Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: WVuafm Tuscaloosa.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: Welcome in, ladies and gentlemen, to the low tide here on 90.7 capstone and streaming live on the tune in and live 365 apps. I finally remembered that. I haven't remembered that in a couple weeks. We're back. So much has happened since we were last here. We got to start with a day. The offense gets the win over the defense, 34 28. There was a ton of people on hand to witness Kalyn Deborah's first game in Bryant Dedding, his first appearance.
Quite the afternoon.
[00:00:50] Speaker C: Yeah, it was, I will say, getting there and getting settled down, and they hand out that score sheet of how to keep score for a day completely beyond. Beyond me at some points. Like, I don't. I don't fully get it.
Like two points for a missed field goal from the defense, but there's no defense in field goals, so thought that that was weird, but, yeah, it was. Yeah, it was really good game. I mean, obviously, like you said, the offense won, and I think a lot of people, the nerves got settled a little bit. I think there were a contingent of fans who just needed to see the football team on the field and play, have some structure, have some fluidity with it. And it did. And there was a lot of stuff. I mean, you know, Nick, you and I, or you really noted, like, Alabama ran jet sweeps to receivers and. And plays that we hadn't seen. So, yeah, it was really fun experience all around, you know, in that game.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: Yeah, I wasn't able to be there in person, but, you know, I've, you know, caught up on stuff. Plus, I got to go watch some stuff before actual a day.
And, you know, they looked good. Still slightly worried about the defense a little bit. You know, they. Early on, before they settled in, you know, they were giving up some big plays, which, you know, maybe that's just showing how good our offense is going to be, but we don't. We don't really know at this point, but, you know, good turnout for the game. I believe it was about 72,000, and that's more than Washington average during the regular season. So if Dubois thought that was exciting, you know, he's in for a treat once we get to the actual football season, and especially. Cause, you know what, four weeks in Georgia comes into town, it's gonna be very intense.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, the thing that stuck with me the most is that it was just so strange. Like, everything felt so weird. I mean, we were sitting in the press box, and Nick Saban is walking directly behind us, and he's got cameras following him, but he's walking through to a box where he was gonna take in the game. And it's just so strange to see how everything played out. Like I wrote in my piece from the game, I wrote about the kind of the walk in and kind of the awkwardness of it. Thunderstruck started playing. And obviously DeBoer had told the media that he was gonna stick with thunderstruck. And then all of a sudden, it cuts out and thunder by imagine dragon starts playing and people couldn't quite tell whether it was intentional or not. They didn't pull the production side of it off very well. And then after a minute, it stopped and thunderstruck came back on. And it was just such an awkward moment. But I wrote about it, honestly, the song is, it fits the situation pretty well because, you know, Kalen Deboard is completely leaving behind that old life at Washington. You know, he's bringing a lot of the stuff that he had. Right. But this is a completely different kind of program, a completely different kind of team. I mean, you're going from a team that was really a Cinderella story in the last year. Hadn't traditionally had the type of football success certainly that Alabama has had.
Makes this run, gets to the national championship game, has a phenomenal quarterback story in Michael Pennix junior.
They get all the way there. But, you know, now he's taken over an Alabama program where there are some serious expectations. Like Alabama is a dynasty.
Like might be the dynasty in all of sports, right?
It's just completely different expectations. And it was just so strange to see someone other than Nick Saban walk out of that tunnel. And I thought that that moment, as awkward as it was, kind of allowed everyone to just kind of appreciate how strange it was.
[00:04:54] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, you know, Nick, you kind of set yourself, and I'll back that up. I mean, the pregame, when they showed Nick Saban and Miss Terry on the field, and everyone's giving them a pause and they're waving. Like, it kind of hit me a little bit then and there. I'm like, oh, like he's, you know, he's in his suit and he's, you know, he's in an eight, a suit and traditional garb that he would wear, but there's no headset, there's no papers, there's no nothing. He's just like, he's a fan. And I think, you know, that's what he said, I believe pregame at Denny chimes, he's like, you know, speaking to the audience, he's like, I'm one of you guys, you know, now we're all fans and that just kind of was very, like you said, very surreal. But also on the flip side of it, pretty interesting to be there, you know, for, I mean, it's a very different and new era, not just and really in Alabama, but totally different to when, you know, Nick Saban was coming in through his first a day. You know, this college football is totally different. And I mean, we'll, I'm sure we'll get into, you know, who played well, who didn't. But Washington transfers, you know, coming into the game, you had guys leave, you know, the program before this game. There are some guys who left, came back and were there on the sidelines with Kaden Proctor. But just a very.
Yeah, just a very different day.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: So he should have been rocking an Iowa shirt on the sidelines. Yeah.
