Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Wvuafm tuscaloosa.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Well, look on the bright side. Basketball is just around the corner. I'm kidding. No, I'm not. I'm not kidding. Welcome into the low tide here on 90.7, the capstone. I'm Nicholas, personally joined, as always, by Adam Hambre. How are we feeling?
[00:00:28] Speaker A: You know, I was having a pretty good weekend, you know, by myself, you know, just like it was good until that game came on and, you know, then we saw what ended up happening and now it's kind of been, you know, a little miserable the last, you know, day and a half. But, you know, I'm making it.
[00:00:47] Speaker B: And Mister Elliot Miller.
[00:00:50] Speaker C: I never thought I'd see the day where I'd yearn to watch, like to want to watch the Steelers over Alabama football. This is. It's a new. It's a new low.
Yeah.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: Yeah. Things are. Things are dire here in a gloomy tuscaloosa. I guess so, obviously. Number seven, Alabama, taken on number eleven, Tennessee yesterday. Inside Nealon Stadium, the goal posts fell once again as Tennessee takes down Alabama 24 to 17. Despite holding Tennessee scoreless in a first half that included three volunteer turnovers. Nico Amalia, Dylan Sampson and the Tennessee offense finally came to life, highlighted by a diving catch from Chris Braswell that gave the voles a lead they would not relinquish. Did you know that he is from Midland? I'll add that.
[00:01:38] Speaker C: Wait.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: Personally shout out, he played for Midland late.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: I'm more of a permian guy myself.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: Very true. Very true.
[00:01:46] Speaker C: Wait, no, no. College Station high school.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: Shout out. Absolutely nothing. Anyway, Alabama's comeback bid fell short when Jalen Milroy's first down pass was intercepted to seal the win for Tennessee. He would finish the game 25 for 45 for 239 yards, a pair of interceptions and a touchdown.
So I figured there's gonna be a lot to say. We went extremely overtime the last time we had a loss. So let's do it like this. We're going to do a two minute drill of sorts. We'll give each of us. We'll get two minutes to rant, go off, and then we'll leave roughly a minute for everybody else to respond.
But I'll start. So the first thing that I want to talk about is I think that going to Neyland Stadium and experiencing it really kind of showed me how underwhelming Bryant Denny has been since I've been here. At least, right?
Nyland was insane. Like, one of the best experiences I have seen and been around for now. The field storming afterwards was insane. And walking back through the field after the game was over, places absolutely ransacked. I mean, it would give a golf course superintendent nightmares. There's chunks missing out of the field.
Truly unbelievable. I saw some absolutely deplorable behavior from some unnamed people, but that place was so loud. Like, it just. Honestly, I hate to say this, it puts Brian Denny to shame, at least for right now. And I think that that should be. You should look at that as an Alabama fan and be frustrated that that's not what Brian Denny is like. And, you know, I feel like this is a fan base who's just so used to winning and borderline fair weather fans, if I'm being 100% honest with you, especially with a lot of people who've only recently become Alabama fans, came here to go to school.
So I think Brian Denny needs to get very, very loud, needs to be much better. The other thing that I'll talk about, I got about 30 seconds left.
I actually want to commend the defense. Okay? They played well enough to win this game, forced a lot of turnovers. The offense did not capitalize on, but early in this game, they played well. At the end of the game, when they needed to get stops to give the offense another chance, they did.
So, you know, I've been ripping them the past couple weeks. And also, I want to say Malachi Moore played a good game here. He finished with one. Let's see. With the interception and the forced fumble on Dylan Sampson early in the game. It's good work. I'm over my two minutes.
Have at me.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: Yeah. So I'll talk about the stadium situation right quick. That one.
And it could just be from when I was younger, but when I was going to my first Alabama games, and this was when Alabama football was not that good, other than the 2005 season, the play seemed like it was loud, but it could have just been because of how young I was and just being in that kind of environment for the first time. But that was before they had even moved it up to 92,000. And then, you know, the first, you know, couple years of Nick Saban being there, being there in 2009 for the South Carolina game when Mark Ingram has the 246 yard game that end up basically winning him the Heisman, you know, that place was loud then. And then, you know, I left the state for a while, and I was only able to come back for a couple of games here and there. And, you know, it was like you said, you know, it just felt dead. And I think it was because of just winning so much now, these last two ish years, I do think it has gotten better where people are more engaged and that might be because they're, you know, the fan base does feel that the team is not as dominant as what it was. But yeah, I do think that, you know, it needs to be better and the fans need to take it upon themselves to bring that energy.
Also, the team's got to give them something to cheer about. So, you know, it's got to go both ways. I'm hoping that it does not take several years of mediocre football to get it to that point.
[00:06:03] Speaker C: Sure. You know, completely agree with what you said. I might hit on the defense a little bit here, too. You know, much to your credit, Nick. Yeah, we have kind of collectively kind of ripped the defense a little bit, and I will agree. I think they played well enough to win. Do I think it was outstanding yet to be seen?
I thought that it was like, all right, it really more. It comes down to, and it's going to wind up being what I'm going to talk about here, but it was really, this was more of a collapse on the offensive side of the ball, like the defense did prevent Tennessee from scoring the entire first half. So there is also that, but friendly reminder because I can see that I'm nearing my minute. That's up. So I just head into my.
