We Got It Right This Time

[00:00:00] I will better take projection Welcome everybody to Takin On Sports, I am TD, that is Greg. Greg, how are you doing man? I am pretty good, how are you doing tonight? I'm good, this is a take two for us. Little audio troubles with the Sunday night recording, but it's alright. Got a little extra things to talk about I guess. That's right. It'll make our break to our next episode a little bit shorter for y'all. So there you go.

[00:00:30] All misses as much. Yeah, exactly. We know y'all miss us when you're gone, so we try to make it better for y'all. You know, if you find someone to sponsor us, we might do like two shows a week, who knows? Boom. But anyway, let's start where we started in the original recording with Alabama basketball. It's that time of year, things heating up. And now we got three games to talk about. Last Wednesday, not a good game.

[00:01:01] Went to Missouri, big slow start. And just the same as kind of the Auburn game, it just could never catch up. Right. We talked about that Tigers team being a trap team, and they got us in their trap. They did. And then Saturday, another slow start. But this time we're able to overcome, come back at home against Kentucky, complete the season sweep of the Wildcats, something very rare for Alabama basketball. Absolutely.

[00:01:30] And then Tuesday night, back home in Tuscaloosa again, and just absolutely whooped up on Mississippi State. I believe something like maybe the ninth victory in a row over the Bulldogs for us. Yeah. It's like eight or nine, yeah. Yeah. And as we've talked about before, you know, that during our time down in Tuscaloosa, that was rival number one. That was. It was deep. In basketball, yeah. It was a deep hatred. I still don't like them. Not as intense these days, but, you know. Right.

[00:02:00] But it was deep. Yeah. Yeah. But so, Greg, go ahead and talk about these three games and kind of the bounce back that the Tides had in the last two games. Right. I mean, so, like you said, last Wednesday was pretty much a disaster from start to finish. I mean, just never got into the game pretty much. I mean, I think they went up 14-16-0. I mean, it was bad. You know, Columbia can get loud. I mean, they're a raucous environment.

[00:02:28] And when they get going, man, they get going. And we never win that game. I think we cut it under 10 maybe once or twice in the second half. And it was just as soon as it was always a 10, 12, 10, 12. We never able to cut it there. But so, you know, that's kudos to the Mizzou Tigers. I mean, they caught us probably at a bad time after the Auburn game. And, you know, they took it to us. But, you know, great job for this team rebounding.

[00:02:59] And I mean, I guess one positive was Mark Shears did have a pretty good game in Columbia. So, and then continue on to success against Kentucky. You know, two 30-point games against top 25 teams. Surprisingly, only the second guy to do it in the SEC in quite some time. So, I thought that was, with all the talent that's come to the SEC, I thought that was pretty crazy to hear.

[00:03:29] But, you know, kudos to Mark. You know, he's coming around at the right time of the year. And, you know, he's responded well since he got benched against LSU. I think he's responded quite well. And, you know, obviously Nate Oates knew what he was doing to kind of get it to Mark. But at the same time, he knows what kind of guy Mark was. And, you know, knew that Mark wasn't going to soak or wasn't going to hurt the team. Or he probably wouldn't pull him out of that LSU game. So, you know, he knew what type of guy Mark is.

[00:03:57] And then, you know, last night, just probably one of our best games of the entire season, honestly. I mean, start to finish, complete domination. Defense did an amazing job. You know, we completely shut down their start last night. Game one, he scored 38. Last night, he had 22. But it was a struggle of 22. Yeah, a lot of garbage time points in the second half. Great defensive effort. You know, Mark Sears had another great game.

[00:04:28] Chris Youngblood, amazing game. We had 27. Lights out. The defense was lights out again. Pretty much, you know, we had pretty good defense against Kentucky. And we really took it to Mississippi State. I mean, they were really never in the game. Just really what you wanted to see from this team going into the gauntlet that we're, you know, going into in these next three. You know, not against the Bulldogs.

[00:04:56] But, you know, if there was a game that we had to get and win comfortably and not have a lot of, you know, angst and, you know, tension. You know, this was the game. And, you know, they knew that and really did handle business. So, and it was great atmosphere again. So, you know, kudos to everybody. You know, they came ready to go. Yeah. So, yeah. No, all great points. Hit on Mark Sears. Let's start there. Yeah, absolutely right. Since that LSU game, the benching, he has responded exactly as a leader.

[00:05:27] And the senior should just scoring like he was last March, putting up points, really driving the team, playing good defense. You know, they made a couple of defensive plays. He had a couple steals last night, too, that turned into easy buckets for us. So, yeah, absolutely love to see how he responded. And the team feeds off that. Absolutely. And now if we could just get Grant Nelson out of his cold funk. Right. You know, it's better.

[00:05:55] But we've talked about the depth of this team. And that's where, you know, in years past, even, you know, when we had Brandon Miller, who we've talked about, arguably the best player in the team's history. You know, when he was cold, those games, you know, it was bad news. But now, you know, if, you know, Grant and Mark Sears isn't having any cold games lately. But when, you know, Grant Nelson is slow, you know, other guys have picked it up. You mentioned Chris Youngblood.

[00:06:24] And, man, what a get in the transfer portal. I mean, I think everybody talked about, you know, Big Cliff before the season. And rightfully so, because he was plugging a big piece that we were missing. But Chris Youngblood, you know, he has been, you know, he's no chump. He was the American Player of the Year last year. Absolutely. The American Conference at USF. And his shooting has really invigorated the whole team's shooting.

[00:06:51] You know, we were kind of below what we're used to under Nate Oates and three-point shooting. And like you said, last night specifically, man, it was, what, 7-10 from three-point? Oh, right so. Yeah. And he started the game with a four-point play. And that was kind of an omen or, you know, what to come. Sign of things. Yeah. Sign of things to come in a bad way for State, great way for us. Absolutely. And then you mentioned the defense. Yeah.