[00:06:16] Speaker A: Or at least some kind of like black and gold combination. Just like when he went to the Iowa basketball game and he was still in the red and they made him change his shirt. But maybe that was him telling us all along that he wasn't really gone. But yeah, it was kind of weird seeing him, you know, there just in regular clothes, just standing like. But I was kind of interested to see, like, what Nick Saban was going to do, you know, because obviously he was coming down to be with, you know, former player or players, some players still on the team, but, you know, obviously other players that from years past came in. You had the captain's stuff where they put their hand print and cleat print in there. And he came and like Joe alluded to, gave his speech where he was saying he's just one of the fans. And I was like, is he going to go on the field, like, is he going to go on the field, like, one last time? And, you know, he just goes up into his box, you know, just trying to be all, you know, like, this isn't my program anymore. I'm just here to watch. I hope he comes back for some regular season games, but, you know, we'll see.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Hey, well, look, I'm sure that Saban's, Saban being up there in the box might have been as stressful as if he was down there on the field. He was telling ESPN before the game that, you know, he's never watched a game with Miss Terry before, so that's going to be a whole new experience. That'll be hilarious.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: Could y'all hear him yelling from his bot?
[00:07:41] Speaker C: Not quite.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: Not quite.
But, yeah, it's just so strange. Everything's different. Obviously, you've got the format changed to, you know, this interesting format, which is impossible to keep score in. Even the ESPN broadcast couldn't keep score.
[00:07:57] Speaker C: Even the stats guy messed up a couple times.
[00:08:01] Speaker B: Yeah, it was crazy.
You know, obviously, instead of the nice colorful suits, you've got Kalyn DeBoer down there on the sideline and a pullover and a hat. I mean, that's completely different.
[00:08:15] Speaker C: Basic red, like, what are you doing?
[00:08:18] Speaker B: You know, it's just, it's just so strange. But, you know, it's, it's a new era. And I would say that the new era has officially kicked off now, if it, if it hadn't already. This was the, this was the start.
[00:08:31] Speaker C: Probably the literal kickoff of.
[00:08:33] Speaker B: Yes, the literal kickoff, but yeah. So let's break down a day a little bit.
Who in your mind was the most interesting player that you saw? You know, maybe players who were you most intrigued by at a day?
[00:08:50] Speaker C: I'll start kind of an obvious answer, but I thought Jam Miller and really, I mean, that whole running back room looked really good, but just kind of the way that, you know, Jam Miller was able to, you know, Caitlin, Deborah said it to just kind of attack the holes, hit the holes. He found kind of where he was going to get the most yards and, and hit it. He finished with 83 yards, two touchdowns, had a 48 yard run, I believe, to open the game or that, you know, to, to have a run like that and someone like that in the backfield. I think Alabama fans were, at least I was, you know, pleasantly kind of surprised by his performance. All things considered, you know, with how he's kind of been buried for the last couple of years, he was, I thought, one of our bright spots against Michigan in that semifinal game, he had a couple good carries along with Justice Haynes, who also had a solid 80 with a touchdown himself. So I'll go, you know, the running back room, everyone has talked about, you know, getting back to Alabama football, and we want to run the ball and have a good offensive line. Well, it looks like, you know, at least, you know, for an eight a game, you got, you got someone that back there that can just tote the ball, carries and get the yards.
[00:10:03] Speaker A: Yeah. For me, you know, I was still on the offensive side, but Jeremy Bernard, you know, coming in, transferred from Washington. Obviously, he wasn't the number one guy at Washington because, you know, you had guys that are potential top ten draft pick, you know, going with Adunza, but, you know, he comes in and, you know, a big question with, you know, some of the people that left, you know, Isaiah bond transferring gowns, like, who's going to be the number one this year? And a bunch of people have said, you know, Kobe Prentice, then, you know, you hear about Caleb Odom coming in as a freshman. You know, he's taller, like, he's technically a tight end, but he runs like a receiver. And, you know, you hear the stuff about, you know, how well he's been doing in practice, and you kind of forgot about Bernard coming in. And then all of a sudden in this game, three catches under 22 yards, longest one being 52. And just looking like, you know, the offense does not look to be an issue. Obviously. Obviously, it's the spring. We'll have to wait until they actually play a real, like, opponent that's actually, you know, really, it's not practice. You know, there's somebody that's really trying to beat them. I think the biggest question for me coming out of it is who's gonna be the kicker?
You know, we've had. We've had such stability there for so long, which is weird to say if you know, Alabama football's history. But, you know, he had three kickers go in there. Two of them made them, but they were 27, 23 yards, and then he had one missed from 45. So I'm not, I mean, you know, real surprised to see how well Bernard played in the spring. We'll see if that's going to translate to the regular season or if our defense is in trouble this year. I don't think they will be. I think. I think it's just going to be really good offense, but we'll see. But I still want to know what's going to be, who's going to replace Alabama football legend Will Riker.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, no joke.
You know, Bernard's so interesting.
Bama 24/7 had an article come out where they were talking about Jeremy Bernard and Malachi. More compared him to John Metchie.
Honestly, I think that's a really solid comparison. Very technical type receiver.
So I think, you know, I would imagine nothing but good things coming for him and, you know, had the opportunity to hear from.
I'm blanking.
Yeah, sorry.
Postgame, you know, there was a lot said about how hard Bernard has worked in the off season and how, you know, he's one of those first guy in type of players at practice.
You know, Jalen Melrose specifically talked about how he's formed a really good connection with Bernard, and that was very evident on the field, obviously. Melrose, first deep ball straight to Bernard. A good one. Bernard made another tough catch.
Nice contested catch. Just played really well for me. Look, I'm going to kind of.
