Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: W Vua FM, Tuscaloosa.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Welcome into the low tide, ladies and gentlemen, here on 90.7, the capstone and streaming live on the tune in and live. Three, six, five apps.
Looks like Lamar Jackson could indeed not save us from Taylor Swift plus Chiefs Super bowl unfortunately, yeah.
[00:00:33] Speaker A: You know, obviously a bunch of people pulling for the Ravens not wanting to see Taylor Swift and the Chiefs possibly winning another Super bowl.
But it was kind of clear the whole game after those first three possessions, right? It was like touchdown, touchdown, touchdown. Then Ravens offense couldn't do anything. And then they finally almost got it in. Ball gets punched out right at the end zone. And the Ravens, I saw a funny thing earlier and it was showing when the Chiefs made that first AFC championship game and they were playing the Patriots and it was like, who's rooting for who? And it's like the whole country's rooting for the Chiefs and nobody for the Patriots except New England. And now the roles reverse and everybody was cheering for the.
You know, it's just, you know, maybe there's a chance. I feel like everybody now is pulling for the Lions just because they've never won a Super bowl before, but we'll see.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Very true. Hey, look on the bright side. We got so many good Lamar Jackson edits over the weekend, so that's something to be excited about. Another thing to be excited about. Alabama men's basketball might be back.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: I mean, it looks that way. The two big wins this week, one over a top ten auburn team who was on an eleven game win streak, and then against LSU scoring 109 points. And that was the 6th 100 point game, I believe, this season, which sets the record for most 100 point games in the season.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: Defense was not played. So like we just mentioned, Alabama gets the win over LSU here at home. 100 and 980.
Another sold out crowd. Another great environment. Adam, you were there.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: I was there for the Auburn game. I was not able to be there for LSU because I was traveling with Alabama. Adapted this weekend out to Arizona.
That was real exciting. But I was able to tune in once again. Kind of what we've talked about all year, really good offense. They had shot back up to number one offensive efficiency on Kim Palm and everything, but defense is not there. Nato spoke about it after where he was saying if the team gets to where he thinks they can get defensively, they can be a championship team. But if they don't get there like they haven't, then it's going to be really tough to win an SEC championship. Right now.
They are in first place, I believe it's a half game lead over Tennessee, who did beat Alabama. Tennessee's four and one in conference. Alabama's five and one in conference. But Alabama has a lead right now. They do need to play better defense. Giving up 88 points is not a recipe for success usually, but when you can score 109, I struggle with how the team is going to be thinking about it. Are they thinking we have to play defense or are they just saying, let's just outscore everybody because Nate Oates wants to play defense?
It's been the same thing all year. It doesn't really seem like the team has gotten the message. I mean, there has been a couple of games they played well. Like Auburn. They played pretty good defense, but they can't do it every game. And maybe we're just going to have to live with it for this year.
[00:03:57] Speaker B: Yeah, I think the interesting thing is when you're so heavily reliant on your offense, you can run into problems. You have one game where you don't shoot as well as you normally do and all of a know you get a result like that Tennessee game.
I want to say one thing. Very interesting game from Mark Sears. Not playing well up until the half. But in the final ten minutes he goes on a crazy scoring run and ends up leading all scores with 21 even though he went over five from three. That's big. Latrell Wrightsell Jr. 19 points. Aaron Estrada adding on 18. Alabama's problem is definitely not in the back court.
[00:04:40] Speaker A: No. Possibly one of the best back courts in the nation. And most of the year it has been carried by Mark Sears. He's had multiple, even 30 point games and he got hurt a couple of games ago he played decent. But in this game over five from three. But then at the end, 1111 free throws. You need somebody to go shoot free throws. Get it to Mark Sears because free throws are going to win you a lot of games.
Latrell Reitzel, he's really been stepping up and especially this game being the second leading scorer. And then Aaron Estrada, he's getting back into the groove of things. What was interesting, you have five people score in double digits. Grant Nelson, who a lot of people were complaining about a couple of weeks ago. Now they're backing off because he's played pretty well. Second half against Auburn and then the game against LSU played pretty well. But Mohammed Diabate, I think that's how you say it. I don't know. Mo dita as they termed it now.
Season high points, eight points, 15 minutes. And then also being able to play pretty good defense compared to how it was earlier in the year where we just couldn't find anybody. I mean, in this game, nobody was really playing good defense, but he has definitely stepped it up a little bit lately. But hopefully they can keep scoring like this, but then play better defense and then they could possibly, I don't know if you saw the new Joe Leonardi projection, they had Alabama back up to a four.
And then the only thing that's upsetting for me, who would like to go to those games in the NCAA tournament if they were to get up like that high, I mean, I would go no matter what, but they had them in the west, so their first two rounds as a four seed would be Salt Lake City. And then if they made it past that, then they would go to Los Angeles. Very interesting. In the same region, you had a couple teams that Alabama's already played this know, creighton I believe was in there, but then also Memphis was a possible tournament matchup with, you know, now over there. And the North Carolina was at the one for the, you know, out of all the ones, I mean, I know some people would like another shot at Purdue because they had a chance to win that game, just couldn't finish, couldn't play defense. And also, when you have a seven foot four guy out there, it's a little difficult.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: Yeah, that's the thing, right? Like who's guarding Zach eady?
