Boomo Bugg Show 040726
93.9 The Score WYTK - April 7, 2026
https://www.939thescore.com/boomo-bugg-show-040726/

This transcript was generated automatically from the broadcast audio. Names and some words may be misspelt; the audio is the official record.

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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 in to the Boomo Bugg Show.
I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird.
Thank you so much for giving us a free ride around the 10s to gather.
Brett Beaird, welcome in where the Big Ten wins again while Alabama loses another big one.
Good afternoon, welcome in and how are you?
Happy Tuesday to you and the listeners.
Michigan beats UConn 69-63 to win its second national championship in basketball.
James Sorrell, or at least his agent, announced that he is going to enter the transfer portal.
But Alabama is trying to do something about that.
Las Vegas insider Brooks Marshall will recap the national championship win and talk about some coaching changes.
But Roger is here right now to preview a day Saturday.
A hot Alabama baseball team and a number one softball team residing in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
And a number one man behind the mic on the Crimson Tide Network, Roger Hoover.
Roger, welcome in.
How are you?
Boomo Bugg.
I'm doing really well.
It's a gorgeous day for some baseball later on.
Alabama is going to take on Stanford.
Can't wait to be back at the Joe this afternoon.
Just glad to be at home.
Yeah, I spent too much time in Oklahoma from Wednesday to Sunday.
So I'm glad to be back in the Yellowhammer state where I should be.
Yeah, I'm proud your agent let us talk to you today, Roger, before you hit the portal.
You know, talk to us about this.
I mean, when people see this news, whether it's Alabama or any other fan base, they see a guy they love.
It's like, oh, my gosh.
The other side of the coin is that's just where we are.
I mean, go ahead and adjust.
This is what's going to happen no matter what team you root for across the board.
The question is, Roger, where do you see this and the reality of facing NATO?
It's what a week.
An engagement, a $6 million contract.
Now, the comings and goings of the portal.
Before we get into the other stuff, let's talk about it because, let's face it, if you're a big guy like Sherelle, you've got a big price tag on you.
It's going to be interesting to see how Alabama handles this going forward.
Yeah, it really will be.
And I still contend, you know, college sports are still very much the same in the way we love them in season.
You know, we get up for the games, the pageantry.
You can't beat college sports when it comes to everything we've come to love over the years.
Now, what has changed?
The off-seasons.
The off-seasons and the news you're going to see is just always going to be different at this point unless something dramatically changes.
And I don't know if that's through the congressional work that they're trying to do on Capitol Hill, President Trump's executive order.
I'm not sure what can fix kind of everybody's angst around some of the off-seasons and the transactions we're seeing in college sports.
And this is just part of it.
And I think Perry Shirell, you know, his agent has an obligation to make sure that he goes and looks for what's the best opportunity for him, whether that's at Alabama or somewhere else.
And the good news is we've seen several cases like this where the player has gone back to their school before.
So, you know, it doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to leave Alabama or anything like that, but he just kind of has an obligation to kind of look and see what the best options were.
And because it is now a free market in college athletics, you're not tied to your school for three or four years necessarily anymore.
And that's what I think President Trump's trying to change, is trying to get back to an older model where you would have an option to transfer one time or there'd be a hardship waiver, things like that, a little bit closer to what we had about five or six years ago.
But, you know, it's definitely frustrating.
I get that for the fans.
But, again, I would also caution, don't say too many mean things online because he may end up coming back.
So you never know how these negotiations are going to go.
You're exactly right.
Let me ask you about his coach, as Harold alluded to.
What a week he goes to the Final Four, announces he's engaged.
Oh, by the way, that athletic director, Greg Berndt, comes out and says he's going to be one of the top five compensated men's basketball coaches.
And we were joking about Steve Austin on the $6 million man years ago on TV.
Maybe a little bit more than that, but richly deserved.
Your thoughts on a contract extension for Nate Oates?
Good for all parties, honestly.
Because, again, I don't think Nate was ever truly serious.
And I may even mention it on your show last week.
He was probably a little too honest when he met with the media saying, no, I don't want to go anywhere.
You know, that's not what any agent wants to hear.
They want you to kind of flirt with everybody and get the best deal.
But, no, I mean, Nate's very, very committed to this program.
And he has shown that you have all the resources to compete at the top of college basketball at an SEC school like Alabama.
So, yeah, he's got a consistent winner here in Tuscaloosa.
The practice facility is something that he completely had a hands-on design with, knowing what would be best for his student-athletes.
And, you know, Coleman Coliseum, I still think there are going to be some improvements made there.
There still could be a new arena down the road for the fans.
But for what the student-athletes go through on a daily basis, this practice facility is everything in terms of recruiting and trying to make sure he gets the best talent to campus.
And I think he's like me.
He likes the atmosphere that we have at Coleman Coliseum for a big game when it's rocking.
It's second to none, in my opinion, in the conference.
So, I think it shows, again, the power of the Alabama brand, power of the SEC.
I mean, even Will Wade showing that going from an ACC school like NC State back to LSU.
This is a conference to be in right now because of all the money that is generated from television and not just in basketball, but football, any other sport.
If you're not in the SEC or maybe the Big Ten, we should give them some kudos like you did off the top.
Talking about another national championship in men's basketball for the Big Ten.
But these are the schools that are the separators right now in college athletics, and I don't see that really changing anytime soon.
So, Nate Oates knows he has a great opportunity at one of the premier schools in the SEC, and sometimes you don't upset happy.
And I think he's very happy right now at Alabama.
Roger Hoover, he's always happy on the Crimson Tide Sports Network.
Roger, let's talk football.
Two questions about Saturday.
Have you got your football face on, and do you have plenty of sunscreen in your little packet?
86 degrees and a 95% chance it will not rain.
Put another way, 5% chance it will.
86, it's going to feel like a September this Saturday in April in Tuscaloosa.
What are you hearing about Alabama's A-Day game?
Well, I think they're going to call me tomato-faced by the time everything's done, being on the sidelines for that game coming up on Saturday.
A lot of excitement.
We had a head coach last night in Tuscaloosa.
Tyler Watson and I were joined by Kalen DeBoer talking about what he's liked about this group, the competition,
some of the new looks that Alabama has on both sides.
The offensive line has really been retooled, and there's just a lot of excitement for so many players coming back.
Not necessarily even your veteran leaders like a Bray Hubbard or Keyon Saab, but maybe some players that got some playing time last year.
You know, Alabama, each and every ball game, we would play players as true freshmen.
We're saying, wait a second, I didn't think he was even in the mix.
And, you know, here he is getting valuable reps against Florida State and Georgia and later in the year against Oklahoma.
All of that has really paid off for this group.
The depth on this team is outstanding going into the Golden Flake A-Day game coming up on Saturday,
and I think you're going to see some steps forward taken by a lot of different players.
Obviously, all the focus is going to be on the quarterback competition, but I stress, don't read into too much that's going to happen there.
Just if you, Austin Mack has an interception, if Keelan Russell fumbles a football, doesn't mean they're out of the competition, anything like that.
So we're going to see this competition, I think, go pretty deep into fall camp coming up in August,
and possibly even into game week, getting ready for the Pirates of East Carolina.
So that would be my other thing I would caution Crimson Tide fans.
It's not the end of the world.
It's not a crowning moment for either one of these quarterbacks in this competition coming up on Saturday.
It's just another practice.
It's just another step on what's ultimately the journey towards the season opener.
Bronger, I'm really looking forward to the line of scrimmage.
I mentioned that a couple of times this spring.
Terrence Green, Desmond Yu, Devin Tompkins, the transfer from USC, heard a lot of good things about them.
We'll see what the offensive line is going to do.
I know they mixed and matched that.
Some of the others, they really seem to have had a hit or hit a home run with a lot of these transfers.
Let me remind fans, this game will not be on TV, but radio will be front and center with you and Tyler Watts and Chris Stewart
and Corey Raymer doing interviews on the field, on the sidelines.
It's going to be a two-hour broadcast.
A lot of people look forward to that, my friend.
Yeah, we hit the air at 1230.
I'll get us started because Chris is going to be making his way back from Denny Chimes.
You always have the captain's ceremony, getting the handprints and the cleat marks in the cement.
So I'll be sitting with my favorite captain, Tyler Watts, up in the booth to get us going on radio.
And then, yeah, Chris and Tyler will call the game.
I'll be on the sidelines some.
So we look forward to bringing you some interviews.
It's always a really fun broadcast, always more interactive.
You know, we don't get too technical with some of the play-by-play and things like that.
We try to have broader conversations of what this football team looks like.
Hopefully we'll have some good interviews coming up as well with the coordinators like we did last year.
Courtney Morgan, the GM, was tremendous when he joined us for about 15 minutes last year.
So I'm hoping for something similar.
Yeah, we'll hit the radio at 1230 and then have the game broadcast from 1 to 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoon.
Listen, let's talk.
Number one, a softball team that is at least number one in one poll after beating the Texas Longhorns in a series.
And, Roger, what about this baseball team winning eight of nine games?
I know you spent too much time in Norman, Oklahoma.
They've got a game with Samford and the Arkansas Ranger Banks coming in for the eight-day weekend.
