

You need to be really good at something, whether you're a great offensive team, whether you're a great defensive team, or whether you're just a senior-laden team that's just got tons of experience and played together. You're going to need one or two NBA-caliber players who just say, guys, get on my shoulders. I'm going to take you as far as I can go. Well, if I'm not mistaken, Alabama's got two of those three things right now. So they're really good offensively, and they've got LeBaron Phylon. Obviously, you'd like to have Aiden Holloway, but, you know, if Alabama just comes out and plays the way they can play, I think they've got a great chance at least to get to the second weekend.

[42:13] And then once you get to the second weekend, guys, anything can happen. Yeah. Michael, Ken, Taylor, Bo Bowen, and we talked about this a little bit in Nashville. I thought he looked healthier. He looked a little more energetic. He had an emphatic dunk in the game. I watched clips of him against St. John's, and I thought I was looking at a different player. And I know he's been injured throughout the season. What can he give Nate Oates this weekend? And Noah Williamson, again, we know he's limited.

He's certainly trying. And I thought he played pretty well in spots against Ole Miss. What can those two give Nate Oates this weekend? Well, I think you hit upon something important there, Brett. I mean, Taylor's finally kind of rounding back into being healthy again. And you've seen what he can do when he's healthy, and that's what the staff was looking for when they got him from Florida State. Unfortunately, you know, his body type lends itself to being injury-prone. He's just not sturdy. And, you know, he gets banged around a little bit.

You saw what happened when the regular season came around and you got into the physical nature of the SEC itself. But, you know, if you can keep Taylor Bo Bowen healthy, and he's sharp, he's a very valuable player that you need during a tournament run. And Noah Williamson, I've said this to a lot of friends that we talked about this, that if Alabama makes any kind of deep run, there is going to be at least one Noah Williamson game where he comes off the bench and gives you something you weren't expecting.

Now, I'm not saying Noah Williamson comes off the bench and scores 16 points and 13 rebounds. But what Noah Williamson does, he comes off the bench, gives you five to eight minutes, and you don't lose the lead while he's out there. That's what you're going to have to have from him to give Aiden Sherell whatever rest he needs or in case he's in foul trouble. So, Michael, obviously, you know on paper a lot of folks, obviously Alabama's going to be the pick. But we know anything can happen in March Madness.

What is the biggest threat that Alabama's going to be facing in Hofstra? Obviously, except for the obvious of trying to sit here and adjust without Holloway. But as far as big man on big man, backcourt, frontcourt, what is the one thing that concerns you most about this matchup? Well, the thing with Hofstra, obviously, is they're a guard-driven team. And, you know, you always hear the old cliche that guards win in the NCAA tournament. So their strength is the backcourt with Cruz Davis and Preston Edney. You know, they won the Coastal Athletic Association tournament.

You know, they won that and got the automatic bid by beating Monmouth. They don't push the ball a lot. So they try to keep it a little bit slower. They're very accurate when it comes to three-point shooting. So they're a very good three-point shooting team. So they make their shots when they get the opportunity. So the biggest thing what Alabama doesn't want to happen is this thing stays somewhat close in a lower-scoring game because that's exactly where you do not want to be late in the game.

If Hofstra's within three to five points and there's three minutes left in the game, that is not where Alabama wants to be in the situation. And, look, traditionally, if you go back and look at Alabama's history in the first round of the NCAA tournament, this is where they're most vulnerable. I mean, in 21, you know, they struggled against Iona. They lost to Notre Dame in the first round in 22. Texas A&M, Corpus Christi. Of course, Brandon Miller was hampered by the groin, but they struggled a little bit there.

And last year, you saw it against Robert Morris. I mean, that team was loaded last year, and they had kind of a dogfight with Robert Morris for three-quarters of that game. So this is when Alabama is the most vulnerable in the first game of the tournament. I want to ask you about Todd Hoop's history. I've really enjoyed reading this. And, again, I've been following this team since the mid-late 60s. And you brought up a memory that Alabama fans still grimace when they think about it. Yesterday, March 18, 1976, the 50-year anniversary of Alabama nearly upsetting the undefeated Indiana Hoosers and Bobby Knight.

And that one play that will resonate with Alabama fans to the grave, Leon Douglas is going in for a basket. Kit Benson, they collide. And an official, what, 40 feet away from them calls a charge on Douglas. And Bobby Knight, I remember several times mentioned after that season, he said Alabama was the best team we played all year. Michael, tell us about your great website and reminisce with us a little bit about that game. Yeah. So, you know, it's funny. On Ty's history, you know, I just kind of fell into it a couple of years ago before the start of their 2024 season.

You know, I just would put personal stuff on my Onix account because I just love Alabama basketball. I mean, I love all things at the university, but, you know, I've always had a special place for basketball. And the group, the Crimson Crossover group that started that site, they had started it originally, but they just couldn't keep up with enough content. So they had reached out to me because they noticed what I did on my own and said, hey, would you take this over? So I said, sure, because it's a lot of fun.

[47:15] And during all the research and history, there's a lot of things that even I didn't know because, you know, Brett, my history goes back to like the early 80s. So I start with Michael Sanderson. So technically, CM Newton was before me because I was only about seven years old in 76. But I did a lot of research, and I came across, you know, all this about 1976. I read it. I watched video, and I was like, oh, my gosh. And, yes, it's absolutely true. Alabama, if the NCAA had seeded teams in 1976 because they didn't do it.

They paired them geographically. There's no way Alabama and Indiana play in the Sweet 16. Most likely, they wouldn't play until the Final Four, and if the brackets were correct, they probably would have played in the championship game. But that 1976, I've talked to a lot of friends. I've got friends that are older than me that I've come to know from basketball, and, yes, they swear that is the best Alabama basketball team ever. And I believe it. Anthony Murray, Reggie King, Leon Douglas. I mean, you know, T.R. Dunn, I mean, and, yes, look, Bobby Knight, this is not urban legend.

Bobby Knight, after the game, went to the Alabama locker room to tell the guys how much he thought, how hard they played, and he appreciated the game. I mean, that is the truth. So, I mean, that's a shame because I know people think the 23 team may be the greatest team ever. But, honestly, my money kind of goes with 1976 Alabama. That's a close call. That's a very close call. But based on all this and the players that were involved, that 76 team was legendary. And it's a shame that they didn't get to lose to the Final Four that year.

