CFP Semifinal Storylines, NFL Wild Card Weekend, MBB Looks Ahead to Alabama

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Good Thursday afternoon to you. Glad to have you with
us this afternoon of everything's going well for you. Welcome
to the program here on Sports Radio AM thirteen under
the Zone, where you can always, always always listen to
us for absolutely free of charge free ninety nine.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
However you want to describe it, we welcome to the program.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
My name is Craig White, Thanks so much for joining
us this afternoon. We're with you each and every weekday afternoon,
Monday through Friday from two pm to five pm. We
of course include the producer of the program, Jay Carman,
who is alongside as well.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
How's your day going?

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Pretty good? Yeah? All right, with the risk of sounding
like Larry David, pretty pretty good.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah, As I promised you. Last night, Linda and I
watched part four the American Revolution. We're still playing catch
up on everything, so we're through four parts down, two
parts to go on it. We were both like interested
in watching part five, were too tired and got to
go to Back Cup for it.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
What's happening right now where you are?

Speaker 1 (01:24):
The poor Patriots are about to go to Valley Forge
for that brutal winner of seventeen seventy seven seventeen seventy eight,
Washington just got his butt kicked again by the British,
both at Germantown and Brandywine, and the Brits have just
kind of marched unopposed into Philadelphia and taken the capitol. However, however,

(01:44):
the Americans, the Continental Force is under General Gates, shockingly
in a big upset, knocked off Gentleman John Burgoyne and
the British at Saratoga, a battle that would change the
outcome of the war because it brought France into the conflict.
At that point, Benjamin Franklin was able to go to

(02:05):
King Louis the sixteenth and say, hey, look got a
win for you. Here, here's a win. You know, do
you have faith in us? He said, yeah, I go ahead,
write in a check. Let's go. So that helps to
change the context of the war. So that's where it
is right now.

Speaker 4 (02:18):
Makes you feel happy to walk outside today? Seventy degrees, Yes, absolutely, absolutely,
I'm all for that. I mentioned this that my wife
and I have slightly different opinions on how we think
the weather should be like in January, and I said,
she likes it cooler like the forties and fifties. And
I told her that, and she said, not forties and fifties,

(02:41):
fifties and sixties. I like get in the fifties and
sixties there on.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
That, I said, okay, all right, I like it in
the seventies and eighties, or the sixties and seventies. Put
it that way. I like it in the mid seventies,
that sort of thing. So the average temperature this time
of year, I think is like sixties seventy degree or
something like that. So that's not bad. So it's okay,
It's okay for right now. Tomorrow I'll be leaving with

(03:08):
the long worn men's basketball team to go to Tuscaloose, Alabama.
They played the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday. Toward that end,
coming up to three o'clock hour, Chris Stewart, played by
play voice of the Crimson Tide, will join us.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
We'll talk about basketball. They lost last night Vanderbilt.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Vanderbilt's off to its best start since I think nineteen
eighty seven.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yeah, weird game last night.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, yeah, So we'll get his thoughts on that.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
So, yeah, they lost last night, but they're still a
really good team and rank thirteenth in the country. So
that is Saturday night when Texas will play at Coleman
Coliseum in Tuscaloosa against Alabama, and then I'm going to
hop in the car and drive straight from there to
Baton Rouge late Saturday night drive because Texas women have
a showdown matchup on Sunday afternoon with Kim Mulkey's LSU

(03:57):
Tigers at the Marrivige Assembly Center. That said, prior to that,
Texas women have a game tonight. They'll be in action
against Auburn, and coming up in a few minutes, we'll
hear from Vic Schaeffer, the Texas women's head coach, on
the progress of his team and this matchup with Auburn

(04:17):
and all of those things we'll hear from that. We're
else You're going to take a closer look at this
weekend's wild Card weekend in the NFL playoffs, Chargers Patriots
in the AFC, alongside the Texans and the Steelers and

(04:40):
the Jaguars and Bills and the AFC and the NFC,
you have the Bears and the Packers, the Eagles and
forty nine Ers in the Rams and the Panthers. Dever
gets to buy in the AFC, Seattle gets to buy
in the NFC. So we'll take a closer look at
those NFL wild Card weekend matchups coming up. However, tonight,

(05:00):
Final four gets underway in college football, and the first
of the two is tonight. It's the Verbo Fiesta Bowl
and it's ole Miss against Miami. And even though Old
Miss was the higher seed, even though ole Miss has

(05:23):
a better record, even though ole Miss has played in
a tougher conference from top to bottom, the SEC compared
to the a SEC, most of the betting knowledge seems
to be that Miami's going to win this game. I
think whether right now a three point favorite with an
over under a fifty two and a half on that.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
See but that that surprises me a little bit. Why
is that?