[00:07:21] It's been ratcheted up since we had that little spell where even though we made some games, you know, we played terrible defense, you know. Yeah. The turnovers were getting better. There's still some up and downs, but they're getting a lot better. I mean, even in the lost Auburn, the turnovers were not the biggest problem with that game, you know. No. No. So, the way this team responded from that Missouri loss these last two games is really great. Like you said, and it was much needed.

[00:07:50] They needed to not just win, but look good and look strong doing it. Because you said there's a gauntlet coming up. We go to Knoxville this Saturday, and that starts it off. Yeah. Yeah. You know, actually, you know, we'll be, I guess we'll be finished our regular season before the next time we talk to y'all. Yeah. Yeah. We have Saturday, Wednesday, and then Saturday. Yeah. Whatever that's great.

[00:08:19] You know, in Knoxville at Tennessee, home for Florida, and then on the road to Auburn in the regular season. So, it's going to be tough, but this team looks like they're ready for it. Yeah. I know. You know, that could change a lot of things. I mean, you look at it, I mean, that could determine, you know, whether we get a double buy or not, if we get on the one line or not. So, I mean, a lot of things are determined.

[00:08:47] Man, if we could get two or three, that'd be amazing. But, you know, certainly one out of the bunch, but man, I would love to see two. Two or three would be just amazing. I mean, obviously, a sweep means, if we sweep these three games, that brings us back into play for maybe the overall one seed. But, what do you think we do need to stay on that one line? Maybe at least one of three and a win in the SEC tournament?

[00:09:17] Two or three and a win? Or what? What do you think? Yeah. At least one. I would say at least one, and we have to be competitive. The more games come down to the, you know, last couple minutes. If we do that and we make it to at least the semis of the SEC, I think we'll be fine on the one line. But I think we, if we get two, I think that pretty much locks up a one line for us. Yeah, I agree.

[00:09:43] No matter what we do in the SEC tournament, and hopefully we have a run all the way to Sunday there. But, yeah, I think one, and we have a little bit of work to do, two, guarantee three for sure. And that would be ideal. But, I mean, realistically, man, that's going to be tough. Especially, you know, Knoxville. I mean, last time we were in Knoxville, they knocked our heads off last year. Yeah. And they got the sweep last year.

[00:10:12] So, man, we're looking for a little revenge. Yeah. And a tough team, of course, we know. Yeah. The Vols, they... Tough team, great defensively. Their offense, as we know, when they're on, they're maybe arguably one of the best, you know, one of the two or three best teams in America. But when that offense is off, they can get ugly. But their defense does keep them in a lot of games. Mm-hmm. And they've kind of rebounded from their little cold spell. Yeah.

[00:10:41] They got a close win over LSU last night. It was on the road. I imagine if you're a Tennessee fan, you'd want to see a little bit more than a six-point win against a lowly team like LSU. But, hey, it's hard to win on the road in the SEC. It is. I mean, it is. And then I'm sure they're looking ahead to the Bama game. So, you know, it's kind of hard to get up for LSU, honestly, right now. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. So, I mean, sometimes a win's a win in the middle of the week. Exactly.

[00:11:10] But like we said, they responded from their little when they lost, like, what, three of four, four of seven there. They've now won six of their last seven with the lone loss being up at Rupp, which is, you know, no shame in losing at Rupp. Yeah. Exactly. We didn't do it this year. You know, I'm just saying. But, no, yeah. Some people have problems in winning. But, absolutely, you know, it's going to be a tough one for us.

[00:11:38] And it should be a good game, great game Saturday afternoon. And, you know, big for the conference, too. It looks like Auburn just needs maybe one more win to wrap up the one seed. Yeah. It's important. I mean, they're pretty much close to being the SEC champs as well. Yeah. So, it's easy. They, of course, let's see, looking at, pull up a schedule here to see what Brad's got left. But as the stand-ins go right now, we're in second place.

[00:12:09] Auburn's 14-1 in conference. We're second place, 12-3. Florida's behind us at 11-4. And then you've got Tennessee and Missouri at 10-5. And kind of that battle for the double bye in the SEC tournament. So, yeah. Moving on to college basketball as a whole. We'll stick with the SEC for now. A team that is not having a good run right now, the Texas A&M Aggies. Man. Last week. Yeah. Tough, tough.

[00:12:39] Lost to Tennessee last week and Mississippi State. And then. Lost to Vandy tonight. Yeah. Upset by Vanderbilt tonight. In, was it in Vandy or was it in College Station? I didn't look at it really. But I think. The one thing, yeah. Pretty sure it was in that. Pretty sure it was in the basketball. But that's a tough stretch for A&M. Oh, no. It was in College Station. Oh. Oh.

[00:13:09] Yeah. Two-point loss at home. That's rough right there. Yeah. That is rough. And I don't know. Not the way to be going into March, definitely. I mean, you know, a lot of people had A&M high. And then, of course, they could definitely rebound. I mean, obviously, we, as we know, last year, I mean, we were hardly winning the March well. And, you see, we came around at the right time. I mean, they're definitely a team that can make a run in a tournament. You know, we know how good Taylor is.

[00:13:38] And, you know, at times, they look great throughout the season. So, we'll see if they can find themselves, you know, close out the regular season. And they head into March, the SEC tournament. So, we'll see what the Zaggies team does. But, yeah, not ideal when you're going into March with three or four losses in a row. Mm-mm. Absolutely not. Another big game yesterday that we didn't expect.

[00:14:05] But, Georgia, big upset over number three, Florida. Five-point win there in Athens. Hideous uniforms, you ask me. Their court is terrible, too. Yeah, it is. A shame for someone with such a good color scheme that Georgia has. Is that, you know, the red and black and silver is, to me, should be pretty easy to. Yeah, have some sleek uniforms in them. Yeah.

[00:14:34] And nothing's as bad as that one Texas A&M uniform they trotted out last week. So, yeah. But a big win for the Dawgs to really help their bubble chances. Yeah, they moved up to last. Are they last in now? I'm not sure. They moved to the last four, the first four out. I know they were right. They moved up to either right in or right on the cusp of, you know, getting there.

