Boomo Bugg Show 020626

[0:00] Now, get ready to roll, Shoals, Decatur, Athens, and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. Your exclusive inside track to the Tide, Tigers, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9. The Score. Good afternoon and welcome here to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, welcome in. Where is it so that Alabama fans are asking, does it go by Greg Sankey or Greg Sankey?

Welcome in, the latest on the Betty Iaco Show. How are you on this TGIF, Brett Beaird? Happy Friday to you and the listeners. The Charles Bediaco hearing was held this morning. No ruling. Judge Daniel Pruitt told both sides to submit proposed orders by 4 p.m. Then he'll make a final decision, whether that's late this afternoon, in the morning, or Monday. And if he doesn't make a decision, Charles Bediaco will probably play against Auburn tomorrow. Blake Lovell of Southeastern 16 will break down the top basketball games in the SEC Saturday, including that Alabama-Auburn game.

And Jimmy is here right now to preview the Iron Bowl of basketball and to recount Bama's 2026 signing class. He needs to be into sports and also have a law degree in the modern era of covering sports. Jimmy Stein got it all covered there. Locked on Bama. Jimmy, welcome in. How are you? Oh, doing great, guys. Greg Sankey says, if you're going to draw the line of sand, I'm going to be on the side of the NCAA. You're thinking of what Greg Sankey is thinking there. Is it safe to say he will not be elected to the next mayor of Tuscaloosa?

No, I doubt that helped his popularity in Tuscaloosa or in the athletic department at Alabama or the Rose administration building, frankly. But one thing we have to remember, you know, Greg Sankey doesn't act in the best interest of college sports. He acts in the best interest of the SEC. He works for the 16 university presidents. It's like Roger Goodell, you know, in the NFL. Goodell doesn't work for the NFL. He works for the 32 NFL owners. Sankey works for the 16 university presidents. And my take as soon as I saw Sankey get involved in that is he must have been pressured by a majority of the university presidents to get involved and try to put an end to this.

I don't think this is Sankey going rogue. I don't think this is something he did on his own. I think this is the university presidents, the majority of them, wanting him to take this public stance against Ben Diaco being eligible. There are those out there, Jimmy says, since this is so volatile, what happens if he just shuts up? I mean, was it one of those things where he had to do this or is it one of those deals where he just caved to the other 15 guys and said blah, blah, blah?

What would have happened? What about the ones who says, why is it even up in his opinion? Yeah, legally, I don't really think this makes a huge impact with the judge. You know, obviously the SEC is not a party to this case. They're an interested party. They're an interested party. And sometimes interested parties file briefs in legal matters. It does happen. I think in a state court matter like this where you have Charles Ben Diaco versus the NCAA, the judge is going to almost exclusively weigh the evidence as it relates specifically to Charles Ben Diaco and the NCAA case against Ben Diaco being eligible.

I don't think Sankey's statement will have an impact on the judge. I think it was a little bit more for a public show. And frankly, you know, I think if you ask most Alabama fans, you know, how do you feel about this? Do you want a Betty Acco eligible or do you want him ineligible? But all of the other pros playing throughout college basketball are also declared ineligible. I think you're going to get a pretty fair 50-50 balance there. You know, because what Alabama fans don't want is Betty Acco ineligible, while all the other professional players playing college basketball are still allowed to do so.

Jimmy Bingo, I mean, how in the world can you have faith and say, well, Jimmy, we're going to convict you of murder, but Brett, you're off. You killed the same person, but under the same circumstances. I mean, how do you differentiate that? Yeah, it is really frustrating. And for every argument, and I get both sides of the argument, by the way. I mean, to me, this isn't a clear case. To me, I get that reasonable minds are going to differ over situations such as this. I get that.

[5:17] But, you know, if you say, well, Betty Acco, you know, if your opinion is G League players shouldn't be eligible. Okay, well, there's three other G League players that the NCAA have allowed to play college basketball. Right, that's the point. Betty Acco is not the first. There's three others. If you say, no, no, no, that's not it. It's that he entered the draft knowing he walked away from his collegiate eligibility and now is choosing to walk back on that. That's not good. Well, the NCAA said the Baylor kid could do it.

Right. That's what the Baylor kid did. He was drafted in the first round. And the NCAA allowed him to walk it back. So that's why Betty Acco has a case here. It's not just as simple as, nope, he entered the draft process, it's over. If that was the case in every single instance, fine. But it hasn't been. And that's why Betty Acco has a case. And that's why he might win. Jimmy, I think most basketball and college and SEC fans agree with you. They don't particularly like this.

Right. But there is such a precedent that has been set with all of these European players, some G League players, the kid at Baylor, and you can go on and on, who have been allowed to play. And all of a sudden, you say no to Betty Acco. That's what's rankled quite a few fans. But we talked about Alabama and Auburn tomorrow, Jimmy. Alabama had a huge win earlier this week on Wednesday night against Texas A&M as the track meet from the word go ended up 100 to 97.

Jimmy, again, if Alabama can play defense and rebound and shoot a little bit, they can beat anybody in the league. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Auburn's had a bye week this week. Your thoughts on an important win for Alabama, Texas A&M, to get back on track again? Yeah, it was really big. I think just starting with the fact that you played really poorly against Florida, I think that was sort of a bottoming out for Alabama in terms of, you know, it was probably as bad as they played this year to bounce back immediately and beat the team that was in first place in the league.

I mean, that is pretty big, though you should, if you are a contender to win the SEC and have a high seat at the tournament, you should win most or all of your home games. So it's not shocking that Alabama beat A&M, but it was a little shocking that they did on the heels of how poorly they played in games. I think you're exactly right, Brett. This Alabama team, when they're firing on all cylinders, which doesn't happen all the time, but when they do, they're very difficult to beat.

If we still, I don't know yet, guys, I don't know, I'm going to have to go back and spend time with pencil and paper to figure this out, but has Alabama played a game all year where just three players, Phylon, Reitzel, and Holloway, all are healthy, all play, and all score their average or better? I mean, when they've all played well, because that Alabama team, frankly, that's a Final Four team. When that happens, but A, they haven't really all been out there at once often, and B, when they do, maybe one guy has a great night or maybe two guys have a good night.

It hasn't really been too many, if any, games where all three are healthy and have great nights. When they do, Alabama's going to be a tough out for anyone. Jimmy Stein locked on Bama, especially if they hustle and stay focused. And Jimmy, would you agree, a lot of fans are saying this is nothing new. You'd go back to last year, the year before, it's like it's just Groundhog Day. Injuries after injuries. What's it going to take to sit here? What are we doing that's causing all these injuries?

Can we stop relative to the competition? Maybe you got the answer to that, but your thoughts about the matchup. We know it's always tough to win the Iron Bowl in anything. I don't care if it's pickleball or tiddlywinks, especially when you're playing the game on the plains. But your thoughts, realistically, what do you see on the court tomorrow? Well, it is going to be tough for a couple of reasons. Number one, Auburn's a good basketball team. There's no question. They're good. And beating good teams on the road in a raucous environment is very difficult.

I don't care if you're Arizona, who sometimes looks this year like they may never, ever lose. Even for them, this would not be any sort of a gimme game at all. So Alabama has to play extremely well in every facet. They have to play better defensively than they often do. They have to rebound better than they often do, and they have to have a good shooting night. Now, again, you know, it's a broken record in terms of how I view this, but if Phylon, Reitzel, and Holloway all have great nights, even at Auburn, I really like Alabama's chances.

[10:28] That's just something that's easier said than done, and Auburn is going to defend the perimeter well. But to me, it's going to come down to defensive rebounding. I do think it'll be a higher-scoring game. I think it's going to look a little bit like that A&M game on Wednesday in terms of the point score to this. I think it's going to be up and down and pretty quick, and it ought to be really entertaining. But picking a winner is tough. I picked Florida to beat Alabama last week, and I picked Alabama to beat A&M, and I feel like I'm on a roll.

But instead of continuing the roll, what I think I'm going to do is quit while I'm ahead. I don't know that I'm comfortable picking a winner here. I do think Alabama is good enough to win, but it's going to be a tough hill to climb. Jimmy, I think we can pick a winner in National Signing Day. Alabama was number two or number three in 24-7. Oregon picked up a couple of kids late. Number five in own3.com. But meeting their needs, I think they were able to do that.

They brought in Maurice Matthews, a wide receiver, Aubrey Walker, and Keon Seb's younger brother, Maury. I know it's just an accident that his other younger brother is a five-star prospect for 20-27. But, Jimmy, when you look at this, my first impression, I always look at the offensive line, and we've talked about this this week, five offensive linemen, five defensive linemen, some incredibly talented secondary dudes. In the two quarterbacks, Thamala is a five-star. Jimmy, your thoughts, and maybe a grade for this 20-26 signing class for Alabama?

