Hey, A Short One

[00:00:00] I will take projection Welcome everybody to Takin On Sports, IMTD, that is Greg. Greg, how you doing man? I'm pretty good, how are you doing man? I'm good, trying to stay warm here in Birmingham, getting a little chilly again, but you know. Yeah. How about cold out there?

[00:00:24] Man, is it? We probably got up to 8 today, it's supposed to be negative this week, so yeah we're hitting our little cold streak. We finally got a little bit of snow, I mean we pretty much made it to February without snow, so that's pretty good for us. So, yeah, I guess we had to get a little winter, and unfortunately. Much more of a spring summer guy. Yeah, for sure.

[00:00:50] Well, I guess let's start this week with the big one, of course. Number one, Auburn, number two, Alabama, Saturday and Coleman. Didn't go the way we wanted as Tide fans. Nah. 94-85 Auburn victory. They got off to a hot start, 9-0 start. Alabama battled back, tied the game in the second half with about seven minutes left, and just couldn't get over the hump.

[00:01:18] And you know, as much as it pains me and us as Bama fans to admit it, man, Auburn's really good. Really, really good. Yeah. Yeah, they're definitely a good team. You know, they just outdid us. You know, they got off to the hot start. We couldn't hit anything. We were just playing catch-up. And, you know, we made some nice little runs.

[00:01:42] But when you're playing, you know, 6-8 down against a good Auburn team that's on, man, it's still hard to beat. Yeah. All credit to our guys. They kept making runs to come back, but then you got to give credit again to the Tigers. Whenever we would make a run and get close or tied up, they'd hit a big shot. Yeah, exactly. And then, you know, they would go on a little mini run themselves to get some more separation. We never really had that back and forth where we could have taken the lead.

[00:02:13] No. I got it out of two. Yeah. Got it down the way, too, with about five, six minutes left. Never really got it cut after that. So, man. No, I got it to five with about 30 seconds left, but couldn't. You know, that's too little, too late. You mentioned a terrible shooting day for the Tide, under 40% overall. And, like, what was it, five of 29 or something from three? And Mark Sears had a terrible day.

[00:02:43] Terrible day for the leader, yeah, Mark Sears. Did hit a couple, you know, a couple big shots in one of those rallies to get it close in the second half. But just, we just couldn't find the hump. And, again, as much as it pains us, all credit to Auburn. That defense is great. They're so long. They really got in our passing lanes, got in our faces. We didn't get a lot of shots off. No, we didn't.

[00:03:09] They were blowing up our ball screens, and we just didn't have an answer for it, really. All right. Yeah, so, I mean, they definitely, you know, we played bad, but, you know, they definitely contributed greatly to the reason why we were so off. And we knew it was going to be a tough one there, but, yeah, we just didn't have enough there. You know, we definitely had a shot a little better. Defense underperformed, I thought.

[00:03:37] You know, they had some easy looks, a lot of easy. They had a lot of wide-open shots, it seemed like, especially in the first half. And, you know, Broome got off. He had a great day. You know, he kind of punked our big man. Mm-hmm. You know. You know, but, you know, the good thing to take away from it, I mean, it's probably the best team we see all year as far as, you know, that we see the regular season.

[00:04:06] We got, you know, other than we, you know, we have the opportunity to get revenge. So, you know, we got to keep that in mind. But we also got a lot of games coming up to mean a lot as well. I mean, we can't, you know, hang our head too much. I mean, we have a gauntlet ahead of us. So, we have to, you know, come out ready to go. Because, man, honestly, going, you know, coming off a tough loss like that, going on the road to Columbia, Missouri, that's not an easy task.

[00:04:36] So, we got to come ready to go. Yeah, absolutely. You know, we, you can give us the silver lining for this game this weekend was that despite the horrible shooting day and despite how well Auburn's playing, we were still in it, you know. Yeah. We didn't get slaughtered. It wasn't like, yeah, it wasn't, yeah, it wasn't some 20-point deflating loss at home. You know, we were just in it, you know, until the last minute. Right. But, like you said, you just got to goldfish it. You know, you got to forget about this game

[00:05:04] and go into the toughest closing stretch in the country by far. All right teams left. You mentioned it starts Wednesday, the trip to Columbia, and a good Missouri team. Yeah. And then next Saturday we host a Kentucky team that will be looking for a little bit of payback after we beat them in Rupp earlier this season. So, yeah, put your head down, you know, work on it. Hopefully we get hot from shooting again. And, you know, like the old adage goes, you know, hopefully we haven't played our best ball yet.