[00:15:02] So, it'll be interesting to see what they do to close out the season. I'm sure, you know, they would at least have to win a couple. And it's in Nashville this year, right? They'd have to definitely win a couple in Nashville, I would think. But, you know, they're definitely a, you know, last night was huge for them. So, we'll see. And we just talked about Vanderbilt. I mean, Vanderbilt, they almost seem like they're on the cusp of making the NCAA tournament

[00:15:32] if they weren't already, you know, in the mix there with a, you know, good win against A&M. I think they're at 18 wins now in the season. So, I mean, they've got to be getting somewhere close. I mean, so. Yeah, I mean, pretty much everyone but South Carolina and LSU is in play right now. Yeah, LSU. Yeah. Even Oklahoma right now, they're in a battle with Kentucky right now. But they, who did they?

[00:15:59] They pulled off, they upset State last week as well. Yeah. So, you know, that's a good win for them. If they were able to beat Kentucky, that would be huge. Yeah, they're another team that probably needs to, you know, get a big win down the stretch here and then make a little noise in the SEC tournament. All right. And then another team is Arkansas. They're up big on Texas last time I looked.

[00:16:28] Yeah, they still are. Okay. Not looking good for the horns there. You know, that's a, you know, a team that's, I don't know. They've kind of been, I really, I don't know. They're missing something there in Austin right now. So, you know, just don't, I don't know. There's a little something, yeah.

[00:16:56] They can't put your finger on it, but they're missing it. You can tell that much. They have a great freshman. They have that great freshman. But, yeah, that team, not consistent. They get, I don't know, they get bullied a lot. They don't, they get blown out a lot as well. I mean, you'd have to think, you know, if they don't make the tournament, I don't know. They might start looking around at coaches. I don't know.

[00:17:25] Yeah, that's maybe something to consider there for the horns. I don't know. Looking, let's see, ahead in the SEC as far as what we got coming up in the future. Of course, tonight also Auburn big time win over Ole Miss. 30 point win. Yeah. Yeah. So that's looking good if you're an Auburn fan. This weekend, this Saturday, Auburn a little tougher.

[00:17:52] They go to Rupp bright and early, 12 o'clock noon on Saturday. Let's see some other interesting games. Arkansas has a chance to stockpile another win. They go on the road to Columbia, South Carolina. So hopefully should. That's, you know, one you have to win if you want to make the tournament. That's one you have to win, absolutely. Oklahoma gets a chance. They go to Oxford. LSU goes to Mississippi State. So there's a good bounce back opportunity for the Bulldogs there. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:18:22] Of course, you know, Alabama, Tennessee, 3 o'clock. Missouri goes to Vanderbilt. So there's the endangerous game for the Tigers there. Yeah. That's a real interesting one. Two of these bubble teams we just talked about, Georgia and Texas, down there in Austin at the Moody Center. Hmm. And then Georgia, definitely. That would be a good win for the Bulldogs. Absolutely. That's kind of a, that's not quite an eliminator game for those teams, but that's, that's a big one for both of those teams. For one of them. Yeah. Losers looking bleak.

[00:18:52] I would say. Yeah. Losers on thin ice for sure there. And then a good one for the nightcap there. A&M tries to, you know, get off their little cold streak, their three-game loose streak, but they got to do it in Gainesville. So, yeah, that's. And Florida coming off a loss? Yeah, that's going to be tough. That's going to be tough, but if you, the Aggies want any shot at getting that double bye, they need that win. And they're another tough closing stretch, at least two of their three.

[00:19:21] They go at game in Gainesville, and then next week they host Auburn. They do close against LSU. It is in Baton Rouge, but still that's one they should easily take. Right. Yeah. That's a tough, tough role. That's a tough one. Let's see. Let's look up these closing schedules for all the teams in the hunt for the double bye. There we go. Let's see. Missouri. Florida. All right. Here we go. Just told you, A&M.

[00:19:51] Tennessee, of course, we'll start there. You know they got us this weekend. Here if the page loads. Come on, page. There we go. They close, of course, with us. Then they go to Oxford next week and close with a home game against South Carolina. That's a two winnable game to close there. Yes. The Auburn Tigers. Of course, you know, we know we'll end the regular season down there on the plains, but

[00:20:16] before that we mentioned that Kentucky game, and then they go to College Station next week. So, pretty tough closing stretch for them, too. Yeah, that is. Missouri. We mentioned they have that game at Vanderbilt this week. They will go at Oklahoma next week, and a tricky one. The Oklahoma team will be kind of desperate. That is tricky. Especially if they're on the verge. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and then Missouri closes their season hosting Kentucky. Oh, wow. That would be an interesting one.

[00:20:45] Yeah, there's a big one right there. And then we mentioned Florida Gators. They got, of course, A&M this weekend. We mentioned that. They have us in Tuscaloosa next week, and then they close with Ole Miss and Gainesville. So, another one. A tough one there, too. Nope. I'd say Tennessee probably has the easiest out of the bunch. Yeah, I would say so, yeah. I don't know. Teams for that double bind. But, yeah, everybody has a tough road. Nobody has a give-me game.

[00:21:16] Really. No, and that's kind of what this conference is this year. Absolutely. It's tough. You know, it's always been tough to win in the road, but especially this year. You know, even I think South Carolina is still the only team. No, they finally got their one. That's right. They got their one conference win. Well, man. That's a team that really, I mean, you know, last year they really rebounded, made the NCAA tournament, and this year just bad.

[00:21:44] I don't know what they're really missing, but they never really on. They got that big win in the non-conference against Clemson, and then it fell apart after that. Yeah, Nick Pringle, not apparently the missing piece there. They need a little bit more. They need a lot more. Yeah.

[00:22:05] But, yeah, you know, I think we talked about that in the first try at this recording, but that is definitely one of the bigger disparities between the men's and women program right now. Oh, man. Yeah. Yeah. But elsewhere around the country, tonight, you know, Oklahoma State upset Iowa State. Huge. Big win for them. Michigan State, a half-court buzzer beater to beat Maryland. Top 25 matchup there in the Big Ten.