But talk about two hot teams right now.
Very hot teams.
Teams that are playing with a lot of confidence.
The softball team, I don't get to watch them very often since their games are usually the same time as our baseball games.
But from what I've heard and what Patrick Murphy has talked about this group, I think the strength of any softball team is in the circle.
Pitching in Alabama has got some of the best, starting with Jocelyn Briskey and a great freshman in Vic Mokin.
I think all Alabama fans have really enjoyed getting to know her.
We had a podcast with her a couple of weeks ago on Crimson Drive.
Love getting to know her.
And it's exciting to see what this group is starting to do on the baseball diamond.
You know, the Oklahoma series had some good moments.
It was feast or famine for the offense.
You know, we built up a 10-1 lead on Thursday night and didn't score a run the rest of the game.
10-1 lead after the second inning.
We had eight runs, three home runs in the second inning.
Didn't score again, but the pitching was good enough to hold on to a 10-7 lead.
We kind of lost a ho-hum 4-2 game on Good Friday and then came back the next day.
And again, three runs in the top of the first, and that was it offensively.
But it was enough because the pitching staff, with Miles Upchurch and some great performances out of the bullpen,
Aston Crowler, Hagan Banks, Matthew Heiberger, you know, they slammed the door shut on the Oklahoma offense.
So it was an exciting weekend, a tough weekend to get those two wins as you're able to pick up a road series win for the first time in SEC play.
And now you take on an Arkansas team that's kind of a hit or miss.
Every other weekend they seem to be playing well.
I believe lost the series last time out to the Auburn Tigers.
So they're kind of reeling a little bit at the moment.
This might be a good time to catch Arkansas.
And we're just so excited to get back to Sewell Thomas Stadium where this baseball team has won six straight SEC games,
those back-to-back sweeps against Florida and Auburn.
Can't wait to keep it rolling in.
Hope a lot of fans that are on campus coming up on Saturday for A-Day.
The baseball game is going to be at 4 o'clock, an hour after everything is going to be done.
And it's Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
So walking back to your car, stop by the Joe, enjoy a few innings of baseball,
stay for the ballgame, and support the Crimson Tide because now they're a top-ten baseball team.
After everyone was writing this group off after the series sweep at Kentucky
and a loss to lowly South Alabama, well, things can change in a hurry.
It helps to have a no-hitter.
And that's really sparked this group over the last few weeks.
Absolutely.
Alabama number eight is, as you mentioned.
Listen, who was on Crimson Drive this week?
I know that's on Tuesday and Thursday.
Samford tonight, Arkansas this week, along with Alabama A-Day, which, by the way, 93-9 score is going to be carrying.
Where can we get online and get all the good stuff and tell us about your week?
Yeah, Crimson Drive driven by NASCAR this afternoon.
I look forward to the program.
We have Matthew Heiberger from the baseball team, Anna Roman from the softball team.
They join us as well as we take a look back to Pauline Love, who joined us last night,
the new women's basketball head coach at Alabama.
We had our first conversation with her on the network on Hey Coach.
She'll be replaying that.
And then really can't wait for people to see our interview with Justin LeBron coming up on Thursday's show at 2 o'clock.
The shortstop for the Crimson Tide doesn't do many interviews, but he lets his bat do the talking most of the time.
So the fact that we were able to get him in the studio for a long conversation is really cool,
because that's a guy, again, that is having a great year for Alabama.
He's going to be likely a top-five pick coming up in the summer's MLB draft.
And our producer, Tom Stipe, last night kept joking,
I hope you're an Atlanta Brave by the end of the year.
Justin said that would treat him just fine.
So, no, really cool conversation with him.
And then all the work getting ready for A-Day and baseball coming up this weekend.
It should be a really good time.
It's just a special time of the year.
And I've got the sunscreen ready to go to be good on the sidelines and also the allergy meds.
Usually every A-Day I'm coughing and sneezing a lot.
So we'll be loaded down with Zyrtec and Sloanase will be ready to go.
I think some of us can relate.
Roger, it sounds like you're busy, but please don't get too busy thinking on Justin's will.
Okay, he's going to be rich in about another year from now.
I mean, we're best friends at this point.
There you go.
He's got to include his buddy, Roger.
We're besties.
Roger, keep up the good work and thanks so much for your time today, buddy.
All right, thank you guys.
You're the best.
Thank you, buddy.
Roger Hoover, Crimson Tide Sports Network.
That's it on down.
I wonder if your brother lives in Florida and so does Mark McLeod.
We'll take you there next.
Stay with us.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back in.
It is always a pleasure for us to say hello to Mark McLeod.
He's host of The Blitz with Mark McLeod and The Gator Blitz.
Also, that's the podcast.
Mark, welcome in.
How are you?
Hey, doing well, Harold.
Always good to be on with you and Brett.
You too.
Man, does it not seem weird.
Just a short time ago, Mark, we're supposed to be sitting here on the day after the college
basketball season ended and talking about Florida repeating.
They went through the SEC like Brett does a whole pizza, large, by the way.
It has to be frustrating if you're a Florida fan not to be back adding more space to the
trophy case.
Your thoughts about the season, Mark?
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
Yeah, it was a real downer.
It's amazing to see the people on social media, Harold, after that Florida loss, who said, well,
there goes my national champion or there goes one of my final four teams.
It was really difficult to stomach in and around Gainesville.
And then, of course, you know, you've had Oliver Rio, the world's tallest teenager.
He hit the transfer portal.
You've had some other things happen, but you've got some guys who are coming back and you've
got, you know, you've got some really good news coming into Gainesville.
I mean, genuinely winning the National Defensive Player of the Year.
Again, good accolades coming to Todd Golden in the program.
So, it bodes well for the future, but you're right.
It was a difficult, difficult way to stomach being bounced out of the NCAA tournament.
Mark, I had them in the final four in my bracket, which was, believe me, was done about after
the first 20 minutes.
That long?
I never thought the guards were as good as last year, even though Boogie Flan and Lee started
getting better.
I thought their front rivaled Michigan and maybe UConn, and they played very well.
But my goodness, bud, the last two minutes of that Iowa game was cringeworthy.
That's what I think bothered Florida fans.
And again, you can't argue with the national championship, but yeah, no question mark.
As good as this team was, it ended in a disappointment.
Well, and you're spot on with your point, Brett, because remember, you know, the times that we
talked back, you know, in January about this basketball team in early February, that was
the one area they needed to really clean up.
These guards, there were a few games, I want to say, going back, you know, five weeks ago,
six weeks ago, where they finally, they had a few games where they actually took over.
But by and large, that didn't happen this year.
We can count on one hand the number of times the guards took over a game and really, really
impacted it for the win for the Gators, because it was the front court that was doing it game
in and game out.
Mark McLeod, I got to go with us, host of The Blitz with Mark McLeod.
Mark, let's go outside, history every day on the spring football field.
Your thoughts about the new generation of Gators, fresh in their second scrimmage, what do you
know so far?
Well, I tell you, the first thing I know, Harold, is the fact that now that we're in the
spring, okay, we've seen the S&D program in the winter, now that we're in the spring, we're
a few weeks in, Jon Sumrall is the first coach to check all of the boxes since Urban Meyer
and Gainesville.
Wow, really?
Yeah, it was not Will Muschamp, there were questions, there were questions with McElwain,
there were questions with Mullen, questions with Napier, look, there were questions going
back to Ron Zook, too.
But, this is the first guy that when you look at what he's doing, what strength and conditioning
program, the physicality that he's bringing back to Gainesville that was lacking under Napier,
that was lacking at times under Mullen, the coaching hires, all of the assistant coaching
hires, the recruiting, the transfer portal, the culture, you know, that Billy Napier did
a great job building culture, but Jon Sumrall is trying to keep that together and he's saying,
look, guys, the difference between Napier and Sumrall is that Napier was very hands-on,
wanted to talk to the kids, he kind of coddled them, whereas Sumrall said, look, you guys are
getting paid, you're pros, you guys are professionals, act like it, live like it, and I think those
are major differences, he's the first guy, and I love what I'm seeing out of Jon Sumrall.
You know, to parallel that, you go back to Kevin Simpson at Houston, it seems like that these two
are two peas in the pod because, yes, they want the five-star, yes, they want this and want that,
but they want team players because in this day and time, it's easy to go out, throw money at a rock
star and they come in and they act like a rock star. It sounds like John's not going to tolerate that.
He'd rather have a three-star that buys into the system and wants to come in and put in a nine-to-five
as opposed to a rock star that's a prima donna.
You're right. You're exactly right. And look, they've got some concerns in Gainesville.
They've acknowledged that. Phil Troutwine, the offensive line coach, who did a fabulous job at Penn
State, did good work at Boston College, he's acknowledged that too. He said, look, we've got
some guys, I like what we have at start, and I like some of the fight we have, but there's some
younger guys that we're hearing that are not completely bought in. Some of the reserves that they
would like to develop and get up there. But the good thing for Florida, you have Harrison Moore
from Georgia Tech, who of course worked with Buster Faulkner. You have Egan Boyer. You have T.J.
