Boomo Bugg Show 022726

[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 free ride around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, welcome in where the NCAA is barking. The question is, are they a pit bull or a little bitty chihuahua? Good afternoon. Welcome in. How are you?

Happy Friday to you and the listeners. We'll talk about that and also preview a big college basketball weekend with Mike Huguenin. John Terisky, head boys basketball coach at Red Bay High School. We'll preview the Tigers' final four game with Lafayette High School. And Jimmy is here right now to tell us how Nate Oates plans to end Tennessee's five-game winning streak against the Tide. Yeah, well, the way we look at it, why wait until Saturday to get the answers when you can get them here on a Friday with Jimmy Stein.

He's co-host of Locked On Bama. You guessed it, part of the Locked On Network. Jimmy, welcome in. Happy last Friday of February. How are you? Oh, I'm doing great, guys. I appreciate y'all having me back. Jimmy? You know the question. No pressure, Jimmy. How, as Brett said, is Nate Oates going to stop those streaking balls on the hardwoods against the Alabama Crimson Tide this weekend? I think mimicking the performance against Mississippi State from midweek would be a start. They played outstanding, particularly about the first 30 minutes of the game, first 30 minutes or so.

I think they kind of lost some intensity late, which is understandable in a game. He's led about 40 at one point. So even more amazing, guys, is that you can put together an offensive performance like that without LeBaron Phylon on the floor. And for anyone out there that thinks maybe they're just a better team without Phylon, that's crazy. You always add a lottery pick to the mix when you can. They just simply had a really good night because the team is more than just LeBaron Phylon. But throw all that in the mix.

And then remember this, too. You know, Arkansas with their superstar freshman, Acuff, Darren Acuff, Darius Acuff, he scored, what, 49 against Alabama? There was a real concern going into the game the other night that Mississippi State superstar guard Josh Hubbard would go off. He's had big games against Alabama in the past. I think he scored nearly 50 against Auburn over in Starkville recently. They not only scored 100 points, despite not playing well the last few minutes of the game, Hubbard didn't have a huge game. So I think to some extent there was even a decent job on him.

Well, he's the guy that really concerns you. Now this weekend, Tennessee's got two guys that score a ton. And the rest of the team generally aren't big scorers. The rest of the team generally are just really good defenders, and they play a lot of guys. I think they have 10 guys that average double-digit minutes. So it's a deep team, but really only two players that they have are really their primary scorers. Jimmy, it's not ironic that this basketball team, in a way, reflects the football team this past season.

They had their dips. Everybody kind of gave up on the football team. We saw how they got off the mat. Following the Florida game, a lot of folks felt the same way in principle about this basketball team. What has been the secret to the sauce since Florida, and can you say enough against about double-A, that's Allen. And also, to me, one of the secrets to the success is the big man inside, Sherell. He has come on and basically upped his game a ton at a key spot.

I think some of it, Harold, has just been the schedule. And that I say, you can say, what have they done since Florida? I would say, well, they stopped playing Florida. They haven't had to play them again. And that might be who you would want to avoid in the SEC tournament coming up. I think to some extent it's that, because when you look back over Alabama's losses, Purdue and Gonzaga, all the SEC losses, Florida, even Tennessee is a really good team. Alabama hasn't lost, really, to average basketball teams.

I would say it is possibly the worst loss all year, the one to Texas. And they're in the NCAA tournament. You know, they're going to be an at-large selection as of now in the tournament. They have an outstanding coach and, of course, good players. So this team's really been consistent from the start. I just think they hit a portion of the schedule where they could really rack up some wins, because the schedule had been so difficult. You were going through stretches where it was going to be hard to piece together a winning streak, because you were eventually going to face someone that was crazy good.

[5:19] I think it's just a product of playing what's been ranked a lot of the year as the number one toughest schedule in all of college basketball. Jimmy, you make a good point about Josh Hubbard with Mississippi State. He only scored 11 points. You would think he would have scored about 31, and that game would have been much closer. In another part of the equation, when Alabama lost to Tennessee January the 24th, Maury Allen and Aidan Holloway did not play or played very little, and these guys are playing very well right now.

I know Rick Barnes tries to slow Alabama down. They've got the height and strength and muscle inside. They'll probably take advantage of that. But, Jimmy, I sent you a text earlier today. This is a real surprise to a lot of people. Alabama leads the nation in attempted three-point shots with 1,006, 86 more than Louisville. And you have mentioned on our show a couple of times the big three with Thylon, Holloway, and Reitzel. And one of the analytics I saw had Amari Allen, Aidan Holloway, and Aidan Sherell. And number one and number three was Holloway, Reitzel, and Allen.

And as you noted, amazingly, no Phylon. Yeah. I think that was super interesting information big time. I'm still kind of picking through it and making sense of it best I can. I think one thing that stands out to me, guys, is I have kind of reiterated that a lot of the year about how the big three are Phylon right from the Holloway and how difficult it's going to be to beat Alabama when all three are on the floor and all three score their average or better.

It's going to be very tough to beat Alabama. I don't think it's ever happened in terms of all of it. They've only scored around 60 points as a trio on two different occasions. I think a lot of it has had to do with health. Phylon's missed time. Reitzel has missed substantial time. Even Holloway has missed time. And then Holloway came back and was playing for a while with that banged-up wrist. And I think it affected his ability to score. I can't help but think some of those stats are skewed a little bit by the fact that Alabama just hasn't been able to run the same lineup out there night after night.

And you make a great point, Brett, about how Amari Allen and Holloway weren't there for the first Tennessee matchup. A lot of the Tennessee game the first time around was about who was out there, Charles Betiaco, and not about who wasn't out there, Amari Allen and Holloway, who have a much bigger impact on Alabama's ability to win basketball games. It's just another example, guys, of how it's crazy that you can play the number one schedule in college basketball and have injuries to this extent and still be in the position Alabama's in.

I would argue that maybe this would have been one of Nate Oates' best coaching jobs. Agreed. Yeah. Jimmy Stein calls the Locked on Bama, which brings us to the obvious question, Jimmy. How is the health for tomorrow's big showdown in K-Town? To some extent, it looks better than it has been. Now, you know, in the sense that I believe Phylon will be back and he'll play. Now, the question is, sure, he's back. How close is he to 100%? Yeah. You know, so Taylor Bowen is playing. I'm not sure he's at 100%.

But even that said, with those two playing banged up, this may be about the healthiest they've been, which is saying a lot. And an amazing stat here, guys, is that only Houston Millett has played in every game. Wow. Only Houston Millett is not exactly the bell cow. You know, now, he's kind of also the heart and soul of the team. And no one plays harder than Houston Millett. He's been a big part of a lot of wins. But if you're just going to pick one guy that's been out there for every game, I'm not sure he's the one you would pick.

But, yeah, Houston Millett's the only player that Alabama has on the roster that has been healthy enough to play in every single game. And he missed most of last year. So, it's amazing what they've accomplished, despite the injuries and despite, let's also be real, not being very good defensively. I mean, they're not a great defensive team. Now, teams that play at Alabama's tempo are going to give up a lot of points, period. But even defensive efficiency-wise, I think per Ken Palm, Alabama, ranked somewhere in the 60s, which isn't terrible when the offense is top three.

But it's not great. Jimmy, will Amari Allen, again, playing and then playing the first game, will he guard Nathan Mint, who scored 27 in Tuscaloosa? It's amazing that that has to be asked in the sense that, like, is the answer to slowing down Nate, putting the true freshman on him. Well, you know, Amint's a true freshman himself, right? So, maybe it's not that huge of an ask. But, boy, Amari Allen does so much for this team, and it grows to the point that me reiterating all year, you know, that Phylon writes on Holloway or the Big Three, in terms of game-to-game productivity, I don't know that anybody outproduces Amari Allen, and not just in terms of points, just making winning plays.

[11:01] I mean, Amari Allen makes as many or more winning plays than anybody on the roster. He's been just unbelievable. It's crazy to me to think this kid was playing high school basketball a year ago in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Not exactly noted as a bastion of college basketball talent. You know, and Amari Allen must have been just completely unguardable up there. Amazing. I guess the only people he could find to play pickup games with were Packers. Or a video game, something like that. Jimmy, can you confirm or deny that there's also a possibility that we'll be soon talking about Alabama football with spring practice?