[00:22:34] Spartans, man, kind of looking like the Spartans of old. A team that maybe could make some noise, you know. They're not going to be just, you know. Real tough team. Yeah. It seems like the last decade or so they've been like an 8th seed, a 7th seed, and people are like, oh, Tom Izzo and State, and they never really do anything. It seems like a 3-seed type team. Yeah. Tough, tough, old school.

[00:22:59] So, yeah, definitely not a team a lot of people want to see come work. Exactly, yeah. That's one of those proverbial hot teams that's dangerous. We mentioned Oklahoma upset State last week. BYU got two big upsets over Arizona and Kansas. Kansas just continues on that struggle bus, but they still win against Colorado. They did. They did.

[00:23:26] But they're also one of those teams that's just so talented that. They could turn it on. Exactly. They're not a team that you should overlook at any point, but they're in danger of being below a 4th seed for the first time in Bill Self's tenure there. That is an amazing stat. Yeah. He hardly ever remembered that he was ever at Illinois before he went to Kansas at this point. Yeah, yeah, right? It's been so long.

[00:23:52] And it's just crazy to think of, you know, things like, I mean, even, you know, Duke missed a tournament here and there under Coach K, you know. Yeah. Or, you know, Carolina missed some under Roy Williams and Dean, you know. But let's see elsewhere. Oregon had a big road win at Wisconsin. Yeah. Indiana, I think we mentioned this. Indiana upset Purdue. Yeah. On the 40th anniversary of Bobby Knight's infamous chair throw. They're really coming around.

[00:24:22] They've won a couple. Been a little hot there. So, we'll see. Kind of weird, yeah. After the school announced they'd be letting go of Mike Woodson after the season. Turn it around. I wonder if. I don't imagine that will change anything. But good for those players to finish strong at least. Yeah, because kind of once you've already said that, I mean, I don't know. It's kind of weird to double back. I don't know.

[00:24:50] A team that has had an absolutely great week, Houston. Two top ten wins. Beat Iowa State and then followed up the other night with a win over Texas Tech. And Lubbock. Yeah. And Lubbock. They were missing a few players in Tech, but still, you know, a good win for the Cougars. And I would have to say they're probably almost locked themselves into a one seed. Oh. How well that they've been playing.

[00:25:19] And, you know, that's just a program that's, you know, in the last five years is always on the cusp of being right there. You know, they didn't have injuries last year. That might have been, you know, they definitely would have gone further than what they did. You know, they lost shit there and that really hurt them. You know, they're back again. And, you know, just another phenomenal coaching job. I mean, he's probably one of the most underrated, underappreciated coaches of all time.

[00:25:48] I mean, what he's done with that Houston program. I mean, just amazing. And you have to look at it, too. I mean, what he got in trouble for, like, was it Indiana? It was like a child's play these days. Like, he made an extra text or a phone call or something. It's like, what? Yeah, it's one of those weird kind of dead zone rules and stuff. But it's one of those penalties that you're like, yeah, okay, you know, technically broke the rules.

[00:26:17] But it's also one of those that kind of seemed like the NCAA just had to punish people for something, you know. But, yeah, we could fill a whole series of, you know, what's wrong with the NCAA. But, yeah, they're using demons tough. Yeah, they have been quietly one of the better. I feel like they're one of the most quiet number one seeds ever. I know, you know, obviously, if you're in, you know, big-time basketball circles, people are going to talk about them.

[00:26:43] But, like, the national media, I feel like it's kind of not ignoring them or dissing them. There's nothing sexy about them. Yeah. I mean, that's just their DNA. I mean, they play hard, tough defense. They score when they need to. Not necessarily this year a superstar. They just win games. Yeah. Great overall team.

[00:27:08] I mean, we were lucky enough to, you know, beat them in the offseason. If we could go without playing them, I'd be all for it. Yeah, right. We've had our battles with them the past few seasons. They always come down to, yeah. Yeah. It is always a tough one, yeah. Absolutely. But, yeah, you know, it's that crunch time now. And, you know, championship week, like we said, next time we talk, the regular season will be over and it'll be championship week.

[00:27:37] So, let's see, real quick. Alabama women, big win over Auburn. Yeah. The other night rallied from a 16-point deficit to win by 16. So, good turnaround. Aaliyah Nile, six three-pointers. I believe that was some sort of Alabama school record. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, she is really playing well, her and Sarah Ashley Barker.

[00:28:06] You know, we got a couple studs on that team. We do. A lot of talent. We mentioned, you know. A lot of talent. Yeah, the program has really turned around. They're really great consistently now making the tournament. The next hump is a two-fold. One, you know, get to that second weekend, be kind of a consistent second weekend team. Absolutely. Win that big game. You know, we're still struggling against those big, big teams. The South Carolinas, your Tennessee. You know, we lost to Tennessee a couple weeks ago.

[00:28:36] We played decently in Tennessee. It was the last Thursday, I believe. We lost by eight. I mean, they went up to Knoxville and put up a good effort. You know, all five starters were in double digits. I mean, I think that was about as good as we've looked in that type of game, honestly. So, man, we have one more opportunity. I think they close the season at home against LSU.

[00:29:04] I don't know if that will happen, but that would be great. Yeah, tomorrow night, in fact, Thursday night, 8 p.m. on the SEC Network, they get a chance to knock off LSU. That would be huge. It would absolutely be huge. They are also fighting for, you know, their own double bye right now. Alabama's a game behind Kentucky.

[00:29:27] And, you know, they finish home at LSU and then finish on the road in Norman to a ranked Oklahoma team who's also right there behind Kentucky. So, like we said, still the job they've done. Phenomenal. Phenomenal, you know, compared to what this program was when we were in school and, you know, had been before. Elsewhere in the women's game, big upset the other night. NC State knocked off Notre Dame. What a game. A double overtime.