[00:06:45] Speaker B: Well, I do. I do want to add one thing. If you can only hold an offense off for so long, for sure, I mean, Tennessee look like they could have, you know, if they strike on one of those deep balls early, the floodgates open. You have to respond as an offense.
[00:06:58] Speaker C: Absolutely. Oh, and that's my thing. Like, oh, there. Niko had missed some passes, there were quite a few drop balls, and some of these receivers were open. So I want to pump the brakes a little bit on saying that they play on that they played super, super well because had they connected on some of those, this score might look wildly different in Tennessee's favorite.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: And I do know that, you know, Tennessee's offense last couple weeks has not looked good, but this was offense. At the end of the season, people were talking about possibly being one of the best offenses in the nation.
[00:07:20] Speaker B: Very true. All right, Mister Elliot Miller, your turn.
[00:07:24] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't know how else to describe the offense.
Then I'm going to go with the word deplorable. I'm not really sure what exactly was going on there. I understand that Ryan Williams is a standout offensive, like playmaker on this squad. I understand that he is 17 years old. He is a freshman. Out of 42, 42. Like total, what targets with six receivers that actually caught a ball. He had 1818 of them.
Like, I cannot describe forcing a ball to a 17 year old freshman on every single play. It felt like, especially in the first quarter, every single play was, well, I'm going to throw it to Ryan Williams or I'm not going to throw to anyone else at all. And like, that's where you see those issues, like some of those unforced errors. Let's take the first interception that was thrown. No reason for that ball really, to be thrown, blanketed, by the way, and just an absolute lollipop thrown to the defense. I don't. It is hard for me to describe, like, getting away from, like, the rushing game. I was like, let's just throw to Ryan Williams. Throw to Ryan Williams. Throw to Ryan Williams. And you could tell throughout the game that for Ryan Williams, he was getting gassed and he was also. He was getting whacked around, you know.
[00:08:36] Speaker B: Like he took a shot.
[00:08:38] Speaker C: He took a quite a few shots and he was getting slower and slower to get up every time. Looked like you send him through, like, the rinse cycle. Okay. In a dishwasher. And I don't understand how we've. There's been some commotion that maybe Milroy was playing with an injury that does impact play calling. I understand that there are other capable playmakers on this team, both as running backs and receivers. You cannot rely on one guy. Because the only way that I can tangentially relate this, okay, is that take. Because Adam and I know this team very well. Let's take the Steelers, for instance. They have one standout wide receiver, but you cannot force it to George Pickens every single play. You have to at least attempt to get everyone else involved. And that attempt, to me, was not made until maybe in the second half, but it still sputtered to a halt. And my team was.
[00:09:24] Speaker B: Man, that was solid. Like right on the dot.
[00:09:27] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, I. I don't really know. I mean, obviously we've seen how. We've seen videos of Jalen Millville limping before the game. You know, maybe he is battling an injury. Maybe he also has a little bit of a confidence issue after the last couple of weeks, even though, you know, that Vanderbilt game that they lost, he played pretty well in that game. I don't know what's going on. Obviously, play calling is an issue. You know, especially this kind of goes with both of us saying, you were next, Nick. You were saying how the defense played well enough to win you're talking about the play calling issue late in the game after, you know, a penalty puts them back. I can't remember the exact down. It was fourth down, but I can't remember the exact distance, about 20 yards or so, and they decided to go for it. And with how the defense had been playing, had just gotten a stop, and you have three timeouts. And I think he might, you know, coach Dubois might be thinking about that Vanderbilt game where he needed the defense make a stop with three timeouts, and they couldn't get it done. But I don't know how you can.
[00:10:23] Speaker C: Go forward on 22.
[00:10:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:25] Speaker B: Okay, so here's. Here's what I'll say, and I'll kind of defend him. You're. You have to score a touchdown regardless. Okay. I think he's thinking, you know, you're not giving away a play to have to punt the ball. You get another chance. I don't know. I mean, it did work out the way that he would want it to.
[00:10:42] Speaker C: What was the play call in? Fourth and 22.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: I will say if you look at.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: It, dump it down for, if you.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: Get that replay, if Ryan Williams does make that block, he might get the first down. Who knows? But. Yeah.
[00:10:52] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, so one thing I'll talk about with offense, you kind of talked about they forced a lot to Ryan Williams, which I don't know that I hate. It was just overkill, right? 18 targets is overkill. He's a stud. Let's not, let's not, you know, let's not overlook that. But you have a lot of other capable targets on this team who showed up in this game. You know, early on, they ran a little.
Let's see, it was like a jet sweep QB power type fake to Kendrick law for a big gain.
They ran several wide receiver screens late in the game. Jeremy Bernard, others.