Shanahan, both worked at Penn State. And this is great, under Troutwine. And that's fabulous for
Florida because these guys have some experience and they can do that. Florida only has one returning
offensive lineman with experience, and that's Naja Harris, who's started the past two years.
So a lot of work to be done there. But the positives, the wide receiver room guys may very
well be elite for Florida. They love what they're seeing out there. All of the guys from the portal
that came in and helped Florida. Some of the guys who stayed. And then the two other areas that I'm
hearing, no surprise to you guys. Jaden Ball running back. Duke Clark at running back look really good for
Florida. Florida's running back room with the transfers they have in. That's going to very well be an elite
room too. But linebacker. With Miles Graham and company, they believe linebacker could be elite for
Florida too. So three areas where last year under Napier, you had maybe one area and that was the running
back room.
You mentioned Buster Faulkner. When he was at Georgia Tech, they had, they were 12th in the nation in total
offense, averaging 47, 460 yards a game. When did Florida run the due last year at 341?
They were 109th nationally in scoring, 22 points a game. I'm sorry, but that's not going to win a lot of games.
22nd in total offense. And they ran 64 plays a game, which was ranked 116th. And Buster Faulkner,
Mark, they want to run some tempo from what I've read. And you're right. They've got tremendous skill
players. Brown, Dallas Wilson, Singleton, who was at Auburn and Georgia Tech. But they want to speed up
this offense some. And I think once they do that, you can see the results on the field.
I think you will. And I think your point is, again, outstanding. You know, when you look at that wide
receiver room, I might add one thing. Tight end room may be a bit of a surprise for Florida, which it
has not the past two years, as you guys know. I'll go three years. But they have a couple transfers in
Evan Chica and coming in from New Haven, small little New Haven, and a couple other guys who have really
impressed during spring practice. And guys are out there, the players are out there saying, hey, we've got some
tight ends that can get downfield and catch the ball. This is going to be good. And one player did say, this is the
best tight end room we've had in a long time. But they're a little behind. They've got things to learn. But in terms of
getting open, getting separation, catching the ball,
they're learning the offense, but there's still some work to go there. They're very pleased at
what they see. Really, the Lakota degree, the kid from James Madison, that is the guy who's getting
the most talk among the tight ends. And you're talking about a 6'3", 255-pounder.
There's a redshirt junior out of Pennsylvania. Tough area of Scranton. Tough football from there. But
he was a stud. James Madison, and nobody knew how he escaped. But he's been awfully good for the
Gators. So to your point, Brett, I think you're right. You talk about the wide receiver room,
the up-tempo offense. Although Buster Faulkner, or excuse me, Summerall was asked about these. Yes,
we definitely want to be up-tempo. He goes, but I don't want to be a guy that's all the time up-tempo.
He goes, I want to be able to mix and match it and put it in there and maybe surprise some people.
Two things. Number one, tell us about the spring game format. It's going to be Saturday, the orange and
blue game. By the way, it's Saturday, Mark, and still Thursday or Friday, which was absurd. And second,
where can we get online to get all your good stuff? Yeah, he's not concerned with losing, you know,
if FSU's playing on a Saturday or Miami's playing on a Saturday or Auburn, who, you know, he's not
concerned about that. He said, no, we're going to do it Saturday. It's going to be April 11th at noon
in the swamp. The format's going to be much like it was in the past. I think he enjoyed that. They used
to call it the lobster and beans bowl, where the winning team after the game sometime during that
week was served lobster by the losing players. And then the other guys got beans and they had to
dish your own beans up. So it's going to be that format and you can catch me on, on X at McLeod live.
Mark, I don't mean to tell you what to do, but please do not take the team bus to the losing team
with the beans. Okay.
Yeah, exactly. We'll stay away from that line.
I'm not trying to tell you what to do. I'm just saying. Okay.
Mike, it's always good to hook up with you. Thanks so much for your time today.
Thank you guys. Always good to be on.
Mark McLeod. He's busy there with the Gator Blitz coming out Vegas. What are they going to do now
that the final four is in the books? We'll find out with Bruce Marshall next. Stay with us.
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The score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
Welcome back again.
Time to go to the epicenter of the last few days in the world of college basketball.
A place called Las Vegas.
Bruce Marshall's busy there.
Las Vegas Insider.
For the gold sheet slash wager talk.
Helmsports.net, winners and whiners, picks and parlays, CBS Sportsline, Bett Rivers, and Vegas Insider.
Bruce Marshall, welcome in on the day after.
How are you?
Yeah, pretty good.
I can't believe we wake up in the morning with no more college hoops.
I just checked the calendar.
And this season began on November 3.
Yeah, that's right.
So we win more than five months, if you can believe that.
You know, we do another five months, and we're in the college football season right now.
So it's almost a year-round calendar, it seems like.
You know, Bruce, I always wonder why my mail comes late.
And I found out yesterday I was walking, and there was my mailman.
He was playing basketball with the kids in the neighborhood.
They had a goal outside.
Instead of delivering mail, he was delivering the threes behind the arch.
So I had to ask him, was he going to be rooting for Michigan, or is he going to be rooting for Connecticut?
And he says, I'm rooting for Michigan because those folks in Las Vegas told me so.
I had to invoke your name.
So your thoughts, just how big is college basketball to your Vegas brethren?
Yeah, I mean, it was big, and last night pretty big.
It was interesting, you know, until last night.
I mean, Michigan had been, you mentioned the three-pointers and the mailman.
They'd been shooting threes really well on the dance.
And, you know, last night they only made a couple.
They only made three shots outside of a key last night.
Wow, that's right.
And it was, and they still won.
I mean, it was kind of a, it was not a real pretty game.
They just had no rhythm on their shooting.
And, you know, Connecticut did a little better, but not as much.
And I, you know, Michigan, they almost let that thing get away there in the last minute,
a little bit sloppy.
But, I mean, they, they were, you know, they were worth the win.
And I don't think anybody complained.
Even Dan Hurley, who would normally be bellyaching about things,
seemed to be rather gracious in defeat, which, unlike him.
But there you go.
I didn't surprise.
But, so I didn't mind seeing our Hurley lose.
But it was kind of odd last night, the way that game went.
And Michigan actually failed.
Like, the point spread, you know, closed like at 6.5.
So, it actually failed.
It looked like they were going to cover that spread.
And had Roddy Gale not thrown that ball up court there in the last few seconds,
he was going to get fouled and go to the line.
So that, you know, that was a proper play to get rid of the ball there.
Just let the clock sort of run out with the ball at the other end of the court.
But those who bet on Michigan minus 6.5, that one hurt a little bit.
Bruce, the question in our neck of the woods, will the Big Ten ever lose again?
Football, basketball, they're just losing all the trophies.
Bruce, you have some encouraging words to the SEC folks.
Well, yeah, I still think this is cyclical.
And I've talked to a lot of people about that the last week.
And I've got to remember, this is the first time in 26 years the Big Ten has won one of these things.
That's right.
Now, it's not going to be another 26 years.
But, you know, football, they've been winning lately.
And we've talked about this before.
Top to bottom football isn't as strong as the SEC, but at the top it certainly is.
And they just drive, you know, women's basketball.
One, I guess you've got to count.
UCLA is now Big Ten.
So they win that as well.
The deal, what they've got now, though, is that money-wise, most of these Big Ten schools and with their media deals and all are in awfully good shape right now.
Most of them have the nail operations up running well.
So they have solved that question pretty much top to bottom.
There might be a few exceptions in the league falling behind a little bit.
Rutgers is like well in the red from what I hear.
UCLA's working out of a deficit pretty hefty.
But there are some other schools like that, too.
But the resources are certainly there.
Now, that's not the whole thing.
I was talking to the guys in Baton Rouge the other week, and, you know, they brought up the same thing about, you know, the money.
And I said, if it's just the money, you know, LSU would have won in basketball this year.
They spent as much as anybody this year on their roster and all that didn't do anything.
You've got to have the right coach.
Now, we'll see if LSU made the right hire if they bring more weight in.
That's its own little story there.
But you need to link everything up, the program, the support, and the coaching especially needs to be in place.
Michigan's got that now.
They've got that with Dusty May.
He's sticking around.
And that's the last link.
Money's a big part of it.
But if you don't get the rest of it right, you turn into LSU basketball where it doesn't work.
So, you know, you still need that coach.
But if you marry those two together, that's a pretty potent combo.
And I think we've seen that in football, too.
You know, Cignetti was right higher at Indiana, that's for sure.
And look where they kind of came out of nowhere like that.
That's sort of the new thing.
One other note, Michigan's win is sort of a blow for a new era in college sports, too.
I mean, this is a team built from the portal and not an experience.
So that's another way to do it now.
For a while we saw that with the freshmen and some of those Duke teams and Calipari's team
at Kentucky and all that.
Maybe you just go on the frosh route.
There's another way to go now.
And Michigan proved you can do this portal route if you do it right and you've got the
money to do it.
That's another way to go.
And you can make yourself a brand new team in one year.
We'll see.
Well, just to reiterate your point, Elliot Cadeau from North and transfer from North Carolina
was the MVP of the Final Four.
So many people thought Lindenborg was going to be the MVP, and I did, too.