[00:29:58] Yeah. Absolutely outstanding game. It's kind of been a curse to be number one as it later seems. It is. Who wants to be one and now Texas is up at the one spot. Texas is, yeah, first time in 21 years for their women's team there. And good luck. It's like you said, a dangerous position this season. Yeah. And speaking of the women's basketball game, huge news today.

[00:30:28] Hey, one of the best, Diana Taurasi, retired, master retirement. A UConn player way back in the day. About the time we were in school, yeah. About the time we were in school, right? Yeah, about the same time. Yeah, back when they were winning six, seven titles in a row. And she, you know, played all over WNBA, played in Russia. Absolutely one of the best to play the game. Absolutely. So, you know, hopefully all her best in retirement.

[00:30:57] And, of course, everyone's out right now, you know, big-time response from everyone both in the college and pro games. Yeah. Recognizing, you know, her importance to the WNBA and the women's game in general. Women's game in general, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, because, I mean, you know, she, I don't know, you know, really seemed to have been kind of that. I mean, there's been a few where she seemed to be on that level of women

[00:31:27] that everybody kind of knew. They really opened the game up for, you know, the players that, you know, we, you know, the Caitlin Clarks of the world. And what they've done is because of folks like Taurasi and, you know, her Candace Parker in that era, you know, when we were in school and stuff. Yeah. So, yeah. Of course, Taurasi retires as the all-time scoring leader in WNBA.

[00:31:52] One MVP in 2009, 14 all-night WNBA selections and five scoring titles. Yeah. A champion at every level she played at, of course, member of some absolutely great UConn teams and played every one of her 20 seasons in WNBA with the Phoenix Mercury. Yeah. Rarely seen by that, you know, back in 2021, she was voted, you know, the WNBA GOAT in a fan poll.

[00:32:20] And it's hard to argue that at this point, you know. Absolutely. You know, definitely, like you said, some of these players that were inspired by her might challenge her for it in the end. But right now? Yeah. Right now. Yeah. She retired. And best of luck, yeah. Happy retirement to her. Absolutely. I'm sure we'll see her broadcast sooner than later. Yeah. I think so, yeah. She, hopefully, you know, she gets a little bit of rest time too.

[00:32:49] But, yeah, big announcement in the game there. It's great. Like you said, congrats to her on all her career. And congrats and happy retirement. In the men's game over in the pros, WNBA or NBA, the MNBA, everyone stopped bitching about the All-Star game long enough where we could actually focus back on basketball again. Back on the season. Yeah.

[00:33:19] Nothing, you know, too huge happening. You know, it's kind of that, it's a little bit of a slow period before ramp up. Right. I mean, everybody was excited last night, of course. I was trying to break it to you gently. You know, Luka, his return, you know, against his old squad. And he, yeah. He certainly gave Nico, boy. Yeah. Hit a big three, turned around, and just, I mean,

[00:33:48] Superman laser eyes. Yeah. That was, you know, an eight point win. Triple double there. Yeah. He got a triple double, and he has now become the third player to record a triple double against every NBA franchise. For the fat, lazy guy, that's something, right? Yeah. Exactly. It's just like every day, it seems like there's something new to make that trade look worse and worse. Yeah.

[00:34:18] Is Anthony Davis ever coming back? Who knows? Yeah. That doesn't help. I hope that Nico, whatever his name is, I hope he lives in a very nice gated community with security. He's got to get security. Yeah. He's got to get some hair with security, because it's been, he's had some rough moments there, and you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if there was a beloved guy in Dallas, it definitely was Lucas.

[00:34:46] kind of tore the heart out of the fan base, for sure. So, it's been a tough run of things. And then, you know, the add-on, I mentioned that in the first podcast, it didn't work out. You know, one of the new owners, you know, has said, you know, he was naming off players that, that he listened to, that were great, always in shape. And of course, Mike, Kobe, of course. He got to Shaq. I mean,

[00:35:16] Shaq was great, but he never came into a season in shape. Shaq is, and Shaq is the first person to tell you that he did it wrong. You know, he's, he is not, he's been very out-soaken about how, you know, he didn't do what he should have done in terms of getting ready for seasons. Yeah. And then, and then, and on top of that, he did mention Dirk at all. Now, he may not have been a Mavs fan growing up, but now you own the team. You don't, you got mentioned,

[00:35:45] the longevity and just, obviously you played 20 years in the league. You're in some type of great shape. Um, one team all time. And you did not mention him at all. Still makes me mad. It was about two weeks ago. We can have two weeks ago. Still makes me mad. Don't know what, like, dude, what are you doing? PR person has to get into his ear and say, Hey bro, you gotta fix this. But anyway, so it'll be interesting to see, uh, you know, what, what it comes to that, um, whole situation.

[00:36:14] And for Nico's sake, he better hope that AD comes back in March and April and Dallas makes the playoffs. Yeah. Cause you know, right now, um, you know, tough, tough there. Uh, if you look at the standings literally right now in the Western conference, they are the only team in the top 10 to not be on a winning streak of some sort. Um, two in a row, five and five in their last 10 and only three and a half games ahead of Phoenix, uh, for,

[00:36:45] to stay in the play. And the good news there is that that Phoenix squad looks like a mess. Um, yeah, one mess. unless KD just goes Superman mode. Um, you kind of get the sense that that those 10 spots are set. It's just a matter of who's going to finish where. Who's going where? Absolutely. Um, yeah. And like I see, it doesn't help matters too, that, uh, the Lakers are eight and two in their last 10 and Lucas just looking phenomenal. And, yeah. you know,

[00:37:15] 30, 30 point spot on the weekend against the Warriors triple double last night. Yeah. It's not, yeah. I'm right now. Nico's looking pretty. Yeah. Real questionable. Yeah. Real questionable. Yeah. Elsewhere. It's kind of been business as usual. Oklahoma city still tearing it up. Denver's getting hot, tearing it up. kind of golden States coming on there. And that Jimmy Butler, they're starting to find their identity with him. And,

[00:37:44] it looks scary. It seems like, it seems like they've got them on the right. Obviously after, you know, the splash brothers, it was, they were kind of missing something, but yeah, Jimmy Butler seemed to pick that up. So, yeah. Uh, over in the East, uh, Cleveland still killing Boston, still killing, uh, New York had a couple of rough games. They're just really struggling against kind of the top teams in the East.