Now, you can confirm or deny this. I'm about to open the doors. If that's the case, your thoughts about what kind of verb, or I should say asdip, should you put on this spring camp this season for DeBoer and the boys? Exciting. I mean, I can't remember looking forward to spring practice more. I'm sure I've said that before, but I really mean it this time. And I'll say that in the sense, guys, if you just look at 22 positions, right now I would be really comfortable projecting about nine of the 22 spots.

Like, you know, Dijon Lee and Zabian Brown at corner and Hubbard and Sab at safety and Red Morgan at husky and Yonsei Pierre-Wolf and Ron Williams, Lottier Brooks, and Mike Carroll on offense. Those nine guys. All the other positions are up for grabs and not, in some cases, just a two-man battle. In some cases, it's three, four guys that could be in the mix. So there's going to be a tremendously fun spring practice with a minimum of 13 positions completely up for grabs with multiple candidates at each of those spots, including quarterbacks.

So that's why it's exciting to me. Well, it's also exciting to watch the Lockdown podcast with Jimmy Stein and Luke Robinson talk basketball, football, and anything else they can think of. Jimmy, where can we get online and get all the great stuff? Locked on Bama. If you want the video, you can find us on YouTube. You can also find Locked on Bama wherever you find your podcasts. If you just want the audio version, myself and Luke Robinson, we do six shows a week, often have a reaction show after every football game and many basketball games.

So sometimes it's more than six shows a week, but you'll have a new show and new content every day. Locked on Bama, YouTube, or wherever you get your audio podcasts. Sounds great. Jimmy, you got two choices this weekend. You can either listen to a lot of Rocky Top or you can buy a brand new set of earplugs. Your choice. Okay. Not a tough call. Not a tough call. There you go. Thank you, Jimmy. Whatever you do, Jimmy, listen, man, stay safe and have a great weekend.

All right. Thanks, guys. Thank you, bud. Jimmy Stein, co-host of Locked on Bama. Folks down in Red Bay are locked on postseason hardwood action. Coach John Terisky next. Stay with us. At First Metro Bank, we don't just do business in the Shoals community. We're part of it. Our roots are right here and we know what matters to you because it matters to us, too. Whether you're saving for a dream vacation, buying a first home, or starting a small business, we're here to help you with that hometown touch.

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If you don't believe me, just ask Coach John Turisky, head boys basketball coach down at Red Bay. Coach, welcome in. How are you? Hey, I'm good. Very good. Great weather. We're playing basketball in March, so it's a good time of the year. I was going to say, Coach, it's got a nice sound to it. Now, you're going to be punching the clock here in March. It means you're still rocking and rolling. Congratulations on a great season. Well, thank you very much. It's been a fun year for sure.

Talk to us about this team. Obviously, we want to talk about what kind of test you're facing next week. But as we mentioned before, it's like a big open up a big box of jigsaw puzzle pieces. You've got to put them all together to get here to have a shot at putting in the final pieces to have a good final product. Coach, talk to us about this edition of the Red Bay Boys basketball team this season. Sure. You know, we've got a veteran team. We had a lot of guys that gave us some major minutes last year.

So we've got three seniors that lead us. Jackson Benson, Landon Louie, and Bryant Harris. They've been really good role players for us and senior leaders. And then we've got a really talented sophomore. Most people around this area know Khalil Luster or have heard of his name. But he was a second-team All-State last year as a freshman. And he's just gotten even better this year. So, you know, he's kind of our centerpiece. And then we've got a really good young point guard who's a ninth grader. And he's going to be a special player in a few years.

[21:14] He's already a really good player. His name is Dalton Lowry. And his dad actually played at Red Bay a long time ago and was a really good football player here. So, you know, those are our main guys. But we've got some really good guys that come off the bench. We're very deep. For a 2A team, we've got three other guys that pretty much could be starters. And, you know, we've just really meshed well this year. The guys understand their roles. And, you know, we just started winning and just kept it rolling, really.

I mean, it's just one of those things where it kind of snowballs, you know, and the guys just get used to winning. And that's where we're at right now. I mean, we haven't lost since December 27th of last year. So, it's been a pretty good little run. Because let me ask you quickly, did the dad bribe you and say, please don't tell how many years ago it was? And what that also says for anyone who follows this community, there's a proud tradition at Red Bay. We know the girls have had, they're holding up their bargain.

Did we realize just how proud the basketball tradition is there in your backyard? Yeah, I mean, it's a big deal. And I've got a really good assistant coach that he was actually part of one of the successful teams in the, I guess, mid-90s. And, you know, to have him kind of helping us now, it's kind of a link between the past and the present. So, that's pretty neat. But we've been on a really good run here. And it starts with good kids. I mean, that's just where we're really blessed down here to have good kids.

And then the community just supports everybody. 15-game winning streak, I would say that is impressive. We're talking about your opponent who's got a 14-game. Three of the losses came the first three games of the season. You lost to West Union, Mississippi, and then lost to Plainview, one of the best teams in the state. But so many things have fallen for you. And you mentioned Khalil Luster, 23 points, 10 rebounds in the win against Cold Springs to get to Lafayette. Lafayette has won 14 consecutive games. They're a very impressive team.

I'm sure you've looked at them a little bit on film. Their coach is Chase Lewis. Tell us a little bit about your opponent on Monday. Yeah, I mean, we've watched a lot of film on Lafayette, probably too much. In the last couple days, you get a week to prepare. That's almost too much in basketball. But, you know, Lafayette's got good tradition down there as well. When we went to the Final Four in 2020, Lafayette was down there with us. So, you know, I'm somewhat familiar with that program.

But, you know, the first thing that stands out on film is they've got some really big guys. They've got a long 6'5", 6'6", athlete that can jump out of the gym. And they've got two guys that look like future SEC linemen that are about 6'5", 260 that we're going to be matched up with. So, you know, the size is going to be a factor. They're really quick. They had a couple guys that, you know, it looks like when they get hot they can go off for some big games.

So, I mean, we're going to have our hands full. But it's one of those games where, you know, we just feel like if we just do the things that we're capable of, we feel like we've got a good shot. And that's all you can ask for at this time of the year. You know, I don't really know how much we need to take away from them as much as we just need to kind of do our thing. So, all things considered, we're ready to play. And we know it's going to be tough.

But you expect tough at the end of the year. I'm not a genius, but I've got to believe that if you're playing at this point, you're pretty good, too. There's probably right back at you, Coach. John Turisky hooking up with us down at Red Bay. Coach, I was going to ask you, and I've got a feeling I know the answer. You mentioned a lot of time off. That can be a detriment, especially when you get big momentum like you guys got the winning streak. But, again, they got a winning streak.

Do you do anything different or you just basically say, you know what, we're going to dance with the one that got us here? No, we're at time of the year where, you know, basically we are who we are. And you can always make minor adjustments and things like that that you see for film, you know, to game plan accordingly. But, you know, at this time of the year, we're pretty comfortable with where we are. We're shooting the ball really well. And we've had a few breaks in the season due to weather and things like that where we haven't played for a week.

And then we've come back and played. And it really hasn't seemed to hurt our guys yet. So, I'm hoping that continues. You know, you don't know what's going to happen. But I do know that we've had two recent times where we've sat a week and played and we've been okay. So, I think that's just a testament to how mentally tough my team is. You do something that a lot of coaches don't do. I see it occasionally. But I know you've been at Red Bay for a while, I believe 14 years or so.

You've been coaching the boys for 12 years and you've been coaching the girls for two years. Wow. You literally coach both teams. How, first of all, how do you work practice or schedule practice? Listen, you have our utmost respect. It's tough to do one, much less do two. Talk about how that unfolded now that you coach literally both the boys and the girls. Yeah, I mean, it's, well, like I said, this is my 11th year as a head coach. And my last, my second year as a girls' head coach.