I think that something we've always complained about, or at least during the time that we've done this show, is offensive coordinators that don't know how to utilize the weapons that Alabama has. I think you're seeing that they have a concept of how to do it. They have concepts of a plan. They just can't quite execute it. It's not being done well enough. Yeah, I agree with you. The offensive game plan was a mess. In no world should Jalen Melroe be throwing the ball 45 times injured maybe.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: You know, especially when it. When it's a game like this where you're not down by 20 something points trying to make the comeback, you know, like you had, you could have done other things than just asking Jalen to throw the football that many times. But yeah. Okay. So for me, you know, the biggest two big things for me in this game specifically was the inability to take advantage early in the game off of Tennessee mistakes, especially when the defense is playing as well as it was in the first half and you only go into halftime, seven nothing. You let Tennessee hang around. Eventually they got the offense going and, you know, defense as well as they played in the first half, you knew they were not going to be able to hold them to zero points the whole game. Also discipline, way too many penalties, like we said, probably every week, but this was even more egregious and it really, every time we go into Neal and stadium, it seems like it happens now. But, you know, especially that, that last one with a Kendrick law, you know, retaliating, you know, you just got to have more awareness to just not do that. And I don't know, obviously there's problems all across the board and the team is not playing very well right now. And I'm just trying to think through it. You know, maybe it's just me trying to justify what I'm seeing in front of my eyes, but, you know, I think we are seeing what happens when you have as many players as Alabama did lose. I know they had some people, you know, stay with the program. Some people transferred in, but all the players that you lost to the draft, some of the people that transferred out and then almost an entire new coaching staff, you know, it's, you only kept two coaches from the previous coaching staff and, you know, you shouldn't expect, you know, a team within their first year with a new coach and that many changing things to be a championship ready team. But, you know, that Georgia game, you know, as soon as you look at that, I think that's when. Cause we talked about it, just make the playoff. That's the expectation after the Georgia game, especially after the first half of the Georgia game, it was, oh, this team is good to go right now. And I just think that maybe this team prepared for that Georgia game and didn't prepare for the entire season, did not prepare to be a championship team, and maybe it'll get better in the next couple of years.
[00:14:19] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, I do want to add one thing. We were kind of talking about the conduct, obviously, Kendrick Clau, you got to be better than that.
Even if, you know, it might have, in my opinion, been a little bit of a weak call in this situation, given the rivalry. You can't leave that up to the ref, you can't do it. You got to be better than that. And I think it kind of speaks to a larger problem that Alabama's had this year. I don't know what it is. Several players, the conduct on the field just has not been acceptable.
You had Caleb Odom last night right after the game, retweeting tweets about Jalen Milro and his decision making. Those are deleted now, but these are the types of things that are just unacceptable, can't happen.
And, you know, when you have people who are supposed to be your leaders on this team acting poorly on the field, that reflects on the rest of the team, and clearly it rubs off. So there's a bit of. There's an issue there that needs to be resolved for Alabama.
[00:15:28] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, I'll retweet everything that you just said. I don't know how you can justify, like, some.
[00:15:36] Speaker A: It will.
[00:15:36] Speaker C: It's. You could, but I think it's really hard to speaking on the turnovers if I just.
I don't know. Like, I just. They forced him and some of them were kind of like, unforced errors on, like, Tennessee's part. Like, you know, that's Dylan Sampson's first career fumble. I mean, that was like a freak, like, smack out that ended up happening nine times out of ten. That probably doesn't even happen the way he spins around and gets it peanut punched out. The one niko interception or whatever, his arm is like wax when he's thrown, and it's way short. Not. He shouldn't have even thrown it, but, like, the fact that he was in the throwing motion and it went that short, like, it wasn't even that. I don't know. It's just hard to explain. Everything is just inexplicable.
[00:16:17] Speaker A: You know, you had that, that other interception. You know, Nico's out. They bring in the back up first throw, and it's just when you have. I don't care if you forced them or if they were unforced.
You get three first half turnovers. You cannot go into halftime up only seven nothing.
[00:16:33] Speaker C: No, that's what I'm saying. It's inexplicable. I mean, like, it's like you are so fortunate to have those in your, like, in your grasp and this score is only seven nothing.
[00:16:41] Speaker B: I just.
[00:16:42] Speaker C: I don't know.
[00:16:44] Speaker B: Fun fact.
Guess how many yards of offense Alabama totaled on their last four drives?
[00:16:53] Speaker A: I'm not going to cheat. I saw this earlier, so I'll let Elliott.
[00:16:56] Speaker C: The last four drives. I'm going to go with, like, what? Negative ten, close three.
[00:17:01] Speaker B: You were close. You were close. Obviously not what you want to see, especially from an offense that in that first half against Georgia showed you that they can be deadly.
[00:17:10] Speaker C: That's the thing.
[00:17:11] Speaker A: Like, you've seen how good they can be and that's why it's so frustrating. And, you know, like I was saying, like, you know, we talked about it a little bit off air, but, you know, it. In previous years, I would look at other teams and see how, like, they only prepared for Alabama. And now it's like, did Alabama only prepare for Georgia?
[00:17:29] Speaker C: If I may, real quick, I wanted to also hit on this point you had mentioned, you know, like, with a team that has had moving parts and everything, and quite frankly, I understand that they lost people, but they also brought in quite a few studs on both sides of the ball as well as a coach that had gone pretty far, you know, and it'd be one thing if we were sitting here and this was a team that, like, they were kind of new to the, to the power five thing, they're maybe in a new conference or whatever, and I. Maybe the lights are a little too bright. This is not a team that is, that I think anyone would expect to be having those kind of issues. And I think they're, quite frankly, they're talented enough, especially on offense. This should not be the output that is being seen.