And quickly on that, why that's significant is, for the folks who may not remember, that was the last time a college team went from beginning to end undefeated. So, that's how big that significance of that moment was, Michael. Yeah. Well, Indiana, every opponent in the NCAA tournament by double digits except Alabama. And they beat them by five. And if Leon Douglas doesn't get that terrible charge call, it's a tie game going into it. Yeah, no, I agree with you. That's one thing. I had the pleasure of talking to CM Newton shortly after that game and ran into him as a student there.

And he said, that's the one game I wish I could go back and change. He said, again, I accept losing, but that was one game that will always stick in my crawl. Well, it's some great stuff. A fascinating website as far as the history of Alabama basketball. I mean, it's very rich history when you look at all of it. Really enjoy talking with you in Nashville. Listen, where can we get online to get all your good stuff? Yeah. So, if you want to follow us on X, just go to at Bama History.

That's the Ty Dukes History account. You know, this is the busy time of year. You know, during basketball season, I try to have something on there every day. And it's not just history. You know, I put a lot of stuff there about the current team. I'll do stats. I'll do all kinds of preview stories. I'll do videos, photos. I'll do whatever I can. You know, during the regular season, Emily Smar and I did a weekly podcast. You know, we were talking about that upcoming game and recapping the previous week's game.

So, this is a fun time of year. You know, I hope it lasts as long as possible here in these next coming days. Hopefully, it lasts at least another two to three weeks. That would be great. But, yes, everyone, if you like Alabama basketball, or honestly, if you like college basketball, I mean, it's more than just Alabama. So, just come on out there and give us a follow. We'd appreciate it. It's a lot of fun. Sounds great. Listen, Michael, keep up the good work, and thanks so much for your time today.

Oh, thank you, guys. It's a pleasure to be on your show. Thank you, Michael. Right back at you. Michael Southern, busy there with the Tide Hoops history. Phoebe, I tell you what, all of a sudden we blink. Now, there's a ball game going on in the opening round of the NCAA tournament after being down by double digits. The Ohio State University now down by a mere two points. 49-47 to the Horned Frogs of TCU. We'll update that in a whole lot more in a second. Now, we're talking about Tide football and basketball with Ryan Fowler, the one, the only, Doug Segrist, and Justin Ferguson.

It's all straight ahead of the Wimbled Bug Show. Stay with us. At Valley Credit Union, we believe every great team starts with a strong community. We're proud to help our neighbors save, borrow, and build brighter futures together. Whether you're planning for your first home, growing your family, or supporting local dreams, we're here with personalized service and competitive rates. Stop by any of our convenient locations, Tuscumbia, Sheffield, Muscle Shoals, Florence, Russellville, Cherokee, and Killen, or visit us on the web at valleycreditunion.net. Valley Credit Union, rooted in community, committed to you.

Let's win together. Hi, this is Ike Fowler with Alabama Health Guidance. Whether you are looking for a Medicare health plan or you are under 65 and exploring individual health care options, Alabama Health Guidance can help you find the plan that fits your needs. Our local agents make it simple so stop by our office at 885 Florence Boulevard or give us a call at 256-648-5710. Again, that's 256-648-5710. Think Verizon is expensive? Think again. Anyone can bring their AT&T or T-Mobile bill to a Verizon store today and we'll give you a better deal.

[52:38] So bring us your bill. Blocking, running, pogo sticking, teleport if you can. Ride on the back of a rollerblading yak or flying on the wings of a majestic falcon. Any way you can, bring your AT&T or T-Mobile bill to a Verizon store today and we'll give you a better deal on the best network. Based on RootMetrics' best overall mobile network performance, U.S. second half 2025. All rights reserved. Must provide a very recent postpaid consumer mobile bill in the name of the person redeeming the deal.

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This new bill would provide a private right of action for a CHOOSE Act student to take against an interscholastic athletic association when it comes to their eligibility. The move in offering this bill comes after the AHSAA made a new rule in 2025 that an athlete transferring to a school by way of the CHOOSE Act could not play in a sports program for a year following their transfer. The Director of Legislative Affairs for Governor Ivey's office, Drew Harrell, says the goal of the bill is not to create a special exception for CHOOSE Act students but is a way to make sure that they're not deemed ineligible to play as an athlete simply because they're coming to that school under the CHOOSE Act status, especially if that student also meets all the other requirements that are needed to transfer to that school.

The Governor and House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter are currently suing the AHSAA for enacting this new rule. A hearing on that lawsuit is coming up in the middle of April. I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Where I was living was not a great place to live anymore. I began to pray for a place to go, praying for all of these things that a nine-year-old would want. I wanted horses, big house with a bunch of people my age. I wanted parents. I wanted a mom and a dad.

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Dabos is a lab supply and biotech company. I'm Andrea Tice. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter. Alabama's beauty belongs to all of us, and keeping it that way starts with you. Participate in an Alabama Pals project and help people against a littered state make a lasting impact. Teach litter prevention through our Clean Campus program. You can request school visits, supplies, and participate in the annual Clean Campus contest. In April, join thousands of volunteers in all 67 counties for Don't Drop It on Alabama, our statewide spring cleanup.

And mark your calendars for this year's coastal cleanup on Saturday, September 19th. Help protect our shorelines during the state's largest one-day volunteer event. Together, we're making a difference. Visit alpals.org to register today. That's alpals.org. Sponsored by Alabama People Against a Littered State, ALDOT, the Alabama Broadcasters Association, and this station. Valley Broadcasting Corporation, WITK-FM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, the Shores, Sports Radio 93.9, the score. The Madness. Three for the lead. Starts. Oh, mercy. No. Two seconds, one. Buzzer, ball game, and hallelujah. Let's get out of here.