[26:46] And I held my father-in-law out on the girls' team, Coach Roberts, back when he had some really good teams. And that's kind of how I got my foot in the door. But, yeah, the last two years have been different and they've been really, really fun. But I can tell you that from October 20th or whenever the first day of practice is until the end of the season, you know, there's several days where I really don't know what day it is. Just because I'm constantly at the gym and we stack our practices.

We're pretty efficient with our practices. So, I mean, our guys have been doing the things that we expect over and over again. So, I can get a lot done in probably less time than some teams do. But, I mean, even if you have a short hour and a half practice, that's still two of them. It makes three hours. So, a lot of nights getting home at 5.30 and 6. And thankfully my wife played a lot of basketball. Her dad was a coach. So, she kind of understands it.

But I'll tell you this, I don't think that she hopes that I'm in this position long term. So, I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to do it and keep her happy. But right now, it's been two years. So, we're just going to leave it at that and we'll see what happens next year. And well put. You've been married a long time too, I can tell. So, Coach, no pressure. Which one's tougher to coach, the boys or the girls? Well, look, the girls are easier to coach in terms of they do exactly what you tell them.

But boys are more instinctive. And so, there are some challenges with both of them. And you just kind of have to know how to navigate them. But I've been really lucky. We've got really good kids here at Red Bay. It's easy to coach good kids. So, that makes it a lot more fun. There you go. Well, this has been a fun interview. We really appreciate your time. We know you're getting busy. Congratulations on a great year. And go to Birmingham and bring back a blue mouth.

We'll do our best. Thank you very much. Coach John Terisky hooking up with us on his way to Coach Red Bay next week. All the best to the Tigers. Coming up, he's Mr. Friday himself. Bill Shanks on deck. Stay with us. You've got to come see the Tennessee Valleys. Most dynamic furniture store. Story and Lee Furniture. And right now, during our President's Day sale, get incredible savings in our Made in America galleries featuring solid wood dining and bedrooms. Custom made to order sofas and sectionals. And with our huge warehouse, we're sure to have exactly what you want.

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[32:07] Kids basketball action tonight. Troy's at home to take on UL Monroe. Troy is 11-6 in the Sun Belt. UL Monroe is 1-16 in conference play. South Alabama will host Southern Miss. The Jaguars are 11-6 in conference play. Southern Miss is 8-9 in the Sun Belt. Tomorrow, Auburn Tigers will host Ole Miss. Auburn 6-9 in the SEC. Ole Miss is 3-12 in the conference. Alabama's on the road at Tennessee in the top 25 matchup. Crimson Tide is 11-4 in the SEC. The Tennessee Volunteers are 10-5 in the conference.

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$125 off. Now you're cooking. Brand your business in a big way at Staples. That was easy. Drop Staples in-store online or in the app by 442 on not. Exclusions apply. Visit staples.com slash print for details. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. If it's Friday, it's time to open the door and say hello to Mr. Bill. Bill Shanks is host of The Bill Shanks Show on 93.1 FM in Macon, Georgia. Online at theseuperstations.com and on the tube at 41NBC. Bill Shanks, welcome in.

Happy last Friday of the month. How are you? Almost time for March, right? Or put another way, about a week, it's hard to believe, already into spring training. Bill, what's your impression of the Bravos so far? Well, their offense looks good. Their lineup looks good. Their rotation is still a question mark, of course. And I'm actually headed down on Sunday. So, I'm headed down to see if there are any healthy pitchers still left in camp. Which brings us to this point, Bill. I'm not familiar. You probably are with this kind of money.

They are basically, according to this, swimming in money right now, announcing record earnings, but still no starting pitcher. Do you need to knock on the boss's door and say, you got all that money. Why don't you go out and fix some of these problems with that cash you got? Well, Harold, I've said so much. I'm worried if they're going to let me in the complex, to be honest with you. When I get down there, they probably know exactly what I've been saying. I mean, I think it's criminal that they have not spent more money on this team and not invested in pitching and done what they needed to do to get this to be a true championship caliber team.

I think you don't have to have myself or any other analyst that covers the team closely for fans to know that the pitching is very shaky and the rotation is thin and that in the last three years it's not been a very good situation when it comes to health. And the first week they get to camp, they already had two pitchers hurt. So, you know, for Schwellenbach and Waldorf to go down that quickly early on, it's like, well, are we living through this last two years all over again after needing a little luck and a little good help for a change?

It certainly didn't start out that way. So, it's unfortunate that they did not do what they said they were going to do early in the offseason, which is pursue starting pitching. And, unfortunately for them, a lot of fans are holding that against them. The total revenue, the numbers have been in the media all week long, posted an 11% increase in total revenue in 2025 to $732 million. The battery, I mean, the battery, again, the mixed-use development around the stadium, which a lot of other teams are trying to model, made $97.4 million.

Compared to just four years ago, the Braves have added nearly $150 million to their annual revenue. Now, again, we haven't talked about expenses, payroll, and all the other stuff that goes with this. But, listen, I've heard this point of nauseam. You have mentioned this continuously on social media. Yes, they are making a lot of money. Why do they, at that point, put more money back into the team? Well, there are a couple of things that, you know, I'm learning about that may be reason for their excuse, okay?

[37:40] One is the television situation, which obviously they partially announced earlier this week. And as predicted, you know, they're going to be over the air, they're going to be on cable systems, satellite, streaming services, and then they're going to have a subscription-based service as well. And so there's uncertainty of what kind of revenue that's going to bring. So that's one area where they can say, well, we can, at least internally, you're not going to say it out loud. We don't know what we're going to have, so we've got to be careful about that.

And then there's something else I read earlier today about how employees of a corporation, a publicly traded company, they're taxed a little bit differently on some of their larger salaries. And I want to look more into that, because I don't know how that's going to impact them or not. But it was an interesting article. I read an article earlier today, as a matter of fact, and I'm like, uh-oh, because there's some reason behind it. I mean, I'd like to be mean and say, well, they're just cheap, they're not doing it.

And look, I mean, you do have to ask the question, you know, well, are stockholders going to be okay? Do they want dividends? You know, what are they looking for? Because this is a different situation. This is not, and I keep on warning people, look, this is not Liberty Media sucks, and we can't say Liberty Media. This is a publicly traded, separated company now that is totally different from what it used to be. And, therefore, when it's a publicly traded company, there are different things going on that I, that's about my pay grade, okay?

I can't barely balance my checkbook on an Excel spreadsheet, much less think about a publicly traded company. So, you know, there are elements of this that are probably explainable, that probably could factor into this, but it doesn't stop the fact that, you know, they're going to come out probably, I guarantee you, you write it down, and they're going to say, well, we're sixth or seventh in April. But I'm telling you, the most important statistic that we need to know is what is the percentage of your payroll compared to your revenue?

I don't expect it to be 90% like Sid Cohen in the Mets, because he's a multi-billionaire, $25 billion, and he's treating this as a toy. I don't expect it to have you not, he's right, but why can't you be 60% to 65% of your revenue going to the team? Because I hate to tell them if they did that, their talent might be better, and they may win more ballgames. Well, you hit the buzz phrase there, Bill. This is a public traded team, which means the CEO is under pressure. He lives in a 90-day, or she, in a 90-day world.

They have a number. They've got to hit it, or they're down here with us at the end of that 90-day. So that's why they squeezed that apple for all the juice they can in that 90-day period. Bill, you mentioned the broadcasting news. A lot of Braves fans here, of course, and it's above our pay grade to go through all the fine print. But the bottom line is, how do things change? If you're the typical Braves fan here in terms of, am I going to have to pay any more?

Where do I have to go to get it? What kind of changes are we looking at this season on TV? Well, Greg paid me money to say that no games are on TV, and they all have to be listened to either on your station or on the Superstations.com. Right. Okay. Now, you know, we'll find out the details here soon, Harold. I think they're still trying to do – they have to throw this together pretty quickly. Right. So they're having to do deals with cable systems, with satellite services, with streaming services.

