Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: W Vua FM, Tuscaloosa.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: Welcome into the low tide here on 90.7, the Capstone, a special podcast edition. Due to Alabama taking on Grand Canyon last night, they get the win 72 61 in potentially like one of the wildest games I've ever seen.
[00:00:30] Speaker C: Yeah, definitely up there for just kind of the craziest. There are a lot of crazy sequences in that game that got Alabama to where they are.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: But yeah, just a wild watch, like y'all were saying. Wild watch, questionable officiating and defense in an Alabama basketball game that we haven't seen that in a while. So it was nice to watch. Now they got, you know, this Thursday, so hopefully they can keep it.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: Yeah, before we get into that game, let's break down this game. Joe, you want to give us the rundown? You were covered in this game.
[00:01:10] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, as we mentioned, kind of a very hotly contested game. You could say a lot of physical calls and a lot of interesting foul calls, kind of like Adam alluded to. But Alabama did pull out the win 72 to 61. It was kind of a game that, and I kind of just wrote this in my kind of last tweet about the game, was people you didn't really know if Alabama could win a game like this this season. It seemed like every time that they shot the ball poorly or couldn't get the offense going, essentially they would let up 100 or something and lose and that would just kind of be it. But the team did show a lot of fight and grit in this game. I mean, it wasn't their best, like I said, shooting performance. It was below 40% in both halves from the field, really bad shooting from three, especially in the second half. They were just three of 16 in the second half, but it took a team to beat Grand Canyon. I mean, Mark Sears obviously led the way. He had 26 points with a double double, had twelve rebounds as well. But guys like Modi Obadi came in and didn't really stuff. He kind of stuffed the stat sheet in ways that Alabama needed it. He came in for a couple of minutes here and there, would get really good offensive rebounds or get good defensive stops or move the ball. And guys like him played really well. Nick Pringle had a really good game despite smashing a clipboard and breaking it and causing a technical.
It's just, it wasn't just kind of the familiar faces doing it for Alabama in this game. It was a real kind of group effort and something that was really promising to see, especially at this point in.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: The, you know, we talked about how strange this game was. And the stat sheet tells you everything you need to know. The only players on Alabama's team in double digit rebounds were both the guards, Aaron Estrada and Mark Sears. I mean, just a wild game. I mean, it felt know if you watched it on tv, the ball was flying all over the place, people were diving for loose balls, people were falling all over the court. This is just such a gritty game. And like you mentioned, we didn't think Alabama could win a game like this this season.
Poor offensive performance. I mean, if I told you Alabama was only going to put up 72 points, you probably would guess that they lost. And Grand Canyon kind of their super drive it to the basket team draw a lot of fouls, which obviously they drew a lot of fouls in this game, but I mean, they were nearly unstoppable driving it to the rim. I mean, it looked like it was concerning to say the least. And to say, I would imagine everybody was pretty worried about this game. Maybe up until that massive three point play, the and one under the rim for Alabama.
It's just such a strange game. And then we didn't even talk about Latrell ridesell going out with some sort of face injury, I guess took a hard bump in the first half.
It's just a very gritty game, a very hard fought game. And something else that was interesting is you have a pair of technical fouls. Obviously you talked about Nick Pringles, but you also have NATO getting a technical foul early in this game, which you see people talking about it online. But really that's one of those like, hey, let's try and get some energy to the guys. Let's try and get them fired up to play in this game, which obviously they had to want to give it all out there on the floor, given how tough this game was.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: This was exactly what I wanted to see, and I assume you all wanted to see from this team going into March as well.
They've had the offense all year and they've had big games. They scored a lot of points. They've given up a lot of points. This game reminded me a lot of that Tennessee game that was in Coleman and it was very physical. The offense wasn't there and Alabama played defense really well against Tennessee in that game. But like everybody was saying, we didn't know if they could win a game like that because we've seen it against Tennessee and they did not come out with a win behind the home crowd. That was their second home loss of the season, both home losses this year. To teams that made the Sweet six teams. But anyway, they go into the tournament, first round, they play Charleston, they end up scoring 109. They actually played pretty well defensively, at least early. And they were up by, I think it was like 31 points at one time. It was like 95, 64, something like that. Then they end up scoring 109. I believe Charleston ended the game on a 32 to 14 run to make it look a little closer so that they ended up giving up 96 points. But if you watched the first part of that game, you were like, okay, they're actually trying to play defense. Then they go into this game against Grand Canyon, who had some really good athletes. They had basically a home court advantage, whether they were paid actors or not. That's the conspiracy that everybody keeps saying. I don't know. But being Arizona, they were able to travel really well up to Washington a lot better than anybody from Alabama was able to. So they had the home court and then it know, NATO said it after that first technical that he got where it didn't look like the refs were calling it consistently either both ways or just from play to play. And it was playing right into Grand Canyon's hands. They were able to be physical.