[00:38:12] And you wonder how big a problem that's going to be. Come play all time. Um, and we mentioned it. Yeah. And the, in the pod that didn't work out, but they are right now matched up with a 60 Detroit team. Uh, who's won eight in a row. I don't think that's who they want to see at all. It's, it's, it's, it's, they, Detroit is at, that there's always, it always seems to be one team every year in the playoffs. A young team plays a little,

[00:38:38] a little ahead of schedule and they're there to upset somebody or at least scare the hell out of you, make you go seven games and where are you out for the next round? Um, and yeah, so it could be that, I mean, they're young. They have no fear. I mean, they have nothing to lose. So yeah, I wouldn't want to see them if I'm New York. No, not at all. Um, on the opposite side of that is the 76ers. They have lost a nine in a row.

[00:39:06] Now they are two and a half games back of the 10 spot in the East. Uh, no end in sight to, you know, they saying they're looking at options for Joel Embiid's knee. You got to wonder not only if we're going to see him again this season, but, uh, you know, there's a possibility. This could be the, you know, we won't see him in a Sixers jersey again. yeah, that'll be interesting. Well, you know, where does he go?

[00:39:36] Who's interested? You know, do they feel like they have the staff that can get them healthy? I mean, he's, uh, I think, I don't know if it's necessary that he's had a bad training because he's always, he's had these problems since Kansas. So, I don't know. I don't know if he just has bad luck or, but yes, worrisome. Um, I almost wonder is it time for him to retire? Cause I mean, if he, as he gets older,

[00:40:06] I don't think those injuries are going to become less likely. Yeah. You know, big guys like that, you know, basketball players are unique in that way anyway, just so tall and lanky and, you know, the sport, you know, play a little hardcore. That's what he does and how he plays. I mean, he's the, you know, there's no traditional big man per se. I mean, he's doing a lot of, a lot of stuff. So, I mean, it's not easy on his legs and I just don't know how much more he has in general.

[00:40:36] Yeah. It's, it's, um, it's yeah. Tough prospect. Uh, so, you know, it's something to watch there for sure. Oh, let's see elsewhere in the world of sports. Uh, NFL announced today. They're considering changing overtime rules. Uh, they didn't really say what about them, but, uh, you know, they changed the rules back in what, 2011 or so to do this new, you know, the, if you score touchdowns over field goal, blah, blah, blah, all that. But it actually,

[00:41:07] the advantage for the team that wins a coin toss has gone up under the new rules, which were designed to prevent that. So, uh, the committee has said that they are going to relook at things. Troy Vincent actually is, you know, on that committee, uh, league executive now. Uh, so they, they're going to look at that, see how that goes. Uh, you know, I've long been a proponent says, just put like eight minutes on the clock, 10 minutes, whatever, just play it out.

[00:41:35] If it's still tied cool in, in the playoffs, you know, then you just go to, then you could maybe do like a sudden death and second overtime where you just make it shorter. Uh, but, uh, we'll see if that, you know, anything comes with that. Um, the other change announced kind of a big one. They're going to use a virtual measuring system to determine first downs. Uh, they said they're not going to eliminate officials manually spotting the ball. So, you know, it's still, that part is still going to be kind of, you never know, but,

[00:42:05] uh, they do have, they have a tracking system now that it'll instantly notify officials if a first down was gained, uh, after they spot the ball. So, uh, yeah, we'll see how that works. You know, it's kind of similar. Uh, if you watch a lot of soccer, their goal line technology kind of works that way. Um, you, you know, in soccer, the ball has to completely cross the line to be considered a goal. And the, you see the rest, they actually have a little thing on their wrist. And when it's a kind of a close call, they'll look down and you can see it,

[00:42:34] it buzzes them or it does whatever to tell them that, yep, that was a goal. Um, which is good. You know, anything that can take those kinds of things, uh, you know, I'm all for, uh, human, you know, human era happens. It's official, you know, I'm, you know, I'm all for human officials, you know, um, you know, as MLB is also, you know, experimenting with robot umps and, uh, spring training right now. But there are certain things like this that we should,

[00:43:03] we have the technology for, you know, especially such a critical thing. Exactly. So, um, so that's a step forward. Uh, again, you know, I think the end goal there would be to get to where you don't have an official spot in the ball based on their left or right foot or, because we've seen too many times where a guy will start running in from the sideline and then like, he'll have to sidestep a player and then he ends up going a yard short of where he was in the first place or something. Right. So,

[00:43:33] um, yeah, that could definitely help out. I mean, maybe Buffalo gets that first down against Kansas city with that. Exactly. You never know some things. Um, I'm also saw that they're trying to see whether or not they want to eliminate, I was going to want to eliminate the tush push there. Um, of course, Philly has been most successful with it. Buffalo's kind of come around with it there. And I, I, I don't really have a feeling on it. I mean,

[00:44:03] I just know it's a successful play. I guess the biggest thing is just, uh, idea of, you know, of your push from behind. I guess, technically that's not necessarily fully legal, but it happens so much. I don't, I don't know. Yeah. Um, I do, I did see there was an anonymous team. Uh, Oh, it was the green Bay Packers. They actually named them. Uh, they are putting forth a proposal to ban the tush push. So, um, uh, that one,

[00:44:32] I just don't see that one getting far because I know the Eagles are the best at it, but it's pretty successful for pretty much any team that runs a version of it. Buffalo started getting a lot of success with the Packer. And if you got a big enough guy, you know, you even see like the Ravens do it. They'll get Mark Andrews under center, you know, big, uh, we've seen the chiefs do it. Travis Kelsey, you know, get bigger guys under there. Um, and I don't see, I mean, I get the push from behind. Uh, maybe that's what they can,