[00:05:34] Yeah. We get another shot at Auburn down the road and, you know, at least one. You know, who knows? It might see them in the SEC tournament. It might see them in the NCAA tournament. For sure. So, we might have a – we at least have one more crack at them, maybe two or – who knows? Three, maybe four. Who, you know, who knows? But, you know, at this point we just got to move forward because we still got a lot to play for. SEC still very much alive for a one seed, you know, a double buy in the SEC tournament.

[00:06:03] We just got to, you know, get back to it. I think they'll be ready to go. I mean, they didn't realize what we're playing for. And so, you know, I think they're a resilient bunch. And, you know, they got an idea of, you know, where we need to be to be with probably the most elite team in America right now. And so, hopefully we learn from that and continue on to what we've done. Because, I mean, it's been a hell of a season to this point. You know, outside of yesterday, probably the biggest disappointment.

[00:06:33] But, you know, you got to bounce back and keep going. Because we still have most of February and the most important part, March. Exactly, yeah. And Nate Oates is a good enough coach to where, you know, he'll get this team refocused. And they'll understand that this wasn't the season. You know, that's the good thing about college basketball is you can lose a big regular season game and be able to bounce back. Exactly. Like you mentioned, still up for the one seed.

[00:07:02] I doubt we even fall off the one seed line because of that loss. You know, you can't afford losing a number one team at home. Yeah, right. And, you know, speaking of which, NCAA did release their preliminary bracket, whatever they do when we're in fact a one seed. Three one seeds from the SEC. Three out of the SEC, yeah. It just shows you how just absolutely vicious this conference is this year. Exactly. And, yeah, so, you know, like we said, hopefully, you know, we get that shoot and touch back.

[00:07:31] And, you know, obviously not every, you know, like you said, this is the best team we play all year. Yeah. So, you know, and if we just got to turn around and beat Missouri, that's the next step. Yeah, that's the next thing. Game of the time. Yeah, but elsewhere in the top 25 at least, some other big games. You know, today we saw Wichita State upset Memphis. Yeah, big one. Yeah, big one we saw yesterday. Another top 25 matchup. Houston went on the road, beat Arizona.

[00:08:02] I know. Both those teams have been playing really good balls of late, but, yeah, Houston, man, that's a big win to go into, you know, top Tucson and get the win. That's tough. Yeah, we mentioned it, you know, with all the realignment because of football, that the Big 12 would become a kind of a loaded basketball conference. And granted, a little underperforming this, you know, Kansas has underperformed expectations. Yeah. But, you know, I imagine a lot of those teams will still be tough come March. Oh, absolutely.

[00:08:32] Yeah. Yeah. Elsewhere, we had Wisconsin went on the road to Purdue and pulled the upside. Yeah, that's a big win. A 10-point win, too. Right. It's a big win. Yeah, not an easy place to win. You know, we lost there earlier this year. And at one point, they were on a 20-some game win streak. So, yeah. So, that was. Yeah, we saw Michigan State, Tom Izzo, surpass Bobby Knight in terms of Big 10 coaching wins. Yeah.

[00:08:59] We saw Texas bounce back from their loss to us this week and upset Kentucky. Broke a much-needed win for the Longhorns. They were on a little losing streak. Yeah, they've been off a little bit. But, yeah, I was kind of shocked that even in Austin, I didn't think Kentucky was going to lose that game, honestly. You know, they come out the bit, you know, sweep up Tennessee and stuff. Just a great second half from Texas there. Absolutely.

[00:09:29] Turned it on. Speaking of Kansas, we mentioned them. The disappointing year. Yeah, another loss. To Utah there. Yeah. Yeah. Drops in to 17-8 on the year and 8-6 in the Big 12. This is team preseason number one. A lot of people's championship picks. I mean, a lot. I know, you know, a lot of people came back from last year. I mean, this was a loaded, loaded team there. Yeah, they got our boy Rylan Griffin as a transfer.

[00:09:57] I wonder if he kind of regrets that at all. Yeah, I actually haven't really been paying attention to how he's been doing with them. He's been all right. I mean, he's been solid. Yeah. Regardless, yeah, not the year that a lot of people expect the Jayhawks to have. Absolutely. But, again, they're the type of team that's talented enough and well-coached enough that when March comes, they can turn it on. Right. Exactly. And, especially since they won the national title, you know, they've had, what, two, what,

[00:10:26] is it two or three years of not getting out of the, at least two of not even getting out the first weekend there. So, that's interesting. Yeah, it's kind of like that Carolina thing we mentioned. Since they won their title, they, you know, or got to the title game, they, you know, didn't even make the tournament. And then, last year, the one seed obviously fell to us in the Sweet 16. So, yeah. Elsewhere, top 25 matchups on Saturday. Mississippi State went into Oxford and beat 5-0 Ole Miss. Yeah, that's a big win.