They were forcing Alabama to miss shots close to the basket. Alabama wasn't really getting the three going, but you finally saw from this team a fight. They don't want the season to be over. They were playing really well defensively and they kept it up for the entire game and they come out with a win. And hopefully they can carry that defensive effort because they're going to need it going up against North Carolina this week in the Sweet 16. But can we just talk about how well Mark Sears has played and we've seen it all year. Obviously, we've been talking about how he has been one of the best players in college basketball. He wasn't on that midseason watch list. He ends up getting put on it later in the season. He ends up being second team All American and comes out in the tournament. I know a bunch of people were talking about Brandon Miller when he went to the tournament last year and it was kind of disappointing in his performance. Well, he was also injured and I don't want to speculate how injured he was in those games. But like Mark Sears came in, what does he do? First game, 30 points, second game 26. We've seen it all year now that all the other people that are just like, oh, Alabama is not as good as they were. It's not Brandon Miller or whatever. We don't care about the players they got. But he comes in, he's putting the nation on notice in March and hopefully he keeps that rolling and they can make a longer run than what we're used to.
[00:08:26] Speaker C: Yeah, and I mean, the big thing with Sears specifically is obviously, if you can look and say, so far in this tournament, he's averaged 28 a game over, I guess, two games, but he's been incredibly efficient. Whenever he does get a shot up, he shot nearly 70% from the floor against Charleston, was 45% from the field against Grand Canyon on a night in which Alabama shot, like I mentioned, I believe it was 36%, 37% from the floor and 25 from three. So just to have a guy like that back there, and Mark Sears is one of those guys who remembers that loss to Diego State. Like there are guys on this team and starters on this team that don't remember that loss and probably didn't even think of Alabama at the time. But that was essentially the way that Alabama lost the game last year was kind of how they played in this one. It was a very defensive game. San Diego State kind of grinded Alabama down. Alabama only put up 64 points against the Aztecs last year and obviously that was sweet 16 versus round of 32. But just to have a guy like that who is in your starting lineup, who has been there for this team before, there have been players that have been in tournament mean, you know, Grant Nelson has played in tournament games at North Dakota State. But to have someone who remembers kind of that feeling of just like a really bad feeling of, hey, if we got past this team, we could have won a title last year. And I think Alabama looked at that and said, we're not going to let that happen again, at least to Grand Canyon. And Sears just coming off and essentially leading this team whenever they needed it, whenever Alabama needed a shot to go in, it seemed like he was the one that was taking it and oftentimes.
[00:10:15] Speaker B: Making, I mean, I feel know we have seen anybody who's watched Alabama this year knows how good Mark Sears is. But mean, he's, it feels like he's always there when you need him. Like he's going to be your consistent piece, which is something you really need.
We've seen some not so great performances from Grant Nelson so far.
Aaron Estrada.
Mark Sears has been that kind of that glue guy and he's just such an impressive player. He can make a shot from anywhere, drive to the rim.
He does a really great job at fighting over the top of screens. On defense, he's just a pest and he's going to play nearly the entire game. So I feel like it's been really nice to have him to rely on, especially as they continue to get deeper in the postseason. As somebody to fall back on. One thing I really want to talk know. We talked about how Grand Canyon essentially had a home court advantage. I mean, it was wild on the broadcast, and for anybody who doesn't know, basically Grand Canyon offered for about 230 people to pay $28. And here's what you got with that. You got a t shirt, a flight to Washington, tickets to both the games and two nights in a hotel. That is insane for $28.
For real, where is this money coming from?
It's a little concern, but could you imagine if they were offering that for Alabama?
I understand it was very limited. I think 1500 people or something signed up and only 230 people could go. But that's an insane trip.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: I made the trip up to Louisville last year for the suite 16. Obviously, it was easy for the first round. It was in Birmingham. Suite 16 was in Louisville. Made the drive up there this year, get the unlucky draw of being out west and Spokane first weekend, not able to make that trip. Los Angeles, we're looking, maybe we could get out there, but it would be nice if the university would just be like, hey, I'll go a little bit higher, just like $100. I'll pay $100 if you get me out there and put me in a hotel. It's not going to happen. I'm really interested to see how it's going to be this, because with Grand Canyon, it was both games, so St. Mary's and against, you know, pro grand Canyon crowd, and then with Los Angeles, and it's the one seed North Carolina, it's Alabama with the four seed. It's in Los Angeles, but geographically there's no advantage. But it's North Carolina. They have fans all over the know. They've been one of the historic basketball programs. I would expect it to know a very north Carolina heavy crowd. I do want to see how many Alabama fans can actually make the trip out there, especially if I'm the guy. The reason I went, I know some people last year when Alvin was number one overall seed, they were saying, I'm saving my money for Houston. I'm saving it for the final four. It's like we've never made it past the elite eight. We've only been in the elite eight once. Now back to the sweet 16. Are Alabama fans treating it like they did last year and like they did with football this year? Where they were just like, oh, I'll wait for the championship. You're not guaranteed to go when you're facing the number one seed. I hope a lot of Alabama people can get out there, but it is very difficult. And when you don't have the option to pay $28 to fly across the country.
[00:14:15] Speaker B: Yeah, how can we get that, really? That's what we need. Also, do not dive into the Grand Canyon University Wikipedia page. It is extremely concerning. In case you didn't know, Grand Canyon University is a publicly traded company. Yeah, they're on the stock market. You can buy shares in Grand Canyon. Education, I think, is what they're.