[00:45:01] they're going to eliminate. Maybe they can eliminate that. But I think Philly would still be successful with it because I mean, the line is so nasty. Jalen hurts the strong. I mean, even without the push, I think he's probably getting through. Yeah. He's a power lifter, man. Yeah. I mean, he out squats his offensive lineman. So yeah, he's gonna, he's one of those guys. It's like, all right, he's probably going to get it. And you know, if, if the argument is that it's dangerous, the,

[00:45:29] the league has actually said they have found no injuries. Yeah. No one's ever got hurt behind the points. Yeah. other, let's see anything else. I thought I saw one more interesting. Uh, they're kind of looking into whether they could have a replay, uh, official, uh, call down to the referee and about a missed penalty. Although, Troy Vincent did say there was, uh, what's the quote. There was no appetite for the committee to use replay to throw flags. That one I'm in favor of, uh,

[00:45:59] this happens in soccer sometimes. They'll review it and they'll be like, Oh, there was a foul 50 yards back. So we're going to cancel that goal. And I'm like, man, that's, uh, it's kind of against the spirit of the game. That's too much. I mean, if you miss it, you miss it. I mean, I don't know. I mean, Carl, I mean, technically, I mean, there's probably a penalty miss on every single play in some sense. Exactly. or say it's holding on every play, you know, or, so I don't know.

[00:46:29] That seems a little excessive and probably good at the run one with that. Cause who knows what that could lead to? Unless it's just something so egregious, but you know, usually, yeah, if it's egregious, uh, if, if it's something like that, that's, you know, if that directly impacts the play, the rest is going to see it. Cause it's hopefully they caught it. Yeah. It's around the ball. I mean, granted, you know, we have some things, but I was about to say, yeah, the saints.

[00:46:59] And then what was it? The, it was a Detroit, Minnesota this year, the missed face mask call in the end zone. Um, Oh yeah. Uh, so, you know, like you said, it's human error. You're going to miss some things. Uh, but those are the instances where it might be like, Hey, you know, the quarterback got his face mask pulled there. You kind of missed it then. Okay. But it starts getting tricky when you get to a, you don't want to have, you know, the game's already long enough with commercial breaks and, you know, they're never going to get rid of commercials. So,

[00:47:29] uh, you don't want to slow the game down too much with reviews. And absolutely. You also don't want to have these ticky tech fouls, you know, Oh, that technically that lineman was, you know, two and a half yards ahead of the line of scrimmage. So that's, you know, that's a legal player downfield. So, um, yeah. Uh, the other one I found that the other rule is there. So they're actually going to review the kickoff rule because this year was technically a try on a trial basis. They did not make it a permanent change.

[00:47:59] Um, I believe what they want to do is they said is they maybe bring back the traditional onside kicks. Uh, yeah, because the recovery was the lowest rate. I think the last 20 so years this year, you could only do it in the fourth, you could only do it in the fourth quarter and you could, you had to announce it beforehand. And so teams only recovered three out of 50 onside kicks. So yeah, that's, that's low. Kind of,

[00:48:28] kind of dumb. I mean, the idea of an onside kick at times, of course, you know, at the end of a game, it's coming, but every now and again, it's like, just get it in there and maybe change the momentum. Um, so yeah, I mean, you know, one of the most famous ones of all time, uh, when the saints won their super bowl began the second half with an onside kick. So, um, you know, it's a huge turn of point games, um, especially for kind of the underdogs like that. Um,

[00:48:56] let's see elsewhere in the world of sports, uh, you know, be spring training kickoff. We mentioned they're fooling around some robot umps other than that, you know, it's spring training, uh, slow. Let's see. Uh, uh, with our crimson tide softballs, want peeled off four in a row since their slow start. Um, yeah. So, you know, and they're hitting, uh, the runs are coming in. Uh, that's, that's the big news. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh,

[00:49:25] it seems to undefeated on the season. Yeah. Baseball nine and O. Um, I don't know, you know, I had a huge, uh, comeback against all Ohio state over the weekend. They were down 10, nothing, one, 12 to 10. And last night dropped 20, 20 runs. That was huge. Big. Yeah. I mean, that's a, that's a going, um, just, uh, man for, for Alabama.

[00:49:50] The most important thing is just win as many of these before sec games as possible to get you in the right spot. Cause we know the guy with the sec. Yeah, exactly. But, um, you know, I was looking at something the other day, uh, uh, you know, baseball, you know, college baseball, uh, media guy. And he was saying that Alabama looks like a team that, uh, not only is going to make some loisian sec, but you know, as a, a threat to host a regional and, um,

[00:50:20] in the NCAA tournament come the tournament. Yeah. And that would be big. didn't it say super regional, but still a regional, you know, Hey, that's, that's big. Yeah. Um, yeah. I mean, I would hope that, you know, we can get to where baseball at least is, yeah, uh, hosting a regional, super regional every, hopefully get to Omaha at some point. Yeah. Get, get back to Omaha. It's been a while. Um, you know, back in the nineties, early two thousands, made what,

[00:50:49] Three or four trips made the title game one year. And, but we used to be a consistent NCAA team. Get back to that, which we've been past couple of years. Uh, yeah. Get to the point where, you know, we're one of those teams that's going to host a regional more times than not. Absolutely. And, um, for softball, it's just get back to the standard, uh, you know, uh, you know, make the college world series most years and. Yeah. Get a,

[00:51:18] another championship at some point, of course, you know, it's been since 20. We've been to Oklahoma city. 20 since, but yeah, we did, but we know, man, the SEC is tough. Um, you know, and of course adding Oklahoma and Texas, it's made it that much tougher for, for on the women's side. So I do it in the softball world. That's going to be a tough road there, but, um, that's what hopefully they can honor things out in this, uh, you know, in the before conference season,

[00:51:47] because it's been it, it's been dicey at times. It's probably the season. So, yeah, absolutely. So, um, we will see what happens there. that is everything I have in my notes. I do believe. Is there anything you want to talk, touch on in the world of sports? Oh, the one thing, um, you know, a lot of post-grads are getting away from their college spring game. Um, Nebraska has,

[00:52:16] NC state is, I mean, it's, um, become a bigger thing. Um, I mean, I understand it to a certain extent. I mean, but I mean, injuries can happen anytime. So I don't necessarily buy that. people get hurt. I mean, people get hurt in, you know, so many ways. Um, so I don't know if that's a good one. Um, and then, you know, I know Nebraska was worried that people see their players and then come try to poach them. I feel like if someone's interested, they're going to try to get your player regardless.