[58:22] It's the NCAA Tournament. Join us Friday. The Crimson Tide. The Pride. Live from Tampa, Florida. Our coverage begins at 1 on your home for Alabama basketball, the Crimson Tide Sports Network from Learfield. Brought to you locally in part by nationwide insurance agents Michael Noe and Bill Cochran, Garner Pierce-Auto, the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, Bob's Tire and Alignment, Alpha insurance agents David Jordan, Mike Mitchell, and Matt Henry, Fake Independent, Champy's World Famous Fried Chicken, Garnett Electric, and Elliott Johnson Insurance. Alabama and Hofstra in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

This Friday afternoon at 1 on 93.9, the score. 93.9, the score. Weather. Now, get ready to roll Shoals, Decatur, Athens, and all of noise. 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 boom old bug 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. Welcome back in. Hour two of day one of the NCAA basketball tournament. Appreciate very much the free ride around the Tennessee Valley.

I'm Harold Bugg. That's Brett Beaird. You're on the boom old bug show. And, B.B., there's a reason they call it March Madness. Just ask Ohio State and TCU. The Horned Frogs up by plenty of the half double digits. Guess who's ahead by two points right now with about eight and some change to go in regulation, B.B. The Buckeyes are ahead 55-53. Now, I thought the Nebraska-Troy game would be a little bit closer right now. 15-58 remaining in the second half. Cornhuskers lead 44-30. And I'm embarrassed to admit I'd pick South Florida to beat Louisville.

Louisville 24, South Florida, Brian Huntson 11. And so, I'm already, my undefeated brackets have ended. Well, the good news is it actually lasted longer than last year, right? Yes, it did. Justin Ferguson, I'm sure, has got his bracket all out and polished up. He's busy there following the Auburn Tigers with the Auburn Observer. Justin, welcome in. How's your bracket so far? How are you? Bracket was all right. I had Ohio State, so the second half has been a whole lot better for me than it was. But, yeah, other than that, doing well so far.

But, I mean, it is early. They're not letting you get any rest, are they, Justin? I mean, we know what happened with the invitation from the NCAA. But before we get into football, you've got that rocking and rolling in the NIT. Your thoughts, obviously, the NIT and the NCAA, we know the discussion there. But they take on the neighbors from South Alabama. Your thoughts about the game and, of course, the back story there with the news about Keyshawn Murphy opting out. How surprised were you at that news?

Yeah, I was really surprised. I mean, Keyshawn Murphy probably would have been, like, the last person I would expect to not keep playing for Auburn. But, you know, he decided to opt out, and took Auburn by surprise as well. I think in the first 15 minutes of the game against South Alabama on Tuesday night, Auburn didn't look like they were ready to show up. South Alabama was motivated, playing well. And I think Auburn just had to kind of get over it a little bit, get over the disappointment of not making the tournament, get over, you know, being down a man, and just go out there and play.

And they stuck to their guns. The shots, they missed a lot of open threes in the first half. South Alabama gives up more threes than anybody in the country in terms of rate. Auburn missed a ton of open threes. And the solution wasn't, okay, you know, stop taking the open shots. It was just, all right, let's get better. Let's get better open shots and hit them. They definitely did. You know, Kevin Overton hit seven in the second half alone from deep. Had some big plays from other guys as well.

Cade Magwood, you know, first time he's played in two months. And he has a pretty phenomenal game off the bench. So, it was a good response by Auburn. You know, second half, they really took care of business against a team that had been up by double digits on them. And really, you know, thought they just played a good, clean second half, did what they needed to do. And now, they have the right to keep playing in this tournament. And, you know, they'd much rather be in the NCAA tournament right now, of course.

[1:03:27] And they were disappointed the way the season went, of course. But you got an opportunity here by playing in the NIT that you win a game or two more. Who knows? You might get to go to Indianapolis and play, you know, play for a chance at a title. And more importantly, you give some of these younger guys more reps, more practices, and have an opportunity to finish what has been a disappointing season on a little bit more of a brighter spot. I was going to ask you, did you have Cade Magwood?

Coming off the bench, first time since January, the Sticks score 11 straight points. He had three. I don't think many people put that together now. Auburn will advance. They're playing, confirm for me, they're playing Seattle Sunday at 530, of course, at Auburn. Yes, they are. They're playing at Seattle at 530 on Sunday. Seattle's a fascinating team. One of the worst offenses in the country this season, but a top-20 defense. So it's just, I mean, it is very much a styles-make-fights kind of game this season. So that'll be a very interesting matchup on Sunday, you know, back at Neville Arena.

A four, you know, Auburn, Cade Magwood. Yeah, I mean, tremendous amount of credit should go to Cade Magwood. This is a guy who was put on the scout team two months ago because he was really struggling on the defensive end of the four, just not, you know, Auburn was struggling on defense. He wasn't doing well on that end, and Auburn's just like, all right, we'll make some other moves in our rotation to try to help our defense out. Well, season goes on, you get an opportunity to keep playing some games.

You're playing against a team that gives up a ton of catch-and-shoot looks. What if Cade Magwood good at catching and shooting? So he took full advantage of his opportunity when he got back into there. And so, yeah, I mean, I just, a lot of credit to him. He's a guy who could have quit. He's a guy who could have just packed it in. He's a guy that could have said, you know what, I ain't playing. But he stayed the course. He's been giving Auburn some good scout team reps for the last two months.

He gets his opportunity to play again and takes full advantage of it. Which is a good lesson in there, especially for a freshman. Justin Ferguson, the Auburn Observer, I think it's safe to say that Stephen Pearl will be the first to say, we've got some work to do to improve come next season. Where does he start? What kind of answers will he have with the questions raised at this point in the juncture for Auburn basketball? Yeah, the priority, I think, next season's got to be you've got to get better on the defensive end, for sure.

This is the first year Auburn has really struggled on that end of the floor in a long time. You know, I think this year it was, they were just trying to break in a bunch of two, you know, too many guys who had not done it before at this level. And it just didn't really work out. They didn't have the rim protection that they were used to have and they didn't have the experienced defenders on the perimeter that they've been having for the last few years.

You know, and so I think, you know, some of it was personnel and you had too many new guys. Some of it, I just think they just did not develop the way they needed to on that end of the floor. So, I think the top priority for Auburn this offseason when they go into the transfer portal, I think, number one, you've got to get a really good big band again. You know, Keyshawn Murphy's obviously done and was going to be anyway as a senior. But to get back to maybe more of an anchor on the defensive end with your center.