[00:14:38] Speaker A: I saw this one thing, they were breaking it down. It was like they showed when they clinched that spot in the NCAA tournament and all their shares just skyrocketed.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: Could that be the meta, publicly trade your university? Yeah. When's Alabama hitting the market? Is that how we can fund the new arena?
[00:14:55] Speaker C: I mean, let's be honest.
[00:14:56] Speaker A: I think we just need to tell Northport, hey, stop trying to build your little beach vacation resort and send it off across the river to build whatever we want to call it. Did we ever come up with a name for this arena?
[00:15:10] Speaker C: No, we haven't even gotten an arena.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: We have concept images.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: We have concept images and a drink.
I remember they did come up with the location they wanted to put it at, and it was over by softball across that parking lot over there. But obviously, we haven't seen anything. I'm even tempted to just tell Greg Byrne, you remember before you wanted the new arena, there was this concept of a renovated Coleman coliseum. Can we just do that? Do something?
[00:15:45] Speaker B: Yeah, especially when you're paying. What are they paying NATO now? Like $10 million a year? It's like one of the highest, not.
[00:15:52] Speaker C: Ten of the year.
[00:15:54] Speaker A: Deborah is at ten.
Nate Oates is.
[00:15:58] Speaker B: His buyout is $18 million.
[00:16:00] Speaker A: Buyout for the next two years. And I know some people, after Kentucky's early exit from the tournament were saying, oh, Kentucky is going to go after NATO. The combined price to fire Calipari and to hire Nate oats would be 51 million. Just in, like, the buyouts.
[00:16:20] Speaker B: Yeah, they would need that Texas A and M money.
[00:16:23] Speaker C: So, yeah, he's making 5 million the first year, and then by the end, his final year, it rises to seven and a half million.
So maybe you can set aside Gizarena.
[00:16:37] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't think anybody would want that. We'll be right back here on the low tide.
This show is a sports production of WVU, AFM 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 to the low tide.
So Alabama is on to the Sweet 16. They're going to take on North Carolina in LA. Another fantastic travel opportunity for Crimson Tide fans. So let's get into this game. What would we say we're most concerned about playing North Carolina? Obviously number one seed, one of the top teams in the country. Ken Palm has them as the 9th best team in the country. Very well rounded. 6th in adjusted defense, 16th in adjusted offense. What would we say is the main concern?
[00:17:57] Speaker C: I'll just go first here. My biggest concern is just a single player for North Carolina, and that's Armando Bacott, 611 forward for them. Averages a double double, 14 points, ten rebounds. Really efficient from the floor. One of the best players in college basketball this past season. And he had that quote earlier in the season where it was the ACC doesn't run through North Carolina, it runs through him. Now, obviously NC State did not agree as they beat him in the tournament, but does have, does have Aranda big cotton. He is one of the best, just big men in the country. And as we've talked about before, and we'll probably talk about again, Alabama has really struggled with containing big men, and especially ones that can really match up talent wise with them, in this case, kind of exceed them probably talent wise. So I'm looking to see how guys like Grant Nelson can handle that. Nick Pringle can handle that.
If wagy comes in, can he handle that? What is the lineup and what's the rotation going to look like for NATO? Trying to defend that on the inside?
[00:19:11] Speaker A: Yeah, obviously Mondo Baker is, you know, he's really good. He leads North Carolina to rebounds. He also leads with one and a half blocks per game. RJ Davis leads the team in scoring. So with 21.3, now.
[00:19:29] Speaker B: They'Re number one.
[00:19:30] Speaker A: See, for a reason. But North Carolina is not world beaters. They're not indestructible. Right? They have lost some games this season that they shouldn't. They lost to NC State in the ACC tournament, and then they've also lost to Syracuse. They lost to Clemson. Alabama lost to Clemson, too. But this is a team. They lost to Georgia Tech by one point.
If you do want to look at kind of opponents that they both played, North Carolina did play Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky. They beat Arkansas. They beat Tennessee in the game 192. They lost to Kentucky 80 73. That was all back in December. So like a lot has changed since then. But what I would say with this team, I'm not really worried about the game now. Obviously, it's a big challenge. It's a sweet 16. I think the pressure is off of Alabama at this point. They're not expected to win this game. Everybody's talked about how bad the defense has been all year. They're finally playing good defense. They're the number four seed going up against number one. I feel like the pressure should be on North Carolina in this game. Alabama players should just come ready to play. And I think even with Bacott and RJ Davis, if Alabama plays defense the way that they've played for a majority of the game against Charleston and then how they played against Grand Canyon, I know it's a little bit different when you're going up against the Tar Hills, but I feel like if Alabama comes out and plays with the same intensity that they've been playing with, I think it'll be a very competitive game.
But yeah, just can you shut down Baycot? Can you shut down mean, you know, North Carolina is sitting right there too. Like, oh, shut down Sears. I mean, it's a lot easier said than done, but if you can shut down at least one of those guys, I know Bacott's probably going to have a bigger impact with how Alabama has struggled with those big men.
And then hopefully they can try to contain Davis and don't let him get above 20 points in the game. But yeah, it's going to be interesting.