We talked about this a lot this year, about how, I think I've said it multiple times about how this team really misses Bettacco. You miss a guy like that. One thing I think is really interesting, NATO continues to kind of preach the message that he's not satisfied with his rotation yet. I don't even think he's satisfied with his starters, which is interesting to watch as the season goes on. I mean, we're getting pretty deep into the season here.
It's going to be interesting to see how that rotation evolves as we get closer to the SEC tournament in the postseason in general. One thing you'd love to see, 23 assists for Alabama.
That's their most in SEC play and second highest of the season. You'd love to see that. And 89% from the stripe, 25 of 28, I mean, can't get much better than that.
[00:08:23] Speaker A: You need those free throws. And then, like you were saying with the know, everybody says Alabama lives and dies by the three. And to some extent, it's a little also, I mean, it's played to where, unless you're shooting a two at the rim, which is your highest percentage. Then why shoot it any closer than a three, which is going to get you more points. I know NatO has said if you'd swide open, then take it, but there's been times where you've seen the team, like when they're struggling, maybe just like one guy gets it, just shoots a three right off the bat, but when they're actually moving the ball, penetrating and then kicking it out and getting those assists, that's when the offense is really clicking, driving kick.
[00:09:04] Speaker B: So let's know. You also mentioned the Auburn game. I want to talk about the Auburn game a little bit since we did not get a chance to talk about that game. What a thriller.
[00:09:14] Speaker A: Yeah. So that one I was at, I was a front row.
[00:09:17] Speaker B: So was roll tide Willie.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: Yeah, he made an appearance. They kind of kept it a secret from us because that day it was raining. Usually the students line up on the west side of the stadium, and then it's backed up. I know last year, a little bit different circumstances, but it was backed up all the way, like, around the track facility and everything. This time I show up, there's, like nobody out there. And then I get over, there's a sign on the door saying that students are going through the north entrance, like the main entrance over there. And we go in, and it's just a crowd of students waiting. They have the gates, like, closed down so you can't get through. And they're passing out wristbands for some of the students that sit on the actual floor seating. And then they go, oh, we have to hold on to three of them. There's a special guest coming in, and it's like, who is it? And then all of a sudden, once all the students get in there and it's crowded, all of a sudden you just see real tide Willie come out there. And then he came over, gave a little passion speech, and then took some pictures and probably signed some autographs. I don't know, but it was a great time, great atmosphere.
I really liked the atmosphere last year against Auburn, but that was a little different. That was. Auburn took that early lead at one point in the game. They get up by 17. Alabama starts making the comeback. And at first it's just the students, like, trying to will the team back. And then as the game got closer and closer, that's when the rest of the stadium, this one, it was almost from the tip where everybody was into the game. Everybody was making noise. Everybody was just making it a real home court know, answering the call from Jay Williams of saying that we sound like a tennis match.
[00:11:11] Speaker B: So was it not a tennis match?
[00:11:12] Speaker A: This one? It was definitely not. And he actually came up and took some pictures and took some videos with us before the game. There's a really good picture of him right in front of me. If you see it, I'm the guy with the red hair.
[00:11:30] Speaker B: I did see you on tv.
[00:11:31] Speaker A: Yeah, I had many people say they saw me, but yeah, it was great.
I think it was another one of those games. Alabama had a 14 point lead at halftime, right?
Auburn got up to an early lead. Alabama comes back and then they're up by 14. And I'm just thinking they were up by 17 last year. Anything can happen. We don't need to have the fans get complacent and then Auburn makes a comeback and then it's a game. But like, everybody was still into it. They didn't just shut down and leave the team to do it by themselves. But Ryland Griffin in that game, that was a show. 17 points, five attend from three.
And it was funny and I wish I had posted about it. I don't do a whole lot of post on social media. Like, if I'm not actually covering the event, I'll do the in here. But budy of mine that I'm standing next to, I turned to him in warm ups and I think Ryland Griffin had hit like six straight three pointers in warm ups. And I go, is this going to be a Ryan Griffin legacy game right now? And then he ends up with 17 points. And he had actually said that he was challenged by Nate Oates earlier that week, that they were going to need him for this game. So, yeah, that was one of the most fun basketball games I've been a part of.
[00:13:02] Speaker B: Yeah, one of the better games of his career. Not his career high, but still a fantastic game from him.
Mark Sears, another great game. You just kind of come to expect that from him. 22 points, one for five from three. So maybe a bit of a rough shooting stretch, but everybody's going to go through those rides. Hell was 14, Grant Nelson was 14. And an epic putback dunk, that one.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: It was right after, I believe he airballed a three. And so everybody's still kind of like in disbelief that why is he shooting threes? He hasn't hit one in a while and now you're airballing and then he makes the put back and then everybody's automatically forgiven and, yeah, hopefully.
It seems like he's kind of found a role now, obviously, in that second half against Auburn and then the gaming she was playing really well and hopefully I can keep going the next two games at Georgia.