[00:10:55] Big win for the Bulldogs as that SEC race heats up. Yeah. Let's see. And we talked on Wednesday last, right? Yeah. So, nothing really else happened between then and, you know, and Saturday, yesterday. We look at the standings. We'll go to the SEC standings, at least. Just like, obviously, Auburn is your front runner there. The one, only the one loss all season.

[00:11:25] We fell to, where we go, we're still number two at 10-2 in the conference. Florida and Texas A&M right there behind us with 9-3. Missouri 8-4. So, obviously, if the tournament were now Auburn, Alabama, Florida, and A&M would be the double buys. Yeah. And then the only two, you know, they got Missouri there.

[00:11:49] Tennessee, kind of, they're kind of stringing together some losses, and I wonder how far they might fall in the rankings now. They are number five. But they've, you know, they had the three out of four losses that they lost at Vandy, at Auburn, and Kentucky. And then they strung together three wins in a row, then lost to Kentucky again. They did bounce back with a win over Vanderbilt yesterday. Yeah, they had a big comeback, though. They were down.

[00:12:18] They went on a big rally for them. Yeah, 16 points down in the first, come back to win at home in Knoxville. And then, you know, they got to toughen up because it doesn't get easier. They go to College Station this week. That's a good place to go. Saturday, yeah. They'll get the midweek buy. Yeah, and then they go to College Station. So, that's a big one in terms of the standings. They can try to get back on that double buy line.

[00:12:48] And then you got Ole Miss, 8-5, Kentucky and State 6-6 right there. And then you got kind of your bubble teams in the SEC, guys like Vandy, Texas, Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma a little bit. They've kind of fallen off a lot. Yeah. They're sort of on fire.

[00:13:10] Right now, you can say the only two teams definitely not getting in the tournament, you know, barring a run in the SEC tournament or LSU in South Carolina. Right. They're for sure out of it. Gamecocks haven't won a conference game yet. LSU only 2-10. Like you said, Oklahoma are rough. That 3-9 in conference play after a 13-0 start. Same thing, Georgia had that hot start. They were, what, 12-1 or whatever. And they were 4-9 in conference. Reality and calling.

[00:13:40] Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's hard. Reality comes crashing at you. Yeah, it does. It hits hard in the league this deep and this good. Yeah. But we mentioned should be really... I think they fell off the tournament at large. They were in there until, I think after yesterday, they fell off the last couple teams in. So, they're still in play. Yeah.

[00:14:10] If they were to string some more wins and they possibly could get in this with the strength of the SEC. So, who knows? Yeah. Yeah, but it looks... You know, like I said, it's that time of year in college basketball. It's going to get real heavy and real fun. Yeah. And so, there's a lot of teams with a lot to play for. And like we said, for our Tide, they got to just keep focused. Everything in front of them. Yeah. Yeah, everything in front of them. Keep the one seed going. Absolutely.

[00:14:40] You know, looking at the bubble watch on ESPN, they have Bama, Florida, Auburn, Tennessee, A&M, Kentucky, Ole Miss, State, and Missouri as locks. And then, like we said, Texas, Oklahoma, Vandy, Arkansas, Georgia with work to do. Right. So, yeah, you're looking... Again, still looking to, you know, maybe break that Big East record of 11 teams in the tournament. That would be something.

[00:15:10] But, you know, those guys in that last group we mentioned are going to have to do some work. Exactly. But, yeah, let's see. Also, on the hardwood, we'll go to the All-Star game, All-Star weekend this weekend. Old Mac got another... Third in a row. Third. Third, yeah, dunk contest win in a row. Shaq's team won the little All-Star tournament thing.

[00:15:39] How'd you like that format? Did you watch it at all? Did you get some... I watched it a little bit. I mean, I think it's okay. It seemed like a lot of people want to get it back to the East versus West. I don't know. I mean, it's okay. Yeah, I think... Yeah, it's... You know, it takes some work or whatever. Again, we've talked about it before. It's all up to... It's the players, you know.

[00:16:08] And if they're going to compete and play hard, it makes the games better. And if not, then, you know, people are going to complain about defense. But people are going to complain regardless. Yeah, that's true, too. People have that nostalgia of supposedly how great everything was in the 90s. Which everybody seems to base the NBA off of. And whether factual or not, I mean, that's... Honestly, people already seem to go off that a lot. I mean, it's... I mean, it's all right.

[00:16:37] You know, I think... Really, I don't know what they could really do to make it any better. I mean, whether they go East, West, whether they keep this format, I don't know if it really matters or not. But, you know, possibly the biggest, you know, news of the day was LeBron not playing an All-Star game. Yeah. Yeah, that was the big news. First time in 20 years he did not.