So we're talking about three categories here. We're talking about over the air on some gray television stations, which I think are in your area. They are. Then we have the direct-to-consumer, where subscription-based, probably $25 to $30 a month, where you get – probably the majority of the games are going to be on that. And then the others are going to be on your cable system or on your streaming service, like I've got YouTube TV, or your satellite, like Dish Network or something like that. So there's three different areas where the games are going to be on this year.

And, look, I think this is going to be good financially for the Braves. And I know people are going to be a little hesitant about paying money. But, look, it may be like a dollar a day, and you know what, or a dollar a game. And, hey, look, we're having to pay – television programming, video programming is getting to the point where, obviously, we're paying for what we want to see. And if you're a Braves fan, I don't think you're going to worry about a dollar a game or something of that nature.

[42:45] So, you know, I think most people are going to be okay with that. They just – you know, they've got to get used to the change. But, believe me, this is going to be good, I think, for the consumer and for the team as well in the long run. Yeah, I saw the other day – it's actually a bargain compared to – I saw where coming up soon, if you're a diehard NFL fan, it could cost you $800 a year because they're moving it. If you watch, they're doing Prime, they're in Peacock, they're moving it over there.

If you want to see it, you've got to pay for it. In some ways, this is nostalgic, is it not, Bill, because this team was built on America's team, a genius by the name of Ted Turner, when they had guys that they could control what they said, they could say what they want, they could put some personality into it. I see these broadcasters now, and it's like cookie cutter. They've got to go and check with the boss before they know what to say, and it comes across as pretty generic.

But, in a way, it's almost a return back to the future, is it not? Well, that's why I'm not a brave broadcaster, Harold, because they sure wouldn't like to hear my – That's great. That's great. You know, I couldn't – I'm not politically correct or smart enough to be diplomatic enough to keep my mouth shut, so that's why I'm not on the brave broadcast. But, well, you know, look, I just think, you know, there have been some parallels made to WTBS and all that, but, I mean, that's a different ballgame because that was in that national cable channel.

And, look, here's the thing about TBS that a lot of people don't realize. Bud Selig – when Bud Selig got in control of Major League Baseball in 1994, he made the Braves take that revenue from WTBS and split it between the 30 teams. Wow. He did not allow the Braves – he would think the Braves would have just made a fortune having their games on a national cable television. Wow. But he did not allow that. And a lot of people say that the belief was always – I heard it on more than one occasion – that, you know, Bud Selig was in Milwaukee when the Braves moved to Atlanta, and he was p*****.

Right. So much so that he went and got the Brewers, you know, a couple years later to – and he was nothing but a car dealer. I mean, and there's no offense to car dealers, but, I mean, it's not like he was a billionaire. He was a car dealer that bought the Brewers to – got the Brewers franchise and bought them, but he was p***** at the Braves. And there was a lot of talk for many years that that was why he did what he did with the Braves revenue.

So, anyway, but, yeah, it's – I think it's going to be good in the long run for the Braves, and I hope everybody will embrace it in time. All right. Let me ask you about some names. Max Scherzer, I believe, re-up with the Blue Jays or someone for a one-year $3 million. Ken Rosenthal had an article earlier this week and mentioned two free agents, Lucas Giolito, and correct me if I'm wrong, and Jack Littell, in that both of these guys – in fact, he said Giolito, 2.51 ERA in his final 19 starts, and Littell was in July of 2023, and, again, I know that's three years ago, had a 3.66 ERA.

Are either one of those two guys potential signees as a free agent? I don't think so. I just – I do not believe – I do not believe they're going to bring anybody in. I really don't. I mean, I just – I wish I felt definitely, Brett, but I just see no reason to believe that they're going to bring another pitcher in. And, you know, they're – look, you know, the problem for me is not Bryce Elder. Well, Bryce Elder is a problem only if he has to move up into the third or fourth spot in the rotation.

If I knew Bryce Elder was going to be the fifth starter in the rotation the entire year, we'd probably be okay with that, you know? Yeah. The problem is three and four. You know, you've got three and – at three and four, you've got Reynaldo Lopez, who's coming off shoulder surgery, had one start last year, and then Grant Holmes, who has a partially torn flexor tendon and UCL in his elbow. And are you going to tell me those two – let's think about Sal and Strider for a minute.

Are you going to tell me that Lopez and Holmes can give you 50 starts between the two of them? No. I mean, I just don't – I hope – and look, I hope I'm wrong. I hope my skepticism and my concern is unwarranted. But I think, especially with the injury issues that they've had the last couple years, you've got to be worried about this situation. Because if three and four, if Lopez and or Holmes go down, Bryce Elder becomes your three. Well, that's a problem, you know? Because that's what happened last year when Bryce Elder led the team and starts with 28 because everybody around him got hurt.

Well, he was the last one standing, and that wasn't a good thing. So you've got to worry about all that little situation there. And so that's my biggest concern. And look, let me repeat that at some point this year, I don't think it will be opening day, J.R. Ritchie is going to help this team. And maybe Alex is banking on that, but I still think that's even foolish because you have to be careful with banking on a young pitcher, at least in late February. You can't do that all the way.

[48:09] They're not used to that schedule either, being as long as it is. But let me ask you this. This is Bill Shanks, TheSuperStations.com. Switching gears a little bit, the NCAA doing some barking today. The question is, are they a pit bull or a little bitty chihuahua? They are considering seven-figure fines and head coach suspensions for transfer violations. Is it a classic Missouri thing? Show me I'll believe it when I see it, or are they just barking up another tree? Well, are there rules in place that we've missed that people are violating?

I mean, I didn't know there were. If that's the case, I mean, I applaud them if they're going to try to do it. I mean, yeah, let's see it. I mean, the puts in the pudding, right? We've got to see it to believe it, I think. I mean, I don't know if I believe it. I mean, there are plenty of questions about conduct, but it's like, you know what, if you go through a town and there's some rule that's unwritten and not on the books, and they all of a sudden tell you, well, hey, I hate to tell you this, but that's against the law, and you're like, well, show me.

And they can't show you, it's just like, you know, they're going to laugh you out in the court unless you run into Brett Beaird's dad, who will throw your butt in jail, you know. But, you know, we'll see. We'll see what happens there, but I mean, I'm skeptical of that for sure. Well, Dabo would like to put Pete Golding on double-seeker probation. Yes. So, you know, we'll see where that goes. Listen, that fun trip in Atlanta, if they let you in after your comments this week, which I agree with 99% of them.

Now, if any of our esteemed listeners would like to call in this afternoon and express their thoughts on the Braves, how bad Alabama is going to beat Georgia in October, who can they get online and listen and call in? Well, they can listen to Georgia baseball today because I'm off. I'm doing other things, so I am excited to play Georgia baseball. You go, boy. You go. And pray to God they don't have a rain delay where I have to go scramble and do a d*** show.

So, but the normal website is thesuperstations.com. Yeah. We can't wait to go on social media and see what other things means to Bill Shanks. You promised you'll deliver, Bill. That's right. Hey, have a safe trip down and back, and thanks so much for your time, Dave, Bill. Okay. Guys, thank you. Bill Shanks, thesuperstations.com. Coming up for the next hour, I'm going to be checking in with Justin Ferguson, talking to Auburn Tigers. Drew Jarman is going to be talking about it all, and a national perspective, coast to coast with Mike Huganen.

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The arrests were made by the Alabama Attorney General's office. Sarah Bennett, Sharon Denson, and Samantha Kyles are all facing a total of 17 counts of ballot harvesting and 20 counts of unlawful use of absentee ballots. Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen thanked the Attorney General's office for conducting the investigation and enforcing state election law. Allen said this type of crime is an affront to elections, our communities, and the fabric of our constitutional republic. I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Are you enjoying 1819 News? If so, consider joining 1819 News as a member.

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36-year-old Ibrahim Yazid of Montgomery will go to trial for the murder of 19-year-old Aniyah Blanchard back in 2019. Blanchard was kidnapped from a gas station in Auburn. Yazid had been released on bond for a prior violent offense when the murder of Aniyah occurred. This prompted the creation and passage of Aniyah's law, which allows judges to hold criminal suspects without bond if they already have a history of prior violence and arrests. Jury selection for the trial of Yazid will begin on Monday in Macon County. Anna Henry County judges ordered a teacher to be held in jail without bond this week after first being charged with soliciting sex from children.