And then when you fill out the rest of that roster, you know, how many guards and forwards and wings you need on this team. I would expect Auburn to try to make more of a priority to say, hey, have you played on a good defense before in the D1 level? Do you have that experience? Because I think Auburn just didn't have enough of that this season. Try to find the right pieces that will buy. Top 15 in the country in efficiency. And they played against a really tough schedule.

But just defensively, too many breakdowns, too much inconsistency. They've got to get some defensive winners on that end of the floor. I think it's going to start in the frontcourt. Before you ask you about football, heaven forbid, they started spring practice Tuesday. And, again, the first practice, I know you had a media viewing period. Again, I'm going to be curious to see how much Alex Golich is going to allow the media, and particularly in the spring, to see. But there are some things you can tell from the first scrimmage.

How is the practice organized? The attention to detail. The pace of practice. The coaching. What observations did you have watching this staff and this team together for the first time? Yeah, I mean, it was a practice that had a ton of energy, constant motion. It was just kind of really like an elevated in terms of pace, which makes sense, right? You know, Alex Golich runs a very fast offense, one of the fastest in the country. I think DJ Durkin on defense is going to have more of a free reign to be more aggressive, blitzing, going for turnovers and stuff like that more this season.

So I think having a team and having a practice that is high energy, constant motion, playing fast, that's the identity you want to build. That's the culture you want to build of this team is that it's going to be a lot of work and it's going to be a lot of speed out there and try to put your stamp on it. And so Alex Golich was saying the other day after practice, really his first week or so of spring ball, it's not as much about the X's and O's or the personnel at this point.

[1:08:38] That'll come in time. It's more of establishing, hey, this is who we are. This is how we do it. And I think you saw it on that practice field. This is going to be a team that is just going to do a lot of things really, really fast, high energy, and that's what they need to have. You know, I think if you want to work these systems, these schemes that they want to use on both sides of the ball, it's got to be that kind of way.

And so you kind of saw the early parts of that, you know, on Tuesday at the first practice. Justin, I don't think anybody would be surprised if you brought up that many folks in South Florida, what was it, 11 on offense, I believe, 11 or so. Obviously, in terms of baseball, in terms of playing time, they're probably going to start on second base or third base just because of mutual familiarity. But any time you have a coaching change like that, as far as the guys who've been there and done that, who benefits the most, in your opinion, on the current roster of the old guys going forward?

In other words, maybe they didn't fit with you freezing system, but now the chalkboard's been erased and a chance now to get some significant playing time under this coaching staff. I'm really looking at Auburn's receivers. I mean, obviously, they've got several from USF. They're going to be key guys for them. But what about a guy like Bryce Kane, you know, who's the last man standing from that free four group that a while back? He might be the fastest guy on this team. And, you know, I think his style of play, his vertical ability would really work in this system.

You know, and it's more of a clean slate. You know, there's going to be more. You know, Auburn's got more guys that, you know, they'll put some slot dudes out there. They've got some experience there. But I think there's an opportunity for him to get, you know, carve out a role. Sam Turner, not 100% right now. Recovering from an injury he suffered late last season. But I think he's another guy that just, as a year under his belt, got some familiarity. Good outside pass catcher. Be interested to see kind of what he does there.

Looking for some of the younger Auburn offensive linemen. Ty Buster was a guy that we heard a lot about last year when he was redshirting. Hey, he's really coming on. He's looking good. You know, he stays at Auburn. And, you know, I think Auburn's going to have a lot of transfers start this season up front, obviously. But Ty Buster is a guy that I think could definitely get in the mix for the two-deep just because of the way he's continuing to progress. And then on the defensive side, you know, the ball, there's a lot of guys you probably know and are familiar with that are going to be able to play this year.

I'm looking, though, at defensive tackle. You know, guys like Jordan Crawford and Mully Gautry, you know, those were guys that last season got some playing time. But they weren't having to be key players as sophomores with, you know, the same defensive line coach, the same scheme. You know, that year-two jump you see a lot of these kids make, I think it could be big for both of those guys, particularly Gary and Smith as well. But those, you know, Jordan Crawford, I would really, really look good the other day at practice when we saw him.

I think he could be in line for a big sophomore season now that Auburn's going to have to turn to him and ask him to do more this season on that defensive front. Your thoughts about this wide receiver room. I think when you saw the news about Coleman and some of the others jumping ship, the initial reaction was, uh-oh, Auburn's going to be in trouble there. But you go down to South Florida and who knows, I mean, that's not the SEC, so there's not as much familiarity.

Where are you now with this wide receiver room as opposed with the initial phase when you saw the defense, namely the big guy, Coleman? Yeah, I mean, I think Cam Coleman is a guy that you'd love to keep, and Eric Singleton would be another guy you'd love to keep. They're really talented players. I do know, though, that Auburn's bringing in four of the top five guys that USF had last season, and they may not have familiarity in the SEC, except for Chaz Emmerod, who did start his career at Tennessee.

They have a ton of familiarity in the system and a ton of familiarity with the guys who's going to be throwing the football to them in Byron Brown. So it's been a pretty smooth transition for those guys. I mean, you know, I think when you look at, you know, when you look at Jeremiah Coger and Keyshawn Singleton on the outside, these are two SEC-looking receivers, six-three vertical guys. I think you can get down and feel well. Nimrod, obviously, started his career at Tennessee. He's got a lot of pop there.

Christian Neptune was a good fly receiver for this USF team. So you look and you see, like, okay, they may not be SEC guys right now, but they look the part, and they definitely have that familiarity where that adjustment process to, oh, this is what life's going to be like in the SEC might be a little bit easier because they know who's throwing on the ball. They know the offense inside and out, and I think that's going to be the big thing there is that, yes, Auburn lost some talent, some big-time talent at wide receiver, but they've got some really established production in this system coming in.

Absolutely nothing going on this week for you, in particular Tuesday when all three sports were going on practically at the same time. It should be quite a weekend in Auburn in the NIT again with Seattle Sunday, football practice going on. Oh, by the way, Auburn's two of the best baseball teams in the country, Auburn and Texas, in the series this weekend. Dan, we appreciate you coming on a day early. We've got an abbreviated show tomorrow because of Alabama basketball, but the 6 a.m. emails, the mailbag on Friday, the podcast.

