Boomo Bugg Show 032726

[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 tie, Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9. The story. Good afternoon and welcome in to the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird. Thank you so much for giving us the ride around the Tennessee Valley. Brett Beaird, welcome in. Where the question of the day is, to play or not to play, that is a question around Aiden Holiday.

Good afternoon, welcome in, and some breaking news on this Friday for Mr. Holloway, my friend. Happy Sweet 16 Friday. I believe the judge has given him permission to travel, Harold, but he is not going to play tonight. The university just released a statement saying that his status has not changed, so I do not envision Aiden Holloway playing tonight against Michigan. Nate Oates' first career win at Alabama came against a dusty May-led Florida Atlantic team, November the 11th of 2019. Who's the coach at Michigan tonight? That's me. Bill Shanks previews the Braves season opener against the Kansas City Royals.

And Jimmy is here right now to break down Alabama versus Michigan in the Sweet 16 tonight. Jimmy Stein is busy there, his co-host of Locked On Bama, part of the Locked On Network. Jimmy, welcome in. How are you? Guys, thanks for having me back. Hey, Jimmy. Very interesting, and they call it the Sweet 16, some extra spice. It now seems like it's been clarified. But up to this point, I think folks would say, wait a minute, I thought this thing had been settled with Holloway, and now all of a sudden the judge says, well, here's the good news.

You can travel to Chicago, but there's still more hurdles to leap. Jimmy, what do you know? What's the latest as you understand the Holloway situation? Well, I wouldn't be shocked if Holloway went to Chicago to just support his teammates. That would not be shocking at all, be it from the bench or even from the stands. That wouldn't be shocking. But I also think an element to this is, you know, Holloway's not from Tuscaloosa. He's not even from Birmingham. A lot of this could just be Holloway wanting to go home to Charlotte and spend some time with his family.

If he is suspended from academic things at Alabama and suspended from campus and can't work with the basketball team, there's not much of a reason for him to be in Tuscaloosa. So I think some of this could just simply be traveling home for him, and it's not 100% basketball-related. But now he at least has the option of seeing his teammates outside the state if that's something he wants to do. But I think some of this may just simply be about going home to Charlotte. Jimmy, before we break down the Michigan game, a lot of speculation this week.

There are some high-profile jobs that are open right now, including North Carolina. I know I've had several sources say that's not going to happen for Nate Oates, but he came out yesterday and gave a passionate support of how Alabama treats him. He loves Tuscaloosa. The girls love Tuscaloosa. I could see staying here the rest of my career. We've heard other coaches say that, but obviously with the Sweet 16 and a lot of job openings, a lot of speculation for coaches coming and going. Your thoughts on Nate Oates' future at Alabama?

Yeah, I think if Nate Oates was using Alabama as a stepping stone towards a more traditional blue-blood-type program, he would have already left. I think he's had those opportunities in the past or certainly have had the opportunities in the past to aggressively go after one of those gigs. A lot of them have opened, even Kentucky two cycles ago, North Carolina now. But I'm sticking with what I believe, what I've heard, and what I believe about Nate Oates. I don't think he's leaving those girls in Tuscaloosa.

I think he likes his daughters being there. Now, I personally believe one day when the daughters are a little older and a little more independent, I would not be surprised at all to see Nate Oates move on to the NBA. I'm sort of expecting it, frankly. I mean, that's sort of what I expect. I think he's going to be a little bit more like Billy Donovan than he is, you know, a guy that just moves on to another college job. I think he's accomplished all that one can accomplish at Alabama other than the national championship.

[5:15] I'm sure he'd love to do that. The fact of the matter is he keeps putting Alabama on the front porch. I don't know that this is the year that they're going to get it done either. But if you keep landing on the front porch, eventually the door is going to open. So you're saying he's not Will Wade, right? So many ways. I like, to me, Nate Oates earns my respect in that he came right out and said, basically, I'm not a good businessman because I'm not literally leveraging this spot because I basically go to the university and say I'm already making more money than I ever thought I could.

So I'm happy from a money standpoint. How refreshing is it to see somebody say, I'm not going to chase the almighty dollar and then die from a heart attack? To me, that tells me the guy's got some integrity and some boundaries, and he's got to respect that. But here's the bottom line. If he wants to keep on being the fans' favorite, all he's got to do tonight is knock off a mammoth team from Michigan. Other than that, everything is good, right, Jimmy? You know, when you get this far in the tournament, sometimes you just have some extremely tough matchups.

Let's remember two years ago, Alabama gets to the Final Four. That wasn't just a good UConn team that beat them. That was an historically great UConn team that beat Alabama. Last year, they lose to Duke. Duke may win the national title this year, and I think Duke fans will tell you that last year's Duke team was even better. They just lost to Florida in the end. This year, Alabama's misfortune in terms of running into someone late that is a very difficult matchup for them is Michigan.

This is a really tough matchup for Alabama in terms of if you want to match up with Alabama and beat Alabama, muscle them around the basket. I mean, that's the formula to beating Alabama is muscling them around the basket. And Michigan just has a roster. I mean, this is exactly what Alabama does not want to match up against. That doesn't mean they can't win. When you can shoot like Alabama is capable of shooting and have the night Alabama is capable of having, they can beat anyone.

But in terms of a specific matchup that worries you, it's a team like Michigan that's so big up front. You really kind of feel like Aiden Shirell has taken on three guys tonight instead of the normal one. Jimmy, I know Texas Tech was playing without one of their star players, D.T. Thompson, but I thought Alabama may have played their most complete game, and particularly on the defensive side of the ball as far as h***. They just simply seemed to attack Texas Tech. They're rebounding them by 12.

It seemed like it was by 30. They're not going to be able to push Michigan around like that. But, Jimmy, your thoughts on the chemistry of this team, overcoming adversity. It seems like every time something comes up, they're able to play through it and go to another level. We'll see how much of a carryover that Texas Tech win is going to be tonight. But, Jimmy, I've said this, and I know you have with Luke Robinson. This is not Nadeau's best team, but I still say it's his best coaching job.

When you consider in the preseason that Alabama was ranked in the AP poll 15th, and I believe per the NCAA Tournament Committee, they finished the regular season heading into the NCAA Tournament 14th, and are now in the Sweet 16, you know, top 16. The team has basically at this point lived up to the expectation for it. So, that doesn't make it Nate's best coaching job, but this is why it might be. It wasn't that they played all year with the hand tied behind their back. I mean, they've got three guys lost for the season to injury, all three of which would be contributing to some degree.

But it's not just that. If you're losing three, you've got ten remaining, right? Well, of those ten, only one of them has been healthy and available in every single game, and that's Houston Millette. The other nine players have taken turns missing Tom. I do think losing Holloway is a really big blow, and Alabama could have really used him tonight, because Alabama's path to victory tonight is being scorching hot from three-point land, and Holloway is as good at that as anyone. So, they'll really miss him tonight.

But the fact of the matter is, Nate Oates has this team believing in themselves just by missing players. He's been missing players the entirety of the season. So, the fact that they're missing Holloway here doesn't seem to affect them at all. They've been missing guys all year. Jimmy Stanko, host of Locked On Bama. Jimmy, is it true that this could be called scrimmage Friday for the Alabama football team? Yes, they scrimmaged this morning. It was at the practice facility. It was not at the stadium. Most formal scrimmages take place at the stadium, but I think this is the second year in a row.

[10:29] DeBoer is at the first scrimmage has taken place at the football facility, because for any number of reasons. But number one, they didn't invite a big crowd. So, information is tough to get. I've heard a couple of whispers in particular. I heard Ryan Williams had a really big day. That's great news and not surprising, or at least not surprising to me. I've said all season, and I really believe this going into next year. I think Ryan's going to have a monster junior year, but he apparently had a really nice day today with a couple of touchdowns.

Jimmy, what a day for Alabama Athletics. I think last weekend may have been one of the best weekends in the history of Alabama Athletics. You've got a Sweet 16 contest tonight, a football scrimmage this morning. Oh, by the way, the baseball team plays a team from Lee County beginning a three-game series. What a weekend to be an Alabama sports fan. And, Jimmy, nobody covers it better than you and Luke Robinson. I know you've had, but you've been talking about Sweet 16 all week. You'll have pre-game, post-game. And also with that football scrimmage, when you get more details, where can we get online to get all the good stuff?

Yeah, thanks, guys. Locked on Bama. You can find us on YouTube if you want to watch us on video. If you just prefer to listen to the audio version, you can find Locked on Bama wherever you get your podcasts. Locked on Bama, we have minimum six new shows every single week, so new content every day. Keep up the good work, Jimmy. Have a great weekend, and thanks so much for your time today, buddy. Hey, I appreciate it, guys. Y'all have a great weekend, too. Jimmy Stank, host of Locked on Bama.