Boy, he played on guts the last couple of games.
You could tell he was really handicapped.
But Cadeau, Lindenborg, Johnson, who had a good game last night, and Maura, who came on, UCLA
and Illinois, all transfers with this, too.
And so many people think, well, you know, this is going to be 90 to 88.
And the officials really let them play.
That was just a rock fight for a lot of times.
And as you mentioned, Michigan only made two, three-pointers all night.
I'll tell you what, if your prop bet was Elliot Cadeau for MVP, you probably won some money
last night.
Well, yeah.
And I have to apologize to Cadeau because I was sort of down on him.
And he, you know, he left out.
But I was, like you, a little bit surprised it wasn't Lindenborg as the MOP.
But, you know, if it's Cadeau, that's fine.
You're right.
It did turn into sort of a rock fight.
And actually, a lot of the things that Dan Hurley needed to have happen last night sort
of happened.
I mean, they slowed the pace.
And they hit threes a little better than they did.
They weren't shooting that great themselves.
And Carabin, you know, I guess he did score 17, but he missed a lot of threes, too.
But they certainly won the three-point battle, which they hadn't been winning in comparison
to Michigan before last night.
But what they did, I think, though, in slowing the pace, they really didn't get into their
offense most possessions until they were inside of 10 seconds.
And they ended up forcing some shots.
And they kind of careened into the paint.
And they were sort of some wild shots they put up there.
And Michigan really is, boy, they closed down the interior pretty well.
So, it worked to a point.
But there weren't a lot of real quality looks that UConn got.
It was almost every shot was contested.
And like you said, they made it a rock fight, which they kind of wanted to do.
But Michigan's prepared to win that way, too.
And that's what happened last night.
Check out Bruce Marshall.
Lots of places, including Vegas Insider.
Bruce, no secret, North Carolina wanted to go to the NBA for their new coach.
And, by golly, they did, but not the one we thought.
Your thoughts about Michael Malone heading to Carolina.
Wow, that's an interesting hire.
And especially since, I don't recall hearing Malone's name come up in the rumor mill.
It didn't.
It never did.
Yeah, I mean, you heard Tommy Lloyd.
And then he re-upped at Arizona.
And then Dusty May pulled out.
And he kept hearing Donovan's name a lot.
By the way, the Bulls have just remade their front office.
So, I'm not sure he's going to stick around there either.
But I didn't hear Malone's name.
We thought they were going out of the box, North Carolina.
And like we said last week, I mean, every hire since, like, Dean, you know, Dean Smith either came from on staff
or was a real connection to the program.
This one doesn't.
Malone, of course, that NBA connection.
His dad had been an NBA assistant for many years.
His dad had also been a Providence head coach at one point, Brendan Malone.
So, it's in the family with him.
This is an out-of-the-box hire.
And we'll see how it works.
But I think North Carolina is at a point now.
I mean, they had to turn somewhere else.
Something tells me Malone was not their first choice.
They would have liked to have gone Lloyd or May or one of those guys.
But when those avenues closed, they looked the NBA route.
So, we'll see.
It is a little outside the box hire.
I was amazed.
The SEC did not lose a coach.
But as you mentioned, they did gain one in Will Wade.
Rick Stansberry and the former LSU coach are going to be two of his assistants.
That's going to be quite a coaching staff, to say the least.
Rick Barnes is coming back for his 12th year.
A lot of people thought Mark Byington may have been a quiet candidate for North Carolina.
I'll let you confirm that.
And then Nate Oates, as Harold Bugg mentioned earlier, had quite a week, got engaged in a contract extension to make him one of the top five compensated men's basketball coaches in the nation, Bruce Marshall.
Well, good deal, good deal for Nate Oates and his agent, too.
That was a pretty good deal for him.
So, here is the thing, though, for the SEC.
They spend enough money there, too.
And, too, I mean, last year we had 14 SEC teams make the tournament.
This stuff is cyclical.
You know, in a year or two, the SEC could be back on top if you've got the right coaches.
And I think, generally, they do in this league.
Byington's an interesting one you mentioned there because he was mentioned for North Carolina.
And, you know, Vanderbilt sort of scrambled to keep him in the fold.
And they're looking like they're going to be pretty good again next year.
But, again, it's kind of a coach's league.
And, you know, Georgia made the tournament this year.
But, one, into next season, who's a little bit of a hot seat?
I definitely think Lamont Paris is on the hot seat up in South Carolina.
That thing has fallen apart the last couple of years.
Mark Pope is going to be on the hot seat just because it's Kentucky.
And the expectations are so high there.
I don't know that Chris Jans can survive another year like he did at Mississippi State.
Although, you know, he could, you know, he was rumored for some of these openings.
You know, Kansas State had the opening.
They hired Alexander from Belmont, which, by the way, is a really good job from the major ranks.
But next year, we go into the season with a couple of these guys, especially Pope and Paris, right on the hot seat, I think, at the start of next year.
Yeah, and Chris Beard at Ole Miss proved he could coach at the end of the year.
I still think he's a good coach.
He's had some issues.
All right.
If you had to vote on this, there is this movement, once again, to expand the NCAA men's basketball tournament from 68 to 76.
And instead of the two days for playing games, two games each, now it would be 24 teams and 12 total games.
Is Bruce Marshall in favor of expanding the tournament?
The purest in me says no.
But I thought they were, I thought in 1984 they were good at 48.
So, I mean, this is how far, I mean, how far up behind the times I am.
I think it's going that direction.
So, I will have to just ride the tide and go along with it.
And it might not be bad, you know, if those other eight spots, if they make a little more room for, you know, for the mid-majors in there.
I just don't, no, I mean, if this is a thing to get, you know, where it's going to be more Big Ten and more SEC in there.
Listen, I have some of, you know, the ratings things, and we've talked about the net before, how they're skewed to help the big conferences out.
You don't really get penalized for losses with big conferences and all.
And a lot of people have talked about that, and I think that's true.
So, if they expand it, I'm okay with it.
As long as it's not, you know, we're not taking, you know, the 15th place Big Ten team, which is what I'm worried about.
But I think it's sort of inevitable.
Although, you know, they've stayed, they went to 64 in 85, I think.
And they have just a little bit, in the last 40 years, they've only pushed it up four.
So, maybe they're overdue for a little expansion.
The question is, will that expand before the football playoff expands?
Good question there.
That is a good question.
A lot of stuff going on this week.
At least, you mentioned tears now with college basketball over with for another season.
But you've got the Masters, Major League Baseball, the hockey playoffs around the corner.
There's still a lot of stuff going on, and nobody does a better job of it than the gold standard.
Bruce Marshall, what else have you got going on this week, and where can we get online to get all the great stuff?
Yeah, thanks, Brett.
Yeah, lots of stuff.
By the way, NBA 2, last regular season week.
And before all these teams that are tanking are done for the year, we've only got a few more days to go against some of these teams.
They're making us pay for them, Wizards and that.
By the way, you've got the Bulls and the Wizards playing twice back-to-back this week.
I wonder, look at the points these two have given up lately.
I mean, they talk about either of them has won a game in like two weeks, and they play back-to-back.
Anyway, only in the NBA.
But for my stuff, all of it is up there now at wagertalk.com, and that includes Gold Sheet.
You can go in there.
Also, you know, Winners and Winners and Picks and Parlays are part of that Wager Talk umbrella.
But for my stuff, wagertalk.com, and that's where you can get the goldsheet.com as well.
Got eyes on you, Bruce.
Listen, man, thanks so much for your time today and keep up the good work, okay?
Okay, thank you, boys.
Take care.
Thank you, buddy.
Bruce Marshall, Las Vegas Insider.
Vegas Insider, take your pick.
Coming up the next hour, going to be taking you all over the place down to Florida, talking Matt Merchiel.
The SEC, what is next?
Joe Cox on that and Randy Kennedy.
Everything from north to south and everything in between when it comes to Alabama.
And it's all straight ahead of the Boomo Bugg Show.
Stay with us.
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Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is pushing back at out-of-state groups who are targeting him specifically in the Republican Senate primary race.
Marshall has been the subject of a million-dollar negative ad campaign that has aired in the state of Alabama.
Marshall says he's being targeted by out-of-state billionaires because he can't be bought or controlled.
And he says these groups are spreading false accusations about his character and his record.
Marshall stressed that those who are from other states, like California, New York, and Washington, D.C.,
do not care at all about the state of Alabama and are America-last type people.
Marshall says his campaign has been built with a grassroots effort and not with help from the D.C. swamp.
I'll be back with more Alabama stories after this.
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Police in Dothan were able to capture a shooting suspect on Monday who was considered to be armed and dangerous.
32-year-old Derek Bean of Ozark is charged with shooting into several vehicles at an apartment complex after a verbal argument emerged with another person.
No one was injured in the shooting.
Residents in the town of Geneva took part in a city council meeting on Monday to express their concern over a recent dog attack.
Sheila Pate was attacked by dogs roaming through the mobile home park where she lives, and residents living around that park say there are kids all around.
The city council told the residents that the dog owner could soon be criminally charged, and the mayor is looking to pass tougher ordinances on this issue.
I'm Andrea Tice.