[00:21:48] Speaker B: Yeah. Honestly, for me, I'm really concerned with UNC's defense. They have been elite on defense all year. They've held their opponents to about 40% from the field, which is good for, believe, 26th in the country. It was higher than that earlier this season.
But Alabama is coming off a game where they didn't perform as well on offense as we're used to seeing. Now, given Grand Canyon a good defensive team, I believe in the top 30 on Ken Palm or just outside.
But this is a UNC team that Ken Palm has as the 6th best defense in the country. Now, Alabama has played good defenses this season, Auburn, Tennessee even.
And it's concerning. I'm concerned that you're going to need more than just Mark Sears to step up. I don't have concerns over whether Mark Sears is going to show up in this game, but it's really about those second and third pieces. Can Aaron Estrada give you something? Can Grant Nelson have a better game? Can Alabama stay out of foul trouble? That's another big concern. I mean, Grand Canyon shot 37 free throws against Alabama. Now, they shot like 60% from the line. If they would have shot just a little bit better, they could have won that game. But I am very concerned about the defense for UNC and even the defense for Alabama. They obviously have not been able to guard much of anything all year, and this is a UNC team that is going to give you some serious problems.
So really it's going to come down to the defense on both sides. Is UNC's defense going to continue to be elite? Will Alabama's defense continue to step up, really? Because if they had just an average defense, you'd be looking at one of the best teams in the country, no doubt. But that has been kind of the concern all year. It is interesting, though, ESPN's little predictor has them at a 52% chance to beat UNC, which is just over the margin. I believe North Carolina is a four and a half point favorite at the moment. So it's going to be interesting. I think it'll be a good game regardless.
[00:24:04] Speaker C: Yeah, the other, not to be super pessimistic, because I do think Alabama does have a genuine chance to win this game, but the other thing I'm just kind of naturally worried about is the step up that Alabama is going to face just in pure talent. I'm not saying that Grand Canyon and Charleston were bad teams because every team in the tournament is a good one, but just naturally, I think Alabama kind of went into both of those games maybe not thinking like in the sense of the whole rat poison mindset, but you kind of figured, yeah, you should be Charleston, you should be Grand Canyon. Now you're going to face a team who, like North Carolina, can go out and immediately go on like a 100 run. That's how this game could start. And Alabama is in the hole already just because of the talent and the step up and just the difference in just pure ability from the court. Now, I will say, though, there is a good chance Alabama can, like I said, I do believe Alabama can win this game because North Carolina is going to not necessarily try to. I think Grand Canyon's whole game plan was just to kind of annoy, like, it seems like their offense, I mean, Charles Barkley, post game called it like the dumbest brand of basketball has ever seen by Grand Canyon. Like, North Carolina is not going to run that. And you have to imagine that they're going to try to slow the game down so Alabama could get a defense set.
If they can just limit the turnovers and not give North Carolina free points, then this could be like you said, nick, a really good and really competitive basketball game. And you hope know Mark Sears is obviously going to step up, but you hope someone else can. I wonder if Estrada kind of what he can provide because last game for him was a little rough against Grand Canyon, only eight points, was 28% from the floor, but did have ten rebounds, six assists. So he kind of did things in different ways. He wasn't quite scoring, but he was able to influence the game in a different way.
[00:26:09] Speaker B: Right. I think something that's really concerning for me and that I would imagine is going to happen is I think North Carolina is going to key in on Mark Sears. They're going to say, let's make somebody else beat us. Which, because if you look at the Grand Canyon game, you're saying, can somebody else beat you? Like if you held Mark Sears to, let's say, 15 points, could Alabama still win the game?
Things start to get a little scary. So I think you're going to see them key in on mark Sears. Now given this is a second team all american guy who's an absolute stud, but we'll see that. I'm a little concerned about. I think their game plan could be based around stopping Mark Sears.
[00:26:52] Speaker A: Yeah, I understand that. I do think to really stop Mark Sears you're going to have to one have your best defensive guy, maybe even double him at times. But really it's not like, oh, you just got to push him back off the three point line. It's like, okay, he's halfway off the three point line, he's still making shots.
I think Mark Sears, he might not have the 30 point game, he might not have that, but I think he's still going to have impact we saw earlier in the year. It hasn't really been the case recently where those other guys have stepped. Earlier in the year when one guy would struggle, you would have other guys that stepped up. And you know, the last probably month of the season, it's been the mark Sears show. So I do think North Carolina is going to key in on Mike Sears. Like you said, nick, now with the jump up in talent, it is a concern. But I think what helps Alabama with this is they do have that break. It's not that turnaround game. North Carolina just had to deal with this. They played Wagner in the first round. They won 90 to 62. Had to turn around and play Michigan State. Two days later and early in the game, like you were saying, North Carolina can go on that run. Michigan State was up, I think twelve at one point before North Carolina came back and eventually took over. So not saying it's going to be the same result, but I think with the break, Alabama is going to be able to properly prepare for North Carolina. And so I don't think it's going to be as jarring as it was in the first ten minutes of the North Carolina Michigan State game. Now the big thing for me thinking about the game, if Mark Sears is shut down or if he's just having an off game, Aaron Estrada, he's been able to get the rebounds, he's been able to get the assists. But the thing that this team has been missing and I know they said he'll be available, but it's, you know, he was really stepping, know, that midpoint of the season he got the concussion, was out for some games and then he took, it was like an elbow to the side of the head. He looked kind of wobbly leaving the court. He obviously did not play the rest of that game against Grand Canyon. Nate Oates did say that he would be available Thursday, but how much of a factor is he going to be? Is it really just to get North Carolina thinking he's going to be in the game if he's out? I think that's a big hit to the offense because if you have him healthy and Sears, then it kind of takes the pressure off Sears a little bit. If they're really able to just focus in on them and say you're not having the type of game you want from Estrada or from Ryan Griffin. If Grant Nelson isn't able to step it up in these bigger moments, it could be a tough game, but I'm looking forward to it.