It's an A. It's an A. I would say A-plus, but Alabama has signed number one classes. This is not comparable to a lot of the Saban classes, so I can't say it's an A-plus, because I think we've all seen what those A-plus classes look like. I don't know that anyone is going to be able to recruit at the level Saban was, because now even Texas Tech would go over budget, signing one of those Saban classes in 20-26. But it's an A. I like, Brett, how you broke it down by position group and how important it was for Alabama to do well at the line of scrimmage, and I think they really did.

That was clearly an emphasis. I look at quality and quantity. By quality, what I'm looking for is, did you sign about 12 to 14 really good players that anyone anywhere would take and be excited about? That's the quality. In quantity, did you sign enough players? In Alabama, I think it ended up with 26 players that are part of the signing class. That's a much larger class they've been signing lately. So there's a high quality with the best guys in the class. And then there's a lot of bodies to help fill out your 105.

So I really think they checked every box here. They got the five-star quarterback in addition to the line of scrimmage. They signed a running back that I think may be the best pure running back they've signed. Gosh, I don't know when. I think E.J. Crowell from Jackson, Alabama, is the best in-state back prospect since Carnell Williams. I really believe that. So I think it really is a home run for Alabama. They signed a difference maker at every position group in addition to, like I said, bringing in about 26 overall.

So they recruit the high schools at an elite level. There's no doubt Kaelin DeBorg and Courtney Morgan have just picked up the Nick Saban ball and run with it insofar as high school recruiting goes. Quickly, before we jump off, Jimmy, your thoughts, obviously, the news since the last time we talked. Mr. Clems coming in to take over the offensive line coaching from USC. How do you feel about the future of Alabama's offensive line now compared to a year ago? Pretty good. I mean, you have to be excited about Adrian Clem.

His resume in terms of who has hired him, I mean, that's what stood out to me when I really kind of dove into Adrian Clem's career. He's been hired by Bill Belichick, hired by Mike Tomlin, hired by Dan Lanning. He was a good NFL player himself. He was an offensive lineman on three Super Bowl winning teams. I think you have to be excited about the hire. What I'm mostly excited about, guys, is there's 16 offensive linemen on scholarship. There's a lot of new guys, and there's some freshmen, and there's these transfer portal guys.

Even a couple of them are young. They're redshirt freshmen. But you have to like the new – it's been like a complete rebuild, both in the group with the players and now with the coach. It really feels like a reset that Alabama's badly needed. I don't think any Alabama fan has been happy with the offensive line, frankly, since 2020. And no quarterback has either behind that line. Jimmy, you and Luke Robinson's podcast get an A-plus in my book. Jimmy, where can we get online and get the best Alabama sports coverage on the planet?

[15:48] Locked on Bama. You can find us on YouTube if you're into the video. Or you can just listen to Locked on Bama wherever you get your audio podcast, Spotify, iHeart, iTunes, all of it. And we have new shows six days a week, so there's a new 30-minute show every single day. Jimmy, it's always good to hook up with you. And by the way, enjoy Sunday. You've got a choice as far as TV viewing. You can either watch the Super Bowl or Lifetime. It's in your hands, Jimmy, so make a wise choice there, okay?

The decision is made. There you have it, now we know. Jimmy Stein, I'm going to win this, co-host of Locked on Bama. Coming up all over the SEC with Blight Level on Dank. Stay with us. Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter? Right? And the best part? They accept Discover. Accept Discover? In a little place like this? I don't think so, Jennifer. Oh, yeah, huh? Discover's accepted where I like to shop. Come on, baby, get with the times. Right. So we shouldn't get the parachute pants?

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United Way of Northwest Alabama is thrilled to announce the return of its signature fundraising gala, Shoals Royale, on Saturday, February 21st, 2026 at the Renaissance Shoals Conference Center. This black-tie optional casino-themed event brings all the glitz and excitement of Las Vegas to the Shoals, complete with live entertainment, gaming tables, prices, hors d'oeuvres, and a cash bar, and all for a great cause. Now in its fourth year, Shoals Royale has become one of Northwest Alabama's premier charity events, uniting local businesses, community leaders, and residents for a night of luxury and purpose.

[21:05] Proceeds directly benefit United Way of Northwest Alabama and the 12 local nonprofit partners and 22 community programs and funds. Individual tickets are $125 or $200 per couple, or go in VIP style for $350 or $600 per couple. Shoals Royale, 2026, Saturday, February 21st at 7 p.m. at the Renaissance Shoals Conference Center. Tickets are available now at givebutter.com slash ShoalsRoyale2026. Why do you love Shriners Children's? They take good care of you. Shriners Children's provides specialized care to kids who need it most. This place is amazing. When I come here, I feel like I belong.

To learn more, visit loveshriners.org. Thank you. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. What do you say? We're in on up to Music City and hope the ice and snow have all melted there where Blake Lovell lives in Nashville. He covers the SEC for Southeastern 16 and also Blue Ribbon Yearbook and his podcast is called Establish the Past. Blake Lovell, welcome in. How are you? Yeah, doing well. I was going to talk to you as always. You too. So you're going to spend the weekend watching college basketball or figure skating with the Olympics, Blake?

Yeah, I think there's some interesting games coming up tomorrow. That'll get most of my attention, but I do enjoy the Olympics, so I'll have an eye on it. Yeah, so yes or no, what's your take on Betty Yacco? Will he show up for the game on the Plains for Bama tomorrow? And your thoughts about Judge Judy's show down in Tuscaloosa today? Yeah, I don't. I'll tell you guys, I have no idea how this thing plays out. I just feel like it's sort of one of these things where, again, with all the sort of twists and turns and all this stuff, I just couldn't even tell you how I think this thing will play out, you know, whether it's the Greg Sankey development yesterday or just really how any of this has gone.

I just don't have a great feel on it. I have said about the game, I think that, you know, to me, this is the kind of game that if he plays, it maybe goes one way. If he doesn't play, it goes the other way. Like, I feel like he is kind of the key piece to me in a game like this because, you know, you look at what Auburn was able to do against Florida a couple weeks ago and, like, matchup-wise, I feel like this is the kind of game you want Charles Bediaco more than any on your schedule just given kind of what Auburn's strengths are.

Here's the deal, Blake. I think if you took Anani's poll, obviously your team's fan base is going to be biased. That goes without saying. I don't care what color jersey you wear. But I think if you took a step back and looked at it objectively, I think a lot of Alabama fans are uncomfortable with the situation. But here's the rub. If he has to sit, what about the dude at Baylor? What about the dude in California? In other words, if one goes, then they all should go.

If two or three of them are going to stay, why does my player have to sit on the bench? I don't know. I'm not a lawyer. I stayed at Holiday Inn last night. But your thoughts about how are you consistent with your ruling in this situation? Yeah, and I just, like, I think just speaking of, like, the lawyer type stuff, like, I can believe this is where we've gotten to. But think about, like, all the storylines right now in, like, the two big sports, basketball and football.

Like, all we're talking about is lawsuits and injunctions. And, like, we're just, that's all we're talking about. And I'm like, man, it is, this is where we are. This is this era. And we knew it was kind of going to open up this can of worms. So the thing is, we said this, you know, a couple weeks ago or whatever. I'm like, here's the thing. Like, yes, there's going to be bias involved. I think it's great for the long-term future of the game, the way things are going, this kind of stuff.

Of course not. Like, it's going to make some people uncomfortable. But the thing is, I think Nate Oates may have been the one that said it. But, like, you know, the facts are that someone else is going to do it if you don't. And, I mean, it's just like, you know, your job is to go out and field the best basketball team you can field. And if this is the path to get there and you know that other people would take this same path and have taken similar paths, then I think, like, who am I to just sit back and put all the blame on that?

I think the blame goes much more to just the overall structure of things right now. And, again, if it's not Alabama we're talking about, there'd be someone else who would be in this position. So, again, I know it's hard to remove that if you're, you know, a hardcore SEC fan who likes or dislikes Alabama. But that's just, in my opinion, just the state of things. Blake, two premier games tomorrow, the acts of three or four, Florida, Texas A&M. Boy, is that going to be a good one.

Alabama and Auburn, of course. Tennessee at Kentucky. Tennessee trying to get a little revenge after blowing a huge lead against Kentucky earlier in the year. That was a classic game on Wednesday night with Alabama. And Texas A&M, when Alabama plays defense and rebounds a little bit, they can beat anybody in the league. And everybody saw firsthand how good A&M is going to be with Buckyball. A.G scored 21 points but only had three rebounds, I believe. Hill at 18. Griffin, Rylan Griffin, who played at Alabama, 17.

[26:30] Alabama matched them point for point. And I think everybody knew the last team to score. was going to win that game. But your thoughts on both teams going into Saturday play. Yeah. I mean, I think for anyone that kind of had their doubts about Texas A&M, they don't really know how you can watch that game and say that they're a fraud or any of those words that were used with A&M just because they hadn't played the same number of, you know, quad one games that an Alabama or Auburn or teams like that had played.

Like, I get it. But, you know, at a certain point, you're 17-4 heading into that game against Alabama. And you're 7-1 in the SEC going in. I mean, in what is still statistically the best conference in the country. It may not be as good as it was last year. But overall, the numbers tell us it's still the best conference. So, I don't know how you can say that about A&M. Again, to me, that's just sort of a lack of awareness for people who are more looking at the, you know, the metrics rather than actually watching them play.