[1:14:04] Where can we get online to get all the good stuff? AuburnObserver.com. Check it out there. We're running a sale right now, so you can get it for $40 for your first year or $4 a month. That's several months off for free from our usual price, so it's a great time to jump on board. Did a big podcast yesterday talking all three of those sports with our pal Adam Cole for the Montgomery Advertiser. I'll have a football newsletter coming up from the interviews we had today that you'll get in the next couple hours in your inbox.

Got NIT coverage for sure, and then more stuff from the first week of spring practice for Auburn football. So it's a great time to jump on board. AuburnObserver.com, sign up there. Other than that, absolutely nothing going on, right, Justin? Listen, man, keep up the good work, and thanks so much for your time today. I appreciate y'all. Thank you, man. Justin Ferguson, the Auburn Observer. Coming up, he's observed a lot of basketball over the years. The one, the only Doug Segris on deck. Stay with us.

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You gotta love it, baby. They ought to call this March Madness. It looks like Ohio State is locking horns of the Horned Frogs right now with just about a minute. Some change to go in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, BB. 61-61. TCU hit a 15-point lead at halftime, but the Buckeyes have stormed back. 57 seconds remaining. TCU now ahead, 64-61. Just quickly in Nebraska, rolling over Troy. 70-40. That is six minutes and 53 left in the second half. And actually, the Louisville-South Florida game has gotten a little bit closer.

[1:19:37] One minute remaining in the first half, Louisville 33, South Florida 24. And with that, we say hello to the man who is in basketball heaven, Doug Sigrist. He has been named one of the 50 Legends of Alabama Sports Writers Association, former tri-host of The Zone on ABC 3340 down in a place called Birmingham. And his book is called A Storm Came Up. Doug, welcome in. You said the other day that you're just going to sit there into a house and not move. Have you even gotten out of bed? Are you watching all the games on the cover today?

How are you? I'm great. I've actually been in the grocery store. I ran a couple other errands. I get home. My DirecTV's not working. The receiver's not working. Oh, no. And luckily, I've been able to get, like, DirecTV strength, which has kind of saved the day. But this is not the way I wanted to start this tournament. Ooh, yeah, yeah. I'm taking off for four straight days. I just do all I want. There you go. There you go. Yeah. Well, I hope your DTV, your DirecTV gets to start working over the next four days.

Or I got a feeling we're going to have to put a filter on your language down there, Doug. But your thoughts so far, this Ohio State game, to me, this is what it's all about. Run out of the bat. You get a game that looks like a runaway, and then now it's a dogfight as they get near the end of regulation. To me, this sets the tone of why they put the madness in March. Hey, I lost you for a second. Repeat that, Harold. Yeah, I was talking about this.

This Ohio State game in TCU, this is why they call it March Madness, because as Brett said, at the half, TCU had a double-digit lead. And now, right now, they're trying to hang on. They were tied. I think now there's a bucket that separates them with about a minute to go. This is what March Madness is all about. It's unpredictable. Yeah. And we knew this game had the potential to be a good game, so I was disappointed in the first half. You know, you look at the early starts, though.

It seems to be holding up chalk everywhere else. This has been a pretty good game, and, you know, to me, it just seemed like it took like a half for Ohio State to get comfortable. Excuse me. Now they got comfortable. Y'all a little ahead of me, so don't give it away. Because I've got it tied with 26 seconds left. Okay. Well, we won't tell you that I won a ball game. Okay. That's right. We edited that out, I hope. But, no, we're kidding. But let's talk about the SEC as the curtain comes up here in a short.

Matter of fact, in less than an hour, if you're on schedule, the doors from Vanderbilt will take on McNeese. Doug, this has been a popular giant David job where a lot of folks think McNeese is going to take care of the Commodores. What do you say? I like Vanderbilt. Now, we know the 12-5. We know the troubles in this universe that it causes. And this is a McNeese state that really forces a lot of turnovers. But I think that plays right in Vanderbilt's strength. You know, they protect the ball.

They've got good backboard. So, I like your chances a lot. The Hogs are a haunt. They beat Vandy in Nashville on Sunday. Hawaii's an interesting team. They've got a seven-footer by the name of Robinson. They're 25th in the nation in free throw attempts. But, Doug, I can't see, at least for this game, there is Acuff Jr. who went off for 49 on Alabama. Malik Thomas, Brazil, who played really well at the end of that Vandy game with Billy Richmond. I cannot see. Arkansas is a 15-point favorite.

I think Arkansas wins and covers that. Yeah, I agree. You know, we keep talking about, well, this Arkansas team could go to the Final Four. And the truth is, their Achilles heel is like Alabama's. There are times where they don't play a lick of defense. But I'm not sure they need it in the first two rounds. They've got scores. You know, we're forgetting Wagner comes off the bench. Wagner was like the prep phenom when he originally signed with Cali, Kentucky. So, I mean, this is just a very talented team that can score in bunches.

And I like their chances to go deep. Doug, the balance of the day as far as the SEC, Texas, BYU, Texas A&M, St. Mary's. You don't get that in football, do you? And Georgia, St. Louis, same there. Your thoughts as far as the rest of the balance of the day, are any of these SEC teams in jeopardy of going home early? I think both of those first two, Texas and Texas A&M, I think Texas benefits from having played that play-in game. Listen, we have seen where Texas can play with anybody in the country.

Their inconsistency just kind of boggles the mind. Obviously, BYU has one of the best freshmen in the country. You've got to figure out how you can stop them. But the way they pulled it out the other night, I think they have a puncher's chance. I'm more worried about Texas A&M, St. Mary's. And the irony, if you go back and look, you say, has nothing to do with football, but go back and look at these, you know, the old 1930s and 40s SEC schedules. The SEC teams played the likes of St. Mary's and San Francisco and Santa Clara.

[1:25:09] So once upon a time, yeah. Yeah, and so once upon a time, you know, they were part of our world. You know, you look at the conference they play in, you know, they go toe-to-toe with Gonzaga. I just think it's a bad matchup for Texas A&M. And again, I'll say this. I mean, we're just getting a glimpse of what Bucky McMillan do at A&M. Because he had to just totally reinvent this entire roster. And for them to be here is just nothing short of a miracle.