Did you see James Smith's comments about now, after transferring from Alabama to Ohio State, why? He said, well, the intensity is better here, and that influenced him. We were born at night, but not last night. I think money might have had something to do with that, too, BB. I'm just saying, is there a crazier house outside of our families than Baton Rouge, and the crazy just got crazier? We'll take you there with Mike Scarborough next. Stay with us. Do you owe $10,000 or more in credit card debt or personal loans?

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[15:47] See Lowe's.com slash terms for details. Subject to change. Point boosters subject to exclusions and more terms apply. One-time only offer. From the University of Alabama, this is Crimson Tide Today. It's daily update on Bama sports, and it's brought to you by the Good Feet Store. The Good Feet Store. Helping people get back to the life they love without their feet getting in the way. Start your journey today. Goodfeet.com. Hello again, everybody. I'm Roger Hoover. On Thursday's edition of Crimson Drive, driven by NASCAR, we were joined by Alabama baseball third baseman, Jason Torres.

I mean, basically show everybody that he's a great coach, you know, and we want to win here because we all feel like he's building the right things here. And in the future, Alabama will definitely be a top team in the SEC. I think to students on campus, I have class with them all the time. They're like, hey, good game this weekend. Like, that didn't happen to me much at Miami, honestly. The fancier show out and the right field Raiders, man, those, the first opening weekend, that was the real deal.

And they just keep coming out every game. Like, we love that. Trust me. Every time we're there for the national anthem, we just look out on right field and we're all like, wow, look at them. They showed out today, huh? You love that victory lap, too, that you guys get to have. Oh, my God. I love it, but it gets me tired. That's all we talk about when we're over there. We're like, wow, this is fun, but that run. I'll have more in a moment. This is Christian Miller for the Good Feet Store.

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Roll to victory at goodfeet.com. That's goodfeet.com. Roll Tide. Join us this evening for Alabama in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Radio coverage from Chicago will begin at 5.30 p.m. Central, leading up to tip-off at 6.35 p.m. Crimson Tide Today is brought to you by the Good Feet Store. Crimson Tide Today is a production of the Crimson Tide Sports Network from Learfield. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. Welcome back in. Time to go down to the calm and gentle environment known as Baton Rouge and say hello to my Scarborough.

He is the owner and publisher, not to mention the recruiting analyst for TigerBait.com. Mike, welcome in. How are you? Oh, glad to be with you guys. Been a busy week over here. We've been kind of busy, Mike, and in the weather. What have we missed this week in your backyard? Yeah, spring football, baseball, and women's basketball still in the tournament. And then they went and brought Will Wade back in a scenario that us in the media here said that we've never witnessed before. And it's, of course, it's one of those things we say only in Louisiana.

Yeah. You need to come up with that motto and put it on a sweatshirt or a t-shirt. You sell a lot of them. How would you like to be in charge of the staff meetings with a collection of coaches at Baton Rouge? Are you going to be in charge of that meeting, Mike? Yeah, you know, what's funny is I've been chasing this story about Wade, and I first wrote a column, I guess, about three weeks ago, where I said that the Will Wade thing was a possibility.

And at that point, I wouldn't say it was happening, but a lot of people were saying that McMahon was going to get another year because of the money and blah, blah, blah. But as the weeks went by and it became, through my sources, just obvious it was going to take place, it was like, what other athletic department of the country has a top of their masthead of Jay Johnson, two of the last three national championships in baseball, Tim Mulkey, Lane Kiffin, and Will Wade. And then you've got Jay Clark, who's the defending national champion in gymnastics.

It's a h*** of a thing. Mike, are you the only one contributing down there? Is Fort Knox, did it move from Kentucky to Louisiana? Where's all this money coming from? We don't know. And it's, you know, look, how is it getting done? Look, I think in Will Wade's case, he's got a group of donors that probably have been sitting on the sideline for a while and that aren't really folks that do anything with other sports. But, look, it's, we're sitting here, I know two nights ago when I saw Christy Curry up and leave for South Florida.

[20:53] And I talked to Kendall Rogers for a show that we do every, once a week this morning. And it's, look, the thing, folks look at it over here and what's going on and say that there's no way that schools can continue doing what they're doing. And then you look at LSU, it's going wild beyond anybody else. And it's, you know, a lot of people think there's only two schools in the SEC that can continue at this rate, and that's Texas and Texas A&M as far as the SEC.

And I don't know, it's, I know Jay Johnson, who's, like I said, won two of the last three national championships in baseball. He's in the bottom third of the SEC when it comes to rev share and the percentage that he gets. And why is that? Why is that? Well, why did Christy Curry leave for South Florida? Well, Kim Mulkey's getting a big chunk of money of that rev share, and it's affecting baseball. You know, I think the only school in the SEC that's probably trying to do it, do what LSU's doing because they've got a power, they have high expectations for women's basketball, and they're not forking out a ton of money for other sports is Tennessee.

So, I don't know, something's going to give. That's right. As long as it's flowing, they're going to keep it going, right? I mean, that's just the bottom line if it's there. But, you know, the other side of the coin is if you mention, you know, the baseball situation, at some point, this guy's going to say, you know, Christy had it right at Alabama. The expectation for me is the same as it is for the guys across the hall, but I'm having to do it. You're asking me to swim with rocks in my pocket, so to speak.

Yeah. I don't think you want to be telling some coaches, well, so-and-so's able to raise a lot of money for their program, and you need to do the same. For some coaches, it's easier. For others, it's not. Yeah. Yeah. Mike, everybody knows about Will Wade's past. LSU fired him four years ago over some allegations, five level one violations. We understand the baggage, but as you well know, Mike, on the court, he's a tremendous coach. How many of the current roster for LSU do you think that he will want to keep?

Obviously, there's going to be a big change on the roster, but Mike, your thoughts as far as winning on the court and starting over, basically, with this basketball roster? Yeah, I asked that question this morning, and I don't have an answer. Is there one or two guys on the current roster that he'd like to see if he could keep? I don't have an answer for that yet. But what people don't realize is that Will Wade was really a sacrificial lamb. Do you remember LSU had the stuff with Arleigh the Lake Hospital and the Doll Alexander?

Yeah, they have. And it was basically, the NCAA had done their due deal, you know, they couldn't, there wasn't anything that they could nail Will Wade for. But it was basically, give us Will Wade or we're going to hammer your football program over these other things. And that was the deal that was struck between Scott Woodward and the NCAA. And so Will Wade lost his job. But everybody that was in place when Will Wade got fired, other than Virgil Osbury, is no longer here. And so Will Wade's always been like a folk hero here.

And while Scott Woodward and some others may not have been too excited about Will Wade, the fans never lost their love for him. And at the end of the day, guess who signs the checks that ultimately come into the coffer and has to call the fans. Meanwhile, let's talk about that other sport down there, LSU football in the spring. How are things going with the lane train? Been out there for two practices. We'll get 30 minutes tomorrow. I think for us in the media, it's when you've got close to 60 new members of that roster.

[25:53] We're out there learning the numbers and figuring out who's who when we go out there and film and shoot photos. But there is a renewed, very much a renewed excitement, a sense of urgency. And it looks like the players are certainly having fun, particularly the ones that are returning. And so a lot of high expectations. But it's like Kiffin said the other day, how physical are they going to get this and how much hitting are they going to do? He said, look, you don't do that anymore.

You operate like the NFL, all because there's no second portal period. Your team now is your team. And you don't want to get them beat up. Mike, is one of the adjustments they're going to make with Kiffin when he was at Ole Miss in the six seasons, his offense averaged 75 snaps a game, 36 points, 500 total yards a game. And what people don't understand is he's very efficient at running the ball. A key one Lacey, again, coming back with 1,600 yards. Is it just the tempo of the offense they're going to have to adjust to in the spring?

I think so. He was asked that question Tuesday. And one of the things that's very noticeable is they constantly are playing loud, high-tempo music loud during practice. And I think that's to aid in the tempo. But certainly you've got not only did one of the critical aspects of why Brian Kelly is no longer the coach was people questioning his strength and conditioning program. So that's all new at LSU. And I think the players are taken to it. But certainly there's a big number of those guys that have to get used to that tempo.

And it's a part of the conditioning. Mike, I know one thing. It's been a crazy spring. But I'm guessing that it's helped your subscriptions. And nobody does a better job of covering LSU. We've been blessed to work with you now for, Lord, I think 12, 13, 14 years. You're the man when it comes to covering LSU sports. But good luck. Let us call you back in a couple of weeks toward the end of spring and see how things are going. Listen, congratulations again. You stepped down on it and stepped down on your own a couple years ago and it's paid off for you.