I mean, they had two overtime losses before, you know, playing Alabama on Wednesday night, which they lost by three on the road. So, I think A&M is going to be fine. I think the matchup against Florida is kind of tough just based on who wins out in that one. It's A&M's guard play with the pressure and full court and turnovers because that could absolutely kind of exploit some weaknesses we've seen from Florida this year. But on the flip side, Florida's dominance in the paint, I think, could absolutely exploit some of Texas A&M's weaknesses.

So, I don't know which one's going to win out, but I think A&M is in a decent position to at least make that game interesting. And I think for Alabama, like I said, I feel like it's one where, you know, the thing about them is, yes, they've been inconsistent. I think one of the reasons why, as I mentioned, is just how many rotations have they played this year with guys in and out so many times in the lineup with injuries and all that. And the offense is always going to give them a chance.

They're always going to have a shot, I think, to go out and beat anybody. But, you know, what I think we're starting to see with them, and it's not just saying as simple as they're not a great defensive team, you know, they don't turn people over either. But the biggest theme we're seeing, I think, with Alabama, especially these last two games they've lost in Florida and Tennessee, is when you have teams like that with the front courts, which I think Florida and Tennessee had the two best front courts in the SEC, if they're able to come out and kind of set the tone early and bully you a little bit, that's a problem for Alabama right now.

And we saw that with Purdue. We saw that with Gonzaga. We saw that with Arizona. These are all kind of the same formulas, and that's why we say, right, guys, the NCAA tournament's all about matchups. And if you're Alabama, I mean, that could be more important than ever this season, just based on you want to see teams more like A&M, probably, more like, you know, maybe a Vanderbilt, Kentucky. You don't want to see the teams like Florida and Tennessee, because I just think that plays into some of Alabama's issues.

Yeah. Let me close with Tennessee and Kentucky. The Cats, after 0-2 starting in the SEC, are playing much better. Tennessee, to me, is the team that may have improved the most in the last two or three weeks. Nate Amitt had two points in the first half, then finished with 26 against Ole Miss. Dwayne Brown, again, the kid from Hoover, has played well. This is a Tennessee team, Estrella, made some key baskets against Auburn. This should be a very good game, Tennessee at Kentucky. Yeah, Kentucky's kind of had their number, but I agree with you, Brett.

I think if you're picking a team that probably feels like they've been the most improved over the past month, Kentucky has obviously won seven of eight. They've improved and played well. But I think Tennessee, based on their just overall consistency, I think they've just been much better in that department. I mean, it's a team that started two and three, you know, and really, in all honesty, probably should have lost the Texas A&M game. They won in double overtime. And so, when you look at the way they played since then, though, I mean, it all got started there in Tuscaloosa against Alabama.

But, you know, what they're getting now, their defense is still not to the level it's been the last, you know, five years. But, like, it's still a top 15 team in that category. They're not top five. The top 15, you'll take that. And I also think, you mentioned Nate, I mean, he has come so far. And I think sometimes we just assume that guys who are rated number one, two, three in the freshman class are going to always be slam dunk, day one, scoring 30 a game. That wasn't the case with him.

And we knew he was going to have some growing pains, and that's exactly what happened this year. But he looks like an SEC player of the year right now. I mean, he has been just fantastic, and I think that that's been the biggest key, the biggest stat, too, to watch in this game. Tennessee is on a historic pace in terms of offensive rebounding. Like, the last 25 years, Tennessee is kind of in a league of its own when it comes to offensive rebounding. That may be the big key in this game.

Yep. No question about it. Well, one big key is listening to your podcast, and I know you're going to have plenty of them tomorrow, and then recapping all the big games tomorrow night. Where can we get on line to get all the good stuff, bud? Yeah, I always appreciate it, guys. Check us out over there, Southeastern 16 on YouTube. Yeah, we'll have all of our reactions tomorrow to all the SEC basketball and SEC baseball right around the corner. Have a great weekend. Hopefully, everything's starting to thaw out up there in your backyard, and stay safe.

[31:41] Okay, Blake? Thanks, guys. You, too. Thank you, bud. Blake Lovell, Southeastern 16. Time to go to South Georgia and talk to the big peach himself, Bill Shanks, on deck. Stay with us. Imagine a bank where you feel at home. Real people living right here in your community are the heart of Bank Independent and everything we do. You have our commitment to bring the people, ideas, and resources together that create a stronger community full of endless potential. For over 75 years, we've served this place we all call home.

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Both teams are 5-4 in the SEC. Auburn 14-8 overall, while Alabama is 15-7 overall. In the MAC SBC Challenge, which is tomorrow, South Alabama will play at home against Buffalo, while Troy will host Akron. North Alabama plays tomorrow at Austin Peay. In the Super Bowl on Sunday, it's the Seahawks and Patriots from Levi's Stadium. 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. A KFC tale in the pursuit of flavor. The colonel despised the word empty.

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Online at thesesuperstations.com and on the tube at 41NBC. Bill Shanks, happy Friday to you. How are you? I'm better than I can afford, that's for d*** sure. Ain't we all, Bill? Hard to believe, is it not, two weeks from today, the Yankees and O's get spring training baseball off and rolling, and then a couple of weeks from tomorrow, the Braves, well, they'll come and do their thing for opening day. The camps open up next week. How excited are you? I saw the other day a sign, a post that was spot on, Bill.

[36:59] I love the Super Bowl because that means we're that much closer to Major League Baseball. Your thoughts about two weeks out for the Braves? It's incredible that the Super Bowl is on Sunday and pitchers and catchers report on Monday. If that's not a coin kidding, I don't know what it is, but nonetheless, it's great. It's great. It's kind of an in-between time, so, you know, unless I'm going over the backup cornerbacks for Georgia, I'm grasping at straws of what to talk about this week. I don't know what the heck y'all are doing.

I guess hockey, I mean, I know how y'all love NHL, so. Anyway, yeah, I'm ready for it, for sure. You guys, we've talked about Robert Suarez, Mateo, you might use Skrimski, and there's quite a few more, and I know you get asked every week, and I'm usually going to ask you about durable starting pitchers. We'll see, but again, I still think Anthopolis has done a pretty good job of filling some of these holes, and we'll see where the shortstop goes, because Kim's going to be out for a while, but your thoughts on what he's done, and what does Anthopolis need to continue to do?

Well, you need to get a starting pitcher. I continue to say that. Someone asked me on another show yesterday. I am on another show, guys. I hate to tell you, but they paid me more money than y'all do, so y'all are screwed. Now you tell me. Somebody asked me yesterday, they said, you know, how do you grade the offseason? I said, well, you know, I know this is harsh, but I'm going to give it an F, and they were taken aback by it. I'm like, if he doesn't get a starting pitcher, an external starting pitcher, because here's my fear, and I know moves are going to be made.

There's still plenty of free agents out there. Moves are going to be made every day, probably up until every day. Let's be honest. That's how baseball is now. It's unfortunate, but it's true. If on Tuesday, when Alex Anthopoulos is hanging around for the first workout, and he's asked about the starting rotation, and he talks about Grant Holmes with his partially torn ulnar collateral ligament, and Spencer Schwellenbach coming back after missing half the year with a broken bone in his elbow, and Chris Zell, who is not durable, and Raynaldo Lopez, who pitched one game last year, you know, before shoulder surgery, and they're all good.

They're all fine. They're all ready to go. When healthy. Come on. You know, I mean, unfortunately, the game of baseball is all about injuries now. It is, I don't know, it's incredible to me of how they get paid more, and yet they have great physical shape, they're professional athletes, and I mean, maybe they're in too good of a shape. Maybe they need to go to the buffet a couple of days a week and be like Bill Shanks and Brett Beaird and Harold Buck. I don't know, but you just, you gotta have, you know, if you think you need 15 pitchers, you need 20.

If you think you need 20, you need 25. And so, if they try to sell us, for lack of a better term, on, well, everybody's healthy, everybody's gonna stay healthy, everything's gonna be okay, I'm just not, I'm gonna be skeptical, and I think that's the more appropriate attitude to take, because, look, and here's the deal, though. The last two years have been h*** on the Braves when it's come to injuries. It's not been normal, and that's somebody's fault. This has been bad luck, and maybe this year it is good luck.

Maybe it will be, but it's hard to count on that to enter a 162-game schedule. Hmm, that's a great point, Bill. It's the same thing with Alabama basketball. If this team was healthy, they'd be a different team. I don't understand it either, and it's modern era when you've got everything in the world going on, and you've got more injuries than ever. Your thoughts about the state of baseball overall, Bill, I mean, I make no secret, being a group St. Louis Cardinal fan, you see what's happening to that team and that franchise.