Here's the thing for me, I was most intrigued by Mill rope, but not for anything that he did in the game. Honestly, he looked great in the game. You know, he had a couple of big throws down the field, which if Kalen DeBoer can do with Jalen Milro, what he was able to do at Washington with Michael Pennix, like, watch out. Like, jalen Milro might be insane. And I believe he's the favorite to win the Heisman this year or should be one of the favorites.
But I was super impressed with Jalen Moreau because, you know, he gets on the podium after the game, he starts talking and a lot. He talked a lot about how comfortable he was. Like somebody asked him if he was the starter or if he felt like he had to fight for it or if he already knew coming in. He straight up said, I'm the starter, but I want to improve. Like, I'm still driven to get so much better. I know I can get so much better. And listening to him talk, I got this sense that he feels extremely comfortable under Kalen DeBoer and he is super excited to work with him. And it was almost like I almost got the sense that he didn't feel that way under Nick Saban, which might be something that we can talk about because there might be something there because obviously Saban benches Jalen Milro early in the season.
The offense was never really designed around Melro until, what, three fourths of the way through the year.
And you started to see that pay off. Once you got to it, you started to see how good Alabama could be. But not one time did Milro ever say anything negative about last year. He never. It was all praise and no, he never gave off any negative vibes.
He never said anything bad about, you know, the way that he was used last year. But he felt like, he feels like a guy who is ready to get even better than he was last year, which will be incredible to see if he can pull it off.
But, you know, he feels like a guy who is incredibly comfortable with where he is and is ready to improve and take that jump to the next level. So I'm excited to see what he can do this next season.
[00:15:28] Speaker C: Yeah. And I mean, you know, I think kind of going back to your one point about Nick Saban, I mean, I think with your quarterback for Alabama and you are under Nick Saban, like, the one thing that he has been adamantly adamantly, like, he gets real mad about is those bad turnovers. You know, we saw it with Milro against Texas, you know, week two. I mean, he essentially benched him for, you know, a couple bad throws, you know, that went to the Texas defense. And I wonder if a little bit of it was that can kind of make some guys press or think differently or act differently when they're out on the field, when you know, that just that one mistake is so costly. And maybe DeBoer has kind of given him a little more freedom. Not that he's going to. He can go out and throw 20 picks and expect to succeed, but maybe just give him a little more of a freedom of mind when he goes out there and take a couple chances that maybe he wouldn't have under Saban.
[00:16:23] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, the first couple of experiences with Jalen Miller was starting. You know, we had the Texas A and M game where that was his first start, you know, a couple years ago when Bryce Young was injured and, you know, he came in and, you know, won the game, didn't play all that well, but then, you know, you knew Bryce was going to be coming back and playing. And then last year, he had the first game against middle Tennessee. Then all of a sudden, you play, play Texas, who turns out to be, you know, one of the top four teams in the nation making the College Football playoff. And, you know, he has those bad throws, gets bench the next week. And then, like y'all were saying, you know, later in the season, once the offense was kind of built around him, you know, with Tommy, you know, Tommy Reeves is really young. I don't know if he really trusted being able to change what he was doing at Notre Dame early on in Alabama. And, you know, this. The whole situation kind of seemed familiar to another former Alabama quarterback. But, um, when he was in the NFL, and that was Tua at Miami, and it was like, under Brian Flores, you know, it was, you know, you know, they drafted him. The rumors came out that Brian Flores didn't really want them to draft to. And then, you know, when he was there, you know, every time it was a mistake, it was like once he actually recovered from the injuries, and once he made a mistake, it was like, okay, you're pulled, you know, you're benched. And then once Michael Daniel got there, then it was all of a sudden it's like, hey, you know, we're building this for you. Like, we're going to cater to you. And then you saw, you know, the first year where he started playing really well, before getting another injury and having to sit out. But then, you know, this year, he was, you know, one of the top MVP candidates. So I think, you know, maybe it's just that person that can come in that's kind of, you know, more. More used to, you know, not really Milro's playstyle, but, you know, more used to designing offenses around specific weapons. And, you know, maybe that's going to just elevate him to another level than what we saw last year. Like, even though he finished, what was it, fifth or 6th? I think it was 6th for the Heisman voting last year, mostly because of how the end of the season happened this year. Could we see him take that next jump? Kind of like how we've seen with some other SEC quarterbacks in recent years?
[00:18:33] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I just think, you know, everything is being set up for Jalen Melrose to succeed. So I think that's, you know, that's gotta be. That's gotta boost your confidence going into the season, and we will see how that goes. When we come back, we're gonna give our final takeaways, our final thoughts on Alabama basketball's final four season, when we come back here on 90.7.
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 xxx at WVUA FM Sports come back into the low tide here on 90.7. The Capstone. Nicholas Percy, Joe Schatz, Adam Hambright here to talk Alabama men's basketball, obviously their first final four in program history this season. So many things. So many great things happened for Alabama men's basketball this season.
I want to know, what is your one big takeaway from this season? What is the one thing that you are going to remember most when you look back?
[00:20:06] Speaker C: Ooh. Okay, I'll say.