For more news affecting Alabamians, go to 1819news.com.
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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.
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Your exclusive inside track to the Tigers, Tennessee, and the rest of the SEC.
Now, your host, Harold Bugg on 93.9, The Score.
Welcome back in.
Our tour of the Boomo Bugg Show.
I'm Harold Bugg alongside Brett Beaird.
Thank you so much for giving us free ride around the Tennessee Valley.
And for Randy Kennedy to come up and get back.
And we'll explain that behind the microphone here in a second, Randy.
Sportswriteral.com.
Also, the winner of the Mill Allen Award from the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
Name one of the 50 legends of sportswriters in Alabama.
And here's the hard part.
See if I got this right.
Former radio host of the Randy Kennedy Show afternoons on 995 Sports Talk and Mobile.
Randy, I'm hoping that's a typo.
Say it ain't so about the former radio host.
What do we got to do to talk you back into this crazy business?
Randy, how are you?
You know, I'm doing good.
Well, I'm on with you right now, so I haven't gotten out of radio altogether.
There you go.
But I'm not doing it every single day.
I have retired from that.
But it's going to give me more time to do writing and be at different events and that sort of thing.
So I'll be just as involved as ever.
Just not doing it every single day on the radio.
You guys should try it.
It's working out great so far.
Yeah, you know, people, I've often talked with people.
I remember back in TV, people say, what do you do between 6 and 10?
Work?
They think that's just like manna from heaven.
It falls out of the sky.
But do people realize, here's the deal.
Randy, do people realize how much effort it takes to put on a good show?
Anybody can put on a show.
But to put on a consistently good show, do people realize how much work goes into it?
You know, the thing that I've noticed already is that I'm watching games differently than I did when I had the daily show.
I don't think I realized how often I was taking notes, either writing down or on my computer or just mentally.
Like every time something happened, I was listening to a South Alabama baseball game on Saturday.
And a guy made a great catch and a put out at the plate, a double play.
And I was like, oh, I need to remember that guy's name.
And I was like, no, I don't.
It was a good play.
And I enjoyed listening.
That's all I need to know.
I don't need to know three days from now what the guy's name was or, you know, what the score was.
You know, just enjoy it.
Don't necessarily be taking mental notes every second of your life.
So that's the big difference so far.
Randy, Dan Lanning from Oregon is taking notes about how much talent is in the state of Alabama.
He's come in and stolen another top quality player, four-star cornerback.
And I'll let you hit me with his first name, a King Hall.
He's picked up again.
And this is coming on the heels of Naeem Alford a couple of years ago.
And Tank Jones, Hall's 5'11", 180, plays at Dothan and is considered to be certainly in the top two or three prospects in the state of Alabama.
Randy, tell us a little bit more about Hall and also tell us, how is Dan Lanning coming down here from the far left northwest coast and getting star players?
It's crazy.
So Hall is 6'1", he's a cornerback, a very good player, arguably, according to some people, the number one player in the state, which, you know, we've talked about it before.
This would be possibly three years in a row.
I mean, there's, you know, differing opinions on who the best player in the state is.
But Alford was the consensus number one two years ago, the cornerback from Birmingham.
And then, you know, last year Tank Jones from Mobile, St. Paul, arguably the number one player in the state, signed with Oregon.
And now this year they've got two.
They've got the D-lineman from Thompson and now the cornerback from Dothan.
They're not doing it with volume of recruits, but, boy, they're coming to Alabama and targeting the very top guys.
It's called spending your money wisely, Randy, which begs the question, you know, every Alabama and Auburn fan is going to ask the obvious question.
What the heck's going on?
Well, the answer, I'm sure, has something to do with money.
Your thoughts, two things on that, Randy, about the NIO climate, because there are no borders anymore.
It's the universal colors green.
And how, I mean, Alex Gulloch has come in with, he went and got him some alpha testosterone.
He's coming in shooting from both sides now.
Got a little Dixieland delight going on in April.
He's talking trash.
He said, bring them on.
I'm tired of Auburn being disrespected.
Your thoughts just about recruiting 2026 in the state of Alabama between the Tide and Tigers.
Yeah, I think a lot of it that we just have to get used to now in this new age with the NIL is that different programs are going to target different guys.
And so if there's a guy who is like a, you know, an 8 out of 10 kind of recruit, let's just say that we can all agree he's an 8 out of 10, but one program or the other decides we're going to pay him like a 10 out of 10, they're going to get him.
And so you've got to decide, here are the people I'm going to prioritize.
And on the other side of the state, they're just going to be like, well, we think he's worthy of an 8 out of 10, so y'all go ahead.
We'll just look elsewhere.
That is the world we live in now.
That's just where we are.
Randy, you've got the quarterbacks.
You do a great job of the best of Bama, and you're doing it position by position.
And you've got the quarterbacks coming out Thursday, and we'll talk about a few of them, but some of the offensive line are national recruits.
Jatori Williams from Central Phoenix City, a former Alabama commitment.
Sharante Bailey out of Aniston.
Aniston was, of course, a Class 4A championship game last year.
Two dudes from North Alabama.
Stafford Willis from A-Rab getting interest.
I know, according to you, from UCLA to South Carolina.
And a guy I know well, Cord Pig from Mars Hill, he can play about four positions in his elite level.
Nose guard, offensive lineman, et cetera.
Randy, talk about some of the very talented offensive linemen in the state of Alabama.
Yeah, you know, we were on this show last year talking about how we just didn't have offensive linemen.
You know, it just wasn't a good class last year in terms of offensive linemen.
Well, we've turned that around a good bit.
You talk about the kid from A-Rab who also has a brother who's a really good tight end prospect coming up as well.
But that's really cool to see.
And the reason why we do this list on AL.com, I mean, we want to highlight these guys from all over.
You know, we're not writing about A-Rab all the time, although, you know, we should be.
Or Dothan High School is the kid we already talked about.
It's just, you know, those places where we're not at every Friday night.
But through the research and talking to people, you know, you can highlight some of those guys.
And it's really cool to be able to do that.
But it's going to be a better year for offensive linemen this year than it has been in the past.
Like I said, last year, it goes in cycles.
But last year, we just didn't have a whole lot of those guys who were great prospects.
But as you mentioned, Cord Pig, which is a great name for Morris Hill this year.
He's going to be one of the top guys and certainly going to be a candidate for the best in Bama top 50 when we do that this summer.
In the huddle with Randy Kennedy.
You know, some places are just top best.
We know Birmingham because population-wise, that's a great metro area.
But pound for pound, you get over in northeast Alabama, Aniston and Oxford.
They don't like each other, they say.
Your thoughts about two guys, Sharonte Bailey, speaking of offensive linemen, and fellow OL, Bryson Sanderson down the road at Oxford.
That is a hotbed for high school talent.
It always has been.
Yep, no doubt about it.
You know, I saw you guys at the state championship games up in Birmingham.
And we saw Bailey, that Aniston team that's had such a great year, undefeated all the way to the state championship game.
And then, of course, they ran into a great team there.
But he's a really big kid.
I mean, probably even played a little smaller in college than he is in high school.
Because he's a very, very big kid.
And then, like you said, Oxford's going through a great run of athletes right now as well, winning a state championship in basketball.
And certainly, that's a fun Friday night.
And Bryson Sanderson from Oxford is one of those guys, a leader at Oxford High School.
Randy, let me ask you about wide receivers.
You know, Thompson, you know, I'm surprised it took this long to mention Thompson.
Andrew Kimbrough.
Now, he, I believe, is a junior.
Deshaun Hall from Prattville.
Kid I've seen play.
Mae Jemison, they played most of the shows.
Last fall, Cortez Hudson is quite an athlete.
He's also 6'3".
It's one of the things I know that a lot of these schools are looking at.
With tall, the length, Trevon Hall at Central Tuscaloosa, Oklahoma is involved in him.
Randy, talk about some of the talented receivers in the state of Alabama.
You know, first of all, we did mention Thompson.
So, you know, on our list, when we're doing the countdown here on bestinbamonale.com,
so when we did tight ends, they had a guy.
When we do wide receivers, they got a guy.
When we do quarterbacks, they got a guy.
That's not a coincidence.
I mean, all those guys make each other better, right?
When you've got a great quarterback, you're going to be able to showcase a tight end
or a wide receiver or whatever.
But the main point I would make about these guys,
probably headlined by Deshaun Hall at Prattville,
is when you start looking at these great wide receivers,
man, there are some great basketball players among these guys.
Yep, they all get twitched.
I mean, it's like if you just type in the name to Google,
you're like every one of these wide receivers were highlighting, like,
here's their duck package, you know?
These guys are so good.
And like I said with Deshaun Hall at Prattville, who's an uncommitted senior,
you know, he may be a better basketball prospect than he is football,
certainly in terms of being accomplished on the field or on the court,
probably more so so far in basketball than football.
So that's true for so many of these guys when we're talking wide receivers.
It's called that quick twitch.
Every coach looks for it.
If they can do that in basketball,
they know they've got potential out on the football field.
And a little with Randy Kennedy.
Again, here we go.
The Alabama High School Athletic Association, your old friends, the A-H-S-A-A,
making a, are you ready for this, another change for the first Super 7 football championship
in your backyard in Mobile.