[00:17:06] He sat out to rest his nagging injuries. Yeah. Which is fun. That was kind of the biggest story of the day afterwards. Earlier it was on the women's side in the college game. UConn snapped South Carolina's 71-game home winning streak. And that was a shocker. Big time. Yeah, I mean, not that they beat them, but the way they did. No, but the way they did. 87-58 final. Yeah. Wow. Complete domination. Yeah. On the road, too. Yeah.

[00:17:36] Serious. Yeah. They, you know, that's a statement win right there. They're saying you're a team to be reckoned with. In terms of the women's bracket, they also released their preliminary bracket or whatever. And it's UCLA, South Carolina, Texas, and Notre Dame were the initial number one seeds. Initial number one. On the women's side. Oh.

[00:18:05] Because Texas has had a couple big wins. I mean, they beat South Carolina last week. They beat LSU today. So, I mean, they've been playing good ball. Yeah. Big win over LSU. I just realized that a couple of the regionals are going to be here in Birmingham. Nice. Might have to go check those out if I'm in town not working. But, yeah. Yeah. That was it. And then there was something else from the women's game. Oh, yeah. The Vandy girl. What is her name?

[00:18:36] Mikayla Blakes. About 55. 55. 55. A NCAA freshman record. She's had a couple big games this year. Second 50-pointer of the year. Didn't she drop by 51 on Florida like two weeks ago? Yeah. She dropped. Where was it? I think you're right about that. I know it was her second 50-plus game. She scored 53 against Florida in January. Yeah. But she broke the all-time freshman record.

[00:19:08] Breaking. Where is it? I just had Elena Del Don who scored 54 for Delaware. That's true. In a loss. In a loss. In a loss. Wow. Yeah. She was a hell. I mean, she was a hell of a player. For her to stay there, Delaware, that was something. Mm-hmm. That'll be interesting, too, because, I mean, Vandy's actually been playing decent ball this year. But, um... Mm-hmm.

[00:19:36] That'll be interesting to see if, you know, bigger schools come at her. And if she, you know, if she stays at Vandy or not. Because that's going to be tough. Because I'm sure there's going to be quite a few offers at the end of the season. Yeah. That's right. I'll be talking to her. For real. Yeah. Yeah. That's a salt after freshman right there. Oh, absolutely. You can drop 50 bombs there. Yeah. But, yeah. Speaking of stack, too. The SEC on the women's side, just a stack. You know, four top ten teams. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[00:20:06] Top five teams. Yeah. You know, perennial contender, South Carolina, LSU. They added Texas to the mix. And Tennessee's been better. I mean, yeah, I think. I mean, they just beat, uh... Now that UConn win looks a lot more impressive now. Now that, you know, they beat, um... UConn at the start of the week, I believe. And then, you know, for UConn to bounce back and blast South Carolina like that. So, that was good for the Lady Vols, who's trying to get back...

[00:20:36] Back into the mix as a contender. You know, they've been down for about a decade, it seems like. Mm-hmm. And speaking of our, uh... Tied women, too. We mentioned... Talked to them a few weeks ago. They were losing, you know, kind of big games. They went on a little rough stretch where they lost four or six. They since rode off three wins in a row against Georgia. And then at Florida and then at State. Yeah.

[00:21:05] Uh... The State game was last week, so they had the midweek bye. And they will play tomorrow night at home against A&M. A&M. But hopefully they can continue. Yeah. And then Thursday, a big one, they go to Knoxville. Yeah. Play the Lady Vols. And they also have a tough closer. You know, they get Auburn at home. Yep. Uh... That one's not too bad. The Auburn Lady's not as good as the guys. But then... No.

[00:21:30] We close with LSU and Tuscaloosa and then go to Norman to face 16th-ring Oklahoma. So... Yeah. But as we mentioned, though, the strides made in the women's program here in Tuscaloosa have been huge. Yeah. That's another tournament team. Yeah. Hopefully. It looks like this year. Man, I just wish that we could pull one of those games. If we could, you know, about pull a Tennessee game or an LSU. Even though OU game, that'd be great.

[00:22:00] Yeah. Yeah. You really hope. Yeah. If you can go on the road and win Knoxville, obviously that'd be great. If you could... Especially if you can knock off LSU with it being at home. Hopefully the students and fans pack it out and get hyped for the ladies as well. They showed up well for the South Carolina game. And I know it's... You know, it's hard to... Without that tradition, it's hard to pack a women's game in Tuscaloosa, unfortunately.

[00:22:25] But, yeah, hopefully they'll show up like they did for South Carolina and give this team a good atmosphere. Because the improvements have been great as of late. So, you know, at least the tournament team... Yeah, and they're hanging around too. They're one back at Kentucky in a loss column for that four seed in the SEC.