I think my biggest takeaway is just that you can't really count out Nate Oates and what he can do over the course of a season. I mean, I think this was very much a season for Alabama fans where, I mean, there was a point in which they were six and five going into, I believe, going into late December, like Christmas time, they were kind of at the top of the SEC, then fell off, really, towards the end, losing. I believe it was their four or five to end the year, going into the NCAA tournament. So you don't really have, or I should say it was four of six, you know, going to the NCAA tournament. And just the way that he was able to, I think, almost essentially on the fly adjust this team in a week to where they're able to go out and beat, you know, Charleston, Grand Canyon, UNC, and Clemson all within the span of a couple weeks before giving UConn its toughest fight of any tournament game they had to play this year. I mean, even Purdue wasnt really matched up well early in that game. So I think my biggest takeaway was just, you know, it might not be, it might not always be pretty early with some of these Alabama teams and some of these rosters, especially one like this where theres essentially four new starters or, yeah, four new starters. And if that team's able to go, you know, go on a run, get to the final four, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna count out NATO's in November, December, probably even January ever.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: So, yeah, for me, it's a couple of things, kind of like what you were talking about, Joe, you know, with the, you know, not counting them out early, you know, this kind of shows what he's been trying to do with all these really tough schedules that he's been able to pull off out of conference. And, you know, next year, we don't have the full schedule yet, but, you know, they got, they got Arizona that they're going to have in Birmingham. You know, they're not shying down from anybody. And you saw, you know, like last year, you know, really tough schedule. And then, you know, you have the number one overall seed, but then, you know, you lost in sweet 16 and then, you know, the year before that, you know, started off really strong, but then end of the year, kind of poorly. And then, you know, it was just, you didn't want that year to kind of turn into what this year could have been with how they were losing down the stretch.
And, you know, this year, out of the last two years, at least to the start of the season, it was like, yeah, they got the good offense, but, you know, where's the defense? You know, they weren't there. And then you finally saw it in the tournament when they finally put it together. So it's like, you know, could this run to the final four kind of show whoever's going to be, we don't know who was going to be on the team next year. You know, a bunch of people have eligibility. They could come back, they could transfer, they could go to the NBA. We don't really know what's going to happen. But will this, because, you know, NATO said throughout the year, you know, I'm telling them, you know, they got to play defense, but, you know, they're not buying in. Then they'll buy in for a game and then, you know, not do it for the next couple of games. And then you finally saw it in the final four when they really locked in or in the NCAA tournament, they really locked in. They made the final four. And maybe that, you know, lesson can kind of show, you know, next year's team, whoever it is, you know, what NATO's has been trying to preach the whole time.
[00:23:36] Speaker B: So two things for me, a build the arena straight up. Like build the arena. If that doesn't earn. If a final four appearance does not earn you a ticket out of Coleman Coliseum, I do not understand what will like. They continuously keep delaying it. Delaying it. Building costs, building costs. Building costs are only going to keep going up. I don't really understand that. But they. This team absolutely deserves this program. NATO's deserve a better place to play than Coleman Coliseum.
[00:24:11] Speaker A: It'll be real interesting to see what they. Where they go with that because, you know, obviously we've all wanted the new arena for a while, but now, you know, this year, you know, probably it's the most sellout. I think the indian might have had more sellouts than what they did, you know, last year when they went. And so, you know, I hope that a new arena still gets built, but it might lead some people to believe, oh, we don't need a new arena. We could just stick with this one.
[00:24:37] Speaker B: Yeah, no, please. Um. The other thing that's going to really stick with me is just the way that Mark Sears consistently performed all year. Like, he deserves to have his number retired. Like, even if he is still playing here next year, retire his jersey hanging in the rafters. Like, straight up. I have seen enough. Like, Mark Sears is going to be remembered as one of the best players that Alabama basketball ever had the season. He was incredible. His stretch to end the year is like insane. So if you start it, the game against LSU in February, 23 points, 23 points, 17. That's the worst it gets. 20, 262-233-2222 then we get to the NCAA tournament. 30 in the first round, 26 in the second round, 18 in the third round. They still beat UNC. You got grant Nelson helping out. 23 points against Clemson, 24 points in the loss against UConn. Like, the guy is a stud. Straight up. He played fantastic when he first transferred here from Ohio and only got better in his second season at Alabama.
Midway through the season, they were leaving him off award lists, even though the conversation was that he was one of the best, if not the best guard in the country. He continued to play so well that they had to add him to, what was it? The semifinal?
[00:26:07] Speaker A: He had missed the semifinal.
[00:26:10] Speaker B: Yeah, they had to add him to the final. Like, he saw that disrespect and he didn't let it get to him. He just kept working and got maybe even better. Maybe.
[00:26:21] Speaker A: Maybe some other people might be like, oh, look what he did his second year. Maybe I should stay around for a second year. Nelson, I'm talking to you.
[00:26:29] Speaker B: It's just insane. 21 points average on the year. It's tied for 14th in the country. That does not really paint the picture of how consistent he was. When the games got tight, you needed a bucket. You saw it against Clemson.
When you needed a bucket, Mark Sears was there to go get it for you. Gonna go down as one of the best guards if. And one of the best players in program history at Alabama.
Hopefully he will be back next season. We don't really know.
[00:27:01] Speaker A: I mean, it all depends on what those NBA teams think.
[00:27:05] Speaker C: Oh, I hope they just tell them second round, late round.
[00:27:11] Speaker A: Shoot, but you're too short.