Speaker 4 (05:49):
Because I think in a high scoring game, I like
ole Miss, and fifty two feels high. It doesn't feel
like Miami's winning by three. If there's fifty two total points, Well, let.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
Me say, if it's twenty seven to twenty four, fifty
one points, there, you think ole Miss wins.

Speaker 4 (06:01):
If it's that, I think if it turns into that,
I like ole Miss, but Miami you can't ignore what
they've done on the defensive side of the ball these.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
Last month and a half or so.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
Which would fly in the face of a betting line
that says the over under is fifty two and a half.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
Well, Ole Miss has scored thirty plus basically the entire season.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
Right, So basically what the fellas in the desert are
telling us is that they think Miami can win a
high scoring game.

Speaker 4 (06:31):
I guess yeah, And that flies against what I what
my kind of read on it would be. But look,
something has to give, right these outstanding pass rushers for Miami,
this new found running game with Mark Fletcher against Trinidad
Chambliss and the Old Miss Rebels who have basically been
stopped for one quarter of the last two and a

(06:52):
half months. And that was by George's defense.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
It happens, yeah, yeah, So that's why he said, when
something's got to give, it's like, okay, what give is it?
The defense is caving in? And if they cave in,
wouldn't that favor Ole Miss? So why is Miami favored?

Speaker 5 (07:08):
Sir?

Speaker 2 (07:10):
All that does is it tells me that's how close
it is.

Speaker 4 (07:14):
I think, Well, you also have an Old Miss coaching
staff that's working two jobs, probably sleeping less than you
will on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, some of that.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
Yeah, you're right, and that whole dynamic has been very strange,
been very weird. That you know, Charlie Wise Junior is
going to be the OC in that, but certain members
of the coaching staff have already gone to work for
Lane Kiffin and LSU. Others are being allowed to coach
as long as if ole Miss wins this game to night,

(07:44):
Lane Kiffn's head might explode. I mean, first of all,
you said, well, doesn't he benefit from that? Does he
gets two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for every win
that LSU has to write him a two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars check for each round of the playoffs
that ole Miss advances.

Speaker 4 (08:04):
And yet if they advance, the transfer portal will close
up before the national championship.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
That's exactly right, what a mess, and before he has
his entire coaching staff in the fold. That's why I
said his head might explode. Speaking of heads, that that
might explode. I don't know if this is the case,
but I finally started to figure out a little more.
I think about Kurt Signetti, the coach at Indiana. I

(08:31):
was trying to figure out this guy because he did
an all world job at James Madison, and he's even
top that with what he has done at Indiana, And
they're two wins away from the school's first ever national title.
They won the Rose Bolts the first time. I uh,
and I picked him at the start of the playoffs.

(08:53):
I thought Indiana theres the one seed, and it's and
sometimes it doesn't take much guts to pick the one seed,
except they were the one seed. It's like, really, can
you prove it to us? You know, if you're going
to face one of these better teams, they're playing a
team they've already beaten on the road by ten points
earlier this year, this year, and I think they'll handle
their business again tomorrow night in the Chick fil A

(09:14):
Peach Bowl, and then we'll see what happens in the
national championship.

Speaker 4 (09:18):
Remember, Oregon only scored one offensive touchdown against Indiana the
first time, and it was it was a one chunk
play to Malie Benson in the first quarter.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, so if if Indiana's on its game, I think,
you know, I think they'll they'll complete.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
Their destiny and win.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
The point that I was driving at about this about
signety is throughout his time in Indiana last year and
this year throughout his time, have you seen him smile much.

Speaker 4 (09:51):
I've seen him scowl exactly. I've seen him pout exactly.
I've seen him look inquisitive.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
Now he did get happy. I saw him happy on
the stage of the rose Ball when they won and
he did that who's your chant thing and stuff like that.
But by and large, when when you see interviews with him,
he's kind of grumbly. And I've and I sat there
and I thought about it, and I thought about it,
and I thought about it.

Speaker 3 (10:18):
And what you have something in there it SoundBite with
him talking about this. I want to hear what you
thought about it first.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
Okay, well, no play the sound bite because then I'm
going to tell you what the conclusion I came to.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
This is signetti.

Speaker 4 (10:28):
He was asked about this is asked the former player
said that Kurt was never satisfied and never happy.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
Here's his response.

Speaker 5 (10:35):
No, that's not right. I mean there's a lot of
times I am happy. I just don't show I'm happy.
And if I'm going to ask my players right to
play the first game, first play to play one point
fifty the same regardless of the competitive circumstances. Then I
can't be seen on the sideline right, high fiving people

(10:55):
and celebrating or.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
What's going to happen?

Speaker 3 (10:58):
Right, what's the effect going to be? Right?

Speaker 5 (11:02):
So that's why I am like I am during a game. Plus,
I gotta make important decisions to manage a game. These
decisions we have to make in terms of games man
game management, when to use timeout, when not to use
time out.