[00:18:11] Speaker B: Well, yeah, you know, and that was largely what Kalyn Deborah kind of echoed in his, in his postgame press conference away in the secluded corner of Neyland Stadium. I have no idea where we were actually at.
Just all jam packed in there like sardines.
It was clear that he didn't even really, he flat out said this team can't get over the hump and that they were killing themselves with silly mistakes and that they just can't play team football right now. It's either the offense is showing up or the defense is showing up, but.
[00:18:45] Speaker C: It has been that way since the second half of the Georgia game.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: 100%.
[00:18:49] Speaker C: Yeah, but that, that is a problem, you would think at, by this point, you know, three and a half games in now that would be a result again. And I'll say it, and we'll probably end on this part, but I am legitimately concerned about these other games. I know Mizzou didn't have a great outing against Auburn, but granted, Brady Cook was out for like 85% of that.
[00:19:10] Speaker B: Game, went to the hospital camera and then came back, which is just crazy.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: Came back, lit them up so so, so real quick, just looking at the rest of the schedule, obviously, I think, you know, y'all might have saw the thing where Alabama will probably be favored in every game except for LSU.
It's on the road. Another game on the road. We'll see what happens in that game. So next week is Missouri.
Tyta, I don't care how it goes. You have to win that game. You have to find a way to win. I don't care if it's pretty. Just find a way to win. Then you get the bye week. Get to the bye week.
You know, the last bye week was right before Georgia. I don't know. I doubt we'll have the same output that we had in the first half against Georgia. But that is when all these problems need to get fixed in that bye week before LSU.
[00:19:58] Speaker B: Yeah, 100%.
[00:20:00] Speaker C: I mean, looking at the schedule, I'll be honest. So next week in Missouri, quite frankly, in my opinion, toss up.
[00:20:06] Speaker A: It'll be. I think it'll be very competitive.
[00:20:07] Speaker C: Even. Even with the bye weekend with LSU. I'm legitimately leaning towards LSU. I am what Mercer?
[00:20:16] Speaker A: They are a top 25 fcs.
[00:20:19] Speaker C: They are a top 25 FCS team. But I don't think that that's the biggest thing. Oklahoma is having their own issues right now, being down all the receivers. I think I just saw they fired their offensive coordinator and QB coach. So that might toss up, depending. I don't know, maybe they turn into an offensive juggernaut with the. Whoever replaces is interim and then with Auburn, that's always a toss up, no matter what.
[00:20:42] Speaker A: And so at least it is in Bryant.
[00:20:43] Speaker B: That was exactly what I was going to say because there's something about Jordan Hare. There's some weird voodoo going on in there. At least.
[00:20:52] Speaker C: At least it's at home. But I still think it's a toss up.
[00:20:54] Speaker B: No, 100%.
[00:20:55] Speaker C: Yeah, I agree, but that is not a good outlook.
[00:20:57] Speaker B: I agree, which I don't, I don't know the last time that we could truly say that it. Every one of the games coming home is going to be a fight, a dogfight.
[00:21:08] Speaker A: I mean, we kind of said it a little bit last year, but, you know, they started pulling it together. I'm hoping this team can, you know, like, get over that hunt. We'll see if it happens. It doesn't look likely right now with how poor they've played, but get through Missouri, hopefully pull out the win and then be prepared for LSU. Like, I don't know if you got to do, if that's the game that you start pulling out the double reverse passes again. I don't know if you need to do that. I don't think you just got to be prepared. I don't know what kind of script they made for Georgia. Obviously you can't do the same thing, but you better have something ready.
[00:21:43] Speaker B: Retweet well, like we said, alabama, they're going to look to bounce back next week as they host Missouri. Kick set for 230.
Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with the low tide right here on 90.7 the Capstone.
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Welcome back into the low tide here on 90.7 the Capstone. Nicholas, Adam and Elliot here with you tonight live in a gloomy and potentially depressed Tuscaloosa. I hinted at it before, basketball season is right around the corner.
Things are looking up. The women are ranked for the first time since 1998. Number 24, I believe. Big shout out.
And the men are ranked number two with the fifth best odds to win the national championship at plus 1400.
So they held the first ever Bama in Boutwell. I do not know where bout well is. Do you know where bout well?
[00:23:21] Speaker C: I think it's near Birmingham or something.
[00:23:23] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:23:24] Speaker A: I've never actually been there, but I.
[00:23:26] Speaker B: New so they held the first ever Bama in bout well. The court looks sick. I gotta give him that.
Alabama takes on Wake Forest, who did receive votes in the first preseason AP poll. Didn't quite get ranked, but this is expected to be a tournament team and they come out on top 98 to 77.
Aiden Holloway, Auburn transferred, leads the Crimson Tide with 20 points.
Six players scored in double figures. Holloway makes five three pointers, 24 assists off 30 made field goals. You love to see it. Mark Sears puts in 19 points.
Regarded as the best returning player and potentially the best player in all of college basketball.
So let's kind of talk expectations, right? Because I know it sure seems like this could potentially be the best basketball team Alabama's ever had.
Coming off a Final Four run, which, first off, did you see the rings?
[00:24:36] Speaker A: Yes, they look amazing.
[00:24:38] Speaker B: They are unbelievable. I mean, that looks better than something you would get for winning an NBA title.