I would imagine the folks are into restaurants and motels and hotels.
They like it.
Moving from a four-day pilot to a five-day pilot,
that's just that much more money for the mayor and the Chamber of Commerce.
That's a good thing.
And I think, I hope you guys will be down here because we're going to put on the show.
It's an unbelievable stadium to be able to have the Super 7 or whatever it's called.
Is it the Super 7?
I don't know.
I don't know what it is anymore, but the state championship.
Whatever we're calling it, the state championship,
you guys are going to be blown away by the facilities
and just everything that goes into putting that on at Hancock Whitney Stadium
in South Alabama.
But I think the extra day was needed.
You know, we get to go to these private schools.
And, you know, you also have to consider the flag football,
which is becoming bigger and bigger.
So, I mean, I don't have a problem with adding to the days.
The only thing to keep in mind, though, is that now we're going to play state championships
on Saturday, which leads into, like, SEC championship day
or, you know, the conference championship game on Saturday, I believe.
So that's the one drawback.
But, you know, you've got to figure out a way to fit all those games in,
no matter if you're playing in Birmingham or Mobile or, you know,
anywhere else.
You pretty much had to add an extra day there.
Randy, we talked to our mutual friend, Ben Thomas, about this yesterday.
The central board's meeting next week.
They're looking at a lot of things.
Had to do the private playoffs.
I know that the shot clock is in April.
But there are a lot of big decisions still to be made.
And, you know, we were joking with Ben yesterday.
Is this the Super 10, the Super 8, or the Super 12 now?
They'll figure that out.
But it's going to be some interesting decisions, Randy.
How they structure the private playoffs, the shot clock.
Going to be some interesting changes that we'll know probably by the end of April.
You know, the shot clock thing is so interesting because it's easy for you to sit here for us
to sit on the radio or talk to your 7A or 6A coaches and say, of course we need a shot clock.
It's just logical that we would have a shot clock.
But then you look at it and say, well, you know, what about some of these little 1A schools?
That's an expense they can't.
Who's going to love the shot clock?
Who's going to buy the shot clock?
You know, all those sorts of things.
So it's more complicated than it sounds on the surface where, I mean, we would all just say, of course,
we need a shot clock in high school basketball, right?
Absolutely.
Randy, tell us what is coming Thursday.
What else have you got coming up in April?
And the Best of Bama is going to debut at some point this summer.
Randy, tell us where we can get online and get Thursday and all the other good stuff.
Yeah, it's good stuff, though.
AL.com is where we're doing the best in Bama, which we run year-round.
But we unveil the top 50 coming up in a couple of months.
But before that, we're going position by position, kind of a white list from every position coming up.
This Thursday, it is quarterbacks.
And I've got to tell you, I am labeling it the year of the quarterback in Alabama coming up.
I've been doing the research.
I think this is the best quarterback class in the history of Alabama.
I really think that.
And I've done all the research going back a couple of decades.
And, you know, we'll see how they turn out in college.
But in terms of being recruits, I think this is the best class we've had in Alabama in at least 20 years.
That's saying a lot.
Listen, Randy's always good to hook up with you.
We've got a lonely microphone here for you.
Come back any time.
We'll save it for you, okay?
You got it, guys.
Thank you, Randy.
Randy, you can be hooking up with us.
He's named one of the 50 legends of sports writers in the state of Alabama.
What's the state of the SEC from top to bottom?
Joe Cox on that and more.
Let's right ahead.
Stay with us.
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Hello again, everybody.
I'm Roger Hoover.
Here are thoughts from softball head coach Patrick Murphy
after this past weekend's series win against number one Texas.
First, it's just an honor and a privilege to be at Alabama
with this group of people.
They're incredible.
And it took all 21 to win that series
because Texas is one h*** of a good team,
and everybody knows that.
You know, they're the number one team in the country for a reason.
But we needed all, however many people were here today,
maybe 4,000 possibly, in our corner to win that series.
They gave us life when we needed it.
We had two really good pitching performances
from Miss Moten and Briskey,
which they both did what we absolutely needed them to do,
one pitch four, one pitch three innings.
And then we had some big, big hits from a lot of people.
Well, I think it starts with senior leadership.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
The Score.
Welcome back again.
Time to say hello to Mr. Joe Cox,
fine columnist for Saturday Down South.
This book's called A Fine Team Man.
Joe, welcome in.
How are you?
Doing okay.
It's such a nice day that my son is celebrating his birthday
by dragging me all over the state looking at baseball card shops.
So, I'm out enjoying the day.
Yeah, I thought of you this morning, Joe.
I went to the dentist again.
Every time I go to the dentist, I think of you.
I don't know how to take that, but I guess I'll roll it.
I bet you don't.
I think we live in the dentist office, both of us.
Joe, college basketball season's over the big question.
Everybody says, what's the secret for the Big Ten?
Are you kidding me?
Just pay a lot of money for a lot of talent, and you win, right?
It's not that complicated, is it, Joe?
What's the old Billy Joel line?
Don't you know about the new fashion, honey?
All you need are looks and a whole lot of money.
That's it, baby.
That thing holds true in hoops.
You know, the actual delivered, and a very solid finish to the season.
But, yeah, I think any mystery is largely stripped away,
and the big talking point, I think, right now,
you've got to see with North Carolina struggling to get a coach.
Being a blue blood doesn't mean what it used to mean.
Being the green blood, I think, is probably where the action is at.
Joe, the University of Tennessee is having an interesting time
with both of their men's and women's basketball programs.
The Lady Vols have lost nine players, five signees from the number two rated
to a 2025 recruiting class, and two coaches.
Rick Barnes has lost six to the portal in the last two or three days.
Joe, including Cade Phillips, who was hurt the majority of the year.
He's John David Phillips' son, the former Alabama quarterback.
J.P. Estrella, Bishop Boswell, Jalen Carey.
Now, they may have lost somebody since we got you on the phone.
And I know that Rick Barnes and his staff is smart enough to go get some more players,
but, Joe, that's where we are today.
Tennessee women losing nine and Tennessee men losing six already.
Yeah, and for a guy like Rick Barnes, the question becomes,
how long do you want to subject yourself to having to build
an entirely new roster every single year?
I mean, he's a talented, able guy who's proven himself again and again,
but if he could start approving himself, I certainly understand.
And the women's side, gosh, I was actually talking about that yesterday.
Just, you knew it was inevitable there would be a fall-off after Coach Summit,
but I didn't see this kind of fall-off.
And honestly, it made sense.
It clicked something else into place for me.
The whole Gino Auriemma, Dawn Staley, what's that about?
I think a little bit of that is that Gino knows that when it's done,
and it's close to done, the same thing's probably going to happen to UConn.
How are you going to uphold that kind of level in this kind of culture
where everybody, it's not what have you done for me lately,
it's what have you done for me five minutes ago?
So, yeah, Tennessee, it's a tough conundrum,
but the only good news is they're far from the only ones who are having to deal with it.
Joe Cox said it down south, the good news for Nate Oates.
He got engaged, and then he got a big check to buy the big rock.
He gets a $6 million deal, and then he gets news he's losing two of his big guns,
Balboa and Sherell.
They cometh and they goeth.
Your thoughts about the Tuscaloosa situation, and if they are out,
we're hearing rummings, maybe some folks across the SEC at Tennessee, Kentucky,
and others.
Deja vu again for one of the big wildcats in your neck of the woods might be looking there.
That's the reports, however liable they are, only Joe Cox knows.
But your thoughts about the Alabama situation?
Yeah, I mean, you're going to have turnover even at a good program,
even at a school where you have a good coach and a good system,
and things are generally trending in the right direction.
You're still going to have these things that pop up periodically.
And, you know, don't even get me started in on, you know,
Kentucky has Denzel Aberdeen, who enters the portal.
Wait a minute.
He was a senior, and he was a senior, but 50 years apparently just fall out of the sky,
so he's going to catch one of those.
I don't know.
Nobody knows.
The wonderful and frustrating thing about it is about five minutes before the games are played,
the coaches are starting to get a feel for what they're going to deal with on that day.
And as fans, that could be invigorating or that could be massively challenging
or a little bit of both.
You do the power rankings for SEC baseball, and you've got a lot of rankings to do.
I know this week, Baseball America included nine SEC teams in an updated top 25.
Georgia's hit 90 home runs.
We talked about that last week.
Alabama's pretty hot, Joe Cox.
They've won eight out of nine games, beating Florida, Auburn, and Oklahoma over the weekend.
Auburn came back and played well against Arkansas.
He comes into Tuscaloosa this week.
Joe, what tickles your fancy as far as SEC baseball this week?
Well, you picked a good place to start because, frankly, I owe Alabama and their fans a big fat apology
because they opened that SEC slate getting swept at Kentucky.
I thought, geez, Alabama's not looking very good this year.
Yeah, so now they just win eight out of nine.
They're coming on against, you know, top competition.
The pitching for Alabama has really surprised me in a positive way.
They've done a nice job of getting the arms out there to combat some of the toughest lineups in the league,
and I really like where they're at right now.