Speaker 6 (11:14):
Whether to be aggressive in two minutes?

Speaker 5 (11:16):
Right, I had to use a timeout on defense that
I called against Alabama on fourth and one, right, and
end up being a pretty.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
Big secret, you know.

Speaker 5 (11:25):
So, uh, you got to be dialed in and thinking ahead.

Speaker 1 (11:30):
Okay, I get all that. It's it's the away from
the actual field of combat in the moment type of
thing that people are wanting to know. We never see
you smile. You're always scaling and all this kind of stuff.
And it finally hit me and this is about as
high compliment as you can pay a person. He's Nick Saban,

(11:52):
remember El Saban, Very very difficult to get Nick Saban
to smile, very very difficult to do that. And he
bark at the media and he'd grumble and all that
other kind of stuff. It was a formula that worked
for him. And I guess Signetty, I don't know if
he's always been like that, if he was like that
at James Madison, but you know, he's it's interesting to

(12:17):
hear him talk about it, about his demeanor, and Nick
Saban did the same thing. I'll never forget. I'll never
forget what Nick Saban said one time when they asked him,
when you win a national championship, and all the ones
he's won, how long do you.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
Allow yourself to enjoy it?

Speaker 1 (12:37):
And most coaches, when when they were asked that would
say a week or you know, some of even said
a month or you know, a few days or whatever.
And then he get back where he said about forty
five minutes. Unbelievable forty five minutes. He went on to
talk about the success flu that the whole thing about people,
you know, breathing in their their their success too much.

(13:01):
And then then you know, and I understand that part
of it, but at the time that he said that,
I thought he's truly a miserable person. Not miserable necessarily
to those around him, although there could be some of that,
but just miserable inside. If you can't allow yourself the
opportunity to and enjoy what you have worked basically since

(13:24):
the end of the last year all the way to
this moment for and you accomplish it, and you give
yourself forty five minutes. I thought, that's that's an unhappy
way to go through life, is the way I looked
at it now. I remember I remember mentioning this on
the air, so those on the text line and wanted
to comment on it, that's fine, that's cool, But I'm

(13:44):
maybe killing your thunder here or what I'm about to say,
because a lot of people would text in or say, well,
that's how he wins, that's why he's as successful as is,
because he's driven and I and I believe that. And
and let me also say this too. Having covered the
Cowboys during their glory years in the nineties, Yes, when
Jerry Jones actually owned a team that was winning Super

(14:05):
Bowls because he had a head coach and general manager
who handled it, Jimmy Johnson. Jimmy was very similarly built.
You see him smiling then laughing when they won the
Super Bowl, and I'll never forget after they won the
one in ninety two, he held a private party at
the Dallas Aquarium rented out the Dallas Aquarium. I got

(14:27):
invited to it as a host of he showed.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
I went to it.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
Jimmy actually jumped in the tank with a snorkel and
a mask on and their sharks.

Speaker 3 (14:37):
In the tank for Survivor.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, he jumped in the tank and went around and
so we enjoyed him. So but that was just like
about within a week or two at the end of
the season. After that he was all business. But he
did allow himself probably a week or two to enjoy it.
Here's Nick Saban talking about forty five minutes. Forty five
minutes and then you go back to being he said it,
go back to being miserable again, or go back to
being unhappy and grumblin and think about what am I

(15:01):
gonna do about this when there's time for all of that.

Speaker 4 (15:05):
Here you have four Saban disciples in the final four
and maybe Signetty, like you're pointing out, is the most
Saban of them.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
All could be? Could be we'll see. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (15:17):
And again I do not begrudge anybody who is driven
that way to succeed, and that's a big part of
the success and all that I congratulate you on that.
I don't know that I could live and exist in
that world if I couldn't exhale for more than forty
five minutes. And understand that life also includes failure. You

(15:40):
don't want to, but it includes it includes being able
to enjoy the walk, enjoy the journey. If you're miserable
every step of the way on the journey, and then
the journey starts up again forty five minutes after you
got to the end of it.

Speaker 3 (15:55):
That's just me, that's my deal. But I understand, I understand.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
And when I heard Kurt Signetti say that that, I thought, okay, yeah,
he's a Saban disciple, so kinda is like that, all right,
coming up, we're gonna hear from Nick Saban And no
we're not.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
We're gonna hear.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
All right, so quit asking, yeah right right, No, we're
gonna hear from Vic Schaeffer.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
Uh. And he can he can.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
Be pretty grumbly and miserably during the year, but he
knows how to let it go at the end of
the year and enjoy life for a little bit. So
and that's that's good. He even did that during Christmas
when he went out and got into Uh during Christmas
break he got in some fishing and some money and
all of.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
That stuff on in the in the Nutcracker too. Uh
was vig in it?

Speaker 2 (16:42):
I know that Mike White was in.