Regardless, how do we feel about Alabama basketball headed into the season? Do we think this could be the year? Knock on wood.
[00:24:53] Speaker A: Well, you know, it's hard to tell from a preseason scrimmage we saw a couple years ago. Alabama had a preseason scrimmage with TCU gets demolished. And that team ended up getting to number one in the nation during the season. Last year, you know, it looked, you know, last year, you know, the expectations were, you know, you had to meet the expectations of the year before where you had, you know, the number two pick in the NBA draft. It's very difficult to live up to that, especially when they were number one in the nation. And then, you know, as the year goes on, everybody's like, well, maybe next year. And then they make the run for the final four. So, you know, this game, they end up winning. You know, it's a 98 to 77. And I think the big thing for me is like, this isn't even as good as the team could be. You know, there were some players that were not playing in this game. They have injuries that they are resting up before the season. Hopefully. I think we were talking off air, one of them will be back for conference play. We don't know when some of the other players be back. They haven't given that information out. I do think they're just limiting time where they could re injure themselves before the season. Very difficult schedule. We've, we've all seen it, you know, you know, once again, playing Purdue, the Creighton game that's going to be in Tuscaloosa after students are done with finals, I think that's a travesty. But, you know, with all the people that didn't play and you see the output that you got in this game, especially on the defensive end, you know, I think they looked very, you know, much improved on the defensive end in this game. Hopefully that carries over into the season. You know, the transfer Clifford, I struggle pronouncing his last name, but, you know, Clifford, you know, he's going to be. He's kind of like what they were missing last year, even though they made that final four run. You know, once you went up against those taller interior guys, you bring him in to kind of combat that and then you can really let Grant Nelson, you know, play where he is designed to play.
[00:26:50] Speaker B: And that was something we talked about almost every single game. We were talking about how you just hated to see Betty Ako leave. You felt like this team was built around having him. He decides to go, to go to the draft, gets picked up by the spurs. Didn't work out so well. But, you know, I thought that overall it was a fantastic opener, I guess if you would call it that against a good team that looks to be a tournament team.
My thing is that and they talked about this on the broadcast. The peak, like, the number one thing that they have been worried about in the offseason is defense.
You brought in a center who averaged three points a game, or, sorry, God, more than three points, three blocks a game last season for Rutgers and was regarded as one of the best defensive. Best defensive centers in the whole country, if not the best defensive center in the country. So I think you got to be hopeful that that is what you're going to see from Alabama once the season gets started and especially once you get into SEC play.
[00:27:59] Speaker A: I will say one final thing. The one thing that I saw in this to improve on is one, it's. This has been, you know, multiple years now, but those turnovers, you know, they still had 16 turnovers. You know, Wake Forest had more. I would like to see that number down, especially with the experienced players that are on this team now. Hopefully, when it is your main, you know, once. Once you get everybody back from injury and everybody's in their roles, you know, maybe less turnovers and maybe, you know, even though this one's 98, seven, maybe. Maybe you have some bigger, you know, blowouts. Who's to say? But, you know, once again, it is a preseason scrimmage, so I'm going to wait till the actual season. But when you come in, you've addressed the issues that you've had in the past and your preseason number two, there is no hiding from it now. Your expectation is to make another final four.
[00:28:49] Speaker C: Yeah, um, if I could clone what the two of you said and then just repeat it, but in my voice, I would, because I really don't have a lot to add on. My biggest concern after the last final four run that we had, absolutely, it was about size and it's like, dominating, like, rebounds and everything. That was a huge, like, point of emphasis. You know, they get out, they get the transfer and everything. They actually did win the rebound battle 44 to 35 in this game, which to me is an encouraging sign. However, much like Adam, I will temper expectations. Wait to see how it plays out in the actual game. Let some of those guys rest up, see how they look whenever they come back from injury, how the rotations play out. I think when it comes down to what is the expectation, absolutely agree with Adam. You cannot have this high of expectations, a team that is arguably better than last year's team if, like, it's pretty much final four, bust 100%.
[00:29:43] Speaker B: And I think, honestly, the expectations might even be higher than that. Right.
Oates himself said at SEC media day that they want to win four titles this year, the players era, the SEC regular season title, the tournament title, and the national championship. And it was a big reason why Mark Sears decided to come back for another year was to cut down the nets at the end of the year. So I think, you know, there are so many expectations behind this team. This team is loaded with talent.
[00:30:16] Speaker A: And, you know, this is the thing with, like NATO does every year. You know, he schedules these really tough out of conference opponents so that you are prepared for SEC play, you are prepared for the tournament at the end of the year. And now, you know, you're saying it at media days like we're expecting to win or we want to win, but he is expecting to win those four championships. You're inviting the competition. You've already been doing it. Now you're telling them like, you know, we're here to win. So if you don't, you know, you're gonna. I don't know. It won't be as bad as how people are talking about the football team right now. But, you know, you're asking for all the expectations, you know.
[00:30:55] Speaker B: Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about their season, obviously, first big event, the players era festival. This is the big money tournament that everybody was talking about with the nil payouts. I don't know the exact details. I know there was some controversy with that.
Taking on teams like Houston, Notre Dame, Rutgers.