[00:52:46] I don't know if that works as my, as our argument either. I guess my biggest concern is spring game is big for the fans who don't necessarily have the money to go to a regular season game to get that experience. Absolutely. Programs, you know, if you've taken it away, hopefully you're giving these fans something else, a meeting, greet, um, maybe they can come see one of your clothes practices, something, because I don't know for some of these fans, I mean,

[00:53:14] that's your one time to really get into the stadium, get some of the game atmosphere, enjoy it with their family. Cause you know, a lot of people can't afford these two, 300, $500 regular season tickets. So it's a shame in that aspect to me more than anything. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, like you said, it's a great family day. Uh, no, you know, free of charge, get down there. Uh, you know, in places like Tuscaloosa South, it can be a little hot, but still it's, it's a great day. Uh, they usually do, you know,

[00:53:43] a lot of fun stuff for the fans. Good memories for the kids. Yeah, exactly. You get to see, you know, these hallowed grounds of college football. Um, so yeah, hopefully, you know, and it kind of, you know, a lot of these coaches are saying, cause they don't want their guys getting scouted for the transfer portal. And so, you know, we've talked about before, but there has to be some type of rules to rein in this stuff. Um, and, you know, they, you know, limit the transfer windows,

[00:54:13] maybe even eliminate the spring one altogether and just have one in January. Um, so we'll see where that goes, but it's definitely a disappointing thing for, you know, coaches, you know, for fans, not for coaches and coaches probably love it. But, um, no, yeah, that's a good point. Uh, as for don't up real good, you mentioned on Sunday night that you were just happy to get out of the super cold there in Omaha. Is that, that still, you're done up real good there.

[00:54:43] It is. I mean, we go into 65 today. Oh, yeah. We've had a couple of beautiful days, uh, here in Birmingham as well. You know, like, you know, it finally able to take my poor dog back out on the walk type good stuff. nice. Right. You know, it's, it's what she doesn't mind, you know, like, you know, we used to, you know, we got tights and, you know, all that stuff will wrap up for the cold to Walker. But, you know, if my wife's working, you know, it's getting to her be her busy time of the year. Uh, yeah, I can't, you know,

[00:55:11] it's tough to bring the kid out and, you know, when it's, you know, when it's 30 degrees, but with a, with a wind chill, because we were having bad wind chills. Yeah. Our wind chills in the 15, 13 last week. And so it's, you can't get the kid out in that, especially my, my son, he, he, he will throw off a blanket and a hat. Like nobody's business. You know, he's got a little, little knit cap and not, he'll just yank it right off, kick a blanket off. It doesn't matter what the temperature is. Yeah. He don't care.

[00:55:41] And it's like, all right, but yeah, I mentioned, uh, my donut real good was finishing house projects. Uh, got one finished this weekend that we've been working on for a while. So it always feels nice to get that off the plate. Absolutely. And then look up the honey do list and see what's next. Right. Yeah. This is, uh, you know, obviously the time when they get us to, well, you guys don't have football right now. So you need to get this stuff done. So,

[00:56:11] yeah, he's like, Oh, but it's basketball. Uh, yeah, no, then okay. Yeah. It's a much harder. I know in my house, it's a much harder sell for a basketball game until, until March. And I can explain that like, Hey, if we lose, we're done for the year. So then it's like, okay. You know that, I mean, my, my family at least likes March madness. Cause they love, if they can beat me in a bracket or not, that they watch a lot, but you know, they can catch me in a bracket, which said, but I, no, yeah,

[00:56:39] last year was tough for me in the bracket at the, I think my wife and daughter both beat me, honestly. So they were, they've been talking about that since. you know, they do at least get that, enjoy that, but yeah, regular season college basketball. If it's not Alabama, it's a hard sell. Yeah. It's a hard sell. Yeah. The in-person stuff is where I can get her. You know, when we lived in new Orleans, we actually had, uh, season tickets before COVID. Oh, okay. So that was a fun time, you know? Right. For sure.

[00:57:09] Yeah. You know, in live stuff, we, we try to go to at least one, two Braves games a year. Nice. Since moving back to Birmingham. you know, of course she grew up, you know, her little brother played college ball. Oh, okay. you know, that's a baseball family there. So. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Live, I think probably easier to sell to the, I mean, it's fun. Yeah. Even if you're not a sports fan, I mean, a live sports event could, you know, fun at least a couple of times. So. Yeah, definitely. And we, you know, we've talked, you know, about, you know,

[00:57:38] spring football coming up, the UFL, uh, you know, might try to get out to see a Birmingham stallions game. Oh yeah. mentioned, uh, you know, one of the NCAA women's regionals, a couple of them here in Birmingham. So, you know, maybe that if, if Alabama's placed in there, you know, it gets to the regional, then it might be something worth seeing. Yeah, for sure. Um, yeah, that, uh, does it for us folks. Uh, thanks for your patience. Uh, this one, it already sounds better to me, so I don't think I'll have the problems.

[00:58:08] I did. Yeah. Go to editing. Uh, as always, uh, thank you for listening. Give us subscriptions and likes and ratings. Tell your friends about us. Tell your rich friends about us. And tell any business owners, or if you're a business owner yourself, uh, hey, we love our sponsorship. Holler at us. Uh, you can find us on social media. You can email the Alabama take at gmail.com. Uh, you know, we like doing this. And so, uh, you know, give us some money to do it. We'll do it even better. Uh,

[00:58:39] uh, keep it done up real good yourselves out there, folks. Uh, happy Mardi Gras to those that celebrate. Uh, we will see you on the other side of it. Uh, Greg, buddy, until next time. Yes, sir. Bye.