[00:22:54] Yeah. That's huge. They are there. But, yeah, let's see. What else is going on in the world of sports this week? Honestly, kind of the slow period. You know, post-Super Bowl there. We had... What's his name? Somebody won the Daytona 500. I don't know. I know it was happening, but I couldn't tell you. Yeah. I know he's driving the old W Byron. I forget his first name. Byron's his last name.

[00:23:22] Second straight Daytona win for him in the old 24 car. I've seen that one in victory lane a few times before. But, yeah, let's see. What else in the world of sports? Da-da-da. Some, you know, bad news. There's some off-the-field bad news. Seven more women come forward to accuse Justin Tucker. Yeah.

[00:23:48] So, it looks by all accounts he's probably facing at the least an indefinite suspension. Yeah. If not just getting released. We'll see how the Ravens and the NFL play that. The Mavericks of continual interest. Assistant coach Darryl Armstrong arrested Saturday. Yeah. Charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Assault with a deadly weapon. That's not ever good. Yeah. Had a good look. Had a good look at all. We just. We've had everything go wrong.

[00:24:18] That's a late play. Rough. Rough stretch for the Mavs. Yeah. I have to think that's not going to be. Probably not going to be on those staff too much longer. I wouldn't think. Yeah. That's a good problem. Probably getting rid of Lucas. Smit it. For both of them being fat and out of shape. I would assume that Darryl Armstrong probably doesn't have much of a tenure left in Dallas. But. Yeah. But yeah.

[00:24:46] So at the All-Star break looking at the NBA standings here. In the East. It's kind of you know a lot of the story has been all year. But Cleveland still comfortable. Lead for that one seed. Five and a half games over Boston. Wow. And you got the Knicks in the third seed right now. And then there's another gap to the four, five, six. Where you got Indiana, Milwaukee, and Detroit all there. Right. Two games within each other. And then another little bit of a gap.

[00:25:15] And you got Orlando, Atlanta, Miami at seven, eight, nine. And then about a four game gap to the Bulls there. Currently in the 10th spot. And you know with the Sixers and Nets chasing them. I think that'll in the East that'll kind of be that back end story will be can the Sixers get it together, get at least in the play in. Yeah.

[00:25:39] And then you know obviously in the top end of it it'll be you know Cleveland, Boston battling for that one seed. You know is Boston really going to try hard? Are they just going to get to the playoffs and then turn it on? Right. And then you know Milwaukee has improved since their terrible start at least. Yeah. But still not playing up to the level they're accustomed to. Yeah. And then you know of course and then you got like the young guys in Detroit, Orlando kind of that. The young ones.

[00:26:09] It's good to see Detroit not being terrible because I mean they did bad. And you know they dropped it well. And just a lot of bad luck. You know Cade getting hurt last year. Yeah. A proud basketball city too. Proud franchise. A lot of great basketball history. I'm with you. They're one of those teams that even if you're not a fan unless you're just an absolute rival you kind of want to see them. Yeah. Good. I mean.

[00:26:38] It kind of makes a sport better as a whole. Yeah. I mean I. You know I really. You know. Yeah. I mean I don't have. I never. I've always kind of liked Detroit. You know. Kind of. We've always been the kind of tough guy. You know. And. I thought they were fun when they had a little run with Rashid and Ben Wallace. And you know. Rip. And Tayshaun. And I thought that was a fun team. So. And Chauncey. And they seem to have that same attitude back. You know.

[00:27:07] Kind of that tough team again there. You know. Cade Cunningham on his way to become a perennial star. And. And. They have a lot of young talent. But you know. It's good to see them back at least. In playoff mix. Because it was ugly there for. For quite some time. So. Yeah. Yeah. There was a time when they just could not get the draft right. You know. The draft guys that they thought were going to be stars. And then they. Right. Just. Flame out. You know. Just. It just wouldn't happen for them. But yeah.

[00:27:40] I'm trying to find some more stuff. And obviously. Since we recorded last. This past Wednesday. We kind of cut the week in half here. But. Let's see. Moving on to the west at least. You know. The story there. Oklahoma City. Obviously. So far ahead of everyone. Yeah. I think the story in there is. Can anybody take down the thunder? You know. Can. Right. Memphis get hot. Can Denver get. You know. Back their mojo. You know. Houston's kind of that Detroit of the. The west. You know.

[00:28:10] They're. Absolutely. Right there. Yeah. Exciting. The Lakers now. How to. You know. How to. Luka and LeBron. Right. How to. Nigel. And of course. Now. What do they do for a big man still? Yeah. That's still. Still the question. And then you got like. Your Mavericks. Can they get healthy. And at least stay in the play in. Or does a team like Phoenix. Or maybe even San Antonio. Does Wimby. You know. With the addition. De'Aaron Fox. And those guys. Can they make a run. And get to the play in.