Should be a good one. Should be exciting. Some good, you know, early season, high stakes basketball. You've got UNC in Chapel Hill.
[00:31:27] Speaker A: You even missed the, the purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana, Illinois and Birmingham.
That's right before that play is there. So they're going to be battle tested. That UNC game, you know, if that wasn't, if we were out of school at that point, I would definitely try to make the trip up to Chapel Hill.
I still think, like I said earlier.
[00:31:48] Speaker B: The Creighton game, though, Alabama's new arch.
[00:31:51] Speaker A: Rivals having that the day after final. So all students are gone. You know, I think that was, you know, I felt, I think you could have found a different way to schedule that one.
[00:32:01] Speaker B: And you're gonna get the increased heat of an even tougher SEC schedule with Oklahoma and Texas coming into the SEC. So I think it's going to be a good one. Obviously, you get Auburn to close out the year.
[00:32:15] Speaker A: Kentucky twice, man, it's a tough schedule.
[00:32:19] Speaker C: New look Kentucky, very true.
[00:32:23] Speaker B: But, you know, I think we've always talked about it. NATO loves to schedule very difficult regular seasons. And honestly, I commend him for it because that's how you prepare to go on deep runs in the postseason. You play tournament caliber teams and you learn what you really got.
[00:32:45] Speaker A: Well, we'll leave it at that.
[00:32:47] Speaker B: I think I know where you wanted to go with that, but we're going to restrain ourselves from going there.
We'll be right back after this break, this time with best of the week. Okay. We did this last, I guess, last season, I guess you could call it.
There's so much negativity going around, rightfully so, potentially.
[00:33:10] Speaker C: Can I still be negative? Can we have a best and a beef?
[00:33:13] Speaker B: Huh? It's almost like I might say something about that at the end of the show.
But to find out, you're gonna have to join us back here after the break on 90.7, the capstone. We'll see it in a few minutes.
[00:33:42] Speaker A: WVuafm Tuscaloosa.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: Welcome back into the low tide here on 90.7, the Capstone. Nicholas, Adam Elliot, as always, you know, today was super smooth with those.
[00:34:06] Speaker C: You did a great job today.
[00:34:07] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you.
[00:34:08] Speaker C: Can that be my best of the week?
[00:34:09] Speaker B: That's what I need. No, no.
[00:34:11] Speaker A: You can't come up with anything.
[00:34:12] Speaker B: No.
[00:34:13] Speaker A: You're so negative all the time.
[00:34:15] Speaker C: I'm not negative, man. I'm Mister positive. I'm Mister happy. Mister happy pants.
[00:34:19] Speaker B: Well, a lot of people in Tuscaloosa aren't maybe understandably so, but I feel like there's been too much beef going around. So, you know, we're gonna go like, impossible burger style. We're gonna bring in the plant based happy burgers. So only positive beef. I guess maybe it's chicken.
Best of the week for this week. Who wants to start?
[00:34:47] Speaker C: Not me.
[00:34:49] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:34:50] Speaker A: I guess I could start.
[00:34:50] Speaker C: I'm still thinking.
[00:34:51] Speaker A: So, you know, my best of the week. I know the city of Tuscaloosa is driven by football and maybe a little bit of basketball now, but, you know, we did have some success in other sports that don't get as much love around here. Volleyball this past week earned first top 25 wins since 2016 when they beat Auburn, who was ranked number 25 in five sets. So I know we haven't been able to talk about many of the other sports with how big of a football season this is, but I did want to give a shout out to them. You know, they've struggled, you know, several years now, and even after very good starts in previous years and out of conference, once they got to conference play, facing a lot of very tough teams, couldn't really close out the season the way they wanted this season still not going, you know. Great. They are ten and seven. They do have two SEC wins, one of them being against the top 25 team. And, you know, this also snapped Auburn's eight game winning streak. It's the first time they beat Auburn since 2019.
And Alabama is four and one in five set matches, all of which saw the tie trailing two to one after three sets. So this team fights hard, and they're finally getting some of the results. I know they lost today to a different top 25 team in Kentucky, but this team is fighting, and they're. They're looking better than what we have seen in conference play in years past.
[00:36:21] Speaker B: There you go. Okay, so I've kind of got two. Okay. And one of them is technically not this week, but I feel I have to bring it up. Okay, so, first thing, I don't know if you guys saw this on Twitter. I retweeted it, a quote. Tweeted it.
There was a golf tournament this weekend that ran on Saturday as well. I believe it's the golf club of Georgia intercollegiate.
They've got taxes in the field. They've got Georgia in the field. They've got Alabama in the field.
Obviously got a lot of college football going on. Don't want to miss it. So they had basically a jumbotron or one, like. Basically a leaderboard that had been turned into a massive jumbotron to show the games that were going on. The Alabama Tennessee game going on. So in the tweet, you can see, you know, he's chipping from just off the green, and the game is right there. Fantastic. Best thing I've seen in a minute. The other best thing I've seen in a minute. Okay.
We were invited out to go check out the Crimson reserve, Alabama's new, like, $40 million golf facility.