My sister in law, she graduated from North Carolina, so we're going to be going back and forth all week at each other. It's going to be a fun game.
[00:29:38] Speaker B: Here's a positive. I don't think that this is too big of a game for Alabama. Alabama has probably, I believe, let's see, the fourth best adjusted strength to schedule in the whole country.
[00:29:52] Speaker A: They played five teams that are in the Sweet 16 this season.
[00:29:56] Speaker B: This is not a team that is not used to playing big time opponents. So I don't think it's definitely not going to be a lights are too bright type of situation.
But we'll have to see Alabama and North Carolina in the Sweet 16. We're looking forward to it.
Let's talk women's basketball. Alabama women's basketball, losing in the second round of the women's NCA tournament to the number one seed at Texas Longhorns, 65 54.
I think overall on the season, this was a big step forward for Alabama women's basketball. You recruited one of the top centers in the country. Essence Cody comes in. She's absolutely fantastic for the whole, you know, you make it to the second round of the NCAA tournament, better result than last season, and you lose to a team that only has four losses on the entire year. A really talented Longhorns team that could go super far. So I think overall, a very positive result.
[00:31:06] Speaker C: Yeah. And I also mean, this is going to be a season, you know, you're always going to aim to win the title and everything, but I thought that this team was better than the 8th seed that they were selected at in the committee. I know that there's almost to an extent a ceiling as to where a school like Alabama could be seated, but you're talking about a team where they finished the year really strong. This was something that, I mean, Nick, me and, you know, we covered the team last.
Know, they kind of fell apart at the end of the season and that was a team led by seniors and know players like Brittany Davis and Hannah Barber and Megan Abrams, and they all left. And you kind of brought in this almost a new, entire new lineup outside of Sarah Ashley Barker and loyal McQueen. And they essentially picked up right where they left off and continued to grow. They won, was it ten SEC games for the first time in 20 something years? I forgot the exact year, but yeah, I think overall, it's going to be a season that Alabama and specifically the team is going to be able to grow on. And we talked about it a little bit in the break. The future is looking really bright as well, just with kind of who they have coming mean, it's hard to beat a team like know for Alabama. So I'm not going to shame them for losing. Just, it was kind of a tough loss and I think what kind of made it or what did make it worse was the fact that the two games, Alabama Grand Canyon and this game, were essentially going on at very similar times because both of the games highly competitive. Alabama was fighting in this game a little bit different than the men's team who was kind of just trying to fend off Grand Canyon. This team was fighting it and bringing it. And you got to think that maybe if a couple of shots go your way, if essence Cody isn't two for seven, or if a Leonai doesn't kind of get bottled up by Texas late in that game, then maybe you can pull out the win. But still just a really positive.
[00:33:20] Speaker B: At this.
We've talked about this in the past. Alabama women's basketball, when they get in the postseason, their lineups are very starter heavy.
We saw what was it the year before, Brittany Davis's senior year.
I believe the starters played nearly the entire game. And that was one of the concerns is you get late in the postseason, it's kind of becoming a stamina issue.
Pretty similar here.
But like you said, overall, very positive season.
You're building in the right direction. Alabama has really increased its ability to recruit top level talent, which is something that we couldn't have said a couple years ago.
I think overall, it's really nothing but positives for Alabama. And this is a team that's only going to continue to get better. You thought essence Cody was really good this year. Wait till next year. I mean, she'll probably get even better.
Only a freshman, so tons of room to grow.
It will be interesting to see how this team continues to evolve.
How do they build on this next year? We were talking about in our break in today's nil age and recruiting age, how challenging is it going to be to keep a player like essence Cody around somebody who I would imagine is well sought after by nearly every team in the country?
So that's going to be extremely interesting.