You don't want to say that it's an easy win, but compared to some of the teams Alabama has played, that is an easier opponent, I would say, but it is on the road and Alabama has lost at Stegman Coliseum. They lost there, I believe it was two years ago, and that's rated as one of the worst losses of NATO's tenure at Alabama. After that, you got Mississippi State, who just beat Auburn at home right after Alabama beat them. And then they go to hopefully, you know, go into that Auburn game without another loss and then hopefully take one on the know. It's going to be exciting to see how this team finishes out the season. Obviously that strong out of conference that they always play has benefited them in SEC play. I know the 20 point loss to Tennessee still hurts. They will get a rematch in March at home. It'll be a 07:00 p.m. Saturday tip. So that'll be hopefully as raucous as it's been for the last two games and then maybe another SEC championship. I mean, they're in the lead right now. Hopefully I'll keep my fingers crossed on it. And then that tournament in Nashville, and then we'll see what.
[00:15:30] Speaker B: You know, big picture. Right. Alabama is in a fantastic spot in the SEC. They've got the lead, the sole lead. Now, given that might just be because Tennessee has played one less game. Tennessee does have the tiebreaker over them right now. Obviously you've got Alabama in first, Tennessee, South Carolina, Auburn, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Florida, and then Georgia.
[00:15:54] Speaker A: And know on from think, you know, that the main challenger is going to be Tennessee. They already beat us by 20. That we do have the rematch in March that I just mentioned.
[00:16:06] Speaker B: Well, that's a team that a lot of people think is a final four caliber team.
[00:16:11] Speaker A: They are really good. I'm looking at the rest of the schedule, and Auburn would have to either us lose multiple games or Auburn would have to beat us in that game. And then we would have to know some more for them to get back into it. So really toughest games remaining, all road games except for that Tennessee. But at Auburn, I would say at Kentucky, then you have the Tennessee and then that game at Florida. We do have two against Florida, one here, one there. But Florida is a different team at home.
[00:16:41] Speaker B: You know what's wild to me? Arkansas, a team that a lot of people saw as a final four, almost a shoe in to make the final four, and they're one in six in conference 500 record. I mean, just been a strange year for Arkansas. Yeah.
[00:17:00] Speaker A: And this was a team. They've made sweet 16 multiple times last couple of years under muscleman. And then they were in the running to get Grant Nelson. And it was funny because once Alabama got him, it was like, oh, Auburn's done. Arkansas is done. Excuse me, but Arkansas is done. And then nobody really believed that. They expected Arkansas to be one of those top tier SEC teams. And now ten and ten. One in six in conference, three straight losses, and they just lost to Kentucky. They just lost to them. And it was trying to get the exact final score, 63 57.
And I know it kept a close. Kentucky is ranked in the top ten. So it's like they still have talent, they still have a chance, but they're just not getting those wins. I do think they have a win over Duke this season earlier. Yeah, they beat Duke 80 to 75 back in November. Obviously, that was a while back now, but it's just wild. You didn't really expect this. And then find out that one of.
[00:18:13] Speaker B: Their players, Devante Davis.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: Devante Davis, he just decided to step away from the team. And we don't really know exactly what was happening. I know there was a video of him after one of the recent losses where he was laughing after the game. And some people pointed out that that could have been a point where maybe the coaches sat down and talked to him and found out that it would be better for him not to be a part of the team anymore, but not just kick him off and allow him to make that decision. So I don't know what's going on over in Arkansas, but not looking good so far. But if his team got hot, they could still be dangerous. They still got some good players.
[00:18:50] Speaker B: Very true.
So once again, Nicholas Persley, Adam Hambright. We're missing Joe shots. Know, probably out there sad about the Ravens.
[00:19:01] Speaker A: Yeah, that's why he's really not here.
[00:19:04] Speaker B: He couldn't stand to show his face after Lamar's tough performance. When we come back here on 90.7, we've got so much to talk about that we've got kind of almost an Alabama grab bag of topics to talk about here on 90.7. We'll be right back.
This show is a sports production of WVUAFM 90.7, a division of student media at the University of Alabama. Support us by leaving a review rating or following us on X at WVUA FM. Sports welcome back in, ladies and gentlemen, to the low tide here on 90.7, capstone and streaming live on the live three, six five and tune in apps. That was tough. It's a bit of a tongue twister.
[00:20:07] Speaker A: Yeah. Should we try to get on some more things to make it more difficult?
[00:20:11] Speaker B: Make it even more of a tough, like, internal ad? Read Nicholas and Adam in here. As always, missing Joe. Probably upset about the, you know, obviously.
[00:20:27] Speaker A: Being the number one seed, having it at home, but it was to Patrick Mahomes. It was to the Chiefs. They've been maybe the last NFL dynasty. We don't know what's going to happen after this, but it could be worse.
The game is not over. So I don't want to say anything, but he could have watched this team go down 24 to seven instead of just 17 to seven. Right now. NFC Championship game. Lions are up. Twenty four, seven over. Forty nine ers, 49 ers are driving. But the big update for all of us is Jamir Gibbs and Jameson Williams, both with touchdowns in the game.