Nobody deserves that better than you, but where can we get online to get all your good stuff? Yeah, I appreciate it. This November will be 30 years of TigerBait.com. Wow. Amazing. Amazing. Yeah, so LSU Tigers on TigerBait is our YouTube channel. I think we posted like a dozen pieces there on YouTube yesterday. It was crazy between football, baseball, and all the Will Wade stuff and live shows and, of course, TigerBait.com. 30 years of covering LSU. I can't wait for your book, Mike. Yeah. It's like Joe Brown's Sports Illustrated cover in the 80s.

Crazy days at LSU. Yeah, that's right. It's part two. Can't wait. Mike, again, thanks for your time today and have a great weekend. All right? Y'all too. Have a good one. Thank you, bud. Thanks, buddy. Mike Scarborough, he is the man at TigerBait.com. He's the man of the Peachtree State, Mr. Bill Shanks on deck. Stay with us. During Lowe's Pro Savings Days, the job works in your favor. My Lowe's Pro Rewards members buy more and save more of materials they rely on every day. Get up to 25% off Select Molding when you spend $1,000 or more.

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The Atlanta Braves are set to open up the season tonight. They're at home at Truist Park as the Braves take on the Kansas City Royals. Chris Sale will get the ball on opening night for the Braves. Cole Reagans is set to get the start for Kansas City. Sunday, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Virginia at Martinsville Speedway for the Cookout 400 Sunday afternoon. 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.

We'll see you next time. with BreadPay. Smile, you're on Cricut. Subject to approval of credit application, BreadPay loans are made by Comedity Capital Bank, a bread financial company. You know that Chick-fil-A sells more than chicken, right? Hello, my name is Jalisa. And a little thing I love about the Chick-fil-A Sausage Egg and Cheese Biscuit is how it's all of my favorite breakfast items in one good bite. That fluffy egg, that melty cheese with that perfectly grilled sausage. It just gives you that warmth, that comfort food that you love.

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Oh, I kind of. And Bill Shanks, host of the Bill Shanks Show, which 19 years ago today, he started the infamous Bill Shanks Show on 105.5 FM in Macon, Georgia. We can get that from a pretty reliable source or deny it. Why don't we do that right now with Bill Shanks, still host of the Bill Shanks Show on 93.1 FM in Macon, online at thesuperstations.com, and on the tube at 41 NBC and the Savannah Without the Banana Morning News. Bill, welcome in. How are you? I'm doing well. How are y'all?

Hey, Bill. Congratulations. If you can stay more than two weeks in this business, you're doing something right. 19 years ago today, the mic cover came off on the Bill Shanks Show. Congratulations, Bill Shanks. Well, thank you. We were actually supposed to go on the 26th, but the microphones didn't work, which is a really bad sign. I assume you got them working since then, but man, what a run it's been. This is a crazy business. You got to love it to stay in there. A lot of people want to get in it, but you got to love it to stay in it.

[36:24] So it's been a good run, has it not, Bill? It has, and I've enjoyed every minute of it. It's, you know, just sit around and talk sports and just have fun with it. It is a good time. We have a good time on our show like you guys do on yours, especially when you have great guests like me. Right. Correct. And since you took the words right out of my mouth, that's why you've been on 19 years plus, Bill. Yeah, but I've been on longer with y'all.

I've been going on with y'all's show longer than I've been on my own show. That's exactly right. Thank you for helping us get you started there, Bill. Let's talk about something else. A big part of that Bill Shanks show over the years has been the Atlanta Braves. A lot of folks may or may not know this, but you and the Braves are no strangers to each other. Even before the Bill Shanks show, there was Bill Shanks for the Braves. And before we get into the curtain coming up on this season, talk to us about that.

About what now? I'm sorry. Say it one more time. Yeah, you were hooked up with the Atlanta Braves kind of network. You were doing radio work with the Braves before you started your own show. Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm sorry. I was. For a little while, I did the post-game show for the Atlanta Braves radio network. You did. Before that, I had a TV show with the Braves called The Braves Show, which we spent a lot of time in research to come up with that name. But it was actually a Meyer League show, a Meyer League TV show that we had a great time doing.

Heck, I about love doing that more than anything, telling those Meyer League stories. That was a lot of fun. Yes. Yeah, we've had a couple of things with the Braves. Had the book. I think that was the first time I was on with you guys when I had my book, wasn't it? Yeah, it was. Yeah, yeah. And by the way, I appreciate you bringing up the minor leagues because the reason is it comes full circle. I remember the most special time of the year was like in September when you get the call up.

And I'd go to the guys, and they would make more money off their per diem at the majors than they were making in the minors. And this is a true story. One of the guys that was involved with that, his name was Walt Weiss. Oh, wow. They would make more money off their per diem at the end in that one month when they got called up than they did all summer with the minor league team. I remember one year, Harold, we were doing a story on Adler Roach.

This was in 2003. And the rumor was that he was going to get called up. And Adam and his wife, they had, they had a, I think they had one of their two kids. Maybe they had both of them. But they were really struggling financially. And they were, they were like praying to God that they got called up. And because they would have made like another $30,000, even, you know, in 2003, and they didn't. And boy, they were upset because they just, they needed that because at that point, you know, minor leagues just didn't make, minor leagues, I think he got like a $20,000 bonus coming out of his junior college.

And he got drafted in 2000 and he just didn't make squat in the minor leagues. And so he was hoping that $30,000 would be there and it wasn't. And it was rough, but he made up for it later on. By the way, if you want to see a comprehensive, detailed look at the Atlanta Braves by position, it's in the Savannah Morning News. I know, I think you dropped that a couple of days ago. Let me ask you about the elephant in the room. And we've talked about this, I mean, literally for three years.

That it's been a concern and you know what it is. It's starting pitching. Again, when these guys are healthy, they're good. But their track record on being durable, veteran, experienced pitchers, Chris Sale starts tonight. You asked the question, can Ronaldo Lopez start 25 games? Good luck with that. Grant Holmes coming off a partially torn UCL. Bryce Elder is good or bad. And then you've got all the guys who are injured. I know you love the rookies. Fuentes, who had an incredible spring. And J.R. Ritchie, Perez, Suarez are certainly capable, possibly down the road.

But let me ask you the same question. We've been talking about for three years now. Can this pitching staff stay healthy? And can they develop the kids? Well, I just don't know. I've had such a hard time all week, Brent, trying to come up with a prediction. People won't. I was on a show yesterday morning and spit out 87 wins. And I don't even know if I feel good about that. And it's all about pitching. The bullpen looks good. But how long until the bullpen is impacted by the rotation if the pitchers in the starting rotation don't go deep in the games, right?

[41:28] I mean, you've got to think about it. It can be a domino effect there. That's why starting pitching is the most important part of a team because it impacts so much. And even in this regard, the offense is great. I'm really excited to see what this offense can do. I'm excited about Mike Kastrzemski. I think Acuna obviously looked good, the WBC. Everybody seems to be healthy, knock on wood. But it's like you don't want that offense to feel like it's got to score five runs every game to win a game.

That puts pressure on them. So, the issues with rotation can be so far impacted as far as how it just controls everything about the team. But, you know, there are a lot of positives about this team. The lineup, like I said, is good. The bullpen looks really good. And if I felt like those guys with rotation were going to be healthy and that some of those guys could come back, like Schwellenbach or Waldrop or some of those guys, I may feel better. But you just don't know.

You know, we do know this, Bill, and that is that one thing that the Braves could do different this year than last year is get off to a good start or don't get off to a disastrous start like they did last year. It's like in football, if you have to start every one of your drives, it's your own one. It's a long way to go. Your thoughts just about what they learned from last year and how they're going to try to avoid getting out of the block so slow.

Well, I've talked about something all spring, Harold, is they compiled the best record in the Grapefruit League and in all of baseball in spring training, which usually is something that's not very important. But I've gone back to, since I've watched this team since I was nine years old, I have a pretty good Rolodex of memory. And in 1982, 44 years ago, Joe Torre, who, by the way, will throw out the first pitch tonight of the game. Good. Joe Torre was the manager, the new manager of the Braves, and the Braves had not been very good.

They had been with Bobby Cox for four years. He only had one winning season. It was only one game over, 581-80 in 1980. And they just had not done very well as a franchise the first 16 years they had been in Atlanta. And Joe Torre came in and said, I want to win in spring training. Well, he just wanted the culture to be different. He wanted them to start winning from day one in the Grapefruit League. Well, they went 18-7, and they turned that into starting the year 13-0.