Holy cow. Like, unbelievable. It's like golf Disneyland. Okay, now, for a true golf sicko like myself, I mean, it was like Christmas. The place is unreal. I mean, first off, the clubhouse is insane. It is so nice. They've got. They've got this massive, like, trophy room, and all the pictures that are hung up are made to look like paintings. They look truly sick. Okay. I gotta say that they've got simulators. They've got, like, adjustable putting green inside so you can simulate, basically whatever kind of put you want to do. Then they've got this, like, massive range that's just perfect. You could hit any kind of shot out there. And then they have a ten hole golf course that only the team is ever going to play. Which is fantastic.
If you have a facility like that, there's no reason that you should not be top of the bunch. That place is incredible.
Truly a treat to go see it.
[00:38:33] Speaker A: You know, I'm still upset. You know, last year, you know, having, you know, one of the best golfers in the nation, if not the best at the collegiate level. And, you know, he's just good enough that he has to go pro. Come on, now. Now we have all this stuff, so maybe we'll get some more golfers like that.
[00:38:48] Speaker B: It was tough. But then he also won twice in his rookie season on the PGA Tour, not getting points for the first win, which I. I'm not 100% certain of. This, I believe kept him out of the FedEx cup playoffs, which is truly tragic. There's a lot of money there.
[00:39:05] Speaker A: I will say I was not surprised that Nick brought up golf stuff while he was wearing a golf association shirt and a golf hat.
[00:39:13] Speaker B: Hey. Shout out the Alabama Golf association. That was a fantastic internship. I went all over. That was a blast. And got many pairs of shoes ruined by red paint.
[00:39:26] Speaker C: Happens to the best of us, truly. Yeah. Well, I'm actually going to go with the Gulf sickos committee over here. Okay. And I'm going to go with a nice, heartwarming story. Unfortunately, it's not Alabama related. This is unfortunately, from the University of Florida. But senior Ian Gilligan at the Shriners Open finished tied for 16th, made the cut at minus three. He was so happy. I was happy for him. You like to see new, young talent in the PGA Tour, especially with a lot of guys jumping over to live, right?
[00:39:56] Speaker A: So you see what. You see what this football season has done to Elliott over here. He is currently wearing an SEC hoodie. He has, you know, disowned the University of Alabama, and now he's praising Florida golfers, and, you know, he's probably never going to talk good things about Alabama ever again.
[00:40:13] Speaker B: Some people could say that. You could hear him chanting SEC from his apartment as he watched. As he watched the storming happened.
[00:40:22] Speaker C: Can I say something about the field story real quick?
[00:40:24] Speaker B: Go for it.
[00:40:25] Speaker C: That was corny. Okay.
[00:40:27] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:40:27] Speaker A: But they don't expect to win, you know, it's new to them.
[00:40:30] Speaker B: Here's what I'll say. Okay?
[00:40:32] Speaker C: Turn down. The goalpost was corn.
[00:40:33] Speaker B: I like to put down. Okay. First off, the fat, those things come down, like, remarkably slow. I don't know how they do this. They had something, like, on the goal post that a guy had to get the ladder out and, like, undo a little bit for it. To, like, actually come down. But then they, like, started piling on this thing and you can just hear it start to crack. I would not imagine that those things are light and there's so many people standing down there on the field. I don't know how people don't get hurt. There were a lot of hurt people on the field, like you would think. They just like, just go ahead. It was chaos.
[00:41:15] Speaker A: Alabama football, currently two losses on the year. We already talked about it. How?
[00:41:19] Speaker C: Is this your beef of the week?
[00:41:20] Speaker A: No, but we've already talked about how, you know, there hasn't been a loss on the road, that the field has not been stormed, you know, since 2010. That LSU game on the road this year, two losses, both in the state of Tennessee, both field stormed. And, you know, for Tennessee, a team that was ranked 11th, like, you know, I understood two years ago, you know, winning for the first time in 15 years. This one, like, you gotta expect a win at this point. You know, I understand, like, you know, it's a big matchup, but maybe it's just the Alabama in me, but, you know, act like you've been there before.
[00:42:00] Speaker B: Well, I mean, okay, look, I try to put myself in their shoes and, like, you know, what is it, like twice in 15?
[00:42:08] Speaker A: Yeah, but it's also twice in three.
[00:42:10] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a good point. But, like, I don't feel like they were expecting to win the game. Maybe they should have. Right? We kind of.
I don't know if we talked about it on here, but I kind of thought that this game was just going to be an absolute dumpster fire from both teams. And it was kind of like who was going to bite first, ended up being about what the game was, at least in the first half.
But, like, a field storming, like, coming from somebody who's only ever attended the University of Alabama and has never gotten to do it, it does look fun. Although I did hear people were getting tased for trying to take the goalposts out of the stadium. They did not break contained. They were both still in the stadium.
[00:42:56] Speaker A: So we're not thrown to the river this time.
[00:42:57] Speaker B: One of them was in the stands, but they were both still within the confines of Neil and stadium.
[00:43:03] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:43:06] Speaker C: Other thoughts on the goalpost thing?
[00:43:09] Speaker B: On anything?
[00:43:10] Speaker C: We're talking about anything?
[00:43:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:15] Speaker C: Man, the weather is sure nice now in Alabama. I like how it's, you know, cooler in the morning and it kind of gets a little progressively warmer throughout the day. It really makes me feel, you know, feels good.