54-year-old Roger Lofton was arrested this week. He teaches at the Abbeville Christian Academy and is also a foster parent. I'm Andrea Tice. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter. Tide fans. Here comes the Tide. Let's roll. At one. For the win. Ball game. Ball game. Ball game. And the win. Grab your hard hats and tune in for blue-collar basketball with the Crimson Tide all season long on your home for Alabama basketball. This Saturday, Alabama goes on the road to take on the Tennessee Volunteers.

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Like with Mike Hugenon. He is the National College Football Slash Basketball Analyst down in Orlando. Mike, welcome in. Are you ready for the next to last weekend of regular season college basketball action? How are you? Like two Sundays away from Selection Sunday. Still a lot to be decided in a lot of league races. So this weekend, starting tonight with the Michigan-Illinois game, this weekend is a gigantic win for college basketball conference races. I'm proud you brought that up, Mike, because traditionally we think of big games when it comes to basketball on Saturday.

But coming up tonight is that number three Michigan-Illinois game. I got a feeling the Wolverines is not going to be in a good mood. And what is it about the Big Ten? Wow. Here in the NIL era, they're making noise in football and now in basketball. Not that they haven't over the years, but now it's not just one big hauls. They've got several. On sports, Illinois has got a team, an interesting mix of freshmen and older players. Michigan is leaning totally into the transfer portal. Both these teams are really good offensively.

Illinois does not play good defense. I think Illinois' idea of defense is if we let them shoot and score fast, we get the ball back. So, I think there's going to be a lot of points tonight. If they're at Illinois, it'll be a loud crowd. Michigan's big guys are extremely effective despite what happened last week against Duke. Don Maher getting in foul trouble last week was gigantic. If he gets in foul trouble tonight, Illinois has got a great chance to win. This should be a really, really high-level game.

There are some high-level games in the SEC tomorrow, Mike. Of course, we've talked extensively about Alabama and Tennessee, a top-22 matchup. Arkansas and Florida, number 20 against number 7. Oh, by the way, the Gators are undefeated in the month of February. And then Vandy at Kentucky. Three very good games tomorrow in the SEC. For their own reasons. Florida can, I think, clinch at least a tie for the cop regular season title tomorrow. Arkansas is, as most John Calabari teams have been, really good offensively. Defensively, they are not very good.

[1:03:49] Florida plays really high-level defense. They are just pounding teams. They played Texas the other night. For about 33 minutes, it was close. And in the last seven minutes, it looked like Florida woke up and said, OK, we're tired of this. And they won by double digits. The Alabama-Tennessee game, Tennessee under Rick Barnes, definitely has Nate Oates' number. Rick Barnes' defense does a phenomenal job of forcing the Tide to take shots they don't want to take. And Vandy and Kentucky, early in the season, Kentucky fans were like, oh my God, Mark Pope's horrible.

Middle of the season, Mark Pope is awesome. You know, it's back to Mark Pope is horrible. We need to fire this guy. So, in Vanderbilt, Mark Byington's team is a little bit uneven of late. But that's, yeah, I think, frankly, that's a game where you're looking for the winning team will feel good about itself after that game. The losing team, I think there's going to be a lot more doubt heading into the rest of March. Because the way Vanderbilt's playing now, the way Kentucky's playing now, those don't look like teams that are going to win many games in the N.T. tournament, if any.

Mike, you're going to check in Orlando, National College football slash basketball analyst. Mike, you know our zip code here. What can you say to fans of Alabama that's going to be different in this matchup with Tennessee? You think by now, Nate Oates and these guys have got a book on what Tennessee's doing to keep this streak going against them. Alabama's done well just about with everybody else. But when it comes to Tennessee, they're a bugaboo. What's going to be different this time around for Alabama to stop that streak?

There's got to be something different because, you know, I think one of, you know, Tennessee is an anomaly in some respects. Yes, they can score and all that kind of stuff. But they're definitely a defense first team because that's the way Barnes is. And Alabama is a totally offense first team. They want shots at the rim. And whenever they play the Vols, the Vols do a great job of we're not letting you shoot threes. And if you shoot threes, we're going to be in your face.

So it is going to be interesting tomorrow to see how Tennessee comes out and plays, you know, and how Alabama combats that. Is Alabama going to do anything different? Is Tennessee going to do anything different? I don't know. That is a very interesting chess match because Rick Barnes definitely has Nate Oates' number. Let me ask you about Auburn. They have struggled under Stephen Pearl. They got off to a decent start. They've actually, I believe, lost six out of the last seven. The Kentucky game saved them.

They had a putback in the last second to win that game after Kentucky came back. They've given up two leads in the last three minutes of the game to Mississippi State and Josh Hubbard when he went off on them. Now, their strength of schedule is very good. It's first or second in the country. They've got good wins over St. John's, North Carolina State, and Florida, amazingly, in Gainesville. But they're fighting for their lives. This win, they've got to beat Ole Miss tomorrow. They've got Alabama to end the season.

But Stephen Pearl was named late in late September when Bruce decided to retire. He's played the hand that's been dealt to him. Your thoughts on Stephen Pearl's tenure at Auburn? A mild disappointment. They have the win in Florida is mystifying. And them beating St. John's, I think, is a little bit mystifying as well. I know St. John's was, oh my goodness, they were embarrassed the other night. I don't know how any college team can miss 24 shots in a row. I agree. St. John's did against you.

But I agree. I think Auburn's in desperation mode. Yes, the strength of schedule is good. The net is good. Their analytics are relatively still extremely solid. But I don't think a team that's one or two games over .500 is going to make the end of the tournament. So I think beating Ole Miss and beating Alabama is almost a must. If they lose either one, they're going to have to make a nice run in the SEC tournament. Because I think analytics and the net only gets you so far.

If you're sitting there at 17 and 15, I don't think you get in. So this is, yeah, tomorrow's game is important. And then the season finale against the Tide is monstrously important. So, Mike, having said that right now, as you well put, it's hard to believe, not this Sunday, but the next one is Selection Sunday. When we go to bed on that Sunday night, how many teams in the SEC do you see making it? Nine. I think I would lean toward Auburn not making it right now. I think the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC are going to make up at least those four leagues, and it's going to make up a little bit more than half the field.

[1:09:15] Wow. So in some respects, yeah. Hey, we played these guys already. Hey, we played these guys twice already. Because there's going to be a lot of conference rivals among those four leagues that are in the NCAA tournament. You know, the Big East has been a gigantic disappointment. The Mountain West, their teams are fading. The West Coast Conference is only going to get two, I think, because Santa Clara's faded. So there's going to be a heck of a lot of SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 teams in the field.

Bill Bender of the Sporting News is a good friend of ours. He's gone 4.0 as far as his field projections. His number one seeds are Duke, Michigan, Arizona, Iowa State. I know a lot of people would agree with that. His two seeds are UConn, Purdue, Houston, and Florida. What is Mike Huguenin's top four seeds as far as the number one seed in the top four teams? I think in some order are going to be there. The one I wonder about is Iowa State. And I know UConn, their net and their metrics are a little bit lower than you expected from a number one seed.

I will say this. If UConn doesn't lose from here on out, I think UConn is a number one seed, along with Arizona, Duke, and Michigan. Again, I think the ITF has to play a part of this. I would much rather play Iowa State than I would UConn. UConn traditionally plays better in March under Hurley. I'm not scared of T.J. Otzelberger. I think he's a really good coach. He's got a nice team. Joshua Jefferson can play. The Mamalevich guy hits 50% of his three-pointers, which is incredible.

But I still wonder about the overall lack of athleticism. I think that's a failing of both Iowa State and Illinois. They're not as athletic as you would want to be. Yes, I know they've played high-level teams all year, and they've played teams with better athletes, and they win. I still think that a win-and-go-home game adds a different layer of pressure. I'm not sure Iowa State and Illinois can handle that when it gets to March late. Getting to the Sweet 16 or beyond, I think, is asking a lot of Iowa State and Illinois.