And, of course, if they hadn't have done that, they would not have won the division that year. So I'm not saying this year's Braves is going to win 13 in a row to start the year. But I think that with Walt being the new manager, with what happened last year with the 0-7 start, which was a dagger. I mean, the d*** season was over at 0-7. To come out and play well in spring training was an important thing this year. And I think they were good to do.

I mean, look, if they had gone, you know, 7-18, we'd be panicking right now, right? So I'd much rather have that record in the positive and to do what they did because I think that will make us still a little bit better going into the season tonight. Boy, how critical is it going to be for Drake Baldwin to stay healthy, wins the rookie of the year, everybody thinks this guy's got, you know, his ceiling is unlimited. Murphy is out, I believe, until sometime in May with that hilt that he had surgery on.

I believe the Braves brought in Jonah Heim and correct me on that. But your thoughts on Baldwin and, again, a position that gets overlooked too much, critical to keep Baldwin healthy this year. Well, he's an impressive young man, Brett. He's a big old barrel-chested kid, and he is loved in that clubhouse. He's a very nice young man, like Riley, like Olsen, the kind of kid that if you had a daughter, you'd want her to marry. He's just a really nice young man. But I think he's going to break out even more offensively this year.

I really do. And when he's not catching, I think he's going to be the main DH. Because I think he'll face right-handed pitchers, more right-handed pitchers, and I think they want that bat in the lineup more than anything. And, you know, he's young. He says he can handle it. I asked him if he could, you know, kind of handle regular play, even if he's not catching. And I think he's ready for it. So I think he's going to be really, really good. And Murphy will be back in May, and I hope he's the most expensive bench player in the National League.

So says Bill Shanks, check him out online at theesuperstations.com. Bill, let's face it, if you're a baseball fan, it is special. Opening day any year is special, is it not? Or in this case, opening night. Well, it's great. I mean, I hate that it's spread out with three different nights for these teams because it should be one opening day. It should be one day. I mean, the whole – That's right. This is television. It's like the whole first week of college football in the NFL. We know that.

[46:45] It's all about television. And the Giants and the Yankees started it off on Wednesday on Netflix, believe it or not. And then last week, and yesterday, there were a bunch of games. But, yeah, it's – you know, if you love baseball, this is a sacred day. It's a real fun day. And, you know, you just hope your team does well, and you've got six months of entertaining baseball to watch. Listen, tell us about Braves' vision again. They have added some more cable. And I was asked that question earlier to ask you.

I know it's a streaming service. They're going to be on, quote, linear free TV at times. But update us again about Braves' vision TV. Well, all right. So they are announcing carriage deals, video delivery deals with different cable systems. They just announced a few minutes before you guys called me, a deal with Zubo. So any Zubo subscriber would have access to Braves' vision. If you're a Comcast subscriber, you will have access to Braves' vision. And I think, you know, they're trying to do something with Dish TV, Dish Network.

So they haven't announced that yet. But so, now, I'm a YouTube TV subscriber. And I don't, the rumor is they're not going to do anything with YouTube. So I've got to go buy Braves' vision for $99. And, you know, look, I don't care. I want to watch the Braves. So if this is what I've got to do, I've got to do it. So if you're lucky enough to have one of those cable systems or streaming services, then you'll get it on your TV. And if not, you'll have to buy the Braves' vision, Braves' TV.

And, you know, I still think it's pretty affordable. I mean, I know people don't like to pay. But, h***, how many daggum services do we pay for already? So just add one more to it. Yeah, and I think the Braves are going to be on the local NBC station, Channel 48, tonight. It's going to be live. And they will have some of those throughout. And they'll have it with their sister station. Listen, again, as Harold mentioned, as much as we enjoy giving you hail, congratulations. We're proud to be a small part of the success of your broadcasting empire.

The Beard boys are very happy to do interviews, and we certainly enjoy Friday. We know how tough this business is, and you have done an incredible job of growing the station. And I know today's special for you, opening day for baseball fans is religious. It should be a religious holiday, quite frankly. Where can we get online and listen to your show this afternoon and your prediction for the Braves' season? Well, we'll figure something out, see if I want to keep it at 87 or how I'm feeling by the time we do it.

But we'll be on at the top of the next hour at thesesuperstations.com. We had the great Tim from Athens, Alabama call yesterday. And, you know, we love those sloppy seconds from the Boom O' Buck show. We'll take them any time. And we'll have you any time, Bill. I guarantee you've got the door always open. Good luck with the Braves tonight, okay? Okay, guys. Thank you so very much. See you, buddy. Bill Shanks, thesesuperstations.com. Bill was talking about just adding one more to you. Remember what Max Howe said when he went to buy, like, a house or a truck or anything?

He says, I don't care how much it costs, what are my monthly payments? That's it. Break it down in chunks. Coming up for the next hour, we're going to be taking you all over the place. The Auburn Tigers getting ready for a final four date. Justin Ferguson on that. David Siss talking about the stuff at North Carolina. And Nate Oates and Mike Huguenot with everything else. Straight ahead of the Boom O' Buck show. Stay with us. It's said that when they settle cases, local economies are affected.

They would show a weak side if they had one. They are the lawyers you can trust. We can't take every case. But when we do, we like to win big. If you've been hurt, call McCutcheon and Hamner at 333-5000. Offices in Huntsville, Florence, and Athens. Stay safe, my friends. Get ready for March Madness like never before. Mugshot's Grill and Bar invites you to join us for our March Madness Mania. Watch all the games on our massive TVs. And it's just in time for our new Smash Burgers.

You can enjoy some of our signature burgers now as Smash Burgers. The Savelle, McDowell, Signature, Texas, and Southern can now be Smash Burgers. Match it up with one of our All-American lineups of shakes and floats. Don't wait. Grab your friends and head to Mugshots on North Court Street in historic downtown Florence. March Madness for beer, burgers, and basketball. And the thrill of every basket and buzzer beater. Hi, this is Ike Fowler with Alabama Health Guidance. Whether you are looking for a Medicare health plan or you are under 65 and exploring individual health care options, Alabama Health Guidance can help you find the plan that fits your needs.

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Your doctor will do blood tests before and during treatment. Stop Vioza and call your doctor if you have symptoms of liver problems such as feeling more tired than usual, decreased appetite, nausea, vomiting, itching, yellowing of the eyes or skin, pale stool, dark urine, or stomach pain. Don't use Vioza if you have cirrhosis, severe kidney problems, kidney failure, or take Zip 182 inhibitors. Ask your doctor about Vioza. To learn more, call 1-866-239-1637 or go to Vioza.com. That's V-E-O-Z-A-H dot com. I'm Boomer Esiason. My mom died from cancer.

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This week, Hudson spoke in Huntsville at the Young Republicans Monthly Meeting. Hudson says that the Islamic set of laws derived from the Koran teaches tyranny and denounces individual rights. Hudson says that such teaching is the antithesis of the U.S. Constitution, where the rights of the individuals are outlined and protected, and God is recognized as the source of these rights, with government being constrained to not overstep them. Hudson believes the best way to stop the spread of Sharia is to offer legislation that further enforces and protects the U.S. Constitution.

I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this. Where I was living was not a great place to live anymore. I began to pray for a place to go, praying for all of these things that a nine-year-old would want. I wanted horses, big house, with a bunch of people my age. I wanted parents. I wanted a mom and a dad. Before I even prayed it, the Lord had already answered my prayer with the Big Oak Ranch. Who would that nine-year-old be if she never came to the Big Oak Ranch?

I would be trying to fight for survival instead of fighting to break a cycle. Big Oak Ranch, a Christian home for children needing a chance. Forensic scientists have positively confirmed that the three bodies found in Baldwin County are that of the missing Chalk family from Theodore. The Mobile County Sheriff's Office has now notified the next of kin when it comes to Aurelia, Nayurka, and Anthony Chalk. The family of three went missing from their home at the end of January. The company seeking to build a 2,000-acre solar farm in Stockton is planning to address public concerns with the community meeting.

Silicon Ranch will hold that meeting on April 8th. It'll be at the John Rhodes Civic Center starting at 6.30 p.m. Silicon Ranch CEO Reagan Farr says he wants to address the misconceptions over safety and environmental impact of a solar panel farm. I'm Andrea Tex. For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com. And while you're there, subscribe to the daily newsletter. Valley Broadcasting Corporation, WITK-FM, Rogersville, Athens, Decatur, The Shores. Sports Radio 93.9, The Score. Survive and advance. Alabama advances. Win or go home. For three again. Hits it again.