[00:43:28] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:43:29] Speaker B: We've hit a new low. I mean, we've. We've gotten a weather talk, you know.
[00:43:34] Speaker C: Don'T we go into the meteorology of everything?
[00:43:36] Speaker A: If we were gonna get a beef of the week, I'm like, I already had one. I have a beef of the beef with my.
[00:43:42] Speaker B: No, Elliot.
[00:43:43] Speaker A: Now?
[00:43:43] Speaker B: Not yet.
[00:43:44] Speaker C: Not yet.
[00:43:45] Speaker B: But you might say, well, why would I say not yet?
[00:43:48] Speaker C: Would it be because we're about to do beef of the week?
[00:43:52] Speaker B: Yeah, we're gonna do beef of the week. But here's the catch. You can only find it on our podcast feed, on Spotify, or on voices ua.edu, because we're launching a new bonus podcast where we can talk about literally anything we want to talk about.
[00:44:10] Speaker C: Is it called the lower tide?
[00:44:12] Speaker B: No, the high tide?
[00:44:14] Speaker C: No, the mid tide.
[00:44:15] Speaker B: I called it one last wave.
I don't know. I'm kind of.
[00:44:20] Speaker C: It's a work in progress.
[00:44:21] Speaker B: It's a work in progress. You know, we're workshopping things.
But after we wrap up here, which seems like it's going to be imminently, because we've started talking about the weather, you can find. Make sure you go check out our podcast feed, either on Spotify or voices ua.edu, to check out this podcast, which is exclusively available online. It will never see the air.
[00:44:49] Speaker A: And for the low price of free 99.
[00:44:51] Speaker B: Free 99.
[00:44:53] Speaker C: And there's. You know what? There's nothing better than free. And then, you know what? That's another best of the week. Right? Let's talk about that free bonus content for your listening pleasure.
[00:45:03] Speaker B: And who knows what we could talk about? It could be more weather discussions.
[00:45:06] Speaker A: I hope not.
[00:45:10] Speaker C: I think it's actually gonna kick me out of the booth if I talk about the weather again.
[00:45:14] Speaker B: You're not. You're not a weather guy, you weather hater.
[00:45:17] Speaker C: Wouldn't you like to know weather, Boyd?
[00:45:19] Speaker A: Look, I get enough weather information from Josh Payne, and that still, like, that's my least favorite part of his show. So you're bringing it on to our show now? You know, I'm just. I'm not having a good time.
[00:45:29] Speaker B: Okay, okay, here, here. I'll give another. I'll give another. Best of the week before we go, okay? I had some barbecue that was not garbage over the weekend.
[00:45:39] Speaker C: Okay, where was it?
[00:45:40] Speaker B: It was good. I can't share where it was. I'm gatekeeping this information, but it was good, and it was some of the best barbecue sauce I've ever had.
[00:45:50] Speaker A: He's gatekeeping, but I feel like it was up in Tennessee somewhere, and I don't even.
[00:45:53] Speaker B: It was totally in Tennessee.
[00:45:54] Speaker A: Oh, gosh. Duh.
[00:45:56] Speaker C: Despicable.
[00:45:57] Speaker A: I'm more of a Carolina guy myself.
[00:45:59] Speaker B: But, you know, see, that was what other people were talking about. They were like all the Carolina barbecue.
[00:46:04] Speaker C: Back on Texas barbecue.
[00:46:06] Speaker B: No, that's not true. The Texas barbecue is still far superior for you.
[00:46:10] Speaker C: Yeah, come on, man.
[00:46:11] Speaker B: But it was okay. It was good. It was the best I've had in the past.
[00:46:14] Speaker A: Better in west Texas or East Texas?
[00:46:19] Speaker B: For fear of my own safety, I will not answer that question because it's east Texas.
[00:46:26] Speaker C: But he's from West Texas, and that's why he's not going to answer.
[00:46:30] Speaker B: No comment.
I mean, the only thing. Okay, I'm not going to go into that conversation.
[00:46:36] Speaker C: Next on Beef of the week, it is Nicholas personally versus Odessa.
[00:46:43] Speaker B: No, that will not be happening. That will not be some of the content available in our exclusive new podcast.
[00:46:49] Speaker C: Wait, will we talk about barbecue on the new exclusive podcast?
[00:46:53] Speaker B: We could.
[00:46:53] Speaker A: It's better than the weather.
[00:46:54] Speaker B: But you know how.
[00:46:55] Speaker C: Barbecue weather.
[00:46:57] Speaker B: But if you want to know what we're going to talk about, you have to go to Spotify or voices ua.
[00:47:04] Speaker C: What's the name of it again? Just for the record?
[00:47:06] Speaker B: One last wave. Is that okay? That's not final. That's not final.
[00:47:10] Speaker A: I just want y'all to realize that Nick has memorized that line before he remembered that Elliott was on the show.
[00:47:19] Speaker C: One last waiver. Before or my name?
[00:47:25] Speaker B: All right, now. That's it. That's it. I'm cutting this off. We can't go any longer.
[00:47:30] Speaker C: My new beef of the week, that you can listen to on one last wave. Nick does not remember who I am.
[00:47:37] Speaker B: Well, we'll be back soon. Same time next week, right here on 90.7, the capstone. Thank you for listening.