[00:28:40] Yeah. Who knows. And then. And then. For my Pelicans. Can they just keep losing. And keep those laundry odds up. You know. Keep a lot. Yeah. At this point. Doing good so far. One at nine in the last ten. Yeah. I mean. For a little bit. You were thinking. Maybe. Who knew what they were going to do. But yeah. Definitely hasn't. Gone well for them. As of late. So yeah. At this point. What's the. They did announce. What did they do. I think early this week. They officially shut down. Herb Jones for the rest of the year.

[00:29:10] And I was like. Okay. And yeah. Let's see what we're doing here. Yeah. Yeah. Wouldn't be surprised. If there's another. Couple more of those. Couple more. You know. Yeah. Yeah. I mean. But yeah. The only thing. You know. I mean. I guess. You know. There is some stars at the top. I mean. If you're in that first. Two or three. I think you have. Some interesting stuff. But. Interesting thing that I've seen.

[00:29:40] Is that Cooper. Flags. Probably wants to go back to school. So that'd be crazy. Yeah. I saw that story. And you know. I remember. You kind of see this story. A little similar. I believe. I remember. A Zion one up there too. And it's. You wonder how much truth. There actually is to it. Is it Cooper Ploy. Because nothing. You know. Despite the. You know. The onset of NIL now. You're still not going to get. That number one pick money. But. I mean. That's a once in a lifetime thing. You know. I mean. You got.

[00:30:10] It's not like he's got. I mean. It's different. If you're 20th. You know. If you're mid first round. NIL might be worth it. Depending on where you're at. But. You know. Especially if they win. I mean. Obviously. They're the Duke team. Really the cream of the crop. And really the only good team. In the ACC. For the most part. You know. Especially if they were to win the title this year. Which very much could be the case. I mean. They're one of the. You know. Of course. You know. Number three in the country right now.

[00:30:39] I'm sure they'll move up this week. But. I mean. If they were to win a national title. Or make a deep run. I mean. I would. That would be hard. I would say for him to stay in college. And. Of course. He'd be the number one guy by far. I mean. Yeah. So. That would be interesting. But. I'd have to think that's more talk right now. It's easy to. Say that in. You know. February. You know. But when it comes June. And. I mean. What. I mean. Who's going to turn out being the number one pick. That's.

[00:31:09] Tough to do. Yeah. Uh. Yeah. Yeah. To me. Yeah. It's kind of one of those. You're like. Yeah. Not really. Even if you're looking at. If you don't want to play in a place like. Washington. Or New Orleans. You kind of still go. Man. I'm going to be the number one pick. It's the NBA. It's really risky to. Exactly. Yeah. It's a. Hell of a risk to go back and. You know. Right. Getting. Anything. Yeah. Unfortunately. Anything can happen. I mean. Yeah.

[00:31:38] But I think if they make a deep run. Even if they don't make a deep run. Obviously. He's a clear cut. Number one. I mean. I don't think anybody. Would do anything different than take him. I mean. He showed. You know. Great. You know. Great signs on both sides of the ball. So. I mean. He's. That. That. Hell of a talent. I mean. He's been hyped. He lived up to the hype. For the most part. I'd say. You know. He came in with a lot of hype. And. You never know at times. But he seemed to live up. Up to it there. You know. As Duke.

[00:32:08] Probably as a one seed there. So. I don't know. I mean. If. I don't think it's too much. He could do more in college. Than what they're. You know. Currently doing. I mean. No. For sure. Elsewhere in the world of sports. You know. The NFL. You know. That post Super Bowl week. Not a lot happens. A couple cuts. You know. The Dolphins released. Raheem Mostert. Yeah. The Jets officially. Split ties with Aaron Rodgers.

[00:32:38] So. He will not be a Jet next year. Yeah. You kind of wonder. Is he going to. Someone still going to take a chance on him. Or is he going to. Call it a career. You know. Competitor like that. You imagine. He might not want to go out. Oh no. Quite this note. But yeah. Yeah. But the thing is. Is like. Honestly. What type of team. Is actually going to sign Aaron Rodgers. Probably not a very good one. So. Does he want to go to someone. To another. Bad situation.

[00:33:09] Yeah. I don't know. Exactly. Yeah. Because. He just didn't look like he's got the same. No. You know. Coming back from Achilles. And granted. You know. A lot of people say. Especially at his age. You know. It takes a whole year to get back. So. Right. You know. Maybe there's. Some on the fringe contending team. That takes a chance. And maybe. Thinks that he can be the piece. But then. You know. How much money do you have to spend for that. Right. How much does it hinder. Yeah. What you do.