[00:21:05] Speaker B: Let's go. You know who has the easiest job ever tonight? The NFL social media manager.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:12] Speaker B: The free content Taylor Swift post guaranteed likes must be nice.
One thing I got to bring up, so last week, I think it was either last week or the week before, we talked about how Roll Tide Willie has been infiltrating the Alabama athletics department. He continues to keep doing it, and apparently it's working because almost immediately, I believe as soon as the Alabama Auburn basketball game went final, five star Ryan Williams recommits to the Tide.
[00:21:43] Speaker A: How do we feel about that? He recommitted and then shortly, he was still scheduled for a visit to Auburn.
But a bunch of recruits, they'll commit, they'll still take those visits because they want to take the trips, maybe get some free stuff, but also you might get that one pitch that really sells you on the team, and then you still haven't signed a letter of intent, so you're free to decommit again. He could have decommitted and went down there.
I know a bunch of people had thought he was going to switch to Auburn when he decommitted the first time. There's also the chance for Texas a m. And we had talked about how once coach Deborah got here, got his staff, got back to recruiting, then we could really see how this team was going to fare after losing what has been lost in the transfer portal. And that was a big get right there. He commits, and then shortly after he ends up canceling the Auburn visit, not even wanting to go see anybody else. So he seems 100% locked in.
Hopefully some more recruits will follow I know a lot of people have compared this to the Julio Jones commitment during Saban's first recruiting cycle. Time will tell.
I have seen not in person, I wasn't able to go in person, but I have watched Ryan Williams in some of his games, especially in that championship game where him and Bachweg went back and forth to scoring touchdowns the whole time and that was exciting. I think he's going to be really good for Alabama, especially with Alabama losing a big portion of that receiver core. I know there's still Kobe Printis, still Kendrick Law, and then you have the transfer from Washington coming in. But Ryan Williams, he might be a guy that can step in day.
[00:23:36] Speaker B: You know, you got to know if you're an Alabama fan that Ryan Williams is that type of guy who can really come in and be that star wide receiver that Alabama has not had, frankly, really since like Jameson Williams maybe.
[00:23:51] Speaker A: Know they went on a stretch right there where it was just like a reload. Every know you had Judy, you had Devontae. It's like Jalen Wanda was never like the guy, but it was like you had a guy that could have been a number one guy as like your third. And then after Jameson and Metchi, you really haven't had that on Alabama's offense. And then with the constant turnover of offensive coordinators.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I certainly would like given Deborah's track record with receivers in his system. I mean, you would imagine that there's going to be many a wide receiver wanting to come up, come play at Alabama.
[00:24:32] Speaker A: If I'm not mistaken, I believe his number one receiver at Washington had like more yards than our top three, like combined.
I might be lying to you about that, but that is what I remember. I will try to find that out. But yeah, if you watch the offense, you know that Alabama at least I know not this past season, but the season before, you were able to mask it with how well Bryce Young played. But still, you saw the drop off in production from wide receivers after you lost two of the best receivers in college football, right?
[00:25:12] Speaker B: Yeah. And speaking of Alabama, recruiting third overall class this year. Now, obviously you've got a lot of that is Nick Saban's work.
There were even reports that he was still continuing to help out talking to recruits, which is something a lot of those guys are going to be guys that he recruited and trying to keep them to stay on is definitely going to be a challenge.
But this is the third ranked recruiting class in the country in 2024. And second, when you consider the composite with transfers and everything now I do believe this still has guys like Julian saying kind of pieced in there, guys who obviously transferred out even though they were early in roles, but still a pretty star studded class nonetheless, which is obviously now next year's recruiting class, the first one that will be truly Deborah's. That one's going to be interesting a lot, but they've also made a ton of moves, going to get different kind of scouting personnel, obviously. Courtney Morgan coming over first time Alabama has had a real GM starting to look like an NFL front.
[00:26:31] Speaker A: Brought Devore, brought him over from Washington. Obviously he's had a pretty good track record and I know a lot of people like to look. Know how many five stars. Right. And that's good for your actual recruiting ranking, which is really the only way that we're able to judge it. But that's like in the immediacy. Right. But there have been time and time again with Alabama where there have been people that weren't five stars or people that they didn't think would be that number one guy who ends up becoming Lionel early in Nick Sabit. Like, obviously people want to talk about the Julio Jones and Mark Ingram, all that kind of stuff that came in. But in the 2009, the first national championship that Nick Saban won at Alabama, the defensive mvp of the game was Marcel Darius. He was a three star when he came in. So when you look at Washington and what they were able to do there, they were recruiting. They weren't really pulling in those five star people. That blows people's minds. But then you saw the production once they got there. So it's not necessarily getting the top level guy, but getting the top level guy for their systems.
[00:27:42] Speaker B: Well, and now if you're divorced, you have access to all of those top level guys. That was something that he preached in his introductory press conference was like, yeah, I'm going to adjust my system to fit with some of the top talent in all of college football, which is a luxury that he now has. Another thing I wanted to bring up, Alabama just hired a new director of recruiting strategy, Jatavius Sanders, who was the director of recruiting at North Carolina State.