Now, they are two games behind Georgia,
and Georgia's doing that thing they do where they mash the ball all over the place,
and that's a lot of fun to watch.
But, man, I really like where Alabama stands,
and that's something that a month ago, you know,
I would not have believed I'd be saying that, but here we are.
You know, Joe, the thing is, you look across the league,
and is there such a thing as an off weekend?
No.
You mentioned Alabama's rally since that sweep by Kentucky,
and two of the perennial powerhouses in the SEC, Florida and Vanderbilt.
What happened recently?
Ole Miss rallies for five of the ninth to down the Gators,
and Texas A&M sweeps the twin bill against Vanderbilt.
There are no weaknesses, it seems, anyway, right now.
Maybe there's one weak link in the chain out there, but there ain't many.
No, there really isn't, and Kentucky found that out.
They got beat by Missouri, and that was one of the two that would stand out
as a team that maybe you could write them off at your own peril,
because, yeah, it really, it's always a competitive league,
but I don't know that it's ever been as competitive as it is this year,
top to bottom.
Joe, Tennessee, we all knew when they had the coaching change,
they were going to struggle at least for a while, and they have.
They lost a series to LSU, who'd been doing a little bit of struggling themselves.
The LSU catcher, Cade, a real body or bide, had a grand slam.
Tennessee was leading that game comfortably,
and he comes and has a just absolutely wild day.
Joe, LSU began to play a little bit better, and your thoughts,
I think a lot of people knew Tennessee was not going to be as good
as the last couple of years, but there's no question they struggle some so far.
Yeah, I mean, if you're looking for a disappointment in the league,
Tennessee at four and eight, two spots from the bottom,
it's got to be one that jumps out at you.
Yeah, what a heartbreaking way to lose in LSU.
Yeah, maybe that was what they were waiting on to get it going,
because they've had their own struggles.
They're another one of those teams, honestly,
kind of had circled that series coming into the weekend thinking,
somebody's about to hit bottom right here,
and I'm afraid it might have been Tennessee.
Joe, I always get amused at LSU.
In mid-April, they take a nap, and then they seem to wake up in mid-April.
They do it, so help me, every year, and we'll see where that goes.
Tell us about the next power rankings for SEC baseball.
I know you enjoy Major League Baseball.
You've written books about it.
Where can we get all the good stuff from Joe Cox?
Check us out Saturday down south.
Yeah, it's either Thursday or Friday, depending on how the week falls
and how the schedule is shaping up,
but it'll be there ahead of the weekend,
a chance to see where the SEC stacks up
before they play Twister with it and shuffle it all around.
Well put.
I like that, Joe.
Listen, man, thanks for your time, Dave,
and have a great rest of the week, okay?
All right.
You guys take care.
Thank you, Joe.
J.C., Joe Cox, Saturday down south.
Coming up, Matt Merchelle is on deck.
Stay with us.
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The score.
Baseball action today.
Eighth-ranked Alabama set to host Samford.
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Alabama 25 and 8.
Fifteenth-ranked Auburn will host Jacksonville State.
The Auburn Tigers are 22 and 9.
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Martin North Alabama is 14 and 17 entering the matchup.
Michigan Wolverines won the Men's Basketball National Championship last night.
They beat UConn 69-63.
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The Score.
Now, back with Boomo Bugg on 93.9 The Score.
The Score.
Welcome back in.
Time to say hello to Mr. Eminem.
I'm Matt Mischel, College Insider with the Orlando Sentinel,
and the hosts of Gridiron 365 Podcast.
Matt, welcome in.
How are you?
I'm doing well.
How are you doing today?
Hey, man.
Man, the question is, how is Matt Mischel and your fellow neighbors in the Eastern Time Zone?
We're spoiled here in the Central.
When they play these championship games, and particularly the final part of the Final Four,
how do you guys live in the Eastern Time Zone when you tip games off at 10 o'clock at night?
Yeah, it's difficult.
I got to tell you, it was tough to stay up.
Good thing I had a chance to take a little bit of a nap, you know, because you need to.
And that's always bothered me, you know what I mean?
The fact that the championship game on a Monday night doesn't tip off to almost 9, 30, 10 o'clock at night.
I've never understood why they couldn't tip that game off at 7 o'clock Eastern Time.
I mean, it gives chances for people to maybe get a chance to get their game in and get a good night's sleep before going to work the next day.
Matt, as someone who's been in television a while, I can give you the answer to that.
It's called money.
They make a ton of money in all those pregame shows.
They sell a kajillion commercials before they get to the game because they know they've got a captive audience.
But, Matt, your thoughts about the game, I don't think anybody was surprised at all.
I mean, they thought Michigan would win.
They thought Connecticut would be an underdog, but they'd be a dogfight.
And pretty much, I mean, what surprises, if any, were there for you?
And it pretty much played out, I think, the way a lot of folks thought.
Connecticut would give a fight, but in the end, the cream seems to always rise to the top in most cases.
Yeah, you know, I don't know if anything really surprised me.
I think, you know, you look at Michigan's run, you know, throughout the season and through the tournament.
That's probably the biggest surprise.
I mean, they dominated.
I mean, this wasn't a tournament that where, you know, they struggled, you know, here or there or had a challenge here or there.
Outside of the title game, I mean, they just ran through the tournament.
And I think that's the impressive fact that you could see what Dusty May was able to do as a coach is that, you know, you could keep guys focused on what the task is at hand.
You know, you go out there and you build off it and you find a way to come out and get the win.
And it says a lot to me more about the status of the Big Ten than perhaps it does about anything else.
Because, you know, the Big Ten wins the men's and women's basketball championship and it looked impressive doing it.
And so you have to start wondering, you know, are we in for an awakening where the Big Ten is going to be in command of basketball for the next few years?
I think that's something that I'm sure Greg Sanky with the SEC, I'm sure Brett Yormark at the Big 12 probably is looking into and seeing what needs to be done.
Because it was an impressive feat for both Michigan and UCLA, what they're able to accomplish.
Your thoughts about that, that is a question for the SEC.
And to me, the formula is real simple.
Come up with a lot of money and have a good eye to evaluate talent.
When you put good money with good talent, that's the answer.
Easier said than done.
The Big Ten seems to have figured it out with its football, basketball, tiddlywinks.
I guess pickleball is next.
But we know the theory.
How does the SEC put it to practice?
Well, I mean, again, you can't argue money.
I mean, I'm sorry.
I mean, you could say, you know, no one's going to cry boo-hoo for the SEC for money.
I mean, you know, they're just up there with the Big Ten as well.
I mean, I think it comes to the fact that, you know, money's not all of it.
I mean, you have to evaluate the talent.
You have to find a way to get the right player to play, you know, on the right team.
And sometimes that's the most difficult aspect of getting with the transfer portal is getting players that you feel like, you know, what will best fit what you're trying to do.
The window is so short.
I mean, you get about eight months, really, to have a team together.
And even before that, you only get maybe a month or two to really get them together, you know, chemistry-wise and build some sort of cohesiveness to go out there and do that.
So I think some of that coaching, I mean, I'm not going to take any away from Dusty May or for, you know, from the job that everyone else has done.
So I think they're going to have to find a way, if you're in the SEC, you've got to, you know, keep focusing on trying to figure out what were the best players that fit.
You know, maybe sometimes it's not the $4 million player.
Maybe sometimes it's maybe finding a guy who's a little less but fits in better what you're trying to do.
It's great to get those big-name players.
And believe me, they draw a lot of attention to your team.
But sometimes it's about finding the backup or the third-string guy or someone who can actually step up when it's needed.
Quickly to your point, evaluation and money, Kentucky threw a lot of money at this roster and did nothing by Kentucky standards.
Indiana, conversely, in football, not exactly a household name, but they put enough money with a guy who knows what he's doing and evaluating a team.
To me, those two teams illustrate and reinforce your point there, Matt.
Yeah, very much so.
I mean, Kentucky's a great example.
I mean, you can spend, spend, spend all you want.
It doesn't necessarily mean you're going to win, you know.
I mean, and I think that's where, you know, we've seen teams that have found a way to find that success.
I think you look at what Kirk Sinetti did in Indiana.
You know, he brought in some experienced, older players that he had in James Madison with him.
And, you know, they were able to kind of mesh with some players that he brought into the portal.
And all of a sudden, you've got a team that's got a lot of experience, knows what it's doing, understands what they could expect from their coaching staff, and finds a way to pull it all together and win.
I mean, as much as talent is there, guys, a lot of this is chemistry.
A lot of this is keeping these guys, these kids together.
It's getting them on the floor and making sure they believe in what you're trying to do.
I've covered a lot of teams where if the chemistry is not good, you could see it, you know, when the team goes on the field and, you know, they're lifeless and they can't get through when they're challenging.
So, to me, that's the biggest thing is finding a coach who finds a way to do that.
Dusty May understood what he needed to do because Dusty May has also coached at lower levels.
He coached at FAU.
They made a good run a few years ago.
He coached down there.
Kirk Sinetti coached at James Madison.
He coached at lower levels.
He got the most out of less.
I think that's kind of a little bit of a secret.
How can you get the most out of less when you've got the resources to have what you need to have?