I just don't think they've got enough to pull it off against a team we saw last year against Alabama and couldn't shoot a lick. And they went out and got a bunch of shooters. Now they're one of the top 15 teams in three-pointers. Absolutely. Speaking of Alabama, Nate Oates has had an interesting week. We all know about Aidan Holloway and the arrest early. And he has now been, quote, removed from campus. But players have got to step up. Again, he's scoring 16.8 a game. But there are some players there.

They're certainly capable. Julio Bathea, if he can play within himself, has incredible athleticism. I don't think Reitzel is going to go 0 for 5 as he did against Ole Miss. Omari Allen, who has been a little bit off track the last four games, only scoring 6.5. Houston Millett. Taylor Bowen looked better against Ole Miss. And this is a contrast in styles. Alabama, of course, wants to go a mile a minute. And Hawthorne is just the opposite. How can Alabama compensate for Aidan Holloway being out of the lineup? I think they've got to take advantage.

Listen, Hawthorne actually has a size advantage inside. But their big guys aren't as good as what Alabama has. So you've got to get to the paint. You've got to get, or rather, get to the rim. You've got to slash a little. You've got to feed it low and try to get them in foul trouble. And just because you know they're going to be focused on the three. And Alabama's weakness when it comes to three is, you know, you kind of deny Phylon and Holloway. And you've got to have Millett or Reitzel or even Allen pick up on the three-point line.

Well, your number two weapon, your actual best shooter is gone now. So you've got to have big games from those guys. But I think you can do it more inside-outside than you can do because I think Alabama, even though we keep saying all year their bigs are the weakness, I think they're an advantage in this game. Coming up tomorrow, in addition to Alabama, as far as the SEC, Kentucky and Santa Clara, a very intriguing matchup. And Tennessee taking on the Bruce Pearl Special, Miami of Ohio.

Did you see what Miami of Ohio's fans did last night when SMU was shooting a free throw? Yeah. Well, I've tried to clean it up here. The entire swim team from Miami, you know how the kids behind you, when they're shooting free throws, try to distract them. The entire team from Miami of Ohio's swim team came down in nothing but their speedos and a wristwatch. Yep, they did, Doug. And they missed the free throws. Oh, my God. I don't know how I missed that. But I hope they never had one of them.

That was a great floey. Great floey. Wow. Wow. So if they manage to keep the swim team away, what is it they do tomorrow with Miami of Ohio? Well, I'll tell you what, I'm impressed. I thought they, you know, had earned the right to get in, even though their metrics aren't great. And I think they proved it the way they pulled that one out. And, you know, I think this is a fun team to watch. I don't think they can go very far. But now I'm going to be watching more of the swim team.

I think it's a bad one. Now, before we let you go, how many, young man, how many SEC teams are going to advance to the Sweet 16? That's a tough one. I think Florida for sure. I think Vanderbilt's got a shot. I think Alabama, I'm expecting Alabama to play at a different level without Holloway. Just, I think they'll pick it up. So that's three in Arkansas. So I'm looking at four. I would like to see Tennessee go there. But, again, you know, it's just about matchups at this point.

I'm not sure how far they can go. They've just been so inconsistent the last month of the season. We can say the same for Kentucky. And that Santa Clara game, I think, is going to be a tough game for them. Tennessee always seems to have a scoring drought at some point in the postseason. Listen, get that TV work down. Make sure all the snacks are in the refrigerator. I know you love this. We had to talk to you before everything started. Enjoy the madness, my friend.

[1:30:23] I'm enjoyed it. I'm not a streamer. So this is a different experience, but I'm just on the fly. On the plan B, I guarantee you. I hear what you're saying there, Doug. Listen, man, enjoy it. Thanks so much. Let's do it again soon, okay? Thanks, guys. Y'all have a great one. You too, guys. Next secret, name one of the 50 legends of Alabama sports writers in the entire state of Alabama. Speaking of Alabama, the boys of Tuscaloosa, Ryan Fowler on deck. Stay with us. Got wine? Offering 10% off six or more bottles of mix-and-match wine and an unmatched selection of nearly a thousand different wines to suit any budget, the Carriage Wine & Market is your one-stop wine and craft beer destination in the heart of downtown Florence.

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Visit Pella.com slash Eisen today. That's Pella.com slash Eisen. Adam Schefter here. It's tournament time. When only the most talented teams survive in advance. And whether you're cutting down the nets or cutting through resumes, one thing's clear. The best teams are built with the best people. If you're hiring, you need ZipRecruiter. Their smart matching technology finds qualified candidates fast. You can add screening questions to get the right applicants and even filter to see who's recently active. Score the best for your team with ZipRecruiter. Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash sports.

That's ZipRecruiter.com slash sports. Progressive presents the Sports Flash on 93.9 The Score. Spring training baseball action yesterday. The Atlanta Braves winners over the Phillies 3-2. The Braves are 17-6-2 in spring training. The Braves are off today and will play tomorrow against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bundle auto and home, renters or condo, and save with Progressive. I'm John Thayer with the Sports Flash presented by Progressive on 93.9 The Score. Why'd I go to the doctor? Working on the farm, my heart kept skipping a beat. I didn't think much of it, but my daughters made me get checked out.

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Say hello to the voice of T-Town. Ryan Fowler drives you home every afternoon. He's host of the game on Tide 109 FM in T-Town. Ryan, welcome in. How are you? Doing good. Doing good. Just finished up 2.1 pounds, and I'm ready to go. Ready to go. I feel like I'm pumped up, ready for the show. 2.1 pounds. Ryan, obviously, it sounds like you've had a spicy day. It's safe to say that Nate Oates has had a spicy week since last Friday with the Ole Miss game and, of course, the news over the weekend.

[1:35:54] Ryan, you're in Tuscaloosa. What's going on in your backyard? Well, it's spring break, so I'm not going to lie to you. The university's going to shut completely down, so you've got nobody here. Yeah, we went south, as everybody else did, so I feel like Tuscaloosa has moved to Gulfshores, Alabama. So they are here, and we are here. So I can't tell you what Denny Chimes looks like, but I can tell you the students are having a lot of fun, probably more fun than me. I feel like the old man, you know, trying to pick up your stuff.