[00:27:13] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
I will say too, Nick, just to kind of emphasize your point there. I mean, Mark Sears just in the tournament alone, 53% from the field, 45% from three. Like one of themos average. Like you kind of mentioned it a little bit, just 24 points a game, only two turnovers average in the game. And when kind of, like you said, when Alabama needs a bucket, they would go to him. And I think that kind of evolved to last year, Mark Sears was playing alongside Brandon Miller and Noah Clowney. And I guess to an extent, you know, Betty aka and guys who he could get the ball to, and he just kind of had to be the safe pair of hands that if the offense needs to reset or if it breaks down, you can give it back to him and he won't turn the ball over. And I think this year he kind of stepped up and said, you know, yeah, like, I might be little more, you know, adventurous with my shooting. I mean, the dude, it takes guts to attempt a logo three in the NCA tournament, in the Elite Eight.
[00:28:19] Speaker A: Well, you know, basically like it was, you know, last year, like he was, he was still good, but, you know, there were times when Javon Quinterley was just playing.
[00:28:28] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:28:29] Speaker A: Better. Like, especially in that, that Auburn game when they made the 17 point comeback and, you know, even like, you could have went with either one of them. It felt like Mark Sears got the Javon Quinnerly like, I want to say, like Mark Sears has his own mindset, but maybe he got more of that Javon Quinterley confidence from the previous years. And then you saw it, you know, almost the whole. I mean, there was like a couple of games. I mean, the couple games he was hurt, you know, he couldn't really do anything, but, you know, just played really well all year, you know, made those finalists. I think this team, you know, you know, we've talked about it most this season, how we've talked about different things that they haven't done well. I really think once it came down to the NCAA tournament, you saw them all by in. I think there was only one thing that the team was missing, and that was a seven foot tall, you know, guy that could kind of control the paint. And if. I'm not saying the outcome would have been different, but if you had had, like, a pettiacode state or if we knew, like, if Nados knew that he was going to leave and was able to replace him with somebody, then you might have saw, like, I know Alabama had it close to about four minutes left against Yukon, but you might have saw an even more competitive game than.
[00:29:38] Speaker B: What you saw, you know, and honestly, I think that's one of those, like, learning experiences. And something that you're probably not gonna see happen again under NATO's is that he's gonna realize that, like, you know, that really, that really restricted this team a little bit. You know, I don't want to. I'm hesitant. I was hesitant to even say restricted. They got to the final four, but, you know, that was the reason why they lost, you know, the games that they did lose this year. You know, but, you know, they. They were still able to get to a final four, but at the same time, you know, I don't think that NATO is going to have another season where he's, like, potentially going to allow that to happen.
[00:30:21] Speaker A: Well, you saw, so, like last year, right, number one team, number one seed going in the NCAA tournament, you have the disappointing loss to San Diego State. And, you know, the learning experience from that was to get more experienced players like what they had, you know, the young, talented guys. And you did have some upperclassmen, but most of those teams that made the elite eight and then on were very upperclassmen and heavy teams that have been there a while new, you know, turn the tournament style. And then so this, the offseason going in, you know, pulled in more of those upperclassmen transfers, and you saw more of, you know, senior or grad student led team. Not many of the, you know, freshmen, you know, getting, I mean, Jared Stevenson, you know, he got in, like, a decent amount, but you saw a lot more, like he was going with experience, and, you know, he expected Betty Ako to be back. So then, like you were saying, this is the learning experience now to, like, maybe have, you know, a couple, if you can, like, you know, scholarship, you know, limits and everything. But he's probably going to always be looking for another guy to replace in case somebody just decides to leave out of nowhere.
[00:31:30] Speaker C: Yeah. And I think the other takeaway just kind of from, I guess, as a result of how some team season ended, Nate Oates has been a hot recruiting or hot name for head coaching positions multiple times. I mean, when the Michigan job opened up, Greg Byrne immediate contract extension, essentially right before the tournament, and then after the tournament, Kentucky job opens up, I guess maybe the Arkansas job opened up, but then the Kentucky job opened up, which, you know, people talk about that being the Alabama football of basketball jobs, and Nate Oates said, no, I'm staying here. And he kind of re upped his commitment. And I think you did talk about a little bit about the arena, Nick. I think it's time that Alabama and NATO structure one of these, I hate to use the word lifetime contract, because it's essentially kind of what got Calipari out the door at Kentucky. But you gotta do something to make sure he is not gonna leave Tuscaloosa and doesn't want to.
[00:32:33] Speaker B: I would not be surprised if at some point that there is.
There was not a handshake agreement made between Greg Byrne and Nate Oates that, like, he was basically guaranteeing an arena soon. Because I would think, you know, if I'm NATO, right. That's gonna be one of the first things that I'm using as leverage. I'm going to be like, yeah, we need a new arena. Besides the insane contract that he got, which he deserves every penny of, let me just be 100% clear. You know, he's turned Alabama into, like, the place to be in college basketball. You know, if you want to play in a system where, you know, it's going to make you look fantastic to NBA teams, you want to play in an NBA style system. Like, Alabama's the place to be. And the amount of recruits that NATO has brought in has, you know, just been incredible turnaround for Alabama basketball as a program.