Speaker 3 (16:44):
It, so I think he was scheduled too. I'll get
back to you on that.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
Okay, all right, that'd be interesting. All right, we're gonna
we're gonna do that. We do have inconceivable this hour,
Christeward and Alabama play by play voice next hour as well.
Here on a Thursday. It Sportradio AM thirteen under the
out the jump ash on, the driver rolls it back
to the right side, spins, turns, there's around a lot

(17:08):
of more stores, and its fall.

Speaker 7 (17:14):
It's the Craig Way Show with the voice of the
Texas Longhorts and Hall of Fame Broadcasting Craig wa you
have to learn.

Speaker 3 (17:24):
To pace to sell.

Speaker 8 (17:29):
You're just like everybody else PRSSIA.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
You all to run.

Speaker 4 (17:38):
So far, so good, but you will come to place
with the only thing loaded guns and yellow days.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
And I mentioned yesterday it was good that Billy Joel
was back in public and actually performed kind of by accident,
really was. His daughters took him to see a Billy
Joel Tribute band and he ended up.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
He got requests to get up on stage.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
He did.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
He got up there and he sang we didn't start
the fire and he sang a big shot.

Speaker 3 (18:15):
So that was good.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
He's feeling much better. We thank you for joining us.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
We open up the text line as always to your questions,
your thoughts, your comments. All you have to do is
text the word Texas follow by your questioner comment to
eight one five three zero. So you text the word
Texas followed by your question or comment to eight one
five three zero. Standard messaging and data rates may apply.
Or man Seepal said, the average temperature keeps going up.
I remember ninety degrees in December a few years ago.

(18:41):
I don't think I was here for that. It was yeah,
I got he got pretty warm. It was pretty warm
this December got up in the eighties back in December,
so yeah, it gets it gets pretty warm. Somebody else said,
speaking of heads exploding, Texas fans were extremely disappointed by
the amount of penalties this team of master thout the season,

(19:02):
Texas the second most penal lifed team in the country,
clearly indication of a highly undisciplined team.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
This is a reflection here we go again, reflection of a.

Speaker 1 (19:11):
Coach who's too busy immersed in the play calling than
to do the job that he's paid millions to do,
which is to be a head coach. He's not paid
millions to be a play caller, the head coach that calls. Please,
what's the hard about that? It's all right, man, you've
restored my faith in you. I hadn't heard from yet.
You bet there. He is paid millions to be a

(19:32):
play caller. You're wrong about that. He's paid.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
That's why they hired him.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
A big part of the reason why they hired him,
and I know you don't want to accept that, but
it is a big part of it. That's a big
part of why they hired him was because of the
play calling. He was not hired to then go hire
a play caller. That's where the misunderstanding comes in. Now,
having said all that, I completely agree with you about
the penalty.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
It's ridiculous. And Sarka said the same thing as well.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
When you have position coaches who are responsible for making
sure that their guys are uh, you know, handling their business,
and they don't, then there's accountability and that happened. I'm
sure you notice that a lot of those penalties were
on the defensive side. He made changes on the defensive side. Uh,

(20:19):
with with coaching staff as well. It's an unacceptable number.
And uh, but to lay everything the feet of the
head coach because we know you don't like him. You've
made that abundantly clear. Uh. But uh, you know, if
you want to, if you want to pile up the numbers,

(20:40):
you can also pile up the number that in the
last three years they are, uh, thirty five and six
in the last three years, thirty five and six. So
you know you have to you have to measure all
the returns in with that. But I totally agree with

(21:01):
you that the team was penalized way too much and
a lot of that's just a discmoint. And Sarka was
asked about it a lot during the year and said,
what's the deal with the penalties? And he said, you
got to we go through this and tell them and
drill them and all this sort of things, and you've
got to be able to play penalty free. To their credit,
and I think you should probably do this as well.

(21:22):
To their credit, they were able to overcome a lot
of them during the course of here especially and that
cit tris bold. They overcame a lot of them, so
that that was important as well. Somebody else said, hey,
I just want to say, it's great to have coach
Boom back. It's Will Muschamp looking forward to next year.
And then we had somebody else and my dad passed
in two thousand and five. We were watching Texas versus
Oklahoma State. I said that Eddie Sutton is grumpy. He

(21:46):
commented to something was like that. In the seventies when
he was coaching Arkansas he was, and when he coached
h before that a great and when he coached after
that in Kentucky, you know, talked to him about it
and never had a ball club that had troubled defending
the post.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
The way my team does.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
I remember him talking about all that kind of stuff,
speaking of coaches who can be a little bit grumpy.
Let's you're from the head coach of the Texas women's team,
and that would be Vic Schaeffer. And in talking about
his team, he was asked for his reaction about Shay Ralph,
the Vanderbilt coach. They're run defeated by the way, and

(22:23):
ask for his reaction on her comments about the SEC
being the toughest conference in America.