Basically, I mean, if they try to come out and say anything other than we're cashing out and making money off this team, and we want you as fans to eat it and still give us money, they need to go and take a check on their honesty issue. But your thoughts about where baseball is, and the other part is, in the old days, it was a money printer for TV, and now all those deals seem to be scrambling. The thoughts about the overall state of baseball outside of Los Angeles and those big markets and the Gray situation, we know locally the NBC affiliate has it.

What's the latest with us watching the Braves on TV here? Well, we're still waiting for an official announcement on what they're going to do. But I think, obviously, they hinted at a potential new era of Braves baseball on television. I'll say, instead of television, I'll say video distribution systems. Right. Yep. Yep. I'll kind of use that term instead of quote-unquote TV. I think that Gray is going to be a large part of what we're going to see. Now, I don't know, but putting two and two together with the fact that they dropped Vanduul and they have already had an association for the last couple of years with Gray.

[42:25] Gray has affiliates in all the states in Braves country, or most of the markets in the five states of Braves country. I think that that's going to be an avenue they're going to go. Will there be additional streaming services and additional methods? Sure. And that is probably what they're working out because they're going to generate revenue. You know, television is a big revenue source, and the revenue they thought they were going to have from Vanduul is not going to be there. They've got to scramble to make sure that it's going to be there with their new avenue of distribution.

I don't know if that's going to be possible from day one, but I do think that they have had the time to prepare for this because the original deal with the group that owns Vanduul was up after 2027, and I said two years ago, I said they probably need to start right now thinking about what the heck they're going to do because we don't, look, we don't, we know how different TV is now compared to five years ago. What is it going to be like five years from now?

I mean, Harold, you and I worked in television, and, you know, television stations are struggling mightily, and TV networks are not where they used to be, and TV stations grasp for revenue. So what is it going to be in five years? What is it going to be in two years? And I don't know, but they've got to think about that in delivering their games to their fan base. And to your point, Bill, I saw the other day someone posted the ratings for the shows back in the 60s and said, I'm talking about the Andy Griffiths and all those shows.

This is the truth. They were getting 30s and 40 ratings. If they get a two or three now, they're sitting there popping champagne because it's so splintered. The pie is so thin now, and you see where all the networks are going. They're trying to drive us to sit here and abide by the FCC to make money off that and then do all these streaming services where we pay an additional fee to watch additional games. That seems to be the game plan. Well, it is. And, you know, I would love to be in the meetings to have the conversations.

I mean, you know, even though I'm in television, I do three reports a week and the high school football show for the NBC affiliate here, you know, I'm not in the newsroom every day. I'm not in meetings, but I mean, I have enough. Bless your heart. No kidding. You and I both had enough for our meetings inside those walls before. We don't need that anymore. That's why your hair is gray and mine's getting there. But anyway, you know, we have enough knowledge of the television business to know how it has been.

And I'd love to know the thoughts of what it's going to be. I don't know the answer to those questions, but I think, you know, I think the ability for the brace to have a 24 hour network available through either cable systems or gray affiliates and they have the additional content, old games, complimentary programming, interview shows, magazines. Features on players. Absolutely. That, you know, I mean, I, I used to do, I used to produce those type of shows 25 years ago. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that was when y'all first found me.

I think when I started saving your show back, you know, when you were on television. And we're very grateful. Very grateful. Yeah. I mean, y'all, y'all wouldn't have a career today. Y'all be working at Walmart. Well, 23 years ago. That's right. Would you like fries with that bill? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I've been, you know, but, but I was doing a, I was doing a brazed minor league TV show then, you know, on that Comcast charter sports Southeast, I believe it was called. And y'all had that there in Huntsville, I believe it, but, but, you know, um, they've got to figure it all out and it's going to be interesting to see what they come up with.

But I, I do think the gray television stations, the sub channels are going to be a big part of it. I really do. Yeah. Uh, Greg Sankey has been in the news this week for, uh, a lot of things. One with Alabama and being in favor of the NCA with the Bediaco case, but he also announced that $1.03 billion has been distributed to the 16 SEC universities. That's an average of 72.4 million, 18.6 million above two years ago, which, which is incredible. Now, Oklahoma Tech has been the newest. They're still transitioning.

They get less money, but, uh, I've seen three articles and we've talked about this on Nauseam. The break between, uh, the semifinal games next year or this coming year is even more, uh, than it was this past season. Your thoughts on the amount of money and, uh, somebody please help us figure out the problems with college football off the field. Well, they need to, and I'm glad, you know, Greg's trying to take some initiative. I mean, he's, he's trying to say that he doesn't want anybody playing basketball for Alabama older than he is, which is a problem.

[47:25] Um, but, but, you know, look, um, there's a tremendous amount of money. I mean, we know that it is a, it is a cash cow. And I kind of wonder if they have a big boardroom in the SEC offices and they spread all that money out before they write up a check. You think they do that? Just count it. Make sure it's all there. Lick your fingers and make sure it doesn't stick together. Yeah. But you know, look, Greg's got to be the leader here. He's got to step up and he's got to take the initiative and he's got to have a voice.

And he's the commissioner of the conferences, supposedly where it means more. And therefore he needs to talk more and he needs to really, I think, and I think he will. I think he has. I think he will. And, and, uh, I think he's got to lead the charge though. And he, you know, I think he's, you know, he's starting to have some people in his conference. Uh, I know the university of Georgia president and the athletic director said some things, uh, about a week ago, uh, trying to kind of stir the pot a little bit.

And I think that that, uh, again, I've said, look, I don't care who it is. I don't care how dumb the comment or the thought or the idea may be. Let's throw a bunch of stuff up against the wall to see what's absolutely. And until that happens, uh, more consistently, uh, I think we're going to be stuck kind of in quicksand. So I'm glad to see that Greg's starting to take some of that initiative and, and it's always good for him to listen to my show.

There you go. Oh, my Lord, let me finish with the Braves. Um, let me circle back to that for a second. The, the, the, the kids, you love J.R. Ritchie, the number two Braves prospect. Fuentes, uh, Owen Murphy, John Gill, the shortstop, Bauman. Uh, and I know that you would love to see them up, but you keep saying, season these guys. Let them stay in the minor leagues for a while and develop. Do you see any of these guys coming up to the big club by the end of the year?

Yeah, I think Ritchie, uh, Ritchie's close. Ritchie is close. Now, you know, we saw Hurston Walderick pitch 10 games, nine starts last year. I think Hurston probably needs to start in AAA. He's not going to like that too much, but I, I, I, I would think that's the plan, knowing how they operate. And, and, and, um, just a little bit more seasoning, which is good. A fact, when hurting, I mean, he may prove otherwise in spring training, he may, he may prove he's ready to go. I think J.R. definitely needs to go to AAA to start, but then, you know, it may not take long.

Um, and I do, I have a lot and, and Walderick too. I don't want to think even Walderick about, I mean, I, I just, I, I think both of those young men have, uh, the ability to be in a starting rotation to big leagues. And so, and look, that might be, even though I think they're cheap, that might be what Alex, I know Alex loves J.R. Ritchie like I do. He really does. He's a big J.R. Ritchie fan. I mean, Alex told me a couple of years ago after J.R. went down with Tommy John surgery, he said, Bill, two weeks after I, he had Tommy John surgery, I had somebody make a trade-off for J.R. Ritchie.

And I'm like, holy cow, that, that's pretty good, you know, for someone trying to get you a hurt pitcher off your organization. But it showed you how much people think about J.R. Ritchie. And so, I know he likes him a great deal, and that may be what he's thinking a little bit, that those two young men, Walderick. But look, um, the shortstop situation, you know, whether there's a kid from Florida State who will probably be at AA at some point, we'll see how close he is by the end of the year.

John Yeal, you mentioned G-I-L, I think it's pronounced Yeal, which, um, you know, um, but I, I think he is going to be in Rome and, and I can't wait to see him in spring training. They like him a lot. So, yeah, there's some, there's, there's, the farm system is not great. It's better than some people think it is. And there's a kid named Luke Sennard, who I think could come quick to, and he's, I think, number 10 on one of the baseball, one of the top 10 lists.

And I, I think he could be, uh, one to keep an eye on as well. But, you know, still need a, they still need a pitcher from the free agent market, like, like, like, like by the time I get off the phone with you guys. There you go. Well, I wish that could happen. By the way, Georgia prides itself in being number one in so many things. How did they handle the, when it was disclosed that the player had over 100 charges, uh, that was released later this week.

Is that something that Kirby and the AD are proud of? Well, absolutely. You know, we have a quota at University of Georgia where we, we have to keep the public defender in, so we're, we're just not doing our job. So, absolutely, we, that, that was our crime of the month. And we'll, you know, I'm sure the one for March is getting ready right now. Listen, he paid it for everybody. Let's just get one player with 100 and save all the other guys. Now, if anybody would like to call your incredible, uh, radio program this afternoon.

[52:26] From the state of Alabama and our listing area, how can they do that? The superstations.com will be taking Super Bowl predictions. Yep. And, uh, talk a little bit about the Super Bowl. So, we, we look forward to that. Once again, another year where the Atlanta Falcons are not in. I'm going to go on a limb and say they might extend that streak next year. Yes, they might. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You heard it first. Hey, Harold, Harold, you know what I've said? The Falcons are so mean, they'll probably win the Super Bowl after every d*** one of us die.