[00:33:29] Speaker C: Yeah. And I mean, the other thing I like is he's very adaptable to, like, he knows college sports nowadays. I mean, this is a guy that I mean, we talked about Mark Sears. He transferred in from Ohio. Now, granted, he's from Alabama. You know, might not have taken a whole lot of convincing to get NATO to get him to transfer here, kind of come back home, but he got sears out of the portal. He just picked up Chris youngblood yesterday.
[00:33:56] Speaker A: Tuscaloosa native.
[00:33:57] Speaker C: Yeah, Tuscaloosa native. Probably maybe even an easier phone call. But someone who shot the ball well at USF and kind of their very insane rise last year through the american conference, you know, this lineup this past year, Charlie Wrightsl transferred in. Grant Nelson transferred in. I mean, Nate Oates has looked at the direction of, I think, college basketball and realized that kind of to go, kind of the way he's going to build his team is we're going to get a good experience, maybe outside of the program, and we're going to try to develop these freshmen. You know, they might not start right away, but we're going to develop these freshmen in the program.
[00:34:37] Speaker A: But then you just had to redshirt them, and then they say they're transferred.
[00:34:40] Speaker C: That's true. And that's the other problem he's gonna have to adapt is a lot of people are gonna want to leave, you know, playing time, make it to the final four.
[00:34:47] Speaker B: That's just the new landscape of college sports. I mean, every coach is doing so hard to keep players. You know, I saw this kind of off topic, kind of not.
They were talking about how they're gonna put the transfer portal in, you know, the college football game that's coming out. And they were saying, like, one of the things that the guy who wrote the article was being told from the developers is that they had to balance it because they had to make it fun and fair so you could keep your team around, because if they made it too realistic, you'd have people jump and ship all the time. It wouldn't be fun. You could never keep a team together. So even game developers understand that transfer.
[00:35:27] Speaker C: Portal is putting up video game numbers.
[00:35:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, for real.
I've also just got to say, you know, I. We cannot make it through this without saying, like, Greg Baron might be the real MVP. I mean, just look at the hires that he has made since he got here. You know, NATO, it's obviously home run higher. That's, like, incredible. Kalen DeBoer, you know, arguably one of the, I would say, in the top two or three, like, coaching hires that he could have made, manages to get that one locked down, and we'll see how successful that one ends up being. But I was going to say he's.
[00:36:05] Speaker C: Going to be judged pretty heavily on that one.
[00:36:07] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, for sure. But, you know, it's, he has not been hesitant to continue getting NATO those extensions. And the fact that he has kept him here when NATO's had several jobs come open to him that he would be super interested in. Like when the Louisville job came open, I mean, that was arguably, I'd almost argue that that one would have been more enticing to NATO's than Kentucky. And then that Kentucky job comes open, he says, no, I'm good. And, you know, you see the kind of reception, I don't know if you saw it on social media, the kind of reception that they had for their new head coach. I mean, they literally drove the bus into the arena. The entire arena was for a press conference. Like, it, it's just unreal. But, yeah, Greg Byrne has continued to keep him here, and, you know, it's only been good things for Alabama athletics.
[00:36:59] Speaker A: And, like, you know, he just, you know, hired Rob Vaughn, you know, this for baseball. I didn't even mention that team still in the top 25, just beat a number one team in a series for, like the first time since 2009, I believe. So we'll see how this season ends up and how his career works out. But, you know, the athletic director is doing a good job when, like, you start hearing rumors that he's going to leave for other athletic director jobs.
[00:37:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:37:24] Speaker A: Because you never hear about that. And then I think it was Texas A and M. That's when it was like, oh, he's going to go to Texas A and M, be their athlete director.
[00:37:31] Speaker C: I believe that one had a lot of steam because Greg did. Didn't he go there? Isn't, didn't he graduate from.
[00:37:38] Speaker B: No, I. Okay, well, we'll do some, some quick research on that. Let's see.
[00:37:44] Speaker C: Wow. Actually, Google lists him as an athlete.
Oh, sorry. He went to Mississippi State.
[00:37:51] Speaker B: Oh, okay. So, well, I mean, you know, he's probably just thinking of the oil money at a and M. That's true. The potential new saudi investment.
[00:37:59] Speaker C: Yeah. Live a and m. Yeah, yeah.
[00:38:02] Speaker B: No joke. Don't even get me started with that. I might have to go there for beef of the week. Speaking of, when we come back here on 90.7 cowstone beef of the week, it's back again. It's returned several times. It's like the roman reigns of our low tide segment. The Brock Lesnar actually just keeps coming back over and over again.
But we will be back.
[00:38:36] Speaker A: WVuafm Tuscaloosa.
[00:38:49] Speaker B: Welcome back into the low tide here on 90.7. The capstone will be with you until the top of the hour.
Beef of the week.
[00:38:57] Speaker A: Not a minute later.
And not a minute later.
[00:39:00] Speaker B: Yeah, not a minute later, not seconds later. I can almost guarantee we're gonna go over, but beef of the week is back. Just like Roman Reigns, it continues to return every single, every other week. And we'll have a. Well, I'll continue to say it's. It's back every time it comes back. So who wants to start?