You're not leaving it there. You need to keep up your record. It's called Memories, Memories, Memories, Memories. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, listen, I remember those days, but, yeah, our spring breakers are, yeah, they've had quite fun, but a little calmer where we are located. But every now and then they slip in, and currently I'm watching a guy in a boat, okay, and a parachute and a rope, and they're dragging him down the rope, okay? What would it cost for you guys to get on this thing, parachute you way up in the air, and drag you halfway down the beach?

Would you sign up? You're talking about now or back when we were lubed up? No, now, now, no, no, no. I mean, they're doing it now. No, no, no, not going to happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But Alabama has, it's been a tough week, guys. I mean, it has been, you know, from, you know, the fan standpoint. I mean, you look at it and you say, well, they earned this opportunity from a player perspective to get to this. I mean, he ripped his teammates out. He ripped his fans that obviously had a thought that they were going to be able to do some damage in the NCAA tournament to be able to make a run, and all of that's kind of up in shaky soil right now.

It looks like that, you know, this Alabama basketball team, they've got some things that they can do, and we'll see if they're going to be able to do those. They can run fast, and they can outrun a lot of the guys, you know, at the speed and the tempo that they play at. But it just feels, it's just got a dark cloud right now that, you know, it's over the program. Yeah, Ryan, they can compensate for 17 points. Amari Allen is certainly capable. He was a double-double machine a little bit earlier.

Houston Millant, they've got to get more from him. Taylor Bo Bowen, who played a little bit better against Ole Miss. Yeah, this game with Hoster as a contrast of Stiles. But again, Ryan, it's the same thing. We talk in football when somebody goes down this next man up. The same thing in basketball. Well, see, it'll give you an understanding of who's next, right? I mean, it'll give you, you know, it gives you a chance to evaluate where you are. But they do have probably as good as any depth, you know, as far as at that position.

So it is one of those that, you know, it's unfortunate that it happened. But as you said, they can find a way if the right guy steps up and take charge. And so you need some points, and as you said, it's probably not going to be one guy. It's probably going to be a multiple guy. Amari Allen is going to have to pick up some of that. Or Cheryl Reitzel is going to have to pick up some of that. Maybe there's some other ones, you know, that can pick up some points.

And, you know, but it really, you know what else it took away? It took away us being able to celebrate what Nate Oates has been able to accomplish. That's the part that we really did not get a chance to do. Because, I mean, guys, he turned this program into what is the standard now is a Sweet 16, right? He took us to a level where that's the standard is the Sweet 16 appearance. And I think when you look at everything that we've talked about, we really haven't had enough time to do that.

I hope at some point, you know, in the next week, especially if they can get out of this first weekend, that we can spend a little time talking about what Nate Oates has been able to accomplish. Because he walked into a program that was funeral home dad and has made him into a perennial power. That's pretty special. And we just, I feel like we have nowhere near paid the respect of what he's been able to do here in Tuskegee. It's not easy. It's not easy being a coach, especially in this NIL era when they have so much freedom, so many options.

Let me just throw something at you along that line. This is not talking chalk. This is, and you can correct us where we're wrong. I'm going to try to paraphrase. This is Nate Oates on, of course, Holloway. I've met with him in person. I'm an adult. I've made mistakes. We all have things we'd like to do differently. Now's the time he needs more love from the adults in his life than at any point. Basically, obviously, he's disappointed, but he's saying at the same time, everybody's human.

[1:41:05] What does the good book say? The guy that has never made a mistake. You cast the first stone. The timing couldn't be worse, but at least Oates is not throwing his guy totally under the bus either. No, and listen, on Monday, before we knew a lot of the details, that was where he was at. I mean, listen, Nate Oates has a different relationship with these players than your typical there, and so when you think about Nate Oates, I mean, he comes from a Christian background where there's grace and understanding that there's forgiveness, but that also doesn't mean that there's not consequences, too, and that's the part is the fine line.

How do you walk this? How do you find a way to juggle this? Because let's say you get through this first weekend, and you go in front of the student judicial account next week, and you suspend it because you said, hey, look, I missed two of these big games. I missed the first round. I missed this. Do you bring him back this year? See, I don't have an answer to that. I don't know if that would be, you know, from an Alabama fan, would they accept that, or because there's been so many other issues, whether it's the Charles, Betty, Akko case, that you say, guys, no, this is a chance.

We have to clean up our standards. We've got to send a message. You know, it's kind of Drake or Patrick Jr. Well, you know, you have to send a message. And probably a byproduct of Drake or Patrick missing the remaining part of the season. Now, listen, he's back, and he's doing some great things at Alabama. I mean, he looks like he's going to be a big part of the defense. So, but there's a punishment. He missed the remaining part of the season. So, you have to send a message, because if not, other guys, I'm not saying they're going to have 2.1 pounds of marijuana, but they may have other situations, you know, missing some kind of team rule or curfew or whatever.

So, that's where we're at. That's where we're at. Go ahead. No, I was just saying that that's where he's at. Yeah, he definitely wants to help his team out, but you also have to send a message that you're serious about disciplinary action. Mm-hmm. Ryan, you remember this very vividly, and a lot of our listeners do, too. Just to reiterate your point, what Nate Oates has done, from 2007 to 2017, Alabama basketball made the NCAA tournament field how many times? Once. Once. In 2012. 10 or 11 seasons on the bubble or playing North Fork State in the NIT in Tuscaloosa in front of 3,000 people, there's no question Nate Oates has changed this program.

Oh, listen, listen. I mean, look at the money. Mike Rodak had the article a couple of weeks ago. He made $10 million. Now, that's a profit. That's not just generating. No, they generated enough where they paid all of their expenses and then made between $9.5 and $10 million. To me, that's something that you step back and you think about, you know, that he lifted the program to a level. I know the old timers would probably disagree, but is this the heyday of Alabama Crimson Tide basketball? It'd be hard to argue against it.

I mean, what has he had? He's had two Elite Eights, right? A final four. Yeah. And then the rest, I'm trying to look back at, didn't he have a round early? Didn't he get bounced early one year? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So then he, I mean, so he's, I mean, when you look at Nate Oates' credentials, you know, are we living in the best times of Alabama Crimson Tide basketball? And if not when, I mean, obviously the 80s were, 80s in that period right there was pretty solid.