Let's hope that's another couple of hundred years, Bill. Oh, yeah. In the meantime, in the meantime, enjoy the game and stay safe over there. Okay? Okay, guys. Thank you very much. Thank you, Bill. The one, the only, the big peach, Bill Shanks, theseuperstations.com, online, anytime. Coming up in the next hour, we're going to lead it off with Mike Hegan and more straight ahead. Stay with us. At First Metro Bank, we don't just do business in the Shulls community. We're part of it. Our roots are right here, and we know what matters to you because it matters to us, too.

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Hire right the first time. Post your job and get $100 off towards your job post at linkedin.com slash Eisen. That's linkedin.com slash Eisen. Terms and conditions apply. 1819 News. An execution date has been set for a death row inmate who shot and killed a customer during a robbery that occurred back in 1991. Charles Lee Burton was convicted of being an accomplice in the robbery of an auto store, which resulted in customer Doug Battle being killed. Governor Ivey has set a 30-hour time frame for Burton to be put to death by way of nitrogen hypoxia.

The 30 hours will begin on March 12 and run to the 13th. This will be Alabama's first execution for 2026. I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Did you know that 70% of people experience a potentially traumatic event in their lifetime and that six out of every 100 adults face PTSD every day? Help us bring hope to these survivors by signing up for your Alabama distinctive PTSD awareness license plate today. The great thing is you can sign up no matter when your current plate renews and the first year is complimentary.

[57:43] All you need is your FIN number on hand. Drive awareness. Drive hope. And customize your plate today at at ease.org. An investigation is underway in Prattville after a vehicle was found in Otaga Creek on Thursday. The overturned SUV was in the waters not far from West Main Street in the downtown area. The driver was able to get out of the vehicle and had to be taken from there to a hospital. Upgrades will soon be coming to the Tuscaloosa National Airport after an $8.5 million grant was just awarded to the city of Tuscaloosa.

The city is going to consider further investing $13 million for this project. Bringing in a commercial airline to the airport would be of real benefit for the students who attend the University of Alabama. Alabama surplus property auction is happening online this weekend. Items to be auctioned include vehicles, electronics, furniture, and other equipment. There are photos of the items to be found on the Flickr account of the surplus property division of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. I'm Andrea Tess. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com.

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Tomorrow sunny with a high around 45. Tomorrow night mostly clear with a low near 25. And for your Sunday mostly sunny with a high around 55. Your weather from 93.9 The Score. Now, get ready to roll, Shoals, Decatur, Athens, and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM Sports Voice. The Boomo Bugg Show. Your exclusive inside track to the Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back again, our tour of the Boomo Bugg Show.

I'm Harold Bugg, alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, a lot to get to this hour, but a lot of folks wondering about the Judge Judy case down in Tuscaloosa. Today, what's the latest? The Charles B.D. Young Cole hearing was adjourned this morning. It's about 30 minutes. There's no ruling by Judge Daniel Pruitt, and he told both sides to submit proposed orders by 4 p.m., and then he would make a final decision. A order is basically asking the plaintiff and defendant to draft a written version of the order that reflects their views on what the ruling should say.

Then the judge will review both orders, edit, or combine and sign one of the orders. He can combine something on both sides. So, I don't know if he is going to make a ruling late this afternoon, tonight, or in the morning. If he doesn't, then Charles Bidiaco will play against Auburn, and then he'll announce something early next week. But the hearing was held this morning, no ruling, and we'll let you know as soon as we can. Sounds about as clear as mud, as always, right? And in the meantime, it's always a clear-cut picture with Mike Cugan, and he's a National College football-slash-basketball analyst down in Orlando.

Mike, welcome in. Let's hope the weather's better for you the last time we spoke. How are you? Yeah, it's still cold. Everything in my yard died. Oh, man. It's a lot of tropical plants. They don't like it when the wind chill is like sick. We've seen that last week. So, yeah, it's a little depressing, but at least there's a lot of sports this weekend. The softball season starts. Yeah. College softball, which I don't mind. College basketball in full swing. Super Bowl. And then next week, college baseball.

[1:02:59] But, yeah, this is a good sports weekend. Let's talk about it. Are you planning a super weekend, Mike, for you and your family? And how do you see the game on a Friday before the showdown on a Sunday? I think Seattle wins. I think Sam Darnold is a great story. I think he's a sort of a redemption story in the making here. You know, he gets drafted by the Jets. Oh, my God, he's horrible. What a wasted pick. What a bust. Yep. And then he goes to teams that know what they're doing.

And I think that happens more than folks want to admit. If you're, you know, I don't care what business, I don't care what business you're in. If you work for somebody or in an organization that's dysfunctional, chances are you're not going to be a very good employee. And I think it works, obviously, for football and basketball and baseball especially. But, yeah, Sam Darnold, a really nice redemption story. I think Seattle is a little bit better than New England. The Seattle defense is extremely well coached. And I think they – but I think Seattle's defense so leads the way to a win.

And Seattle can run the ball, Mike. Ryan Grubb was there last year, and they were nearly dead last in the league. Going into the game two weekends ago, they were averaging 170 yards rushing in the postseason. Walker's been extremely good. Now, the Patriots can run the ball some, too. And both quarterbacks will get the headlines. But which team can run the ball, Mike, and play defense? Yeah, I think Seattle is – yeah, is the better defensive team. And you're right, Kenneth Walker, a kid who people forget, started his career at Wake Forest, transferred to Michigan State.

You know, a lot of folks don't like Mel Tucker, but I think Kenneth Walker really likes Mel Tucker because he was the bell cow of the offense, the season that Mel Tucker led Michigan State to 10 wins. You pointed out Ryan Grubb. Yeah, I think Alabama fans are sort of cursing under their breath because Seattle's running game has been reborn this year. Yeah, but, you know, both these teams – you know, New England, what a great job by Vrabel. No one expected Seattle to win the NFC West.

You know, the big – how good is Darnold? Was Drake May really worth the number two pick in the draft? Yeah, I think it's obvious that Drake May was. I think Mike McDonald's done a really nice job. Here's a guy whose first coaching job was at Cedar Shoals High in Athens because he's a UGA guy. So, yeah, there's a ton of great stories in this game, but I think that Seattle is the better defense and gets the game – gets the win. Mike, speaking of the NFL, Roger Goodell had his State of the State address.

He normally does this on the Monday before the week of the Super Bowl, and we talked about various and sundry subjects. Their media rights comes up. He may pop down of it in 2029. You imagine the number of platforms the NFL would have in three or four years. The 18-game schedule, they want to add another game and then reduce the exhibitions to two. They're hot to try it about playing internationally. We see that, I think, seven or eight games every year. They're now a 10% equity holder in Disney, ESPN.

Dome stadiums are there. Mike, whether you agree with the NFL or not, and I know the owners have certainly – Goodell's there to try to please the owners. You look at their future plans, and then you compare it to college football about its future plans, and you throw your hands up there and say, Mike, they can't even agree on one number. The one thing you mentioned that college fans need to be cognizant of is the streaming platform aspect of the NFL. You're right. I mean, there's absolutely zero question that if you're born – if you were born in 2000, the idea that you're going to watch every NFL game on the streaming service doesn't bother you.

I think those of us who were born in the 60s and 70s, that is bothersome. But that's going to be the way of college football. It's going to take longer, but the TV aspect of the NFL will be one thing that college football follows because there's more money. But you're right. I mean, we've got the 12-team playoff again next year, which is fine. We just had National Signing Day, which was – I think people forgot about it because no one signs on National Signing Day anymore. But the calendar questions about college football are going to continue ad nauseum, whereas the biggest calendar question about the NFL, you're right, is, well, do we want 18 regular season games?

[1:08:25] And I think the answer to that from a player's standpoint is no. But what's interesting to me, Indiana played 16 games this season. The NFL regular season is 17 games. And at some point you wonder if the college football powers that be are going to realize we're asking our players who are 18 and 19 years old in a lot of cases to do things that 30-year-olds don't want to do. So that's something that college football needs to be wary of as well. Mike, you're exactly right because the one thing that's driving the pocketbooks of TV right now is live sports.

The regular programming back in the day, that's gone. They can't come up with good writers. So live sports is driving the revenue. Let's switch gears if you don't mind. It seems like we're talking more of this day and time about stuff off the field, off the courts, and we are on it. Good catch by James. It's been a battle. We've been following this Jeremy Pruitt story back and forth. Maryland, we know the connection there with the head coach of Maryland and Jeremy Pruitt back to their days at Alabama.

And then right down the road from where he lives in DeKalb County, Alabama, is Jack State. It's right next door. And according to the reports, Jack State has hired Jeremy Pruitt to be an analyst. Normally, analysts don't make news, but normally, folks with Jeremy Pruitt's story is not front and center. What's your thoughts about Jeremy Pruitt? We know if he's going to go to Jack State and his hurdles cleared, it's only a matter of time that he moves on up the ladder pretty fast, I'm sure.