[00:34:59] Speaker A: I think one thing for me about this year, before we get into the essence Cody situation, but most of the time when at least the last few years that we've been paying attention to Alabama women's basketball team, it had kind of been just get it to Brittany Davis. And then this year you saw multiple players on the team, like, able to step up in those big moments. It wasn't just give it to Brittany, see if she can score 30. And in this game, even though they lost, Sarah Ashley Barker finished with 17, Alia Nye finished with 14, loyal McQueen with twelve. And for a while there, I was kind of hoping they could pull off the upset. Texas was just too good right now. But like we were saying, they were able to bring in essence Cody. They were able to bring in, hopefully, as long as there's no decommitments. But they have those commitments from higher level high school people than what we had been seeing. Are you going to be able to outreach South Carolina? No. Are you going to be able to outrecruit LSU? No. But right now, well, we'll see what happens with this Washington Post story. But, like right now, those are the top two in the SEC. But after that, really, I think Alabama can compete with anybody on the recruiting trail. And with transfers, I want to know who ends up. Does anybody transfer? Does essence Cody end up transfer? We don't really know most people when we're looking at nil, you kind of look at it through that men's basketball and that football kind of mindset. It's different with women's basketball. There is money to be made, but a lot of the nil deals that we hear about in women's college basketball is actually how Nil is supposed to work. So it'll be interesting to see what they're doing. If they're trying to get essence Cody transfer out. Can Alabama get transfers in?
It'll be interesting, but I do think going to multiple NCAA tournaments in a row, having a performance like this to where you were in the game with one of the top teams in the nation, I think that's really going to help with recruiting, possibly transfers. And then hopefully a couple of years, we can be talking about Alabama women making a deep run in the tournament.
[00:37:22] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, they have two four star recruits coming into the program for right now, 2024 players.
I believe it's Eris Lester or Eris Lester from on Verde Academy in Florida and then Chloe Sprien from Indiana North Lawrence High School. So the talent is definitely there. I mean, these were players that Alabama really wasn't getting a lot. Alabama was kind of running through like the mindset of you're not getting necessarily maybe the best freshman, but you're kind of having them stay and develop for four years and now you might be switching. Obviously, women's basketball is different in the sense that there aren't a whole lot of one and dones, if any, in women's college basketball.
But keeping a player like essence Cody where adding to your freshman kind of recruiting trail and kind of infusing the program with that, especially know Sarah Ashley Barku leaving and you're not, you got to make up those points somehow. And I do think that hopefully this was kind of the step in the direction that this program really needed to maybe kind of boost into that. Like Adam was saying, you're not going to be South Carolina, not going to be LSU, but can you be number three? Can you compete with, can you out recruit the likes of Tennessee? Can you get a recruit over a school that you haven't really been able to do a whole? Can you get players that Auburn once Kentucky, can you just be a formidable SEC opponent? Which they were this year, that's for sure. They had leads over LSU at halftime both times they played them. So can you just get that gap closer than what it was and I think they can.
[00:39:13] Speaker B: So I believe we just found out Alabama seating and placement for gymnastics.
[00:39:21] Speaker A: Yes. So Alabama, they just finished up the SEC championships this past weekend, came in second place today. The NCAA selection show for gymnastics has Alabama seated as the 8th seed.
It is a pretty tough opening couple of days for them. They will have that are one seed, Oklahoma, who they just lost to. But Alabama did score a 198 in that matchup. We're assuming Oklahoma, defending champions, they will be one of the two to advance from the region.
The issue where it comes in is will they be able to outscore Michigan? Michigan comes in as the nine seed, but it is being hosted in Ann Arbor. So will they be able to outscore Michigan at basically a home meet for them in this NCAA regional? And also other teams. North Carolina State comes in at the 16th seed and then other opponents here will be Kent State, Penn State, Ohio State, and I believe, well, Illinois and ball State basically have a little play in.
But anyway, they will have a chance to end up going back to the national championships with the way that they have been performing recently. I just mentioned how they came in second. They were the four seed coming into the SEC championships. They finished second behind LSU. LSU scored a 198.75.
Alabama ended up with a 197.750. And then if we've just looked at how they have been performing recently, they had a tough stretch in the middle of the season. They had lost to Kentucky scoring. It was like the first time they had lost to Kentucky in Tuscaloosa they had only scored 196.95. I believe that was their lowest score of the season. And then they had lost to Auburn right after that down in Auburn. But since then they won a quad meet scoring 197.65. They beat Georgia scoring 198.75. They did lose to LSU once again. LSU scored over 198. LSU just won the SEC championship, so not too worried about that. ₩1 another quad meet with another 198 score and then they faced Oklahoma in Norman scoring a 198.25. Oklahoma is just a beast and score 198.75. And I believe Oklahoma did just score like the highest team score in gymnastics history. So Oklahoma is a team to beat. But two teams will come out of that region for the national championships so Oklahoma is probably going to be one of them. Will Alabama be able to outscore Michigan in Ann Arbor? We'll see. But they've been performing really well lately and I hope they can do something good here.
[00:42:27] Speaker B: Yeah, looking forward to it.
We'll be right back here on the low tide on the other side of the break beef of the week. It's a classic. It's back once again. I feel like it's always returning. It's like Roman Reigns.
Joe, I believe you're going to kick us off this time.
[00:43:15] Speaker C: Yeah, I will. So my beef of the week, it's a little interesting because we're talking about March Madness and postseason and college basketball. My beef of the week are these other tournaments that exist. So everyone knows about March Madness. Not many people. I shouldn't say that. A lot of people know about the NIT tournament. Obviously, Alabama was.
[00:43:37] Speaker A: Alabama fans know a lot.
[00:43:39] Speaker C: I was going to say Alabama fans would know a lot about it.
[00:43:41] Speaker A: I used to go to the games.