[57:49] Oh, mercy. It's the Sweet 16. Tip. No good. And let's get out of here. Join us Friday. The Crimson Tide. The Wolverines. Live from the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Our coverage begins at 5.30 on your home for Alabama basketball, the Crimson Tide Sports Network from Learfield. Brought to you locally in part by nationwide insurance agents Michael Noe and Bill Cochran, Garner Pierce Auto, the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, Bob's Tire and Alignment, Alpha insurance agents David Jordan, Mike Mitchell, and Matt Henry, Fake Independent, Champy's world famous fried chicken, Garnett Electric, and Elliott Johnson Insurance.

Alabama and Michigan in the Sweet 16. This Friday afternoon at 5.30 on 93.9, The Score. 93.9, The Score weather. Today, increasingly cloudy with a 30% chance of afternoon showers and a high around 80. Tonight, mostly cloudy with a 30% chance of showers overnight and a low near 40. Tomorrow, sunny with possible gusty winds and a high around 65. Tomorrow night, clear with a low near 40. And for your Sunday, sunny with a high around 75. Your weather from 93.9, The Score. Now, get ready to roll Shoals, Decatur, Athens, and all of Northwest Alabama and Southern Tennessee. It's time for the Valley's exclusive FM sports voice.

The Boomo Bugg Show. New exclusive inside track to the Tide. Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC. Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9, The Score. Welcome back in, our tour of the Boomo Bugg Show. I'm Harold Bugg, alongside Redbeard. Thank you so much for giving us a ride around the Tennessee Valley and for making it to Friday, which means it's time for a say hello to the one, the only, Mike Huguenin, college football slash basketball analyst down in Orlando, Florida. Mike, welcome in to the middle, if you will, of a Sweet 16 dance.

How are you? Yeah, doing quite well. I'm good. Obviously, the SEC started out with 10. We now know it's down to two. Let's talk about the two in a second that still got a chance for moving on, but let's talk about the two that got derailed last night, in particular, Texas. To me, this was the surprise so far in many ways, certainly from the SEC, to come from where they were just a month ago to now having this conversation, but it ends, as all teams will, outside of one, on a heartbreak note, especially for Texas last night.

Yeah, this was not a good Texas team for the majority of the team. The SEC, spent a lot of money on a roster that really struggled to find itself. They were abysmal on defense in the regular season. Their defense improved greatly in the NCAA tournament. It helped play in NC State in the first round. That was a discombobulated team anyway. Gonzaga really didn't have that much size and wasn't that physical. In other words, the Texas got a good draw. Yeah. And Purdue is an extremely efficient offensive team.

They hit the three. They got Kauffman Wren, who's a phenomenal inside player. Braden Smith is a great point guard. Texas, yeah, Texas played well last night. Come on, Mark. Hit big shot after big shot, playing hurt. But, yeah, to get sent home on a tip-in with .7 seconds left, I think the idea, though, is that if you're an SEC fan, Texas is willing to spend money, obviously. I think Texas basketball is in a good place going forward. I don't think Sean Miller has had a ton of success in the NCAA tournament before at Arizona.

He had really high-level teams that always sort of underachieved. But I don't think there's any doubt but that Texas is overachieving and getting to the Sweet 16. And I think Texas, with its willingness to spend money, is going to be an SEC basketball contender annually. Arkansas obviously trying to pick up the W last night, taking on Arizona. Two things on that. If you listen to Razorback fans, they call it the worst officiated game in the world. I think it's also safe to say that Arkansas could use some help on defense, too.

Yeah, Arkansas on defense, it seemed like their M.O. last night was, let's let them score, then we'll get the ball back. That's how we're going to play defense. And the idea that the refs played, oh, my goodness. You know, I learned when I was in fifth grade, blaming the refs is that that's loser talk. It wasn't like my basketball coach said. Because even in fifth grade, we were whining about the refs. But Nebraska's frontcourt, they don't know how to play defense. You know, they seemed extremely interested in getting dunks, and they got enough.

[1:03:08] But there was zero opposition when Arkansas was on defense. Acuff's a great player. He had a great season. But the frontcourt, the highly paid frontcourt, you touch them, and they move out of the way. This is the same team that lost to Florida by 34 because Florida embarrassed them in the paint. Arizona did the same thing. It wasn't the refs. It was a very lackluster defensive performance that never got better. In the second half, Arkansas flat quit, and they were doing some cheap shots on the Arizona players.

It's just not a good look for Arkansas. Mike, I thought the Illinois-Houston game was going to be one of the best games of the tournament. Very low scoring. And that's what Houston wanted. Houston would have been delighted to have this game in the 60s. But as Kevin Sampson said after the game, look, we couldn't score. And in basketball, that is kind of important. Illinois won 65-55. They'd rather score 90 points, but their defense was just suffocating. And Harold and I are big fans of Kevin Sampson. He's got a lot of old school in him.

And Alabama beat Illinois November 19th at United Center where they play tonight. But Illinois just clamped down on Houston to 1-10. Yeah, you know, Houston about five years ago under Sampson was if the game gets out of the 60s, they can't win because they're offensively. This year's offense was not horrible. They had tremendous problems with Illinois' length. Kingston Fleming's never really got going. The front court was a no-show offensively. Yeah, this was – I agree. I thought this would be a phenomenal last-second kind of game. Sort of like the Purdue-Texas game was.

Instead, after about the six-minute mark of the first half, unless Oklahoma – I mean, unless Illinois collapses, Houston ain't going to win. And Houston, you know, they cut it to eight late. And you're like, okay, this is their run. And then, boom, turn around and Illinois runs off an 8-0 run. So Houston's offense was atrocious last night. But I think a big part of that was Illinois' defense, the length. And Keaton Wagler, 185-pound guard, has 12 rebounds against Houston's front court, leading rebounder in the game. He was dominant, even though he did not score that much.

He played phenomenal defense, distributed the ball well. And, again, when you're a 6'5", 185-pound guard with 12 rebounds against Houston, you've done something. But Illinois' defense, yeah, that was the story of the game last night. They were – they clamped down. And that's not a very good defensive team in the regular season. Yeah, absolutely. Mike, we've obviously talked about Alabama and Michigan the entire week. It was a 10 – they were a 10-point favorite. That's come down a little bit. But they've got Leonard Borg, the Big Ten player of the year, the transfer from UAB.

Johnson, Mars, who's 7'3", 7'4", whatever it is, once you get past seven feet. Elliot Cadeau, I believe, was with North Carolina a couple of years ago. Alabama's playing well. They faced adversity. Holloway, obviously, being out. They rounded Texas Tech. They may have played the most complete game they played all year. But they're going to need that and even more, Mike, to get past Michigan tonight in the United Center. Your thoughts, Michigan and Alabama? Yeah, Alabama's got to hit, I think, 15, 16 threes to have a chance to win.

They are going to get annihilated in the paint. Michigan, Dusty May, sort of one of the new edge coaches. He likes playing two bakes and sometimes even three bakes. They like to pound the ball inside. Their backcourt is a little bit spotty, especially with Cason being out, the backup point guard. Cadeau is extremely hot and cold. I think Alabama, yeah, Alabama's got to be on fire from three-point range. And, you know, they were against Texas Tech. And, you know, Texas Tech was missing Toppin. But Alabama just came out from the get-go and blew them off the court.

That's the kind of game they need to play tonight. Again, they have to be on fire from three-point range because they're going to get crushed in the paint. Very interesting matchup. Would you agree, Mike? Mike Hugan, college football slash basketball analyst. St. John's and Duke. This guy, Patino, has been there before. Duke. Now that they have a mayonnaise, they've got a brand name on their jersey. Your thoughts about a very spicy way to tip off the night, St. John's and Duke. Yeah, St. John's does not have a true point guard.

[1:08:11] They struggle mightily in running their half-court office. They need transition hoops. They play extremely physical defense. Zubi Etrafor against Boozer is going to be phenomenal viewing. He's four years older than Boozer, extremely physical. Boozer, you know, for an 18-year-old, 19-year-old kid, is pretty darn physical himself. But to me, this comes down to if Duke, which has played really good defense this year, they do not give up a lot of fast-break points. If St. John's can't score on the first 10 to 12 seconds of possession, I think they're in trouble.

You know, Bryce Hopkins hit five three-pointers the other day for St. John's. He had 26 all year. So him hitting five is not going to happen again. Yeah, to me, this is all about St. John's scoring early in the possession and Duke making them run a half-court offense. I am interested in seeing what Boozer can do against Etrafor, but I think Duke is better overall as long as they don't give up early hoops for St. John's. This should be a really interesting game. St. John's is extremely physical, and you wonder if Duke can.

You know, the ACC was not a physical league. St. John's will beat on you. This is going to be interesting from that standpoint for Duke as well. You know, how is it called by the refs? But, again, I think the whole thing comes down to stopping St. John's from scoring early in its possessions. I think Duke can do that well enough to win. Mike, Iowa State and Tennessee, some of our guests this week have said that they thought Tennessee may have the best chance of advancing to the Elite Eight.