Speaker 6 (22:29):
I agree.

Speaker 7 (22:30):
Our conference is just it's an absolute nightmare. I mean,
it's a miserable way to live, y'all. There's no other
way to put it. It's just you can find a
whole lot of things better to you know, easier to
do than live in this league two months out of
the year. It is just a miserable way to live.

(22:51):
But it's what we you know, sign up for. It's
it's it's it's what we do, it's who we are.
And and so you and you embrace the challenge.

Speaker 6 (23:01):
But I wouldn't.

Speaker 7 (23:03):
I would absolutely agree with her. And here's the thing, y'all.
You can play four or five teams, six teams during
the season that are good, and then when you got
twenty five others that don't really challenge you. That that's

(23:26):
not what we go through in the SEC. And so
the health of your players becomes involved to wear and
tear mentally as well as physically. When y' all you're
doing is playing six or seven teams throughout the course
of a thirty game schedule that are decent, that's that

(23:48):
doesn't tax your team like playing in this league.

Speaker 6 (23:52):
For two months.

Speaker 7 (23:53):
Back to back to back, and then oh, by the way,
we're gonna we're gonna go schedule, like who we scheduled,
Who's South Carolina schedules? We all play in an sec
ACC Challenge game. So that's the difference. That's what I
would say about scheduling is that it's it's really being

(24:16):
in this league for sixteen rivalry games every Sunday and
Thursday in January and February. That will wear your kids
out if you're not careful. And so, you know, I
would agree with her. It is a monster, monster league,
great players, great coaches, Hall of fame coaches, got future

(24:39):
WNBA players.

Speaker 6 (24:40):
I mean, it's it's what tripa a baseball is.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
To the major leagues. Really, that's interesting. It's a good
way to put it there. The Lowrens had several key
turnovers that help Ole Miss hang around in the game
last Sunday, and so Vic says, how do you correct that?

Speaker 7 (24:58):
Yeah, I mean we've imparted it to him for two days.
You got to take care of the ball. You turn
that ball over out on the perimeter against this group,
there is nothing you can do about it. It'll be
a layup and and so we've you know, we've talked
about that, and then we've talked about just you know,
certain people have the responsibility of getting back and we

(25:18):
really had a problem with that the other day with Mississippi,
and so we we we've talked about that as well.
But you've got to take care of the ball at
the end of the day. You got to take care
of the ball. You got to make shots. If they're
taking the ball out of the net, that takes care
of your transition issues.

Speaker 6 (25:38):
But if you're.

Speaker 7 (25:40):
Taking long shots with long rebounds, or you're giving them
the ball and turning it over, that is a problem.

Speaker 1 (25:47):
Okay, we'll hear some more from Vick Schaeffer coming up
just past the top of the hour. Hear him talk
about Ashton, Johnny, and we're gonna hear from Ashton coming
up in the three o'clock hour as well. Coming up
next inconceivable here.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
Uh, as we.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
Get toward the top of the hour here you mentioned
other long worn football players entered the transfer portal.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
Jamie French. Yeah, the freshman receiver. Yep. Uh.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
He got on the field in the game against Michigan
and the Citrus Bowl, but he is in the portal
somebody on the text line said, why are so many
football players leaving UT? Conflict with sart can't pay them,
UT doesn't want them there. Culture isn't as good as advertised.

(26:32):
I don't know who's doing the advertising on that. I
know that the guys who have been a part of
it all along talk about whatever the culture is is fine,
it's it's good, that's not. But the other your your
other questions carry validity conflict with Sart. Uh maybe maybe

(26:54):
only in that a player and I think Jamie French
might be an example of this, a player who thinks
he should have more playing time, and for whatever reason,
the coaching staff has decided, probably through what hasn't been
merited on the practice field, that it wasn't deserved for forthcoming.
A lot of players entered the portal based on that

(27:17):
an opportunity to go somewhere else. And I would say
that I wouldn't say that there's a huge financial market
for Jamie Fringe in terms of what a school in
a bidding war. So that to your second part about
can't pay them, can't or won't because there are some
players who I think it's pretty well known by now

(27:41):
that in the case of Parker Livingston was a deal
where he went to the university with a number, they
agreed on the number, and then he visited Oklahoma and
they offered a higher number, and he went back to
Texas and they said, nope, we're budget for that. We
agreed on the number, and so then he ultimately decided

(28:05):
to leave whatever that number is. And I know some
said eight hundred thousand. Whatever the number is, so it
gets there. And we heard Sark talk about this about it.
I thought it was a great sound bite at the
press conference the day before the Citrus Bowl when he
talked about agents and sometimes it's not really a certified

(28:26):
there's no certification process with guys who are representing student athletes.
And he said it could be a guy who was
his roommate as a freshman in college and then coming
back and say, hey, I can represent you.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
And there seems to be.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
A pervasive belief in philosophy that a lot of the
representation is along the lines of just get yourself into
the portal. We'll get you, we'll get you a better deal,
or worst case scenario, you can always come back to
the school or whatever, or just get yourself in the portal.