Mike, the NCAA says enough is enough. If you violate the rules of the transfer portal outside the given window, you could potentially be facing seven-figure fines, suspensions of head coaches. We had a guest on earlier, and he brought up a good point. What rule are they breaking? In other words, where are the rules? But what's your reaction? Are they serious about this, or are they just barking to hear themselves talk? They're dogs that like to bark, but they're also, they weigh a combined 30 pounds. So, you know, they sound loud, but the idea of the quote-unquote blind transfer, let's put it this way.

There's going to be double-digit blind transfers, and the NCAA is going to be helpless to do anything about it. The thing that irritates me is the same conferences, the same coaches who complain and moan about all these guys are tampering will be the exact same coaches who bring in blind transfers. So they talk out of both sides of their mouth, and I think that if I'm a college fan, football and basketball especially, I'm increasingly irritated by what coaches say, and the only thing that saves these guys is, oh, they win on Saturdays, or they win on Wednesdays, so that everything's fine.

But I think a lot of coaches and administrators need to be quiet because they talk out of both sides of their mouth. Well, Mike, Hugen doesn't it, and he brings it every Friday. Mike, have a great weekend, you're right. This is a tremendous slate of games tomorrow across the country. It should be a fun day, leading to the last regular season week. Then, of course, the tournaments get started, the conference tournaments, and then the March Madness. Mike, have a great week. This should be a good weekend.

I know for us, it may be the warmest one we've had this year. Have a great week. Let's do this again next Friday. Excellent. Thanks, guys. Thank you so much, Mike. Mike Kigginen checking in from Orlando. He's checking in from the Rocket City. Drew Diarman on deck. Stay with us. Mugshot's Grilling Bar has a winning lineup with their limited-time offers. Choose from the smoky bourbon maple stack with two kid burgers or the pretzel basket with four pretzel sticks sprinkled with kosher salt. You must try the Chili Trio, which is a cup of cheesy chili, or the Nashville Hot Tacos, three flour tortillas with three Nashville Hot chicken tenders.

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It's a daily update on Vama sports and it's brought to you by the Good Feet Store. Helping people get back to the life they love without their feet getting in the way. Start your journey at goodfeet.com. Hello again, everybody. I'm Roger Hoover. On Thursday's edition of Crimson Drive, driven by NASCAR, we were joined by Crimson Tide guard, LeBaron Finlon Jr. Put on for, you know, the fans and just like the community of Alabama is really important to me. And I think, you know, it was just like as long as season, it just keep going.

You know, you just really just, you like, you feel it more. You know, you feel it more when, you know, it's getting closer to the end of the season and stuff like that. So just like trying to take, just be grateful of every game that we have now and just like being ready to lace them up at any time, I would say. I'll have more in a moment. This is Christian Miller for the Good Feet Store. I know from playing football at Alabama and in the NFL that if you have foot, knee, hip or back pain, it can be a huge challenge.

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[1:19:26] For more information, visit RollTide.com and follow us at UA underscore CTSN on all of your social media platforms. Crimson Tide Today is brought to you by the Good Feet Store. Crimson Tide Today is a production of the Crimson Tide Sports Network from Learfield. The Score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. It is a pleasure for us to say hello to Double D, Drew DeArvin. He's host Talkin' Ball in Huntsville's 97.7 FM The Zone. Drew, welcome in. Happy Friday to you. How are you?

I'm good, guys. Mulligans do happen. I hear you, brother. Listen, it's Friday, which, put another way, tomorrow is showtime for Alabama. They are riding a seven-game winning streak. Your thoughts on this streak? And, Drew, your thoughts on making it an even eight tomorrow in Knoxville? Well, it's going to be a tough matchup on the road. It was one last year that Alabama allowed to get away from at the end with some free throws and blockouts. And, you know, probably should have won the game in regulation.

Lost it in overtime at the buzzer, basically, if I remember correctly. And it was really a tough one to swallow because Alabama kind of controlled the game for much of it. It'll be interesting to see if LeBaron's foul line is available. I thought they played maybe their best type of basketball the whole season in the first half against Mississippi State, even without him scoring 63 points. The ball movement was really good. They shot 16-27 from three, and Amari Allen really stepped forward. Yeah. He played exceptional basketball.

But I'm also not, you know, foolish. Alabama needs LeBaron's foul line to beat a team like Tennessee. Mississippi State doesn't have the best roster this year, and certainly Alabama's had their number. They've won 10 in a row from the green and white. Now, they've lost five straight to Tennessee, but there's a lot at stake in this game because if Alabama could win this ball game, they could create two games of separation with the Vols and pretty much assure themselves of a top-four seed and a double bye.

And then I think even with a one-and-one finish going forward because they have a tricky game at Georgia on Tuesday, and then they end the season with Auburn, if they can go two-and-one and beat Tennessee in these last three, then I think they can still very easily finish second in the SEC because they have the tiebreaker with Arkansas. Arkansas has got a tough game at Florida this weekend, and they've still got to play Texas, and they don't have an easy schedule down the stretch. And then also, don't forget, you know, Tennessee's still got to play Vanderbilt and things of that nature, even though that'll be in Knoxville.

But I think Alabama, if they can win tomorrow, will be the second seed. I'll go ahead and predict that. And if you had told me that a month ago, I wouldn't have believed you. So if they could get that second seed and avoid Florida, potentially, because you've got to get to the championship game. And then I think Alabama, you know, with a strong finish to this regular season, and then maybe a run to Sunday in the SEC tournament, even though some believe that the committee doesn't really pay attention to conference tournaments, I will say I do think Alabama could merit consideration to get into the three line.

And you'd like to, you know, get off of the four line where Joe Lenardi has them right now, only simply because if you're on the four or five line, you're going to have to play a one seed in the Sweet 16 if you get there. And that's not going to be easy with these one seeds like Duke, Arizona, because Bama's already played Arizona and got some of that. UConn has never been a great matchup for them. UConn's probably on the one line right now. And we'll see.

And then, of course, I did Lenardi's latest at Alabama with just a tremendously tough region in the east, and that would be Duke and Purdue and Kansas. And we know they've already seen Purdue as well. And Kansas, you know, if Deron Peterson's check cleared, there's no telling. I mean, they might be pretty tough, too, pretty tough out. They'll be talented, certainly. So that draw would be very difficult for Alabama. And interestingly, he had Alabama being a four, you know, and taking on UNC Wilmington. And they would get the winner of two teams they already beat, which would be Yale and Rick Pitino, St. John's Red Storm.

So that would be a very interesting second-round matchup potentially for Alabama. D2, you mentioned LeBaron Phylon. Maybe a little questionable. I'm like you. I do think he plays. A lot of people forget, Amari Allen and Aidan Holloway did not play in that 79-73 win to Tennessee, or they played very little. I asked Jimmy Stein this question earlier. Will Amari Allen guard Nate Ament? Well, I said going into the game before they announced that Amari Allen was taking his two-game sabbatical or whatever it ended up being.

[1:24:42] He missed Missouri and Tennessee being a little banged up and some other things. But, anyway, I think that it was interesting. I thought that he would guard him then. If you looked at Alabama and their better defenders, and I think, you know, Amari Allen's probably their best all-around defender, no question about it. The trail right on probably Houston Millett or the other two, but Naina Mintz, 6'10". So, about the only guy that could probably effectively guard him is Amari Allen, being 6'8". But, you also have to take this into account.

Amari Allen needs to defend without fouling. Because they need Amari Allen on the floor. Because he does so many different things. Y'all talked about his shot making the other night. But we all know he can handle. He can almost be a point forward. He's one of Alabama's better rebounders. And let's not forget, I know it's Mississippi State, but I think Alabama had 48 rebounds the other night. So, they need Amari Allen on the floor. They need the guards to stay out of foul trouble. And I think one other thing that they have, we've seen since they played Tennessee, I think that Latrell Reichel's playing a lot better basketball.

He's starting to make shots. He's staying on the floor. And he's always been one of their better defenders, guys. And hopefully, Bylon will be healthy and will get the message from Naito that he must defend. Drew DeArmond hooking up with us. Drew, the obvious question is, we know that Tennessee's had Nate Oates' book. What are they going to do different tomorrow? We know that Barnes is going to try to stop the three points. Will they try to pound it more inside and settle for the twos?