Okay. All right. I'll go first. So, you know, the Masters has been this week, and it's been fantastic up until, you know, probably like last couple holes on Sunday. You know, Scotty Scheffler is on, you know, the type of generational run that we only really saw from Tiger during his prime. You know, he's gaining.
I believe it's like four shots on the field on average in every tournament that he plays per round. And still he's like a shot behind where Tiger was in his prime. That's how ridiculous it is.
Gets his second major today. Congratulations to him. The only thing that was going to stop him was his wife going into labor, which he said he was going to leave the tournament if it did happen. But my beef is with Liv Golf and Greg Norman. Maybe in particular this week at the Masters. You have Bryson come out on.
On Thursday, and he shoots like a seven under 67, I believe a six seven under round. Big time. You know, he's leading after the first round, and he instantly just reminds you when he's the content king, you know, you've got him. He's coming into the week. He decided to put a new set of irons in the bag that literally got approved by the USGA and the RNA, like the Monday of Masters week, which is insane. You would never see anyone else but Bryson do that. You know, he's got his long drive driver that he's, like, posting all over social media and that apparently even his mom was on the grounds, like, talking about crazy stuff. He picks up the sign at Augusta and you just see him walking across the fairway with the sign before one of the tournament workers has to go get him to put it down.
He truly just shows you why he's the content king. And he's so fun to have around.
You know, regardless of what you think of him, he makes golf way more interesting. And I hate the fact that live golf had to come along and take that away from us. And it's not just Bryson that they took away. It's guys like Brooks. It's guys like, you know, even as much as I might hate him, Patrick Reed, these guys who were the villains of the PGA Tour, the guys who like Brooks Koepka, you know, he took a major away from Tiger. I think he took two majors away from Tiger. He took it away at the PGA when Tiger had the lead there for a short time, you know, and almost chased him down at the Masters in 2019, you know, save for that birdie on the final hole.
It's guys like that that we lost because of the stupidity that is live golf. An outside actor wanting to buy their reputation back on the global stage. So they decide that they are going to pay golfers amounts of money that they are not worth in any, like, by any sense of the imagination. No golfer, not even the greatest golfer in the world, maybe not even tiger in his prime, is worth $400 million, you know, some ridiculous amounts of money that they're paying to these guys.
And to top it all off, you've got Greg Norman, who reportedly was on the grounds, bought a secondhand ticket because the tournament would not give him a ticket.
Not a former champion, you know, historically. Go look up Greg Norman. Masters collapse if you want to see that one shot's fired. Yeah, yeah.
Terrible, terrible.
But anyway, so he's on the grounds, and apparently he was, like, chirping Rory, like, at multiple points this week. Like, he was waiting by the ropes for, like, rory to walk by and just, like, staring him down with, like, the stupidest grin on his face. This was reports from on the grounds. But just, I mean, it's stuff like that. Like, what are you doing? Like, I live. Golf sucks. The state that golf is in right now, in this separated state, it just sucks. There are so many guys who we just don't get to see, like, hardly at all anymore, except for the majors, which, you know, you can argue that it's made the majors even better, but it's. It's just. It's a travesty that we do not get guys like Bryson, guys like Brooks Koepka on the PGA Tour week to week, and that we just have this separated ecosystem. It sucks. This might be, like, my beef of, like, the last, like, two years beef.
[00:44:02] Speaker C: Of a decade we're approaching.
[00:44:04] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. But just, you know, with the Masters being this week, anytime a major. A major week rolls around and, you know, you've got live guys making noise or doing something interesting, it just makes it so much worse when you're like, man, this is what we could have all the time. But Liv had to make this system and split up professional golf for the dumbest reason. So hopefully we can figure out a way to get all of this reunited to fix this problem.
Because golf desperately needs it. And this week showed us that.
[00:44:41] Speaker C: I'll go, I'm just going to throw this out there. I don't know if I'd necessarily call it maybe a beef of the week, but just something that I thought was. I'm kind of not mad, but. Because it's kind of funny, but I'm mad that it's really happening. So in the soccer world, which I don't know how deep you guys are in it, but educate me. So there's this striker, a goal scorer for the team, Bayern Munich, who you might have heard of. They're Germany's most successful club.
This striker's name is Harry Kane. He came from Byron or he came from a team called Tottenham Hotspur, which is settled in London, in England. He's.
[00:45:27] Speaker B: I know that apparently they stink.
[00:45:30] Speaker C: Okay. Yeah, they don't.
[00:45:31] Speaker A: There's Dallas Cowboys.
[00:45:33] Speaker C: Yeah, I would say they haven't won any trophy since 2000. I believe it's either 2008 or 2005. And every. They're kind of like, historically known for, like, not just winning trophies. They might get there, but they haven't won. So this guy, Harry Kane, goes to Bayern Munich. Winners of the last ten german leagues. Winners of, like, I think it's six of ten german domestic cups. You know, that they have. There is plenty of opportunities for this guy to win a league title. And today it was officially announced that Bayern Munich lost the league to Bayer Leverkusen, which is a team that's known for choking the league away.