Health got a big part in this. Joshua Jefferson for Iowa State. Health has been hurting, getting his way through this. Jacoby Gillespie could be another big key. Tennessee's got some bulk inside with Estrella, Carey, et cetera. Iowa State's got some good guards. This should be compelling, too. The last game of the night, Iowa State at Tennessee. Jefferson is a game-time decision. I'm not sure I buy that. But the fact that Iowa State is here. Joshua Jefferson's the first-team All-American. And Iowa State lost him. He is a really high-level player.

And they did not need him in the second round to play Kentucky. But I know Kentucky beat Tennessee twice. Tennessee's a better team than Kentucky. They're a better coach than Kentucky. They have clearly defined roles. And Tennessee's defense, you know, if Jefferson does not play, even if he does play, he's not going to be 100%. So, to me, this is a game where Tennessee's defense, if they play, if the Vols play defense at their peak, this will be a low-scoring game and Tennessee can win. If Iowa State hits double-digit three, they're going to win.

I don't trust Tennessee offense. I do trust the Tennessee defense, though. This should be an extremely physical, sort of an – I don't think this is going to be aesthetically pleasing. I don't think it's going to be as ugly as Illinois and Houston. But this certainly is not going to be free-flowing basketball. And I think that's just fine with Tennessee. But, again, I think the Iowa State three-point shooting is going to be huge. And, you know, the Vols see Alabama twice a year, which shoots a ton of threes.

Because Iowa State, obviously, not at that – they don't shoot nearly as many, but they can hit them. But, yeah, this is a really sneaky, good game. And I think, again, the Vols defense is the key. Mike, quickly, a very intriguing matchup with UConn and Michigan State on the court, but an interesting matchup of the respective coaches as well. Three national titles combined. You know, Izzo is known as Mr. March, but he's obviously not Mr. April because, again, he has one national title. So, the Terrace Reed inside, what does Michigan State do with him?

Can UConn handle Jeremy Fears? Can Jeremy Fears not do something stupid? This – you know, Jackson Kohler needs to show up and play. Carson Cooper needs to show up and play for Michigan State because they cannot let Terrace re-dominate. But this is – this is another – I think everybody is talking about this game, but I think this is going to be a sneaky, interesting game in terms of three-point shooting. If one team is better than the other three-point shooting, I think that team is going to be the winner tonight.

But, yeah, the coaching matchup is quite interesting. No question about it. Well, it's going to be an interesting night and weekend. Opening day of Major League Baseball earlier, and then the Braves get started tonight. Mike, enjoy all of it, buddy. Have a great weekend. Let's do this again next Friday. Mike, you're going to hook it up with us again, National College Football slash Basketball Analyst down in Orlando. Coming up, what's all this talk about Nate Oates and Carolina and beyond? David Sisk. If Nate's out, who's then in Chapel Hill?

[1:13:45] The latest next. Stay with us. It's not March Madness. It's Mad Marchness at Sam's Sports Grill in Florence. Every game, every bracket buster, every unbelievable buzzer beater, all on wall-to-wall TVs. Fuel your picks with quality food, ice-cooled drinks, and game-day energy that hits harder than a full-court press. From crave-worthy favorites to unbeatable drink specials, Sam's is where Florence comes to watch, cheer, and win. So grab your crew, lock in your bracket, and experience Mad Marchness the Sam's way. Make our place your place. I'm Boomer Esiason.

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[1:19:19] Sign up now. The score. Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score. The score. Welcome back in. Happy Friday to you. And David Sisk. He is the basketball and hoots recruiting analyst for Tar Heel 24-7. David, welcome in. How are you? Man, I've missed you guys. Hey, buddy. Same here. I've missed you. We've been waiting to ask you, is your bracket still perfect again, David? I'm going to be honest with you. I don't do a bracket simply because I don't go through all those games. I mean, everybody has brackets.

They've seen probably 10% of the teams play at the end of the game. I did have – I knew I liked Arizona. I knew I liked Michigan. And Duke was in a pretty good one. I had Florida coming out of their side. Yeah. Excuse me, not Florida. I'm sorry. I had Houston. I had Houston beating Florida. Neither one of them is there. So, I've got three of the four. And I think I had Arizona and Michigan. I'm saying I think. So, that tells you how – that I didn't do a bracket.

But just taking the teams, I had Arizona and Michigan, I think, just I thought we'd get to the finals. And I said I thought Arizona would win it. So, that's kind of where I stand at. If you – just want to have fun. Don't take it seriously. I think those things are fun because it's always going to be crazy. I think you can take a dartboard and be about as successful as trying to think it through. But your thoughts, you mentioned Florida. How surprised were you? And we're all, I think, friends or fans of Samson at Houston.

I think he tries his best to do it the right way. And I've seen some of the comments back and forth. A lot of these programs where they want to go the traditional route with pure college-aged kids, they're now playing pro guys from Europe and elsewhere. Before we get into the obvious here, David, your thoughts just about the climate of the game. And as we get to this part of the NCAA tournament, you start to see some of that experience and age guys starting to take over some of these kids in the tournament.

Well, I've always said this. I feel like if you're a college basketball coach, you want to find a way for your team to get old. And, you know, there's different ways of doing that. You can go through the portal. A lot of these guys that are coming over from Europe are 20 years old, 21 years old when they get here. They play professionally for several years. Yeah, they're kind of hit and miss with those guys. I know North Carolina had one this year. They played in the Adriatic League, and he just wasn't very athletic at all.

We've got over here. You had to see him play against American college athletes to understand how athletic he was not. So, you know, not against those guys over there. So, I think in all these things, you're kind of picking your poison. But I feel like you need an older team, and I'm just, you know, if you could get a freshman or two that's really good, true, that's good. You get a couple guys to stay. But, I mean, if you look at guys, you know, you look at Arizona, man, they've got great freshmen.

And they've got about three of them, Coopede, Braden Burry's, and you know, Bradley's transfer used to be in Alabama, and they've got a big post out of Europe. They've done it. They've done it a lot of different ways, and they've been able to really strike on all those, you know, where everything's worked. And I think that's what it comes down to. I mean, if you miscalculate, you can do it the same way, and I can do it the same way. And you can have a lot better judgment than the players you're taking, and you're going to be successful.

So, I think just the individual eye for talent means a lot. David, before we get into some candidates to replace Hubert Davis in North Carolina, what happened the last two or three weeks? I know a lot of people are looking, well, North Carolina looks pretty good. They beat Duke that first game, but they had a key injury. They had a big lead in the NCAA tournament game, lost it, and then the roof fell in. David, what happened with Hubert Davis the last two or three weeks?

Well, my boss said the worst thing, and he really thought Hubert should go, and he said the worst thing that ever happened to Hubert was the best thing that ever happened to North Carolina. And I said, that sounds like a country song, man. You could take that down to Muscle Shoals and sell it and be in copies, you know. And you guys are the ones that could get him an appointment over there and make it happen. But Caleb Wilson getting hurt had a lot, had a huge amount.

And the team was playing well. I think some of the role players had stepped up, and it was such a positive team that they were saying, okay, we're getting better, we're playing well. Caleb Wilson's going to come back, and, man, we're going to make a run. And when Caleb, of all things, he had a hand injury and he was out. Well, he hurt his other hand in practice probably a day before he was going to be cleared. And broke a thumb, dunking on a side goal, and non-contact, and it sunk them.

[1:24:42] The coaches couldn't get over it. I don't think the players could get over it, because that was really what they were banking on. And when it fell through, I think the team went down with them. But, you know, they were still playing well against VCU. And they were up 19, and they blew the biggest lead in the history of the round of 64. And Hubert, to me, looks like the state just got too big for him. I think he froze. I think he choked in situations. They couldn't get the ball thrown.

If they get the ball thrown in on the inbounds pass, in a critical situation, they'd probably win the game. And he's sitting there with a timeout and doesn't take it when they're right at the five-second mark. And they don't get it. And he just, I mean, his eyes were a lot of sausage. And I just, I think it was a lot of things. But I think, in the end, it just got too big for him. David Siss, Tar Heel 24-7. David, we live, shock, shock, in an era of social media.

All kinds of stories out there about daydotes. And, obviously, a lot of folks thought, well, it's automatic. He's had success at Alabama, and this is a natural. Not so fast. One of the stories says, well, we like what Nate's done in terms of wins and losses, but a lot of baggage off the court. So, let's maybe take a flyer on Nate. Your thoughts on that before we get to the obvious. If it's not Nate, how true are those stories? And then, of course, the follow-up to that would be, if he's out, who's in?