Being an on-field coach again soon, I think he has paid his NCA dues from the show cause aspect. I think there's a lot of folks out there, a lot of schools out there that would hire Jeremy Pruitt. Even with yesterday. So I think this is, yeah, the idea he'll be an analyst this year at Jack State. I'm betting he's not an analyst next year at Jack State, meaning 2027. The question is, where will he be? And I'm assuming he will be an on-field coach in 2027 somewhere. Big college basketball day tomorrow, Mike.

Alabama and Auburn, of course, here, Tennessee, Kentucky. But maybe the premier game is Florida at Texas A&M. Florida ran Alabama at the gym last Sunday, but they rebounded to beat Texas A&M in a thrilling track meet. On Wednesday, the Gators are awfully good, Mike. Your thoughts on Florida, Texas A&M tomorrow night. Yeah, I think they shot 79 three-pointers the A&M-Alabama game. I think they shot basically a third, two-thirds more three-pointers than two-pointers. So A&M makes it up and down the court with Bucky McMillan, shoots a three-pointers.

Obviously, that's Nate Oates' M.O. as well. He loves the three-pointers. Florida dominated Alabama inside, 72 play points, which is an incredibly high number in a college game, much less in a power four intraconference match. So I think Florida's front court is better than it was last year. Florida's guards are a gigantic concern. Florida's guards do play good defense, but that is one of the big games of the weekend. Illinois-Michigan State is tomorrow. Houston-BYU, Alabama-Auburn, Tennessee-Kentucky, and, oh, yeah, Duke-North Carolina as well. So it is a great Saturday, the day before the Super Bowl.

But the SEC hierarchy, in a way, yeah, there's a lot of things that are going to be – we're going to know a lot more about the SEC tomorrow night when all this stuff. Mike, we – go ahead, Mike. I was going to say, Kentucky for a team that was sort of left in the large table in seven of eight. Yeah. They're playing well. Tennessee's defense needs to show up big time if they're going to steal a game at rough. Mike, I'm sorry. I was about to say, get your national thoughts about Greg Sankey's talk this week.

He warns the court that allowing Charles Mediaco to play after having an NBA contract would disrupt college sports and hurt other student athletes. A lot of folks would agree with that logic. The problem is, is Mediaco the only one who's going to court to get extra time? We saw the situation. I know it's apples and oranges in some cases. But the point is, you've got a lot of guys now making more money in college than they are in the pros. What is the right thing to do here relative to everybody basically getting the same outcome?

In other words, if Mediaco is sidelined because of this, are they going to go to Baylor and other places and say, you know what, you've got to sit too? I think they should, yeah. And not just college basketball. I mean, Joey Aguilar gets the P.R.O. yesterday. Trinidad Chambliss is appealing his ruling. It is getting to be, as you guys were talking about, the days of the week that the games are played in college football, the other six days are a mess. Yeah, it is.

[1:13:39] The thing with college basketball. It's Matlock. Yeah, in college basketball, even the day that the games are played during the week, it's a mess. It's because you have court cases in the morning. You've got games at night. I think Sankey, I think the conference commissioners have abdicated their roles. If Sankey truly feels that way, and if Tony Petiti feels that way, if Brett Yormark feels that way, when your member school says we're going to do this, step up and say, no, you're not. And it's sort of, Sankey's talking out of both sides of his mouth.

And Zane's a politician. That's what conference commissioners do these days. They're mealy-mouthed, mush-mouthed, whatever derogatory term you want to use. That we can use on family radio. But if Sankey truly feels that way, Sankey should have stepped up when Alabama announced Betty Ico and said, no, you're not playing it. You're not playing it. It's a little bit weak on his part after the fact. But, again, I think Sankey and Petiti wield a ton of power, and they're very ineffectual for the most part. Well, enjoy the Super Bowl.

I'm like you. I think a lot of people are leaning towards Seattle in some great college basketball games tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow night. Mike, have a great week. Hopefully it will warm up for all of us. Let's do this again next Friday. Mike, you're going to be checking in from what used to be the Sunshine State. They're like us. They're begging for some sunshine now. In the meantime, it's kind of getting hot on the high school area hardwoods. Zach Pounder is checking in next. Stay with us.

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That's V-A-X-Assist.com. Sponsored by Pfizer. From the University of Alabama, this is Crimson Tide Today. It's a daily update on Bama sports and it's brought to you by the Good Feet Store. Start your journey today at goodfeet.com. Hello again, everybody. I'm Roger Hoover. On yesterday's edition of Crimson Tide, driven by NASCAR, we were joined by Alabama women's basketball freshman, Ace Austin. It's been everything that I thought it was. And, you know, amazing people to be around. Just amazing campus. And it's just been a great, you know, start of my freshman year.

[1:19:12] And, I mean, it's just been amazing. And, you know, everything I've heard, you know, when I signed, I mean, it's just been just dead on. This is within the state, but it's also far enough away from home to get on your own for the first time. Oh, yeah. It's pretty neat to stay in state. Just, you know, you have a lot of support. And I think it's just not just support for me, but, like, for the whole, you know, team, women's basketball team. And I think, you know, everybody I know, it's like, hey, we're watching Alabama women's basketball now.

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The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back. And it is kind of like a big old sports buffet. Now, BB, behind your ball, baseball is about to get rocking and rolling. The Olympics, Super Bowl, and did we mention when it comes to our neighbors in high school basketball area play? Zach Panner's got an eye on that and a whole lot more at the Shoals Sports Report. Zach, welcome in. Happy Friday to you. How are you? Doing good. How are y'all? How are you?

So far, so good. Zach, appreciate you asking area play, rocking and rolling. Your impressions so far, who is standing out in area play in our backyard, Zach? Well, last night alone, in area play, Central Girdle and Central Boys pulled out two wins over Brooks Girdle and Central Boys, respectively. And Central Girdle had a very big against Brooks. They had beaten by 12 at Brooks and by 25 or so at Central. So I was thinking about, what, a 15-point game or whatever from in the middle? And it wound up being a 9-point game, a 9-11-point game.

But it was closer than that. It was down to six points with two minutes to go to the game. And it was like four points with like six minutes to go to the game. So it was closer than everybody thought it would be, probably. But Brooks had a better season this year for the Girdles and Coach Copeland. Seven, eight, maybe nine minutes this year compared to the three or two last year they had. He's trying to build that program back up from where it was when he got there.

And he's doing a really good job building it up. He's got a good face at the 8th grade, 9th grade, 10th grade level, especially the future. And Central Girdle, it's the same story, different game. Isla Hardy, Jill Huffaker, the same name, showed up on the box score. Isla Hardy had 27 points, 14 rebounds. Jill Huffaker, eight points and four steals. Two of the rest of the field in the third quarter, and they're in foul trouble. Central was having to put Central on the bench, due to foul trouble.

And again, there were some big steals. And then Central Boys last night had a comeback win. And Wilson Central Boys, the last two years, have never not delivered in these games. Last night, it was a tied game, was 36 to go. There's a block charge call on the central end of the court, and it's called a block. Could have been a charge, could have went both ways. But we'll put a successful foul on it, do different extra curricular stuff. And it could have been a six-point swing at the most.

Central made one free throw. They didn't get the ball. And the personal foul free throw. So, a possible six-point swing, that kind of won the game for Central in that season. Yeah, you're there. That's one of the things that I tell people, is you go to as many of these games as you can. And I know you're going to be quite busy the next couple weeks with the area play, sub-regional, regional play in Wallace. This was the end of the regular season, obviously, for a lot of teams.

Very, very good game this week. Austin Boys beat Muscle Shoals 70-69 in overtime. Muscle Shoals is going to be hosting the Class 6A Area 15 tournament that begins on Monday. They're going to take on Athens. And we talked about this last week. Florence got on a heater. They got on a roll and got all the way to the championship game against Hoover. And Muscle Shoals has won 13 of 16 or 14 of 16 games. Your thoughts on Muscle Shoals and, again, the Class 6A Area 15 tournament. Yeah, this Area 15 boys is going to be fun Monday night.

I'll be there Monday night for these games. Muscle Shoals has beat Athens twice this year. They beat them in a five-day span and beat them by 18 at Athens and by five at Athens and by 18 at Muscle Shoals. So, who knows on that game, and Decatur Horton has another game that's had an overtime game this year, decided by one point, and another game decided by three points this year. This area has great coaches, all four schools, and it's been a really high-energy tournament. And Muscle Shoals boys, I see a lot of Florence boys similarities from last year.

[1:24:42] It's a senior-led group with Giave, KJ, I think Jamari is a senior, I think Gavin is a junior, Gavin Parrish. But a lot of them are seniors, and one last ride, see how far they can go. I think for a lot of the playoffs this year, it's going to be this. If you can get past the sub-easional round, you can get to see the lead eight possibly. Because the sub-easional round this year, for the local team, three-eight, you have crossovers locally, two-eight crosses over locally, and six-eight crosses with Clay Chalk and Wood Gardner down in Penton Valley.