[00:43:42] Speaker C: In Coleman, but yeah, that is really the only positive I have about the NIT right now is that they do still have home games, but it's been watered down. These postseason brackets do not need to exist. The NIT exists. There's also the CBI, the college basketball invitational, which I believe you pay to get in. I don't even think you get invited to it. I believe they just ask you and you get in. But I mean, these are filled with some of the least, not to be rude to a fan base, least deserving fan bases to have a postseason play. I believe it's either the CBI or the CIT tournament has Alabama A and M in it. They're like twelve and 20 on the year, like no postseason whatsoever. The NIT had kind of did away with.
The NIT did get watered down because they've done away with a lot of the smaller team, conference runners up. And those teams aren't necessarily getting into it. It's a lot of just random at large power conference teams. But you're looking at a matchup here in the NIT first round, Georgia and Xavier. Georgia was 17 and 16. Xavier was 16 and 17 on the year. One of those teams is going to advance in a postseason tournament. You have the likes of.
Let's see who else was on this list. I'm scrolling through Butler and Minnesota, both 18 and 14. Chicago State was in the CBI. They hadn't played a game since December, sorry, January, because they're an independent basketball school and they won a game.
That's the level we're at. They were a 15 season, won a game. So I'm just not thrilled with kind of the state of it now. I will say I do love March Madness, but everything else can. We don't need it.
[00:45:36] Speaker A: Do you remember? I believe it was last season, but the CBI.
So Detroit mercy, they were trying to get into the CBI because they had the highest scoring player in the country. He was like, a few points away from breaking pistol Pete's record for points. Could you imagine if they had been like, okay, you're coming in. He breaks the record. Just for Kate and Clark to break it this year. Yeah, that would have been hilarious. So I'll go next.
I actually have a couple that I'll go over first.
NCAA March Madness selection committee sending every single Alabama team to the western United States. They sent Sanford to Utah and then Alabama, Auburn and UAB, all to Spokane, Washington. Very difficult for fans to get out there. And then once they got out, know, UAB lost, I believe, by four, they had a chance to win it. Auburn loses to Yale. Alabama does win, but Sanford, they got a chance. They're down by one, and they make the block. They call the phantom foul on the block shot. So instead of having the ball with under 20 seconds down by one, potentially just driving to the lane, getting a foul, maybe. Anyway, they end up being down by three. Have to shoot up a contested three point shot. They end up losing. So, one, don't send every team from a state thousands of miles away. Two, how about we don't have the refs blow the biggest moment of the. But, I mean, that happens in every sport. I mean, we saw it all the time.
Know, college football officiating in general has just been bad. But I don't do it. I'd probably make the same mistakes. Anyway. Last one I was going to, my, what do you call it?
Cousin's kit. It was still just a cousin, I guess one year birthday party. I got to drive an hour and 20 minutes over. I'm going down these back roads, and then I get stuck behind a hearse for like 30 miles, making every single turn that I'm making. So I was a little bit late.
I could probably go on with some other things, but I'll save those for other shows.
[00:48:03] Speaker B: You said this was a one year.
[00:48:05] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:48:05] Speaker B: Well, he probably wasn't very upset that you were a little late.
[00:48:09] Speaker A: Probably not, but I wanted to be there. True. Probably.
[00:48:12] Speaker C: Don't forget it.
[00:48:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
Okay, so everybody has heard of g league ignite, which was basically the high school alternative, or, sorry, college alternative for kids coming out of high school to basically turn professional, get paid some money and play against g league teams and develop into potentially NBA level talent. So everybody also knows that they went two and 28 this last season and got shut down. Now, this is probably because of nil, because Nil has kind of changed the game, at least for now, until it's regulated literally at all, we have gotten even dumber. Okay, so starting on April 27, the prep Super League is starting. Okay? This is a high school football league in the spring that basically their entire selling point is you can make nil money. High school kids, they have over 104 and five star recruits signed up to play in this league. They have franchises in Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, New Jersey, New Orleans, La, Miami, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco. And mean, it's actually unbelievable. They're going to use NCAA rules, very short little season.
So in most states now, high school athletes can sign nil deals, save for a couple Florida, Georgia.
So if you are in Florida, Georgia and Ohio, if you were to join this league, you could risk your eligibility to be able to play your fall high school football season. So the whole idea is that this is like supplemental. So you would play like basically, instead of just playing high school football in the fall, you would go and play in this spring league as well, which there's also some major concerns with. Right.
But if you're in Florida, if you're a high school recruit in Florida and you decide to go play in this, you could potentially get barred from playing in your actual high school football.
Like, I don't understand who is asking for this.
So it's going to be a streaming thing.
They've already got a bunch of backers.
The players have to pay a fee to join, they're saying, in the low four figure range.
And it is a fraction of what you would pay to go to IMG. Right.
To be in that sort of thing. So maybe that's a potential selling point.
IMG costs like $80,000 to go there. It's insane. Which if you're like a top level talent, that might be worth your scholarships. Right?
[00:51:23] Speaker A: I found the CEO.
So it is Brian woods, his LinkedIn. He has his little bio over here.
[00:51:34] Speaker B: He was the USFL president.