Well, let's talk about Nate Oates. Yeah. I think, from the things that I've heard, this is sourced very well. North Carolina wants to win the press conference. So, when they get a new coach, they don't want to have to take 90% of their time explaining away why they did it. And you're right. Nate's a tremendous coach off the court. I think as far, if Alabama fans are worried about losing him, not to North Carolina, but anywhere, I think a lot of players, I think everything that's happened off the court has kind of hurt him in those situations.

And I just feel like there's administrators feel like that they can't sell that. And so, now I know this. I'm not putting down Nate Oates. You guys know this. I've been on your show several years. You're not a bigger Nate Oates fan in the world than me. And I've said this on a show in North Carolina. I'd hire Nate Oates if he was the guy that got caught on the pot on him. So, I mean, I am totally in a Nate Oates vote, but you can't, and you've got to think this about North Carolina, too.

North Carolina, whether they do or not, the administration thinks they have the, they're pristine. They've got that, they think, where they do, whether it's true or not, they think that they've got that pure image. And that's debatable, very. So, you know, there's some schools, I'll put it in a nutshell, they just think they're above it. Well, let me throw this scenario at you, David. Obviously, we all were familiar with the cheating scandal back in, what, the early 90s or whatever, Bill Belichick being hired. Let me throw this scenario.

With all the stuff that's going on at Georgia, if Bill Belichick left and Kirby Smart said, I wanted to go to North Carolina, would they hire him after all that's gone on with Georgia's football program off the field? Absolutely. So, and that's a great point. And, you know, with a, with a, maybe they've got fatigue over Belichick, and they just don't want to have to do that on two fronts. But, you know, it's, you know, the Belichick things look like a soap opera. And, you know, but, yeah, I agree with you 100%.

And like I say, I'm not defending that. We've done live streams and podcasts over there, and people tell me, who would you like to see them hire, just personally? And I've said, look, I'm going to get blowback on this, and I do get blowback on it. And I said, Nate Oates. I said, you look what he's done. You look what he's done this year. You know, I've got a buddy of mine that says this. He says, Jake Bradley is the only player that's really transferred out of there that's been better at another place than he has been at Alabama.

And you look at guys that he brings in in Alabama that are in a transfer portal, they get better. And then if they leave, they get worse. So, you know, to me, he's a great coach. I'll just leave it at that. He is a great coach. David, who are in North Carolina going to have 15 of the top coaches in the country? And I know a lot of them have said this week, I'm happy where I'm in, where I am. I'm just concentrating on the tournament game, et cetera.

Right now, the way you know the administration and the athletic department, who could you say would be the leader in the clubhouse? I think it's going to depend on who they can afford. But I think they've got a new AD coming in, and he's talking a good game that money's not going to be an issue. But when it comes down to it, I don't know if his checkbook can cover his promises. And so the names that you hear the most that I think kind of fit what they want would be the obvious.

[1:30:05] It would be Tommy Lloyd at Arizona. It would be Dusty May at Michigan. It would be Billy Donovan. And this is going to sound crazy. Billy Donovan may be the guy they can afford. I mean, that sounds nuts. But there's no buyout. The payout right now is $19 million. Right. Wow. So, yeah. So, you know, I think it's before April 1st. I mean, if he'd done it today, it would be $19 million. It is. But if you look at Tommy Lloyd and Dusty May, their buyouts are $10 million plus.

And you're already paying what you've fired, what you've gotten rid of. And they may be on the hunt for a new GM. And you're doing all these different things. And it could be up in everything. By the time you do two contracts and buyouts, you could be looking at a total thing of about a $50 million. Wow. Yeah. With no guarantees. Absolutely. And so, your buyouts are a big thing. And there's a lot of rumors going around that Billy's ready to get out of Chicago. Right. I've heard that.

Yeah. Yeah. So, there's your thing. I'll say this. McCollum hasn't hurt himself in Iowa. Right. And he probably wasn't even the guy a week ago that they were considering. His contract buyouts, not much of anything. I don't know if you hire a guy, you know, off a couple of weeks' performance. But, you know, he won a couple of national championships. Yeah. So, you know, he's been proven, you know, if you want to go to the Nettie route. So, yeah. So, that's what I'd say right now.

David, great stuff. Great to catch up with you. Yeah, we have missed you, brother. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's been awful. I haven't got to watch the SEC anymore. I've had to watch Syracuse or Pitt play each other. Absolutely. Listen, but where can we get online and get the latest about North Carolina's coaching, Serge? Okay. You can follow me at, of course, CoachDavidShift at Twitter. But, like you said, I write now for and do all my work with Tar Heel 247. So, obviously, that would be the North Carolina-Tar Heel side on 247 Sports.

It's Friday and a full plate of basketball tonight. Kick back and enjoy it, David. And thank you so much for your time. And let's do it again soon, okay? Man, let's do it. Absolutely. I'll miss you guys. If this guy don't work, I'll try to get him fired over the summer. So, I'll get back on the show. There you go. There you go, brother. That's a good record, I guarantee you. They have it. Coach David Siss, check him out there again. Tar Heel 247. Speaking of Sweet 16, how about some Final Four talk?

And the Auburn Tigers. Justin Ferguson next day with us. It's March Madness time. And there's no better place to watch the action than Champion's Famous Fried Chicken. Grab a family pack piled high with crispy golden fried chicken. Perfect for taking home or sharing with your crew while you watch the game on one of Champion's big screen HDTVs. Craving something extra? Don't miss their legendary Mississippi Delta Hot Tamales. Bold, spicy, and unforgettable. Hosting a watch party? Ask about Champion's catering for groups large and small. We've got you covered from tip to the final buzzer.

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Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93-9, The Score. Welcome back again. Time to say hello to Justin Ferguson. Got the Auburn Tigers covered there with the Auburn Observer. Justin, welcome in. Happy TGIFT. How are you? I'm doing well. How are y'all? You got your plans and your bags packed for Indianapolis, Justin. Got the plans. Don't have the bags packed quite yet. But, yeah, going to Indianapolis for the second time this year. I thought it would have been a long shot if we had said, hey, in April, we're going to go watch Auburn basketball play Indianapolis.

Well, in a roundabout way, they're actually making it up there next week during Final Four weekend. It's the same road. Obviously, let's talk about this journey, this road to this point. Two things on that, Justin. Obviously, what has this program and the Auburn basketball fans learned this season and the lessons learned from the regular season and during this run? It's kind of a hard question to answer because in the modern era, the question is, how many of these players now playing will be here next year?

But where do you start in trying to answer those questions? Yeah, I mean, I think the NIT was a really good opportunity for Auburn to, you know, kind of try to erase some of the bad feelings at the end of the regular season. Obviously, Auburn's second half of the regular season, SEC play, cost them a shot at the NCAA tournament. And if you'd have gone into the offseason limping like that, it would have been a pretty tough road. And so, you have an opportunity to kind of build up momentum as a program by playing in the IIT.

There's risk involved, for sure. But when you go three for three at home, you get a lot of what you wanted out of this tournament so far. And Keishon Murphy, you know, opting out was a big blow, I think, for Auburn and a surprise. But what it's done is that some of these younger players have been able to play more. He's had a huge game against, you know, against the other night on Sunday when they played Nevada. Sebastian Williams-Adams had a huge game at center against Seattle in the second round.

[1:40:45] So, you get that. Elijah Freeman's played all 40 minutes of the last two games for Auburn. Those three guys are all three young guys who were, you know, first year in D1 basketball. And they've done a really good job, I think, of, you know, taking advantage of bonus basketball to be played, more development time for them. And then you throw in guys like Kevin Overton, who until earlier this week had been one of the hottest shooters in the country, playing well. He's got eligibility remaining. Sahot Pettiford's got eligibility remaining.

We'll see what his future ends up being. But he had a really good game of point guard the other night against Nevada, even though his shot wasn't really falling. And so, you look at this team and you see just a wide range of guys that have an opportunity to play next season. And you're right. Like, you don't know if they're going to play. I thought Stephen Pearl said something really interesting on, you know, Tuesday night after or Wednesday night after the game where he said, hey, we, you know, we tell these guys, look, if you're here with us or if you're not here with us next year, no matter where you're playing, you're getting more film out there to put out.

So, you know, they did a really good job, I think, of taking advantage of this opportunity. It's not going to erase how disappointing it is that they aren't in the tournament. But, you know, Auburn's talked about how they'd much rather be in the NCAA tournament, even if they've made this really good run here in the NIT. So, I think it's a good opportunity for Auburn to take care of business and develop some of these guys for the future, get more reps as a coaching staff in a program.