But the Muscle Shoals area does. Clay Chalk was top ten in the state. Penton Valley was a six-day runner-up last year, and they're just as good this year. They beat Twan, it's about 30-plus. Two weekends ago, or a weekend ago. So, Muscle Shoals, if they can get past this, I think they have a chance to get to the elite eight, if not the final four. In the huddle with Zach Pounder, show sports report. Obviously, as you mentioned, some loose ends. Some folks are already off and rolling in the area, like you mentioned, central.

Others wrapping it up, like you mentioned, Muscle Shoals. Also, Florence, a mixed bag with Florence. The boys, they lost to Boonville, Mississippi, the Prentice County camp game. 78-69, final regular season game. Better news than Florence Girls against Boonville, 66-62 winners. Your thoughts about Florence High heading into the postseason? For Florence Girls, that's a big boost of a win. Boonville Girls is one of the top girls for the Mississippi. I would say similar to Lardot County, Marseille, Dashiell, around here. They're one of the top rhythms every year.

They will probably be in Jackson, Mississippi, for the elite eight, top four. That's right. And the boys, it's the same way with Boonville, boys and girls. Another top program in the state. The Florence boys, they kind of limp through the season. Boy, I will say this. Now, you're 0-0. It doesn't matter. You've got to go everywhere. And as far as the coach likes to call it, it's game seven now, where it's win or go home. You can't lose anymore, basically. I mean, you can lose the area championship game, but that's it.

You can't lose after area championship and expect to keep playing. You have to win every night now. Even Central and Wilson's coaches last night, we were both agreeing on, hey, it's 0-0 today. Record doesn't matter to turn down. And last night after the game, Central's coach on Facebook posting about, hey, 1-0, survive in advance, new season. It's that mindset of just one game at a time, get through this game, and survive in advance. You're exactly right. Let me give a tip of the count to two ladies who had quite a week.

Ella Copeland reached 2,000 career points as Russell beat Hamilton. I think she's now at 2,004. And, boy, this is a real surprise to a lot of people. Mars Hill star Belle Hill is within 13 points of 3,000. I keep reminding myself, she's a sophomore. Now, they play Convert Heights, I believe, tonight at 6 in the Class 3A area of 15 semifinal. And we certainly talked about Belle Hill a lot during the season. But congratulations to both. The 2,000-point career for Ella Copeland and Mars Hill star Belle Hill may go over 3,000 points, in fact, tonight.

Yeah, even if he has a bad game tonight, I don't know if he's a bad game. The 3,000-point mark. And Reese Davis is also closing in on the national scoring record of 28 total points as a junior. I think she's been 200 points of that, just within 200. I think I'll map it out. If she averages 30 points a game the rest of the season, and they go to the state, she can break it this year. Wow. As a junior. But, I mean, talk about 2,000-point scores in the Shoals, and I'm not sure on Ella Copeland what year she is, but possibly three in the indirect Shoals area is insane.

I think the most about it is 3,200 or 400 all the time. And Belle will have that probably by the middle of the next season, if I am my guess. Possibly 4,000-point juniors and 5,000 as a senior, if not the state record of 200 points total. Yeah, and I keep reminding myself, again, they're a sophomore and a junior. Can you imagine the amount of points that Belle Hill is going to have when she is through in two years? That's going to be incredible. Area play really getting rocking and rolling tonight, this weekend, and, of course, next week.

You are going to have it covered, as you mentioned, you're going to be at most of the shows Monday night. I know you were covering that Wilson Central game last night. You will have scores. You will have updates. You will have your thoughts. I think you come on for a 10- or 15-minute wrap-up on Facebook after all the games are over with. But where can we get online and get scores, updates, stories, scores, the whole nine yards? Yes, every night after playoff games. We're live on Facebook for about 10, 15, 20 minutes, however long it takes if you get through all the games at night.

[1:29:59] And on Facebook, Shoals Sports Report. On Twitter, at lowercase, S-H-O-A-L-S-P-O-R-T-S. Christmas for high school basketball fans here in February. No matter where you go, safe travels out there, Zach, and enjoy, okay? Thank you, y'all, too. Thank you, bud. Zach Pounder, Shoals Sports Report. Word is, there's a pretty big game. The NFL out in California Sunday, but a pretty big game tomorrow on the Plains. We'll take you there next with Justin Ferguson. Stay with us. Silicon carbide was discovered in 1893 when a meteorite crashed to the earth in Arizona.

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The Walter Payton Man of the Year was Washington Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner and Patriots head coach Mike Frable earned the Coach of the Year honors. The Patriots will play the Seahawks on Sunday in Super Bowl 60 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. Auburn is set to host Alabama tomorrow in men's basketball action. The Auburn Tigers are currently 14 and 8 on the year. Alabama 15 and 7. Both teams are 5 and 4 in the SEC. 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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Got the Tigers covered down the plains there at the Auburn Observer. Justin, welcome in. Happy TGIFT. How are you? I'm all right. How are you? Hey, boo. Yeah, we're doing all right. Pretty big game tomorrow in your backyard there, Justin. Have the fans or the kids started lining up yet? Yeah, they started lining up on Monday. You know, I think they started actually camp. People actually started camping out and, like, staying overnight, I think, either Wednesday night or Thursday night. So, yeah, they got a big crowd out there already.

Had it yesterday when I was at practice. Justin, talk to us about the off-the-fields, in this case, off-the-court stuff. We know what's going up in Tuscaloosa. Not only that, I mean, how in the world do you get ready for a team in the modern era? Because we know about Bediaco, but I just checked. Even LeBaron Phylon is questionable right now. It's not yes, it's not no. They're looking at it, monitoring him. Your thoughts about getting ready and, for that matter, how healthy is Auburn coming in?

Yeah, I mean, I think if you're Auburn, you've got to come in and just expect everybody to play. You know, expect Phylon to be okay, expect Bediaco to be able to play. I think you've got to do that. And then, if not, I mean, you know, it really doesn't change a ton for Alabama in terms of how they play. But, you know, you need to prepare for the best version of Alabama. That's obviously one with Phylon, of course, and with Bediaco as well. So, I think that's the way Auburn's going to approach it.

In terms of Auburn's health, they've got a pretty clean bill of health for this game. You know, they had to play, you know, with Keyshawn Hall. Had stitches in his finger last week against Tennessee. Played through that. Stitches are out. Bandages off. You know, he should be good to go 100% for tomorrow. Keyshawn Murphy, the guy who's dealt with a lot of injuries this season, just kind of minor things. He got to get some extra rest earlier this week. He was back at practice full yesterday and ready to go.

Kevin Overton took a shot to the head against Tennessee. You know, cleared concussion protocol and everything like that. He's been back to 100% as well. So, you know, for Auburn, I think they've got to take advantage of the fact they should be the healthier and the more rested team. Because of the fact Alabama played on Sunday against Alabama, I mean, I guess Florida earlier this week. That means Alabama has played two games since Auburn has last played. So, you know, you've got to be able to take advantage of that if you're the Tigers.

Auburn came back. They had a 16-point deficit in the game, and then they forced Tennessee to miss eight straight shots, which is rather impressive. The game, I really thought Auburn, that it was going to go to the wire. Estrella had some key baskets for Tennessee Dwayne Brown out of Hoover. Listen, Jobick, I thought, kept Auburn in the game with his ability to get offensive rebounds. And, again, Tennessee's playing very well. I know Kentucky's won seven and eight, but Tennessee, to me, has been very impressive the last couple weeks.

I know, again, Stephen Pearl doesn't want to get behind the double digits. He's done that two or three times to come back. But I thought Auburn, once the defense locked in again, I thought they played pretty well against Tennessee. Yeah, I mean, I think they played hard, and they played well at times. I think you've got to be a more consistent team, get off to a better start if you're going to try to beat a team like Tennessee away from home. And I think that's kind of what hurt them in this game.

You know, one of the things that really hurt Auburn, I thought, is they settled for too many threes. This is not a team that shoots particularly well from beyond the arc on a consistent basis. So, you know, you don't want to have a game where you shoot more threes than twos. That's just not Auburn's game. They didn't get to the free throw line enough. Some credit goes to Tennessee in the way they played defense. But I thought Auburn kind of got out of their element a little bit.

[1:40:43] And so the big key this week has been in practice, you know, getting back to what Auburn basketball is. And this season, Auburn basketball is a get it to the basket, get it to the foul line, grind it out kind of basketball team. It beat Florida with that formula. It's won some other games with that formula. It's got away from it some against Tennessee. But I do think if they want to beat Alabama tomorrow here in Neville, they're going to have to play that kind of style again because, you know, you can't get into a three-point shooting contest with Alabama.

Alabama will win that every single time. Justin Ferguson hooking up with us, the Auburn Observer. Justin, he's amazing. Here we are basically one month away from pulling the curtain on the regular season. We know after that, the postseason begins in Nashville with the SEC tournament. But heading down the stretch here, you look at these two teams, and if you go by records, in the league, they're basically mirror images of each other. Now, both of them five and four. Your thoughts, both of them taking different roads, as you mentioned.