[00:51:36] Speaker A: It says serial entrepreneur and innovator in the sports sector.
[00:51:40] Speaker B: Oh, boy.
[00:51:41] Speaker A: And he went to the west Virginia University College of.
[00:51:47] Speaker B: Mean. Here's the thing, right?
Here's what he says. I think certain brands are going to view the prep Super League as a way to establish a relationship with the player prior to them stepping foot on campus at a college. I'm looking at this property no different than if it was a professional sports league.
This is so concerned. Oh, my gosh. What is this?
[00:52:12] Speaker A: Okay, this is Brian woods history. This is the one that I found hilarious.
[00:52:16] Speaker B: He was the salary cap analyst for the New York jets for two months.
[00:52:21] Speaker C: For two months.
[00:52:22] Speaker B: I would say it was not very successful.
[00:52:24] Speaker A: May of 2012 to June of 2012.
[00:52:26] Speaker B: Yeah. Concerning.
But yeah, he's saying, I'm having conversations with trading card companies. Okay, number one, who is buying high school football players trading cards?
[00:52:39] Speaker C: Yeah. That's weird.
[00:52:40] Speaker B: That's just, man.
Concerning.
We should be looking at this differently from professional sports. Okay. College, whatever. We're blurring the lines between what is a college player and what is a professional. Anyway, I've accepted that. High school, seriously, I feel like we're just going to get to the point where it's like we weren't even concerned with college players getting their degrees. But now I feel like we're going to get to a point where it's like, oh, high school players. Who cares if you get your high school diploma?
[00:53:20] Speaker A: Did you talk about the potential coaches?
[00:53:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay, hold on. Let me find this.
I already talked about how they have, like, 100 players signed up, right? They only have, like, twelve players who are willing to go on the record and say that they want to play, just by the way, but they say they have 100.
[00:53:40] Speaker A: Is this the grand canyon of high school football?
[00:53:43] Speaker B: Is this run by the Bishop sycamore people?
When it first launched, they were targeting college football and NFL head coaches for it to be the head coaches. Still the case, but now they're opening it up to experienced high school coaches.
I just cannot wait to see these coaching announcements on their twitter that has, like, sub 500 followers.
[00:54:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:54:10] Speaker B: I just don't see, like. Okay, first off, are you really telling me that there is a market out there for companies wanting to invest in high school? Like, I just don't see it. I mean, maybe there's some rare cases, right? Like, obviously, if Nil would have been around when LeBron was in high school. That's an example, right? There are some people who are so, like Zion, right? Perfect example. There are players who are talented enough and have enough of a.
What's the right word that I'm looking for? Know, maybe like an, you know, that have that presence, that kind of national spotlight to be able to pull off something like this and know, be worth it for a company to invest nil in them. But you're telling me that nil companies are going to invest in nil for, like, 100 players? There's no chance, like, almost zero.
[00:55:05] Speaker A: One thing I'm thinking about with this, they've said that there's only, what, twelve that are willing to go on the record and say, what level of high school athlete is trying to do this? Are these the people that have already committed to these big time programs where they're going to get the big Nio money. And also, there's always rumors. We don't know if it is, but especially you're from Texas, there's always those rumors that those big Texas schools are already kind of maybe not paying the players directly, but doing things that kind of give them benefits to come to. So, like, some people might already be doing it and not even be like, I'm not going to go to that.
[00:55:43] Speaker B: Yeah, you got to love when you're seeing, like, a signing announcement for a high school athlete to a high school. Like, that stuff is just ridiculous. I've never understood that. But I just think, look, college athletics already in a bad spot. We're headed towards a serious, what's the right word, a come to Jesus moment for college athletics. And this is crazy if you really think that there's a market for this, because, hey, it's going to be on a streaming service. Almost nobody's going to watch.
See, it doesn't have the same kind of attention or hype behind it. Like something like, okay, let's take, for instance, like overtime elite, which is like the basketball league, very similar to G League ignite, kind of a professional league for high school players instead of going to college.
That has the backing of overtime's social media presence. Right.
They have massive presence online, and they can build off that. This is coming from scratch. It's coming from nowhere. Like, they have 500 followers on Twitter. I just don't see who is watching these games, who is going to be willing, who is paying for that? Where are they going to play?
Who's buying these franchises? You're investing in high school players?
[00:57:12] Speaker A: I think you said the cities.
Yeah, they're in major cities. They have major cities, but I assume they're not renting from the Falcons and playing them.
[00:57:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I think the stadium might be a little.
[00:57:28] Speaker A: Like, I'm thinking it's going to, uh, that one episode, what was it, Friday night lights, where it's like, oh, just meet in the cow pasture and we'll play?
[00:57:37] Speaker B: Yeah, I just think we should not be allowing kids to bet their future on something like this. And I'm just extremely concerned that this is a bunch of adults who are not being real about this opportunity.
[00:57:57] Speaker A: In three years, the HBO documentary will drop.
[00:58:01] Speaker B: It's going to be crazy about the conditions. And, like, I can't wait. That is going to do it for us on the low tide this week. Thank you for joining us in this special little podcast. Edition. We should be back to normal next week, I think. No promises, as always. But we will see you next week. Thank you for.