And I believe they had their second best recruiting class since like 2008. With him on the staff.
[00:28:20] Speaker A: Yeah, they've had some pretty good talent there. And another thing that's important with that. So Courtney Morgan, you know, he's been with, know, over at, you know, a big thing. Even with him bringing somebody in that could help with that player personnel stuff, everybody kept saying, can he recruit in the south? And when you bring in your offensive coordinator. Obviously that's going to help get some of the receivers. But now he's looking around.
He retained some people on the staff that were already around here, also hired the south Alabama head coach Kane womick to come in. So obviously he's used to the know. He hasn't had Alabama facilities to recruit with, but then getting somebody from North Carolina State, he's obviously been recruiting in the south as well. So he's not coming in saying, oh, I know what I'm doing. I don't need any help. He's actually going out and getting people that can help him achieve what he needs to do.
And I got the fact check for you. I was slightly wrong. Okay.
[00:29:26] Speaker B: Slightly wrong is better than completely wrong.
[00:29:28] Speaker A: Okay, so Rome Adunza from Washington this past year, who is projected to be one of the top receivers taken in the draft.
He had 1640 receiving yards this year.
The three top Alabama receivers in yardage, Jermaine Burton, Isaiah Bond, Amari Nyblack, combined for 1793.
[00:29:54] Speaker B: Pretty wild.
[00:29:55] Speaker A: So if we can get some production like that, people will be talking about us like they were back when we had Jerry, Judy and Devante, Matt, everybody.
[00:30:06] Speaker B: One can hope, right?
[00:30:07] Speaker A: I hope that we can finally get past this past year.
I enjoyed what they were able to do with the offense, but when you're so used to something else, it's hard to see us going from having offensive coordinators of Steve Sarkeesian to know Bill O'Brien and then.
[00:30:31] Speaker B: Okay, okay, all right, hold on. Let's not drag Tommy Reese in with Bill O'Brien. I think he's infinitely better.
[00:30:37] Speaker A: I do think he was better. I'm just saying offensive production know was a little lacking, but they were improving as the season went on.
[00:30:49] Speaker B: Other big news at Alabama this past week. Nick Dunlap makes a decision to turn know. I'm not going to lie, I thought there was a little bit of a chance that he was going to stay and finish out the know obviously only got the rest of the semester I mean semester just barely started, but would have the semester and he obviously had the option to defer his tour card for a little bit. Still would have gotten into the Masters, the US Open, the Open Championship by nature of his us amateur win. But I think there's just too much upside in turning pro and I think it would have been different had he finished like top five in the event instead of actually winning. Because once you win and it's not just that he won, it was the caliber of guys that he know he beats Sam Burns LSU alum, who, very interestingly, earlier that week, had roll tide roll shaved into his head. He lost a bet to JT.
But I believe Sam Burns has won five times on the PGA Tour. And then you're beating Justin Thomas, two time major winner, when you're beating that caliber of player. Plus the fact that you had already won a US junior AM and a us amateur. He is the only player to ever do that besides Tiger woods and the only player to ever win a us junior AM, a us amateur, and a PGA Tour event as an amateur.
If you can already beat the best in the world, why not go make some money?
[00:32:33] Speaker A: And then the first amateur to win on the PGA Tour since. Was it Phil? Phil Mickelson back in 91, or whatever it was.
[00:32:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it was 91.
[00:32:45] Speaker A: We were kind of hoping with the new way of nil, that maybe he could be like that top college nil getter for golf, which we haven't really seen. We didn't know if it was possible, but maybe there was a way for him to at least stay out this year, still make some money, so that he's not looking at it like, maybe I made a bad decision. But like you were saying, with the competition, he beat going to the PGA Tour. And now you can prove that he's already proved that he's one of the best. At least he's probably the best at the college level. Now he wants to go out and prove that he's one of the best on the PGA Tour. And only way to do that is to go pro and go to all these things and then actually win some money. Right.
We were just upset because Alabama golf on the men's side, two national championships back in 2013, 2014. This year, we were kind of hoping that we would have that guy to kind of lead the team and possibly win it.
[00:33:52] Speaker B: Well, last year, they had a pretty encouraging performance, and all things were kind of pointing towards this season being like, hey, this could be the year, right? That they get back to the pinnacle. And then, obviously, you have Nick Dunlap win the US amateur, and then it's like, oh, boy, now this is getting real now. And then he goes and wins a PGA Tour event, which is still like, can't I wish that there was an easy way for me to describe it to somebody who hadn't really followed golf, how impressive that was. I can't. If I think of it, you all will be the first to hear, but it's crazy, right? Dunlap rose 4000 spots in the official World golf rankings.
[00:34:36] Speaker A: Is that good?
[00:34:37] Speaker B: It's insane. I believe it's the highest jump ever.
He's 60 eigth ranked player in the world, not just as an amateur. He was already the number one amateur in the world, but now he's the 60 eigth best player in all of golf.