They have this style of getting there at five and four, the other one a different style. But your thoughts, who does that favor coming into tomorrow's game? Yeah, I think they're very even basketball teams. And then you go all the way down to the fact that they played the two toughest schedules in college basketball this season, and they played similar teams. They lost to Purdue. They lost to Arizona. They both beat St. John's. Like, you know, that's kind of the fashion for them this season. I mean, I think when you have an even matchup like this, you know, on paper, I think you've got to give an edge to the home team and the fresher team.

But, you know, Auburn's going to have to play well to beat a team like Alabama, for sure. I mean, Alabama is very well drilled in what they do. If they're hitting shots from deep, they're capable of beating anybody in the country. And I think for Auburn, you've got to get back to, like I said earlier, like you've got to get back to what was working for you in the past. I think Auburn needs to take advantage of their home. You know, that crowd's going to be great.

You should be rested. You should be, you know, the fresher team for this game. And try to make the home court advantage count in this one. But, you know, on paper, I mean, these are two nearly identical teams. I mean, you look at pretty much any rating system, any, you know, ranking, anything like that. You know, Auburn and Alabama are kind of neck and neck. And I think they've, you know, again, stylistically they're very different. But, you know, they've taken similar paths to get here with who they've played against this year.

Nobody in college basketball is more tested than Auburn and Alabama this season. Yeah, you're right about that. National Signing Day 2.0 did not draw a lot of interest. And, again, we'll see what the powers to be end up doing that. But Auburn ended up being ranked a couple of services around 30, 16 commitments. And, again, compared to – there's no way to judge Alex Gullich and his staff on this one. Next one, obviously, when he's got more time to cultivate the prospects. But Deshaun Spencer from Sarah Land, 1,300 yards, ran for another 444.

DeMonte Tell from Thompson, the Toodle Boys, will help. And then Jacquees Wilkes, I mentioned this earlier. Cat ran for 505,000 yards, 60 touchdowns. And, oh, by the way, in his spare time, made 287 tackles. I don't care what level of high school play it is. That's incredible. Wilson Zaire, of course, the younger brother. But, again, to have gotten off such an incredibly late start, Auburn did bring in some impressive prospects. Yeah, they did. And I think people need to remember also, it's like a lot of the work you do in recruiting high school happens early now.

And, you know, Auburn did not have a good recruiting class before Hugh Freeze got fired. So it was already going to be kind of a tough, you know, kind of haul for them to kind of pull off. So, you know, they did get some talent. You know, you mentioned Spencer. I really like his game just because, you know, Auburn's got these USF receivers coming in. They got a couple of guys coming back. But I think they could use some more kind of firepower there. So they're looking at some of those freshmen.

Brady Barchese is another one that they got late from Michigan, flipping him from them. So, I mean, there's some number of guys there that are interesting. And then, yeah, you mentioned some of those defense guys. Toodle, Jacquez Wilts, you know, getting those guys in early and just seeing what they can do. Because, you know, I think Auburn did a good job in the transfer portal of really bouncing out their roster. There's a couple of spots, I think wide receiver and edge rusher really stand out to me.

That's just places where maybe a young guy could come in and find a role early on. So, you know, I will be interested to see how those freshmen do, you know, when spring ball starts up in about a month or so. Yeah. Justin Ferguson, the Auburn Observer, the joke is, Justin, Auburn signed, what, 19 tight ends? Are they going to add a 20th? What does that signal about the style of play for this new offensive scheme? Yeah, people got to remember that Alex Gulloch is a tight ends coach by trade.

[1:45:44] I mean, he did it for a dozen years in college before he became a head coach. That's his baby. I mean, that's his position. And if you watch, you know, the way he calls plays or how his offense operates, it's a lot of downhill kind of smash mouth stuff. If you're Auburn and, you know, he said today or he said the other day, you know, positional versatility, formation versatility means the world in this offense. You want to give different looks. You want to be able to do a variety of things.

And so you need tight ends that can do some of everything. It's kind of like what they did a running back as well. It's like you had some guys coming back. You had some guys already, but you wanted more and more and more because you want to be able to mix and match there. So the tight end is a big, big piece of the offense. I mean, I think people have the, you know, kind of misconception that, oh, you know, the USF offense, they go four wide every play and just, you know, throw it up like that.

No, they run the ball a lot and they run out of 11 personnel a ton using tight ends as much as possible. So that's why they got plenty of them. And that's the same reason why they got plenty of running backs, too. They want to use a lot of them. Yeah, he made a goal, as mentioned the other day in the media segment, that he wants to run the heck out of the ball. One way to do that is to have a good offensive line, 17 new or 17 or 18 new linemen.

I know Rameel, Joe Simmons, Cole Bast, Jacob Strand, again, competition. I know a lot of people are celebrating to see the competition in spring practice. Got a brand new offensive line, but I know a lot of people are saying, well, if that's the case, maybe there's going to be a lot better results. Yeah, and it's an issue. They've got a ton of depth and they've got a lot of competition. There's young guys who can play, who can compete for jobs right away. There are older guys who are probably going to be one or two year rentals that you expect to start.

It's just going to be a lot of mixing and matching there. And Gulloch is very odd. He's like, on paper, I like what we've got on the offensive line. I like how we're able to address needs. He's like, but I'm kind of praying for our offensive line this year because it's like we don't know what it's going to look like in this league. Do you have the talent? Do you have the dudes to be able to win up there? So I would expect miracles from this Auburn offensive line in year one.

But if they don't succeed this season, it ain't going to be because they didn't have enough guys. They went out and got a lot of dudes to compete. And, you know, obviously spring ball is when they're going to start mixing and matching there and seeing who comes out on the other side. We're going to jump off. Justin, thoughts about Auburn's junior day, a.k.a. a lot of back slapping and establishing a relationship. Your thoughts about Auburn's junior day? Yeah, no, I mean, I think it's very important.

I mean, you've got a staff that has some familiarity with the SEC, especially on the defensive side of the ball. But, you know, a lot of your offensive guys, you know, haven't been recruiting in this state, in this area for the same caliber players here over the last few years. So it was important to get that really big first impression. They had a couple big events with recruiting and junior day and all that. And they've got to make some strides, got to make some strides. I will say this about Alex Gullish.

You know, I think there were some people that were kind of iffy about him when Auburn hired him. And they were like, oh, this is another group of five guys. And he hasn't recruited at a high level in this league before as a head coach, unlike, you know, what Hugh Freeze did. Can he do it? People were kind of getting worried that it was going to be another Brian Harsen situation. I tell you this, Alex Gullish, I don't know how he has 24 hours in a day because they're constantly on the move, talking, doing a ton of recruiting stuff over the last few weeks.

So, you know, he's a guy that I think time will tell how successful he's going to be at Auburn on the field and off the field. But I will say this, he's got a really, really, you know, him and his staff have got a really high work ethic. And they're trying to hit the ground running. You've got to do that in this day and age of college football. No question about it. And nobody does a better job of keeping up with it than you. The 6 a.m. emails on Wednesday, the mailbag on Friday, the podcast.

I know you're going to have the Iron Bowl of basketball covered, pre-game, post-game. Where can we get online to get all the good stuff? Yeah, auburnobserver.com. Check it out there today. We did a podcast preview in Auburn, Alabama in basketball. Did a mailbag talking a lot of football and a little bit of basketball as well. We'll have a full preview in the newsletter tomorrow morning, getting you ready for Auburn, Alabama. We'll have coverage throughout the weekend. And, yeah, we'll be picking right back up next week.

You know, Auburn plays Vandy at home. They've got to go to Arkansas in basketball. And we'll have some more football as well, talking to some more Auburn coaches. So, auburnobserver.com. Check it out there. Everything we do gets sent to your email inbox as soon as it drops. So, sign up there. It's a perfect time to jump on board. Fans are lining up for the game tomorrow. We'll let you go. Good luck getting in. And be careful if you jump lined there. Okay, Justin? Yeah, I'm glad they gave me a special entrance here.

[1:50:48] You know, if I had to fight through the one that we used to up front, it would have gotten a lot scarier. I don't like the odds there. Justin, listen, man, enjoy this weekend. Thanks so much for your time today. I appreciate y'all. Thank you. Thank you, bud. Justin Ferguson, the Auburn Observer. BB, obviously, we mentioned earlier high school ball. Oakwood Adventist Academy status is already known, is it not, BB? Yeah, they played one more game. There is a maximum number of games that you can play in a high school season.

And Oakwood, unfortunately, played one more. That would be something else. Again, they ran into some situations a couple of years ago. I'll be curious if they change this rule again or look at it. And it's very unfortunate because Oakwood Academy, even though they're a 1A team, they're one of the better teams in the state. Yeah, call me Alabama. I'm a lawyer. I love sports. Coming up tomorrow, get ready. It's the game of the Plains, the Iron Bowl, Bama, and Auburn pregame two. Game at three, it's all right here on 93.9 The Score.

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