[00:33:38] With the rest of your roster. Exactly. And then. You also have. I mean. He's a personality in himself. I mean. You have to have a. Right locker room for him to even be in. Because. You know. You hear his stories. You know. Not everybody's cup of tea. No. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Is it worth. Is it worth. Everything that comes along with it. Those great things. Those bad things. And honestly. At this point.

[00:34:07] Where he's at in his career. And the injuries. And everything that goes on. Unless. You feel like that's your. Piece. To take it to an elite level. I. I. I don't know if it's worth that risk. At all. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm kind of with you there. It's. You know. Again. Like it's. For a guy. For competitors like that. It's hard for them to. You know. Hey. Call it quits. Especially. You know. The way that his career. You know. As disappointing as it was. And.

[00:34:36] But he is a different dude. So. I don't know. Maybe he can walk away. Yeah. Who knows. Maybe he. Decides to go on Pat McAfee. Yeah. All the time. And. Who knows how that plays out. For everyone else. It's. You know. Deciding. You know. Teams are now making their strategies. For the draft. For free agency. Who do we come back with. Who do we. Resign. You know. All that kind of stuff. Of course. You know. Miles Garrett.

[00:35:06] Is. You know. He's on the block now. Officially. He requested a trade. So. That'll be a big time. Move. Looming over. This offseason. Yeah. Cleveland would be crazy to move them. Unless they get quite the haul. I mean. Obviously. He's been a. Catalyst. Yeah. That defense. Since he's gotten to the league. And. You know. That defense got him to the playoff flash. You know. Two years ago.

[00:35:36] This past season. I mean. They were still a decent defense. But that offense. Was just so. They missed. It was. Part of that team. Is staying. Stay in contention. At all. But. But. I'd have to say. Yeah. When she gets a heck of a haul. I don't know. I just don't. Well. I mean. Yeah. You know. With him. Requesting it. It's a chance for them. I think now. Would be the time. If you're going to do it. Because. You know.

[00:36:05] He turns 30. You know. Teams are usually wary. And this is probably. The chance where you could get your biggest. Haul form. In terms of draft picks. Obviously. It's probably going to be. Multiple first rounders. Yeah. So. We'll see what happens there. Obviously. Browns fans would hope that. You know. He goes. Somewhere. NFC. Yeah. Get out the AFC. Especially out the. No team out the. North. Please. Yeah. Yeah. I would imagine that.

[00:36:36] There's no chance in hell. That the Steelers. Bengals. Or Ravens. Will get him. Particularly. The Ravens. Obviously. I'd love them. And he would fix. A huge hole there. You know. Pass brush. Is absolutely something. That we need. But. I don't know. If we got the cap room. A. Or B. You know. It's not. That's not a Ravens move. You know. That's not. Typically. A team that trades a bunch of. Picks. Yeah. Yeah. I think that'll be. Big. Interesting. Yeah.

[00:37:06] Story to go. But. That's all I got. My notes for this episode. Greg's anything else in the world of sports. From this. Past few days. Well. You know. One thing. I mean. Kind of. From. Asper from the Cowboys. You know. We had. Talked with. The sharp choice. About being our running back coach. I thought. That would have been cool. To bring him in. And. He turned us down. To stay at Texas. Which probably means. He low bottom. And then he. Since. Gone to Detroit. So I said.

[00:37:37] You know. How do we mess that up. Yeah. You know. Former player. You know. He's done great. Good work in Texas. And I was. Kind of excited. Hoping to. Brought him in. And then. You know. I understand. He was going to stay at Texas. But then. You know. He's down in Detroit. I understand. You go to Detroit. Because then. You know. You want to work with Jameer Gibbs. I understood there. But. Obviously. We sent him a low ball. That's. You know. Texas matches. And then. Detroit. Had. Something else. Bettered off. Than what we did.

[00:38:07] So. Kind of disappointed there. But I understand it. Mm. Uh. Yeah. That's. That's tough. That's again. Yeah. Interesting off season for Cowboys. Yeah. A lot of. A lot of. A lot of stuff to figure out. Mm. But overall. You know. We're. We're starting to see. Uh. Baseball players report to camp. For spring training. Uh. Our baseball started this weekend.

[00:38:37] Mm. Yeah. College baseball in Alabama. Got off. A couple big wins. And big wins over Bradley this weekend. On the women's side. The women's. Southball team. Got off to. Tough start. And a tough. Tough weekend. Well. So. We'll see what. What this team. Does. And. Obviously. They. Coming off. Surprise. Women's. Cardboard series run. So. You know.