So the interesting part about him turning pro is that he kind of flips his exemptions, right, for winning. He gets a two year PGA Tour exemption into all events. He gets into the premiere events this year, which have massive purses, way more than regular tour events. He's in the Masters. He would have been in the Masters anyway. He's in the US Open. He would have been in the US Open anyway. He loses his British Open exemption, but he gains a PGA Championship exemption. And honestly, he can very easily play his way into the Open Championship. So that's not much of a concern. But now, obviously, he gets to start making some money, and he has a real chance to have a great season.
[00:35:45] Speaker A: If I was as good at golf as he was, I probably would not have hesitated either. I would have probably tried to do it even before winning on the tour. But I'm not that good. I didn't have that chance. So good luck to him going forward.
I wish he could come back, but I don't blame him.
[00:36:08] Speaker B: Yeah. You know what's also crazy, right? He was playing on a sponsor's exemption. It was only his fourth tour event ever, and he hadn't made a cut in any of the other three he'd played, which is, like, actually crazy. And what does he get as a reward now he gets his first start as a professional at pebble beach with the honorable Palmer invitational, the players championship quickly approaching a little bit better than.
[00:36:34] Speaker A: The courses here in Alabama.
[00:36:36] Speaker B: Just a little. Know some other things we got to talk about. Okay. I don't know if you saw this. So Alabama has a women's club hockey team now.
[00:36:45] Speaker A: Just recently, this was their first weekend playing.
[00:36:49] Speaker B: Their first practice was a week before this game, which is insane. At this game, they didn't even have numbers on their jerseys. They had to use the masking tape, which is just awesome. Shout out Alabama pro updates for that amazing little tidbit. But, yeah. So they beat Auburn 20 nothing in the first game. I have been to pellum. I don't even know what you call it. The little ice hockey rank in pellum. The scoreboard does not count that high, so they couldn't even display how many goals they had scored. So they beat Auburn 20 nothing in the first game and 18 to one in the second game. So 38 goals in two games for Alabama women's club hockey. I don't think you can ask for a much better start to your team than that.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: Yeah, that was insane. And it's funny because I saw the post after that win. They had won 20 to nothing. And one, it's like, okay, because we knew we had the men's hockey team.
This was their first game. It's like, hopefully they do good and then it's a 20 to nothing win. And I saw this post and it was like, this team only has this many followers on Twitter.
Go follow it. And I went to the page and I was already following it. I just forgot. So that's bad on my part. But, yeah, I know there was a couple of years ago on the men's side, they actually made it to the final eight teams.
I'm drawing a blank on the league name, but they had went up to Westchester, Pennsylvania and got up into the final eight teams. And now you have this new women's team. First game, 29, and then they won again. I believe Auburn actually scored in that one, but they were having some fun with the post. Like, Auburn just scored, but we have like eleven.
Really good start. Hopefully they can keep it going. And I've already seen some people asking for Coleman Coliseum whenever the new basketball arena gets built to make Coleman into an on campus hockey arena, one can hope, right?
[00:39:14] Speaker B: That would be a blast. So, yeah. Shout out to the Alabama women's hockey team at Alabama W hockey on instagram. If you want to go follow them, go give them a follow because that's awesome. And that's a club sport, by the way.
[00:39:26] Speaker A: Also, I don't know if they have. I'm going to find out sometime, either tonight or this week. But we got to do something to get some actual numbers on those jerseys because they deserve it after that performance, for sure.
[00:39:43] Speaker B: But go follow them on instagram. Help them get some more followers. Help them get some more traction. Shout out to all the club hockey teams here at Alabama. I went out to a game, I think it was a couple of months ago. That was an absolute blast. That's a good time. If you ever get a chance, it's about 45 minutes from here in pellum. Go out to one of their games because that was an absolute blast.
Did you see that?
This is a bit off topic.
So Dylan Lonergan, who, you know, quarterback here at Alabama, I believe he's a freshman this year, was a freshman dual sport athlete in football and also a very accomplished pitcher in high school. That Rob Vaughn was pretty excited about. He said that most likely it looks like Lonergan is going to focus on football this upcoming season. So just interesting, maybe he's thinking that there's a serious chance for maybe not in 2024 because you would assume that Millro's got that locked up, but in 2025 for him to potentially.
[00:40:52] Speaker A: Yeah. So we have Jalen Milro right now. We'll see what happens once spring practices start and then, I don't know about at the quarterback position, but Jim Harbaugh just took the Chargers job. So now that transfer portal is going to open up for Michigan players. Also, you're going to have the spring transfer portal. That'll happen, I believe, after all the spring practices have been concluded.
I might be mistaken on the exact date on that, but there will be another spring transfer portal and now you could see some people transferring in, but right now it is expected that Jalen Milrow, who is tied for third, I think best Heisman Ods is going to be the starting quarterback. Kaylen Deborah had already said how he was going to tailor his offense to the players that he has, which is really encouraging to kind of lean into Millro's strengths and improve that passing ability like he was been able to do with. If you like, he was good at Indiana, but if you watch how he changed from playing at Indiana early in his college career to how he was at Washington being a Heisman finalist.
But yeah, Dylan Laudergan looking to focus on football, staying on the team, you have Millro, you have Simpson.