And they obviously have done that and now are heading to Indianapolis. Another positive aspect for this week, besides winning three games in the NIT, Bruce Pearl hired Brian Kloman. The new general manager was on Pat Kelsey's staff for 11 years at Louisville. And everything I read about in Justin is very positive. Absolutely. I mean, he's done a really good job at Louisville. You've got to remember, two years ago, he inherited, you know, when he was on staff with Kelsey, they inherited one of the worst situations in the country.

Kenny Payne had just kind of decimated that Louisville program. They had barely won. The last two seasons, you know, they've signed a five-star. They've had the number three recruiting transfer class in the country. Back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances. They're back to being a force in the ACC again. And so, this kind of quick turnaround. And, you know, when you look at Kloman, he was, you know, the kind of guy behind the recruiting effort for Louisville. And that continues when, you know, they made the tournament four out of five years together at Winthrop and College of Charleston before they got there.

He's a really good guy for recruiting, talent evaluation, and he's got, you know, this past season, he has been the GM, so to speak, for Louisville. And so, Auburn wanted a GM. You know, when the coaching change happened before the season, they had Matt Gatons. They were going to bring Matt Gatons in to be a GM. Well, Bruce Pearl steps down, Stephen Pearl steps up. They need an extra assistant coach. They moved Gatons on there. So, they haven't had a GM. And they go out and they go to a place like Louisville and get a guy who, you know, has been this, at a high major, at a serious basketball school.

Now, he has a relationship with Stephen Pearl that has gone on for a long time. It was a big reason why he decided to make this move. But to get a sitting GM at a high major basketball program that takes this thing seriously, I think it's a pretty good sign because he's going to have a lot of work to do here in this offseason. Auburn's got to get better with their roster, especially on the defensive side of the floor, after missing the NCAA tournament. And he's a guy that's just very well regarded in the southeast and beyond as being a really good recruiter, talent evaluator.

And in these days, you know, managing the salary cap, managing NIL, all that kind of stuff. He did some really good jobs with it at Louisville. Justin Ferguson, the Auburn Observer, one set of coaches who love these basketball teams, still rocking and rolling. Would you agree, Justin, are the football coaches? They can go about your business kind of quietly. Your thoughts on how things are going on the planes on the brand-new regime this spring? Now, five practices down for Alex Gullish. And I think one of the big things we've seen and heard the most about Gullish and his staff and what we've seen from practices so far in this first week and a half is it's a pretty demanding group.

This is not a program that you feel like this coaching staff is going to sit back and say, well, give us some time, give us some patience. We're going to, you know, they're trying to hit the ground running. They brought in several of their guys from USF to try to speed up that process. But when you watch these practices and you talk to these players after practices, the one thing you keep hearing and seeing is we're going fast-paced, full effort, all practice long. It's high energy, high effort.

And I think it's a difference. It's a difference of what we saw these last few seasons under Hugh Freeze. And look, we'll see if it translates to any more wins in the fall. It's still the spring. But what you've seen with Gullish is you're trying to set the tone. When you're trying to build a culture of, hey, everything we do, we do relentless effort from beginning to end. And he hasn't shied away the last couple of practices. He has not shied away from making his point very, very clear where if he feels like that effort's not coming on a consistent basis, you will hear about it.

[1:46:07] And we heard about it Tuesday when we talked to him after practice. Heard about it again yesterday. We're getting ready for interviews after practice on Thursday. Gullish has got the team together. And he is just lighting into them about how much they need to be able to work harder for the entirety of practice. So it's definitely a different kind of tone set here right now in spring practices. Listen, I know Auburn brought in some guys on the defensive line. The Ole Miss transferred Sean Womack, Nate Johnson from Missouri.

You got Joe Phillips there who I've seen doing some interviews. But it's nearly like Auburn picked up someone out of the transfer portal when Chris Murray was granted another year of eligibility from the NCAA on Tuesday, 6-3-2-56. Man, welcome to the defensive line. Yeah, I mean, and this is one of the craziest stories I've ever covered in my last few years here. You know, all these rules are different and the NCAA and the waivers and all that. Chris Murray, who played at Auburn last season, was a rotational piece, you know, three and a half sacks, 15 quarterback pressures.

He was a pretty good, you know, rotational edge rusher behind Keldrick Falk and Keron Crawford and those guys. He, at the end of last season, they started working. Auburn's compliance started working and asking the NCAA, hey, Chris Murray had injury back when he was at TCU a few years ago. You know, is there a way we can get a redshirt there? You know, what's the process like? And so they submitted it. They worked through all of it. And then for three and a half months, Chris Murray heard nothing from anybody at the NCAA.

And then he's going to Pro Day. He's going to Pro Day on Tuesday. He wakes up saying, all right, time to go run the 40, time to go do the bench press. I got to try to impress these NFL teams because my college career is over. He gets a call on his way to the field that says, hey, you got another year of eligibility. So he walks in to Pro Day and everybody's like, hey, Chris, good to see you. How's it going? He said, I'm doing really well.

They just told me I'm back here for another year. And so, yeah, I mean, Auburn had wanted to get another guy at edge rusher if they could. Over the next few months, they looked at a Baylor transfer and some other guys there. They're kind of these late pickups. Now, at a position that's got some good pieces, just a little thin, they get a reinforcement in Chris Murray. We talked to him yesterday, the happiest guy I think I've ever talked to after a practice because he's just so happy that he's going to get one more year.

He wants to be a mentor for these young guys, and he wants to kind of build off of what was a good debut at Auburn last season. Can you jump off, Justin? Talk to us about the Iron Bowl of baseball this weekend between Auburn and Alabama. Yeah, I mean, a week ago, I'd have said, you know, it's been a very interesting game. Auburn was coming in with a ton of momentum in Alabama. We kind of see what's going on with them. Obviously, last week, Bama sweeps Florida.

There's a no-hitter thrown in there. Obviously, they've got, you know, a great lot. You know, Justin LeBron is one of the best players in the country. And so, Bama's got some momentum at home. Auburn, meanwhile, they win a thriller on Friday night against Texas and then drop the next two. So, they lose that series. It's kind of a little bit of a setback. They hadn't had one of those in a while. They did get back rolling earlier this week. They played South Alabama and Montgomery and run ruled them.

So, it's going to be a lot of fun, I think, this weekend. You know, obviously, Alabama's feeling more confident after what happened last week. Auburn's going to be desperate and kind of itching to get a series win away from home. It's going to be a rivalry atmosphere. But I think Auburn did a really good job earlier this week at getting those bats back going again after Sunday was pretty tough against Texas and that crazy pitching staff that they got. So, I'm looking forward to it, what we hear about this weekend between Auburn and Alabama.

Because, yeah, like I said, you know, you'd have felt pretty good about Auburn's chances, you know, going up there and stealing a series from Alabama a couple weeks ago. I think Alabama's just got a lot more momentum here coming into this one. So, it'll be very interesting to see how Auburn handles that. Amazing time of the year, is it, bud? Major League Baseball Braves beginning tonight. Yeah. Week 16. Spring football, college baseball going on. My goodness gracious. And you've got it all covered pertaining to the Auburn Tigers.

The NIT trips continue. Spring football. The 6 a.m. Emails. The Friday Mailbag. The podcast. Where can we get online to get all your stuff? Yep. AuburnObserver.com. Sign up there. Got a ton of stuff. You know, today he wrote a story on the new GM hire that we talked about earlier for Auburn basketball. Got some practice notes from this week that you can check out. Got a podcast out this morning as well. And then, yeah, next week, you know, next Tuesday, we'll be back on the practice field with Auburn football.

And then I'm going to get on a plane and go to Indianapolis. So, it's a busy time. We'll give it all covered for you. AuburnObserver.com. Sign up there. Sounds busy. Justin, safe travels. And thanks so much for your time today. Appreciate y'all. Thank you. Thank you, buddy. Justin Ferguson, the Auburn Observer. Justin busy. And so, the team here at 93.9 to score. Coming up tonight, 5.30 pregame in Alabama, Michigan. Sweet 16 action from Chicago. Tip time, 6.35. Once that baby's over, straight to the Braves. Opening night with KC.

[1:51:38] And then after that, more Sweet 16 coverage from Westwood 1. BB, a busy night here at 93.9 to score. Well, this time of the year, it always is. It's an incredible time. We'll see how the time does. If they can rebound and play some defense. Yeah. See if they can play with these Michigan Wolverines to the end. Bottom line is, have a great and safe weekend. That's going to take care of Bids for now. On behalf of BB, Greg, James Blair, the entire career. Harold Buck, thank you so much for your time today.

Let's do it again Monday. Noon to 2 for the Boomwell Buck Show. Back here on Sports Radio from 93.9 to score. Thank you.