[00:39:07] We'll see how they bounce back. But a tough. Tough start on the women's side. Yeah. Uh. It's. I think it's an interesting time. For. Let's say. Uh. Murphy. You know. As a. As a coach. Absolutely. In the Alabama program. Yeah. Because obviously. He's done a lot there. But. Something's missing. They can't hit. Right. Yeah. The hitting. The hitting. The hitting has been a problem. For a good few years now. And that's.

[00:39:38] From the look. This weekend. It didn't get much. Hasn't gotten much better. I mean. Lots of some teams. That. Probably shouldn't be losing to. Um. Last week. And we lost a few. This week. And we lost a few. Um. I understand. Like UCLA. They're a good team. But. You know. We had a couple. Other losses. Yeah. Yikes. Um. Yeah. A five and four start. To the season. Uh. Tough. That's tough. Yeah. It's definitely. It's against some team. We probably should have beat. And then.

[00:40:08] You know. They can't say well. Because the SEC. As we know. Is a gauntlet. Yeah. Exactly. And we've got. And they've only gotten better. Adding OU and Texas. So. Yeah. That's one of those. You better. Better fix it. Before it gets. Too bad. Yeah. Exactly. Um. Because I know people. And you know. Um. You know. I think. You know. I've said this a couple times. Different places. I think. Women's sports.

[00:40:38] Have a lot more patience. Mm-hmm. Because I think if it were. And I think just. Women's sports. And then outside of football. Alabama. Sports. Seem to have. A lot more patience. With stuff. Because if that was football. Patrick Murphy would have been gone. Honestly. But you know. They have more patience. Just because. Oh. He's won. And he continues to make some tournaments. And you know. Been to the. You know.

[00:41:07] World Series run last year. Came out of nowhere. And I think that kind of helped him a lot. Because he was hot. I thought he was on the hot seat last year. I think that kind of helped him out a little bit. So it would be interesting what they do there. But I think if. They don't have. They don't turn it around. It might be one of his last. I would think his last season. Because. There's a lot of people who are kind of tired of seeing the same stuff. But you know. This is a proud program. So. We'll see. Yeah. You know. You mentioned. You know.

[00:41:36] They started kind of three. You know. And then. Today. Did that game get. I didn't. Did that game happen. Or did that maybe get. I don't know. I don't know. Some weather. I don't know. You know. I'm trying to find it here. And I don't see it. Let's see. Here we go.

[00:42:12] Looking. Looking. I don't know. Another loss. Oklahoma State wins 4-3. With a three. Three run bottom of the seven. So a comeback win. And so that's another tough loss there. Yeah. Maybe they're a decent program at times. But yeah. I mean. Yeah. They're number 10 right now. But also a slow start for them. They're only 5-4. Right. The nature of that loss. That's tough. They had a 2-0 lead in that game. Yeah.

[00:42:42] And like I said. A bottom of the seventh loss is not. Tough one to swallow. Yeah. So they have a. We'll see how the ladies respond there. Exactly. But yeah. That probably does it for us today. We'll have a whole week's worth of stuff to talk about next week. So with that, Greg, what has done up real good for you in the past couple days? You know. Just family time.

[00:43:12] Enjoyed the weekend. Valentine's Day was nice. Just kids are out of school Friday. And they're out of the game tomorrow too for President's Day. So, you know. Just had some good family time. How about you? I could say that too. A little family time this week in Austin Town. You know, the kids. Crazy. Goofy as hell. I give a shout out to Pro Wrestling too right now in general. You know, we talked about the Rumble. Oh, yeah.

[00:43:42] A couple weeks ago. But I think both big companies right now. WWE and AEW are both kind of really hitting on all highs. Yeah. Same like it. AEW had their big Grand Slam from Australia this weekend. That was a big event. A couple of really good matches. WWE TV, you know, has been really good of late. It has. They had their NXT Vengeance Day this weekend. A couple of good matches as well.

[00:44:10] So, I think, you know, a good time to be a wrestling fan. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Can't really go wrong with whatever you're watching. Nope. But, folks, that does it for us. Looking at that about clocking in about 44 minutes right now. That's a light one for us. Yeah, it was. And, you know, we were stringing together some stuff there. But, as always, thank you for listening. For sure.

[00:44:37] Subscribe, rate, like us, whatever you do on wherever you listen to us. Check out thealabamatake.com. You can find the rest of the Alabama Take Family Podcast. You can see some writings going on there. Do tell your friends about us. Tell your rich friends about us. Anybody who wants to sponsor us, holler at us. You can find us on all the socials. We will happily take your money. And we will. I don't care what you're selling. We will do an ad read for it.

[00:45:06] Absolutely. We will hawk that. But, yeah. Keep it done up real good yourselves out there, folks. And, Greg, buddy, I will see you next time. Yes, sir. Cheers. wolf恥 sehe Methue