(29:01):
For now, take advantage of that opportunity to get the portal,
and we can come up with a deal for you.
And I think that was probably part of it as well.
So that goes into your third thing when you say
UT doesn't want them there. If they've been there and
in the program, unless they have really been uncoachable or
had a lot of problems off the field, then the

(29:22):
UT doesn't want them. Their thing would not apply, but
it does fold in to what you ask with regard
to the finances, and they've got to they've got to
balance that, they've got to manage manage the amount of
money that they can spend. But they made some strides
already and I think there'll be more to come. Remember,

(29:44):
and again going back to what we were saying earlier
about heads exploding, hopefully your head doesn't explode.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Since it's only a.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
Number seven of the portal, there's nine more days of
portal opening to go through, which, by the way, doesn't
mean that there can't be deals done. It could be
done beyond that, but you've gotten until the sixteen to
get in the portal.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
Some deals done now we'll tell you about in a minute.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
Yeah, coming up, I'm thirteen Under the Zone. Second hour
of the program here on Sports Radio AM thirteen under
the Zone, Craig Way alongside the producer Jay Carl Alabama

(30:32):
Princeton's Hide play by Playboys Christewart will join us coming
up in a few minutes to get his thoughts not
only on the tied basketball team, which is good even
though they got knocked off by undefeated Vanderbilt last night
on the road, but also we'll talk some football with
him as well. We were talking football going into the break.
With regard to the portal and those who have jumped

(30:57):
into the portal, some others have jumped in, and the
long run have also made some moves to bring some
guys in.

Speaker 3 (31:03):
They had defensive lineman Zion Williams from Lufkin has committed
to Texas and in addition to Jamie French who entered
the transfer portal earlier this afternoon, Xena a Moosulu, the
edge rusher has has joined him in the portal.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
Whereas Mark Jones apparently called him Omi a Zulu.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
Yeah, that happened a little trouble with Lee Uncle La
Fowl's name too, or Roddy Jones.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
I think I had a little trouble with Leonga's name.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
If you haven't been around him a lot and set
him all off a lot, it's it's hard to jump
right into trail. There was a replay on it when
I was in the hotel room in Knoxville the other
day and I come back in and I just happened
to turn on the TV and it was right there
in the fourth quarter and both their names came up.

Speaker 3 (31:52):
I'm like, yeah, sometimes those names can be a little
difficult on.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
Then let's let's hear from long Warn women's head coach
Vick Schaeffer and uh again, uh uh some some more
from uh. We'll hear from Ashton Judd as well. But
here's Vic talking about what is the play of his
bench say about the success of his team to this point.

Speaker 6 (32:19):
You're certainly probably correct.

Speaker 7 (32:21):
They can, they can start in some other places, but
they make the choice to be here playing for the
University of Texas in a top five program, and they
realized we're gonna have competition every day. I finally got
Taya Sidbery back today, and she just she lit up
the gym, She lit up the floor.

Speaker 6 (32:39):
She and I don't mean lit it up as in scoring.

Speaker 7 (32:42):
A lot she just lit it up in what she
brought to the table and how she impacted our team,
and we missed that. We've missed her and so it
was good to have her back out there. She's still
limited a little bit and as far as how much
I use, but get that kid back, it really will

(33:03):
make a big difference for us because your fore position
is such a critical position, and everybody in our league
has monster four players and so you've got to be
able to deal with them on offense, on defense, rebounding.
I mean, it's just the way it is, and you

(33:26):
can't be one dimensional. You can't be good against them
on this end, but no good on this end.

Speaker 6 (33:33):
And so.

Speaker 7 (33:35):
You know, again, it's great to have a good bench.
I'd like to get a Leah Crump back and that
make my bench even better.

Speaker 6 (33:44):
I think we'd feel really good about about that.

Speaker 7 (33:48):
But at the end of the day, again, I think
these kids know when they come here there's competition. Iron
sharpens iron, and that's what you're signing up for.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
He was also asked about the impact that Ashton Judd,
the transfer from Missouri, has made, even though she missed
the first part of the season with aneecap injury. But
now she's back, she's been able to score and he's
been kind of playing her at the four, but she's
better probably suited as the three. But he's asked about
Ashton Judd's impact.

Speaker 7 (34:17):
Ashton brings the confidence to the floor again, sees the floor, well,
can score the ball, can stretch your shoot the three.
But she's also really good posting and I think she's
probably our best back to the basket player, you know,
and she's not a five player, so you know, I

(34:38):
think again, as she gets to play in more and more,
you know, her and Taya both really will kind of
hopefully show their metal and show what they're capable of.
As you know, seniors. You know, Justice has had some
really big games for us and his rebound the what

(35:00):
ball well offensively, but I've got to get everybody, everybody
rebounding defensively. We we uh, you know we and offensively
like we're I was showing them today a team that man,
they just crush you.