That's just it.
You've got to be able to fit that coach's system.
I'm going to be curious to see.
And it's certainly easier said than done.
Michigan's blueprint with Dusty May will get two 6'9 forwards and a 7'3 center.
Well, that's kind of easier said than done.
But, Matt, the common denominator here, once again, is transfer portal dudes.
Elliot Cadeau was the MVP, which really surprised me.
I thought Lindenborg would get it, but he was really hampered with some injuries.
But Cadeau from North Carolina, Lindenborg from UAB, Johnson, who I thought played well.
And then their 7'3 guy, Mara, from UCLA.
And then they had a freshman, McKinney, who played well.
But get some big guys in the post and bring in a lot of transfer portal.
But you make a good point.
They've got to be able to fit a coach's system to win the national championship.
Yeah, very much so.
And I think that's the thing.
I think that's why Michigan zeroed in on Dusty May early on, you know, when I was looking at him for a coach.
It's such an important thing to bring in a guy who, you know, understands, okay, I'm going to bring in, you know, 13, 15 players, whatever it is.
And they're going to have to buy into what I'm preaching.
And, you know, yeah, sure, you can tune me out because you're making $2 million to $4 million a year as a player.
Or you can buy into what I'm trying to teach you and believe in the system.
And then we can make a run.
And then when that starts looking good and you start making those runs, all of a sudden the players put aside all the how much am I making this year and how much can I get, you know, and worrying about the transfer portal.
And all of a sudden you buy into what you're doing and you run through and you have a great season.
I think that's exactly what happened at Indiana.
It's what happened at Michigan.
And, you know, for SEC schools, I mean, again, it's not something I don't necessarily think you could go out and buy, you know, but I think it's something you just have to find a way to do a better job of evaluating the talent and making sure you find ways to get guys to believe in what they're trying to do.
Because if you can't get that team chemistry together, it's just impossible to find ways to win.
And you've seen good teams do it and you've seen bad teams do struggle for it and talking about Kentucky.
Man, it's officially official.
North Carolina is going to hire a former NBA coach.
It's not Billy Donovan.
It is Michael Malone.
He was fired at Denver last year.
Now, he has won a lot of games in the NBA, particularly with the Nuggets.
But there are probably six coaches on the national level who got extensions because of this.
Nate Oates was one.
Tommy Lloyd, Dusty May.
I think Mark Byington quietly was vetted by North Carolina.
But are you surprised at the choice that – and again, it's not a slap at him.
It's just like, you know, there are a lot of other prominent names, certainly in college.
Are you surprised that they chose him?
And how do you think North Carolina will do?
You know, I'm not surprised, and I'll tell you why.
And I think it's an interesting trend that we might see more of is why not bring in a guy whose experience goes from the NBA where you're dealing with salary caps
and you're dealing with players who make a lot of money, dealing with rosters that basically get turned over almost on a regular basis.
Why not bring in a guy and try to have them fit that mold, you know, into the college game?
Because it's very similar, you know, I mean, I – you know, covering UCF here, talking to Johnny Dawkins, who is a former, you know, NBA player.
Johnny told me several times that the reason – how the best way to handle the portal is you treat it like how the NBA – it's like an NBA team, you know,
where you have all this thing you have to deal with.
And I think that – so to me, I think it's an interesting move.
You know, I mean, Michael Malone obviously is a guy who's going to be highly sought after in the NBA circle.
I know his name had popped up here in Orlando for the Orlando Magic, possible of being an Orlando future Maryland Magic coach.
So he's a guy that, you know, it was very highly sought after in the NBA.
So why not make a move?
Listen, North Carolina is not afraid to make a controversial move.
We saw that obviously with Bill Belichick, you know, to their football coach.
And I think that's the same sort of thinking made in the basketball line is why not bring in an NBA guy?
See if he can have some success here, you know, and you're used to dealing with all these things.
And maybe you can find a way to kind of pull that all together.
I mean, it's an interesting vibe.
And, I mean, you're right.
That job opening basically had a lot of coaches get big-time salaries.
You know, there were a lot of coaches who were not basically going to take that job,
who got more money because their name was associated with that.
So I'm sure it's an interesting hire.
I think it's the one that I'm looking forward to seeing if it has success.
Some happy agents out there.
Matt, obviously, Matt Michelle of the Orlando's in a lot of spring football games this weekend.
In your opinion, what's the most intriguing sports line coming yet?
Tuscaloosa, Gainesville, Tallahassee.
What holds your interest this weekend and after this spring camp closes across the country?
Well, you know, for me, I think, you know, I'm always going to go Gainesville.
I mean, I think, you know, I'm looking at what, you know, with John Summall coming in,
you know, with everything going on with, you know, him coming in as head coach,
them having to basically rebuild the roster, you know, D.J. Lagwee leaves, you know,
they're still trying to find a starting quarterback.
I'm sure it's a position they probably won't have, you know,
they probably won't get solved at all this weekend.
I mean, I'm sure it's going to come down to the fall camp, but, you know,
I want to see how kind of they go out there and play.
I mean, spring ball, to me, it's tough because coaches have kind of changed our philosophy.
They don't really want to do a lot of things, you know, in spring ball.
It's like you're just giving fans just kind of a brief taste of what's going on.
But to me, that's an interesting one.
I mean, I think, I think, obviously, I think, obviously, there are a lot of quarterback battles going on.
We talked about Alabama.
You mentioned Alabama.
I'm sure that's another one as well.
I think, to me, it's all about just kind of thinking how teams kind of finish.
I don't know about you guys.
It seems very quiet.
This has been a very quiet spring in a lot of places.
So I'm not sure if that's a good thing or if that just means that everyone's trying to keep their head down
and avoid having sort of any sort of issues coming up.
Wasn't it interesting, and I believe you tweeted this or reposted it,
the NCAA Division I cabinet passed what they called an emergency blind transfer legislation last week.
Now, what that means in English is the term blind transfer refers to an athlete who unenrolls from their current school
and enrols at a new university outside of the transfer portal window.
And Wisconsin cornerback Xavier Lewis did that.
He withdrew from classes at Wisconsin and played at Miami last season,
respectively circumventing the NCAA's transfer portal and basically the deterrent.
And I would say this is one for any player doing that again is suspension of the respective sports head coach
for half the season, half the season, and a fine of 20% of that sports budget.
D***.
Now, Matt, that would get my attention.
Yeah, I think it's got a lot of coaches' attention.
You know, it's funny, coaches have told me, you know, over the last couple weeks that, you know,
not having a spring, you know, a spring portal window has been great, you know,
because they don't feel like at every turn, you know, you're coaching a guy who's eventually going to end up leaving you
and going to go to another team.
And it's the first time they felt kind of a little bit at peace this spring.
But, you know, I think the biggest concern now is making sure that you don't have guys doing like you just mentioned,
jumping in the portal, finding a way to try to skirt this issue, and having schools try to find a way to maybe push a player into the portal
and try to find a way to get them, you know, pick them up as well.
So it's a challenge.
And I think a lot of coaches are trying to walk that tightrope line.
They don't want to do something that's going to come back to bite them because you get 20% in there.
I mean, that's unbelievable.
And I mean, I get it.
You want to make sure your penalties are penalties, you know, things that will, you know, detour coaches.
I think that will love it when detour a lot of coaches if they have to do that.
So it's going to be interesting.
It's not to say you can't still find somebody who's been in the portal the whole time, you know what I mean?
But I think a lot of coaches right now are just trying to make sure that they're avoiding any sort of these issues when it comes to the portal
and not trying to get themselves in any sort of trouble.
Yeah.
Heavens to Benson.
You mentioned an athletic director breaking that to a coach.
Yeah.
Yeah, you just lost 20% of your football budget, buddy.
Oh, man.
Where can we get online to get all the great stuff as usual, bud?
Yeah, you can go to orlandosentinel.com to check out the latest.
You can follow me on social media, OS Matt Rochelle, to check out all the stuff that's going on.
UCF here has got spring football still going on.
And obviously, the transfer portal window for basketball has opened up today.
So it's all about watching who's in and who's out in the portal.
Matt, listen, Matt, thanks for your time today.
And good luck with your college basketball withdrawal symptoms, okay?
All right, guys.
You take care, guys.
Thank you, buddy.
Double M.
Matt Rochelle, the Orlandos, and VB.
Are you going to get a nap and then listen to the Braves later on tonight or on 93?
That's a good idea, and particularly when they're on the West Coast.
The Braves need to pick it up.
They lost, and I believe now, three consecutive games.
They're just not hitting the ball.
Chris Sale lost last night, and he wasn't too happy about it either.
But maybe they can pick it back up again tonight.
Leonardo Lopez on the mound tonight for the Braves.
They'll start at the half game back of the first-place Mets, Marlins, and Fields.
That's right.
A three-way tie at the top.
And the Braves, in spite of that, still only a half game back of those trios of teams.
That's going to take care of business for now.
On behalf of BB, Greg, James, Blair, the entire crew here.
Harold LeBlanc, thank you so much for your time today.
Let's do it again tomorrow, noon to two for the Boomo Bugg Show.
Back here on Sports Radio 93.9, The Score.
you