Anyway, just, it's, that's the part that, I mean, up until now, we've really not talked about because it's been the other conversations that have kind of wanted people to talk about it. They wanted to talk about other things and, you know, you kind of laugh at yourself because it's therapeutic and I think Alabama fans are very disappointed. Not as, you know, I mean, listen, it's, you're there, you get the t-shirt. But I think your expectations was that you were, you were going to accomplish something else a little bit bigger.

Well, they better get through tomorrow. Taking on Florida would be one thing or Duke, but you can't lose the Hofstra if you got Alabama on your jersey and that's just it. Alabama will be facing a guy who used to have Alabama on his jersey and now has Hofstra on it. Aaron Estrada, now with Hofstra, he's 25 years old, right? 25. He's, he's older than a lot of guys in the NBA, but your, your thoughts about that? And just, uh, your biggest concern outside of the obvious without Holloway, what to do there as far as this matchup tomorrow.

[1:46:23] Yeah. And I mean, I look at Vegas, I, I like to watch the lines because I think Vegas knows to me, they're just, they're plugged in, right? I mean, I mean, when you look at Vegas and you think about the line, it really didn't fluctuate a lot. I mean, it went down from 13 and a half down to 11 and a half. That was the only part to remove Aiden Holloway. Um, yeah. Yeah. I mean, think about that. I mean, so we talked about a while ago, well, Vegas believes what Brett said a couple of minutes ago, that, that they're going to be able to account for those points.

They're going to be able to score those points. I mean, based on, you know, them. So I think when you, when you take a look, that's going to be, you know, I think, I think they'll be okay. And I think you're going to see a team because we have seen a team that has been us against the world. And this further, um, I think you're going to see that tomorrow, uh, that, that you're going to have this us against the world and who knows, maybe they'll play inspired basketball understanding that, you know, and I'm not saying I don't have any information one way or the other, but, but I just wonder if you could see him make a round, if they made it through the first weekend that, that they could possibly come back and, and, and you might be able to see him there and, and, and who knows, maybe they'll play inspired, um, to understand, you know, that, that the world's against them.

I mean, they've kind of, they, I think Nate has driven that a couple of times and I think he's probably used that a little bit and, uh, you know, it's, it's a moment like today that, or excuse me, tomorrow that you can use that. And so I, I think you're going to see Alabama come out hot and they need to, this, this is probably the healthiest that they've been other than, uh, the absence of Baden Holloway. Um, in, in a couple of minutes, we talked to Ronnie Orr earlier in the week and he gave the, on the hoof report and said, this is a good looking football team.

They got some big boys here. Uh, Daniel Hills lost that may be 15 pounds. Uh, the tight ends, uh, all these six, six, two 50 guys, um, the offensive line looks good. Six, seven, three 20. And again, because you look good in a football uniform doesn't mean you're going to win games, but at least physically, um, under, I'm guessing you got a chance to go to the media viewing, but, uh, Brian, you had a lot of positive vibes about this team, uh, early. But I think there's a lot of reasons to be positive about this team.

You know, going into it, you can go back to the reportings of this interview. I kept saying, if they can find an offensive line, this team looks pretty good. Well, okay. One weekend, four days in, they've already declared that Jackson Lloyd's going to be your left tackle. Well, there's no way he earns that if he's not playing at a high level, right? I mean, there's just no way, I mean, you can't give a guy, I mean, if you think he's giving you a C minus, well, you can't throw him and say, well, guys, he's the, he's the guy.

Well, he's given us a C minus. You know what you're going to get with Michael Carroll. I will tell you that they have done some experimenting with him and possibly moving him inside. And if that's the case, then you've got about three guys that can play that right tackle spot. And it may be, you know, Rayson Delgado, you went out and signed him from Cal Poly. He's not giving up one sack in his college career. So you put pretty solid there. So you've got center. And if Michael Carroll goes to the guard, then you've got the tackles and you've got plenty of competition there at the right tackle, your left tackle.

I mean, we still got to see Jackson Lloyd take on, you know, Yancey Pierre and do it by himself, but I think when, when you, you know, without any help, but it just seems like this offensive line is maybe further ahead. And if that's the case, then, then this Alabama football team, you know, you saw Vegas, Vegas had Alabama at eight and a half and the highest in the SEC was nine and a half. When you look at the fan deal, they had the win total, Alabama, Texas, A&M, Georgia, Texas was, was it nine and a half?

LSU had dropped. The last time I saw it, it was down there close to Alabama. It was either nine or eight was eight and a half too. So that's the impact of that nine conference games. Well, listen, we'll be praying for you to get through another week on the beach. I know it's tough. Yeah. Who have you got on the show today? And where can we get online to listen? Well, we've got Rodney or coming up here in just a couple of minutes. We're going to talk with him as you guys do each and every week.

And then we've got Bruce Marshall coming up at three. And then we're going to talk to a young man who is an American Idol finalist. And he's a big Bama guy. And so we're going to try to rally a little bit of support for him. And we'll do a score prediction coming up here in just a couple of minutes on Tide109.com. But, hey, always an honor to be on with you guys. Thankfully, I don't have any liquid courage or I might be on that parachute.

[1:51:50] Living on the edge. Stay in the shadows down there, Ryan. Listen, man, it's good to hook up with you. Thanks so much. It's safe travels back home, okay? Okay. Thank you, guys. We'll talk to you all soon. Okay. All right. Ryan Fowler hooking up with us. Host of the game on Tide109. Of course, when he's in town in Tuscaloosa. BB, it's now final. The Horned Frogs looks like they survived. Yeah, they come back to win 66-64. Nebraska taking care of Troy. That is a final, 76-47.

Louisville ahead of South Florida, 44-33 with 17 minutes remaining. Yeah. And Wisconsin's having some problems with high point. Another 5-12 matchup. The Banders only leading high point, 41-39 in half-ball. And coming up in just a short, the SEC will take the lid off. The Vanderbilt Commodores taking on Matinee State. Again, in that proverbial 5-12 matchup. Going to take care of biz for now. 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 tomorrow starting at noon for the Boom on Buck Show.

Back here on Sports Radio from 93.9 The Score.