Speaker 6 (35:16):
On offensive boards.

Speaker 7 (35:18):
And you know, I'm challenging our kids to do that,
to crush people on the offensive board. But there's video
clips I'm showing our kids. We might as well get
a popcorn and a coke, and you know, because we're
standing at the free throw line watching and I'm like, guys,
that's that, ain't it. Especially at your position, you're supposed
to be in there really rebounding. So you got a

(35:40):
Rory Harmon who's chomping at the bit to be turned
loose to go rebound.

Speaker 6 (35:45):
But when she's the point, I can't do that.

Speaker 7 (35:47):
But when Bray brees the point or Breeze on the floor,
I can let Rory go rebound. But then I got
to get bree to get back. She didn't get back
the other day against Mississippi, and it cost us a
couple of buckets.

Speaker 6 (35:58):
So just trying to get everybody fixed.

Speaker 7 (36:01):
Like I said, I feel like a plumber sometimes, you know,
I get certain things fixed and then they got another
leak somewhere.

Speaker 6 (36:09):
So just trying to get everybody fixed.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
That's kind of the way it goes with a team,
though it goes up and down. You mentioned Ashton, Judge.
Let's hear a little bit from Ashton. She was asked
where is she most comfortable positionally?

Speaker 9 (36:23):
You know, I think I've been moved around just throughout
my career, throughout different positions. I know, coming in as
a freshman, I started more at like a guard position,
and I've worked my way through the four. I've played
five when I was at Missoo, so I'm really comfortable
anywhere that Vic needs me to be.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
Okay, all right, So is she a typical four? How
does she describe her game?

Speaker 9 (36:45):
I wouldn't describe myself as a typical four because I
feel like I can stretch the floor for us and
able to extend it to the three point line. But
I also I do like to play in the paint
and around the room with my back to the basket,
So I don't know if I would describe myself as
a typical for but I like to play in different positions,
and like I said, I just I'm kind of here

(37:07):
to be whatever the team needs me to be and
wherever Vic wants me on the court.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
All right, So that begs the question about did it
take a while who adjust to her role at Texas
and playing more with a foot or two in the paint.

Speaker 9 (37:18):
I would say that it came pretty naturally. I played
with my back to the basket in high school. Obviously,
the physicality and just caliber of the SEC is very
different from high school basketball, but I wasn't out of
my comfort zone playing with my back to the basket,
so I was pretty familiar with that.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
All right, did it.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
There's a little bit of getting out of the comfort
zone defensively since coming off the knee injury.

Speaker 9 (37:44):
I would say, especially now coming off an injury, just
the quicker guards can be a little bit more challenging,
like I said, coming back from this my knee injury.

Speaker 3 (37:56):
But I'm working on it, so.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
Okay, all right, and then one more from her. It's
a little bit different world the last year with Missouri,
a team that struggled adjusting to being on a team
with a target on its back as a defending coach
champion to the conference, a team that went to the
final four, and a team that's undefeated and currently number
two in the country.

Speaker 9 (38:16):
Honestly, in that aspect of things, it's definitely different winning
as many games as we have opposed to just my
past experience. But I think the mentality has still been
the same underdog mentality or not. You know, we bring
the same intensity, the same competitive nature that you know
I would the past three years. So although we're very

(38:38):
successful in what we do, I think that you know,
the intensity, the mentality, all that stays the same.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
So all right, So there's Ashton Judd and she'll be
on the floor of the Texas Women tonight. It's a
seven o'clock tip off six forty five of the yeartime
year on the Zone as Texas takes on Auburn. Up next,
we talk about Alabama with the play by play voice
of the Crimson Ty Chris Stewart.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
When we continue on thirteen under the.

Speaker 8 (39:00):
Zone, Oh plenty some mountain music back Grandma, Grandpa that
I'll flow on down the river.

Speaker 1 (39:24):
Alright.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
I can see what the producer Jay Carman did here.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
Uh, you're rolling back with some Alabama right, that's right,
that's right.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
I listen.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
I can tell you from some local knowledge, having grown
up in the state of North Carolina, having vacation in
the Myrtle Beach area almost every year about for the
last fifty some odd years, that one of the landmarks
in the right on the ocean, a little club in
the downtown Myrtle Beach are the Bowery and that's where

(39:53):
Alabama got it start. There's a big, big monument about
it and all that kind of stuff. U. You say
that if only to transition welcoming our next guest. I
mentioned this a couple of times last year, in the
first year that Texas was in the SEC, that one
of the great things when people ask me about the

(40:13):
difference in the SEC and the Big Twelve, and I've
talked about the difference, I said, but one of the
great things is getting to know the fellow broadcasters in
the SEC. Now. I met Chris Stewart when he came
in with the Crimson Tide in the last year of
the Big Twelve for Texas.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
But we've got to know each other. It's always great
to visit with and I appreciate.