And Simpson has not transferred. Maybe he will later. Who knows, he will have another, like he's a year behind Millrow. So he would be another guy that Lanergood would have to beat out for. You obviously just had Austin Mack transfer in which that might be Ryan Grubb and Kayla, Deborah's guy that they want to go with in the future. But I remember specifically when the quarterback battle was happening last year where it was Milro and Buckner and Ty Simpson. Everybody kept saying how impressed they were with Dylan Lonergan. So I don't know if he's going to get. There's been many quarterbacks that have been really highly touted and they've been doing good in practice, but they just never get the chance to start because of the people that have been, you know, this season goes well.
If Millro does decide to leave for the NFL after this year, hopefully he's a guy that can actually challenge for that starting spot if he wants to.
[00:43:19] Speaker B: I gotta say though, I would love to see a couple of appearances out on the diamond. That would be fun.
[00:43:24] Speaker A: Yeah, it's been a while. I don't remember exactly the last one. I remember playing both ways, football and baseball was, I think it was Spencer Pennington back in like 2003 or four where he was a quarterback and played baseball. And Brody Kroll went down in 2004 and he stepped in and was like the starter and led the team to the Music City ball. So there's that.
[00:43:53] Speaker B: And one more thing. The spring transfer period starts on April 15, ends on April 30.
[00:44:00] Speaker A: So that's like right during that time that we're doing all the. We don't have an actual date for the eight a game. So we'll see what, I know last year it was like late April, I believe.
[00:44:11] Speaker B: But we'll be right back here on 90.7. We'll be with you until the top of the hour. We're going to talk Alabama women's basketball and Alabama gymnastics when we come back here on 90.7.
[00:44:36] Speaker A: FM, Tuscaloosa.
[00:44:48] Speaker B: Welcome back in, ladies and gentlemen, to the low tide here on 90.7 and streaming live on live three, six, five and the tune in app. I got it right that time. Nick and Adam missing Joe.
I don't know if anybody heard us over the Allison chains, but the Lions are potentially ejecting in the.
[00:45:13] Speaker A: What is it?
[00:45:13] Speaker B: The NFC championship game.
[00:45:15] Speaker A: Yeah, NFC Championship. Lions, 49 ers. I had mentioned it earlier how the Lions had a 24 to seven lead and now it's 24 to 17. Lions just fumbled the ball, 49 ers got it back and now 49 ers have it. First and goal at the four yard line, and now they're down to the one anyway, so not looking good for the Lions right now. Maybe they got that huge lead and then had to remember that we are the Lions and we've never been here and we need to pay our dues. So they might just be losing on purpose. Not really. Dan Campbell's a great coach. He would never do that. But I was kind of hoping we could get the Lions into the Super bowl.
We'll see.
There's still another quarter to go.
[00:46:02] Speaker B: Game and over.
[00:46:03] Speaker A: It's a third quarter, about three minutes left in the third. So we'll see.
[00:46:10] Speaker B: Alabama women's basketball, big win tonight. They take down Kentucky, 91 74. Okay, first off, Sarah Ashley Barker, 34 points, 34 points, ten rebounds, double double, four steals.
[00:46:30] Speaker A: Obviously, she's been really good this year. The team has played really well. They have lost a couple of games recently, most recently that LSU game. You know, LSU, defending national champions came in and I was talking to some people. I don't know how much of a difference it would have made in the second half. LSU was playing really well, but Sarah Ashley Barker got two quick fouls in that third quarter. So had four fouls, basically a non factor in the second half. This game you see what kind of damage you can do having the 34 points. And then I don't remember the last time the women's team scored 91 against an SEC opponent.
That is very impressive and hopefully they can keep rolling.
I know this is like probably out of the last couple of teams. I know they made the NCA tournament. This is probably the best team that they've had under Christie Curry.
I know lost probably their best player from last year. But as a team, this team looks like they can do some damage.
[00:47:36] Speaker B: Yeah, potentially. And you know what, the win is even sweeter when you consider that they had lost the last three games in a row all by 13 or more points. So a big win, get back on the saddle and really a fantastic game from Sarah Ashley Barker. This is the kind of game that you were very hopeful when she came to Alabama, when she transferred away from Georgia. This was the type of game that you were hoping to see out of her. And I think Christy Curry is finally starting to get that real peak performance out of Sarah Ashley. So you'd love to see that.
I believe they are now 16 and six on the season, three and four in the SEC.
So I know they've got some tough games coming up.
[00:48:22] Speaker A: Their next two games on the road, they got one at Arkansas on Thursday. Then they have a game at Vanderbilt next Monday. So we'll be able to have another show and see what they did against Arkansas. Then they got Tennessee at LSU. Auburn comes into know Jemaya Mingo Young on her return visit Tuscaloos after transferring. They do still have a game at South Carolina and then Mississippi State, Florida and Texas a m to end the year, hopefully.
I would love for them to win all the games, but really just have a winning record going the rest of the way, get some momentum going in that SEC tournament and then try to do some damage, especially if Sarah Ashley Barker is playing how she did. And then so she had a double double and also essence Cody also had a double double today.