So this guy comes through the door, has zero trophies in his career. Like, he's never won any trophy. Goes to Bayern Munich. Everyone in the preseason over the summer was like, oh, this is it. Like, he can finally get that trophy thing. The monkey can get off his back. He can win that trophy, win the league, they'll dominate it. And they have one of their worst seasons as a team in the last 15 years. They lose the league already with, I believe, still over like four or five games left. So just a horrible display. It's not necessarily, like I said, maybe it's not the beef of the week, because it's kind of funny that it happened, but I feel. I feel for him. But at the same time, it's kind of funny to see how that whole situation worked out.
[00:46:59] Speaker B: It's tough. A generational choker.
[00:47:02] Speaker A: Lights are too bright. Who knew Joe was this deep into international soccer over here.
[00:47:07] Speaker C: It's the only. I like watching sports. And on Saturday mornings, not much else. Competition going on.
[00:47:13] Speaker B: Not. No. Like cornhole on ESPN three or something.
[00:47:16] Speaker C: No.
[00:47:17] Speaker A: All right, so I got a couple, right? And the first one, more of like beef of last. It's like beef of last week and now beef of this week. So beef of last week is basically about the final four, right? So Alabama makes the first final four in history. And, you know, I get it. You know, we got. The students were able to get, you know, discounted tickets and everything, but some of them weren't able to get out there. And, you know, part of it, you know, airlines just start jacking up the prices out of specific airports and stuff. And, you know, it when you have. I know it was like, you know, the first weekend, but like when Grand Canyon, you know, however they were able to do it, maybe, I don't know, there's some questions on where they're getting their funding, but, you know, they were able to send students out for basically nothing. And I know, like, I don't expect that. I just wish there was a better way to, like, get people there. I know gymnastics, when they did the SEC championships down in New Orleans, they had a bus going from Tuscaloosa taking people down there. You know, I just wish there was something. There was a.
A.
It was from a.
It was a travel company. It's like a sports travel company. They had an Alabama package, but within the hour, the one that included the flights was sold out. Plus, it would have been, if it's just you and nobody else, it's like 4000 for you to go out there.
And then there was just the hotel package. But then you still gotta figure out a way to. And I'm just like, can we have like a little student discount thing going on? You know, get some more of the actual students out there. But, you know, that was, that was more of last week. This week. Okay, so we all here don't schedule your weddings in the fall because of football. Well, I got another one. Don't schedule your weddings on Super Alabama weekend when you have a day.
Baseball at home against the number one team in the nation. Softball is at home. Even tennis is at home. Soccer's got a spring match going on against Ole Miss, I believe it was. You know, just everything's happening in Tuscaloosa. And then, you know, when you have a friend that you haven't seen in person in like seven years and they're like, oh, we scheduled our wedding up here and you just have to go. And then you miss out on all these good sports down here. You know, how about just not get married? You know, you just don't take the risk of scheduling weddings when there are sporting events on, which is all year. So you take it from there. Just don't get married.
[00:49:50] Speaker C: I believe there's one day out of the entire year in America where there's zero sports. And I think it's the day after the MLB all star game.
[00:49:59] Speaker A: Okay, so that needs to be wedding day.
[00:50:02] Speaker C: Everyone, everybody, everyone can take off work. It'll be a federal holiday. We'll just say, everyone, go get married.
[00:50:08] Speaker B: Everyone gets married on this same day every year. Okay, this might be.
[00:50:12] Speaker C: What if we just marry a thousand people at a time? Wait, wait.
[00:50:14] Speaker B: We might be cooking here. This might be a great idea.
[00:50:18] Speaker A: But really, all seriousness, Austin, Allison, congratulations on the marriage. Hope you have many, many nice years to go.
[00:50:27] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:50:28] Speaker B: How sweet.
So I think that's gonna do it. Do we have anything else that we need to shout out besides baseball getting a series win over the number one team in the country?
[00:50:38] Speaker C: Maybe. I do want to say this real quick to go along with the beef of the week in college baseball a little bit.
The last couple weekends of college baseball, I've had seen some. I mean, Georgia and Mississippi State played, and eleven guys got ejected in one game. Ole Miss and Mississippi State played, and the Ole miss coach was complaining about the Mississippi state guy in the top of the 12th doing a backflip for a home run. A game leading home run against your biggest rival.
Just strike him out. There's your solution for doing a bad flip. I never understood why people complained about that.
[00:51:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't think you can ever get mad at your rival celebrating against you. Like, literally just beat them and you will not get celebrated.
[00:51:19] Speaker C: Like, Alton Davis today when he got that final strikeout was like, doing the limbo back to the dugout. That was awesome.
[00:51:26] Speaker B: That's what drives me nuts about Texas fans saying, don't do the horns down. Like, just. Just win and nobody will do. Like, you're not gonna have to deal with it as much. Or, like, did you hear anyone at Alabama complaining when Auburn was doing the crane against Alabama when we would lose? No. Cause it's just like, just beat em and it wouldn't happen and you can do it back. Like, I. Yeah, I 100% agree.
[00:51:50] Speaker C: Especially in college.
[00:51:51] Speaker B: It's ridiculous. Also, kids, I'll just shout out the reason why we did not have a show last week. WrestleMania 40. It was every bit as amazing as I thought it was going to be absolutely fantastic. If you're not into wrestling right now or you ever were in the past, like, go back, watch that and get back into it because it's in an absolute boom right now. So it was fantastic. But I think that's going to do it for us here on the low tide. Thank you for joining us. We'll be back next week.