Or what are they going to do different? Because, obviously, we know the definition of insanity, keep on doing the same thing and expect different results. What are they going to try to do different tomorrow? Well, I don't think – I think with Alabama, Alabama's going to, we just mentioned, probably run Amari Allen at Naito Mint because they sure as h*** didn't stop him the last time. So, I don't think it's going to be insanity for Rick Barnes to have the same game plan. Go to Naito Mint.

That's really when Naito Mint started blossoming. That week, he really started gaining confidence offensively. And what Alabama needs to do – I don't think they'll completely stop Naito Mint. He just doesn't need to go for 25-plus. Yeah. Tennessee's in a good offensive flow because there are still times where Tennessee struggles to score. But another guy that they're going to have to do a good job on is Akbar because Akbar was really good with Missouri the other night, even though they lost. So, to me, that's a guy Aiden Scherrell is going to have to go to work on.

I know they have Kerry as well, who's real physical inside. Vol Bowen is going to have to give them some minutes, going to have to get some rebounds, no doubt about it. But then they also need to put Tennessee in some binds where, you know, a lot of times they're going to run four and five out. They need to spread Tennessee out with some of that size. And then they need to attack the rack. They need to attack the basket and draw some fouls, get to the free-throw line.

And then also, I agree with Michael Southern from Bama Hoops History, Bama at Bama History, Tide Hoops History. He joined us this morning, and he made a great point. He said, the bottom line is Alabama's going to have to spread Tennessee out. They're going to have to get some good looks. Tennessee has done a really good job in the past of making Alabama shoot contested threes. But Alabama's going to have to continue this hot shooting. They're going to have to make at least ten threes to beat Tennessee and loosen them up and open the lane up to where they can attack, get downhill, and get to the free-throw line.

Yeah, I agree with you. I nearly mentioned Dwayne Brown, but I didn't know if I needed to mention the word Hoover to you. I really thought this was going to be the year that Huntsville wins it, and unfortunately it was not. I know it was a tremendous year for both teams, but it didn't work out on Monday afternoon. Your quick thoughts on that, and I hear there's a rumor, young man, that Freddie Kirby and Drew DeArmond are going to be guest speakers next Thursday night at Greenbrier.

A little recruiting and a little barbecue. Yeah, you know, we're a little later doing that meeting this year just due to the fact that the transfer portal has changed so much with college football. I mean, there's been so much coaching staff movement. You know, we kind of wanted to let everything settle down and have a pretty good idea of where things stood. And really, the late signing day, Rodney Orr had his rap that we went to at the Bright Star, but there's really nothing that goes on there anymore.

Now, Alabama has added some pieces to the roster because of that 105 rule limit, and they have added some late pieces. And, you know, we do look forward to catching everybody up and talking some Alabama football, probably talking some basketball, too, because that's just going to be two days away from the regular season finale with Alabama hosting Auburn. And as I joked with somebody yesterday, I said, well, the college football season's so long now, by the time it ends, you've only got about a month of basketball.

[1:30:06] And then you're into March Madness for a month and a half, at least, but that's what it seems like. But, yeah, it was tough for Huntsville. Jackson Sheffield, the Vanderbilt signing, just remember, he'll be with Dwayne Brown in the SEC next year, and they'll be going head up. But he really impressed me, guys. He had a fractured hand, basically, placed up a fractured hand, and was, quite frankly, an animal when he wasn't in foul trouble. And Huntsville wasn't able to make enough hay when they had him on the bench and didn't make enough shots.

And Hoover was really physical. And it was another tightly contested game. I mean, Hoover won two highly contested games. And Jacksonville, they beat Huntsville and then a good Spartan team that Huntsville had already beaten four times. So they're back to the Final Four. They're going to take on Fairhope. And then I wouldn't be surprised if they were taking on Tuscaloosa County in the Finals, even though I know also Dothan's really good. But I will tell you this, though. Huntsville replaced all five starters, lost seven guys from last year.

And to go 28-5 the way they did, win the Classic again, win the area, go unbeaten in that situation, I wouldn't have thought it. I never would have thought it. It was a great year. They've got four starters back now and a lot of key guys returning and some good young players. So I think they're going to reload for next year. And you just have to understand it's not your time yet. I'll close it by saying I think Oxford is the favorite in 6A who played Huntsville in the City Classic Finals.

And Joel Van Meter has had some great basketball teams in his long tenure at Oxford. But this is the first time he's ever made the Final Four to show you how good and how tough it is to get there. So it's just really hard, really tough ending for Huntsville, but still a bright future for Christian Sweers and that program, in my opinion. But where can we get online, listen to your expanded show, and get all the good stuff? Well, you can connect with me at 977 ESPN.

We're still working with the Iranians, trying to get my Twitter account, my X account, my main one back. But certainly you can connect with us at 97.7 ESPN, 97.7 The Zone on SoundCloud, get any of our content, and with 977 ESPN.com. And then tonight's senior night for UAH. So they're still battling to get into the regionals. In the second year under Mick Hedgepeth, they've got West Alabama at home, the number one team in the Gulf South Conference. And then the Ravens and Allen Sharks, they're really playing well.

They've already clinched the league and may host the regional for the first time ever. So it's going to be senior night with a lot of great athletes over at UAH, and we'll be out there tonight as well. Kick back. Enjoy the game tomorrow. Have a safe weekend, Drew. And again, thanks so much for your time today. Thank you, guys. Thank you, man. Host Talking Ball on Us was 97.7 FM The Zone. Coming up, what about the Auburn Tigers? Here's the latest with Justin Ferguson on deck on the Bumbo Bug Show.

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Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The Score. Welcome back, Ken. What a weekend weather-wise to go inside and see some basketball. Justin Ferguson, I got a feeling he's going to do that with a big game down the plain. He has got the Auburn Tigers covered there with the Auburn Observer. Justin, welcome in. How are you? I'm doing all right. How are you? Good, bud. Man, you've got to love these home games. You are traveling, man. I don't know how many miles you put on the jalopy and on your frequent flyer programs.

You've been in some miles over the course of all the seasons, but it's nice to have some home cooking this weekend, I would imagine, Justin. Yeah, I'm going to be looking forward to having a Friday night at the house, I'll tell you that much. Yeah, it's going to be good. Yeah, it's been a ton of travel. It's been a really long season for Auburn in more ways than one. So, it kind of all comes down to these next two home games. You have to take care of business against Ole Miss and LSU.

And if you do that, you feel good about your chances to make the NCAA tournament. If you don't, you may need a miracle or some help along the way. So, it's going to be – these next two at Auburn are huge. Yeah, we throw that term around a lot, but in this case, it's legitimately to say these are must-win games because it's one thing if they're playing teams at the operational level, but you just simply, given the bumpy ride that Auburn's had, I know there's a lot of pluses, but you don't want to sit here and put that kind of control in the hands of the committee on Selection Sunday if you have a lot of bad losses.

And let's face it, there's no way of sugarcoating these would be ugly losses if they lost to Ole Miss and LSU given how their season's gone. So, is it safe to say these are legitimate must-win games? Absolutely must-win. If you lose either of these games, you're probably looking at it. You have to beat Alabama on the road to have a shot to make the NCAA tournament. So, yeah, I mean, this is huge. I mean, either one of these losses would be the worst one Auburn's had all year.

[1:40:25] And here's the big thing for Auburn. People will look at their record and be like, how's this team going to the tournament? How's this team still widely projected to make the field? Well, they played the toughest schedule in college basketball this season, and they have the toughest schedule, or the most, I'm sorry, the most quad one games that anybody's had in the country. And that's really helping them out. Not all records are created equal. The other thing that Auburn has is they don't really have a terrible loss.

State is the closest to it. State and Oklahoma are these two not great losses that they've had. But they haven't had a really, really bad one at home and haven't had a really bad one overall. So, if you can keep it clean in these other games and just grind it through your quad one games, you have a shot to make the tournament year in and year out. And you've got some good wins. Florida, Arkansas, Kentucky, St. John, 50 State. But you don't want to have a hole getting blown right through your resume if you lose that game.