[00:49:19] Speaker B: So really big performances building on a fantastic freshman year for essence Cody. But that is what you would expect.
I believe one of the first five stars of Christy Curry's tenure here at Alabama. So bringing in the big name player.
[00:49:34] Speaker A: And what's interesting, I'm not going to say it's going to happen this year. Obviously, I need to see a little bit more from the team, but there is only one basketball final four banner in Coleman Coliseum and that is from the 1994 women's team. So I'm just saying there is a little bit of history there. So we'll see.
[00:49:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
In other news, Alabama gymnastics take down Florida and snap. I believe they had a 20 meet win streak at home.
[00:50:03] Speaker A: Yeah, basically they have not lost in multiple years.
I don't remember the exact number.
[00:50:10] Speaker B: I think it was 2019 was the.
[00:50:11] Speaker A: Last time I lost. But very impressive so far. Undefeated. And they have improved their score.
[00:50:18] Speaker B: Well, yes, undefeated, but they also have a tie. Crazy.
[00:50:24] Speaker A: So they have improved their score each meet. So the first meet, they had a quad meet at the mean girls Super 16 gymnastics championship in Las Vegas where they scored 197.125, beating UCLA, Cal and Auburn. Then they had Missouri, which we had talked about 197.225. Then they tied with Arkansas. Arkansas came in at number four. Album was number three.
And they had some struggles, had a couple of players banged up.
One of them wasn't able to go. Gabby Gladio, she was not able to compete in that one. Really good sophomore, who had won the vault SEC championship the year before she got injured in practice was not able to compete in that one. Louis Fablanco was not able to compete in all the events. And then they needed a nine nine five on the very last floor routine from Lily Hudson to force the tie. They got it. And then they went down to Florida. The first true roadme at Florida. I know Florida lost some very impressive gymnasts from the previous years, but it's still Florida. And they go down, improve the score once again, 197.55. And they had, well, Lily Hudson puts.
[00:51:51] Speaker B: Up perfect ten on the vault.
[00:51:52] Speaker A: Lily Hudson, perfect ten. It was her second perfect ten. I believe so, yes. It was her second career perfect ten. And the Tide's first perfect score of the season.
And they claimed a share of every event title. So obviously, Lily Hudson on vault with that perfect ten. On bars, Louisa Blanco and Macari Doggette scored 9925. Balance beam, Louisa Blanco, nine nine five and floor exercise, Lily Hudson again, 9925.
And then all around Chloe La Corcia, 39.7 overall and nine season high scores throughout the meet. So this is. I know coach Johnson had talked about early in the season, or maybe before the season, how she believed this team had a real good chance at a championship. And there have not been a national championship from Alabama gymnastics since 2012, I believe. And they're still the big villain in Oklahoma who is averaging over a 198. So that will be interesting to see how it will be when they hopefully get to compete against them at a national championship level. But teams looking good, improving every week, and they now have Kentucky this week before they have to go a couple of road meets. So if you can be there Friday night, 07:30 p.m. Take on Kentucky, hopefully improve the score once again and keep the undefeated season alive.
[00:53:39] Speaker B: Yeah, go be hashtag in there.
So I think that's going to do it for us. Alabama women's athletics on a heck of a roll.
[00:53:47] Speaker A: Also, I will mention, so I'd said earlier, Alabama adapted. I was with the trip with them, with the women's Wheelchair basketball team to Arizona this week. Another undefeated weekend for them. They are now on a 20 game winning streak. Their only loss was their first matchup of the season. Not against a collegiate team. It was against a team of like, it was some of their coaches and other people that have played collegiate league before. That's their only loss, 20 game winning streak. Did have their first, actually, like really close game. They played UT Arlington, who seems to be the second best team. They've had a couple of games where it's been somewhat close. That one, Alabama pulled out 51 47. So that was their first true nail biting test.
That's going to be good for them going forward because they're going to play that team multiple times the rest of the way. So if you come into a game once it gets closer to the championship and you have to deal with it, then you've got that experience in a close game. So shout out to them. I know it was pretty tough traveling all the way out there. First time we had to fly, but it was fun and pretty undefeated in collegiate play so far. Hopefully they'll bring back, I believe it'll be their 6th straight national championship if they won it this year. I know there's one year where it's not because of COVID but hopefully they can bring another championship to Tuscaloosa. So all around Alabama adapted the rest of Alabama's women's athletics programs, doing great things for the university.
[00:55:26] Speaker B: Yeah, you'd love to see it. So that's going to do it for us here on the low tide on 90.7, the capstone. As always, you can join us next Sunday from seven to eight. We'll be here talking all things Alabama athletics, Alabama club sports and everything in between. Nicholas Persley, Adam Hambright. We hope to see Joe schats next time. Hopefully he's recovered from the Ravens loss by then.
[00:55:50] Speaker A: Hopefully he doesn't go off to Cancun.
[00:55:54] Speaker B: And don't forget, you can find us streaming live on the tune in app or the live three six five app.
We hope to see you next time. Have a good night. Thank you for listening.