So, you know, the schedule's been tough. You've also been able to take care of business. You've got to keep both of those things up down the stretch. So, yeah, I mean, must win. Tomorrow night against Ole Miss is a quad three game because Ole Miss has lost ten straight. It's funny, Auburn, when Auburn played Ole Miss the first time, Ole Miss had won three straight. Ole Miss has not won a game since then. So, yeah, you've got to go out there and take care of business tomorrow night.

And then advance to the next one against LSU. Yeah, Ole Miss lost LSU earlier this week in double overtime. They had the lead. Chris Beard hasn't forgotten how to coach a basketball team. But they've had a tough year. And as far as the Oklahoma game is concerned, it's the same story. The sixth or seventh first, Oklahoma just went nuts hitting threes. Auburn now, a team, I believe there have been six or seven teams in the SEC who have shot 43% or better from the three-point line against Auburn.

Yeah, I mean, it's their biggest flaw for sure. And there's no consistency with it, you know. You can't sit there and say, well, they're not defending threes because they do this or they don't do this. Some of everything, when they beat Kentucky last Saturday, they did a really good job of playing defense. They won that game with defense. They played pretty poorly on defense against Oklahoma. Here's an interesting stat for you. If you look at offensive efficiency this season, when the other team is at 120 or below, Auburn is 5-0 in SEC play.

When they're above that, so when their offense is above 120 in offensive rating, Auburn is 1-9 in SEC play. You've got to defend to win. We've seen this Auburn team lose games where they've scored a lot of points and they've shot hit their shots. We haven't really seen, outside of the Texas game this year, we have not seen Auburn really win a game where they didn't play solid defense. So you've got to bring that to the table. That's where it gets interesting on Saturday against Ole Miss.

Ole Miss is a team that shoots very well from deep, but they have capable shooters. You know, Camerdeen's coming off a big game for them at the point guard spot. Malik Dia is a really good shooter and scorer from the four-man spot. And then A.J. Store will take about 30 shots a game, so you've got to be ready for him. When Auburn beat Ole Miss earlier this season on the road, Auburn only hit two threes that entire game, but they were able to win because they played really good defense.

You've got to bring that to the table tomorrow, because Ole Miss, they have nothing to lose. They're just going to go out there and chuck up a bunch of shots. So you've got to go out there and defend. Justin, obviously, it's one thing for the Jimmys and Joes to do their things, and the coaches do their X and O's, but what about the other factor, the intangible? Where's this team between the ears? Because let's face it, you come to that crossroads where you say, our backs are up against the wall, we've got to go out, there's no tomorrow, or you can say, we're disappointed, we're going to go out and put forth an effort, but you're closer to the team than we are.

A lot of times, you can have all the talent in the world, but it's not necessarily between the stripes. Sometimes it's what is going on between the ears. Where's this team from that standpoint coming in? Well, I mean, this is definitely a really challenging time for any team, right, to have this many losses, you know, down the stretch. I will say this one thing about this team is they've been pretty resilient this year. When they've lost, they've been able to bounce back. We just talked to Steven Pearl a little while ago, and he said, you know, yesterday they get into the film room from the Oklahoma game, and they, I mean, he lit into them and just tore up with all the problems they had.

And he said he felt like the team really responded well to it, got out, had a great practice, they're on the practice floor right now, a lot of energy. So I think the resiliency and the bounce back, this team's got it. You know, you don't start one and three in SEC play and then go beat Florida on the road if you don't have some toughness about you, some mental toughness. But, you know, it gets tested every single night. And so I think the big thing for Auburn is that they've got to be hyper-focused in these next two games.

[1:45:33] You've got to win. You've got to defend. And you've got to play hard for your 40 minutes, like your life depended on it, because it does. I mean, you lose any of these games, you're probably not making the tournament. So it's going to be a real test of Auburn's leadership and of their toughness. They've done a pretty good job of this this season through a lot of ups and downs. But, you know, you've got two more of those where you have to absolutely get it done. Keyshawn Hall, and we've talked about him, the good and the bad.

One of the most explosive players in the SEC. He had three turnovers and then went to the bench with two early fouls. Second half, he scores 23 points, 11-11 from the free throw line. But he ended up the game with six turnovers. And, again, that's high for a point guard. And I know he plays basically two or three positions. But as good as he is when he's focused and playing well. But, again, you can't have a star player commit six turnovers. No, you can't. And he touches the ball way too much to be as sloppy as he was with his passing and his ball security against Oklahoma.

You know, Auburn had its issues on defense. The last thing you need is to give them easier opportunities on the other end of the floor because you're turning the ball over. You've got to floor with it better. And I thought in this game you saw just really Auburn was stuck in first gear. Really stubborn offense where you would drive and not really either turn it over or get a shot up and it gets blocked or just you lost some of that flow because I think you were really stubborn through it with Keyshawn Hall.

I thought Kevin Overton had a great game shooting the ball in that one. I think Auburn had some good catch and shoot opportunities and moved it around. But, yeah, I mean, if you're going to have the ball in your hands that much and you're going to go downhill as much as Keyshawn Hall does, you've got to be stronger with it. So he's had a few rough games in a row. Auburn's got to have him turn it around. And it's good to do – you know, they play Ole Miss tomorrow night.

Ole Miss has been a team that fouls a lot, doesn't rebound really well, you know, has had a hard time shooting threes on the other end of the floor. This should be a good matchup for Keyshawn Hall to bounce back. You've just got to go do it. Yeah, I would think so. Well, once again, you will have it covered pre-game, post-game. Next time we turn around at some point, it's going to be Salation Sunday. And, oh, by the way, spring football practice is in our future, too.

6 a.m. emails, the Friday mailbag, the podcast. You name it, you got it. Where can we get online and get it? Yep, auburnobserver.com. Check it out there. It's $6 a month or $60 a year. Subscribe to everything we've got going on. A lot of basketball today. We've got mailbags. A lot of big-picture stuff with Auburn basketball podcasts as well. We'll preview the Ole Miss game tomorrow morning on the newsletter. We'll have all the coverage from and afterwards as well. So, go to auburnobserver.com, sign up there.

Everything we need to get sent to your email inbox. We'll do a ton of basketball here down the stretch of the season. And, like you said, we've got spring football right around the corner as well. So, it's a really, really busy time. Get on board with us. Sounds great, Justin. Listen, man, thanks for your time, Dan. Have a great weekend, all right? No, too. Thank you. Thank you, Justin. Justin Ferguson, the Auburn Observer. It's going to be a busy weekend. UNA, the men closed out their regular season tonight against, or this weekend, I should say, against West Georgia.

The women closed out senior night tonight as far as the regular season here at CB&S Bank Arena also against West Georgia. And then coming up tomorrow, baby, and Sunday, it's going to be busy times here on 93.9. The score, the Braves and O's at 11.55 tomorrow morning. Alabama, Tennessee, four tomorrow afternoon. Then on Sunday, the Bama women taking on Texas. 10.45, the Brunt Special with a free game. And then Bama Baseball with Houston at 2.55. And that's not even before we get in. It's going to be a busy week next week with some of our neighbors at the state tournament, BB.

In fact, Tuesday at 10.30, Lauderdale County boys are going to be there. Next week is going to be the women's SEC basketball tournament with Alabama. They've got Texas. We lost to Vanderbilt last night. They've got Texas coming up Sunday. And as you mentioned, UNA at West Georgia. That tip-off will be tomorrow at 1 o'clock. The Lions now locked into the 12th seed in the A-Sun tournament. It's going to be interesting speaking to see to see where the Bama women are in the SEC tournament. I'm guessing eight or nine.

We'll know more after this weekend. And speaking of which, have a good one, have a safe one, and thank you for your time today. On behalf of BB, Greg, James, Blair, the entire crew here. Harold Boggs, thank you so much for your time today. Let's do it again Monday, noon to two, for the Bama Bug Show, back here on Sports Radio 939, The Score.