Speaker 1 (40:30):
You take the time, especially after a quick turnaround on
a late night game in Nashville last night.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
But thanks so much.

Speaker 6 (40:36):
How are you, buddy, I'm great. I'm tired. I'm not
going to kid you. Spent the night in Nashville last
night after we finished up the marathon for basketball.

Speaker 10 (40:49):
It was ridiculously long, but with eighty eight free throw
shot in that.

Speaker 6 (40:55):
Game between the two teams.

Speaker 10 (40:57):
But yeah, got up this morning, drove back, did Nate's
television show and early this afternoon and now just got
back home to Birmingham.

Speaker 6 (41:09):
So I'm good. I'm on fuse, but I'm good.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
Well, I appreciate you using your fumes for a few
minutes to join us. And we got in about two
forty five am after the trip to Knoxville when we
flew back and with that late night or that's always
a difficult thing. You brought up something I wanted to
ask you about, and that is the fouls combine sixty
three fouls in the game. Now, Coach Oates, to his credit,

(41:35):
he credited Vanderbilt and saying, now, our guys weren't ready
right out of the gate, and there were the turnovers
and things like that. But it's hard and even for
really good basketball teams to get into a productive rhythm
when the whistles are being blown that often. And I
know it's a physical league at everything, but that's kind
of difficult, isn't it.

Speaker 6 (41:53):
Well it is, And look, it wasn't one sided.

Speaker 10 (41:56):
I mean there were I think they shot twelve more
than Alabama, but when you're you know, we shot thirty eight,
they shot fifty. That's and we missed a bunch, so
you know, that wasn't the difference in the game.

Speaker 6 (42:10):
It was just it wasn't an entertaining game.

Speaker 10 (42:14):
It was the marquee game in the country, I think,
and you didn't. You know, we watched kids shoot free
throws the entire second half.

Speaker 6 (42:27):
But as Nate said, we filed too much.

Speaker 10 (42:29):
And you know, I think there I think there were
three teams on the floor that were responsible for all
the free throws and I'll just leave it at that.
But it was they all had they all had shared
responsibility in that.

Speaker 6 (42:43):
But no, this was a it was a game that
was was kind of ugly.

Speaker 10 (42:49):
Alabama new before tips they weren't going to have their
center available in Aiden Cherrell. He had suffered an injury
about ten minutes into the game against Kentucky and tried
to give it a go, but couldn't. You also had
weird deal the Baron Filon had eighteen points and we're

(43:13):
about four minutes into the second half and he starts
cramping up, which didn't make sense full bonding cramps. Couldn't
play in the second the rest of the second half,
and you know, we were by no means was Alabama
in control of that game. But he's one of the
best players in the league, and you don't have him available,

(43:34):
it puts more strain on everybody else and miss it
you know, and his presence.

Speaker 6 (43:40):
I'm not saying.

Speaker 10 (43:41):
Alabama wins with him, but I would have liked to
have taken our chances a whole lot better with him
on the floor. H That being said, Dy is really good.
Hadn't seen him, you know, start to finish in a
game yet until I.

Speaker 6 (43:57):
Saw him with my own eyes last night. They legits.

Speaker 10 (44:01):
They've done a heck of a job with that program,
and they're They're not the Vandy they've been the last
few years. They are a team that I think will
be very much involved in who wins the SEC championship
this year.

Speaker 3 (44:16):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
And by the way, Uh, my first time ever to
call a game at Memorial Gymnasium was last year.

Speaker 2 (44:23):
And from what I've been told.

Speaker 1 (44:25):
If you if you didn't think it was possible to
be more difficult to call a game from that broadcast position,
uh than it was last year.

Speaker 3 (44:34):
Uh, this year.

Speaker 1 (44:35):
Would top it because of what the the Mop boys,
the guys with the mops who they're they're also kind
of blocking your view.

Speaker 3 (44:41):
Now.

Speaker 10 (44:45):
There are challenges now across the league that we have
not faced in the past. And I will simply leave
it at that. It's not as if we're you know,
we're in coal mines trying to do real job, you know,
real war. But it is there is absolutely more of
a challenge in many ways in terms of the positions

(45:07):
that we now have around the league that that do
make it more challenging. But you know, again, uh, it's
our fault as announcers. We showed during COVID we can
literally call games from anywhere, and so they took us
up on it.

Speaker 3 (45:24):
Yeah, yeah, I give you.

Speaker 1 (45:25):
I give you the upper reaches in the back corner
of Alan Fieldhouse and Lawrence as an example of your point. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (45:32):
Yeah, it was a lot of that. Uh.

Speaker 1 (45:34):
No, we're yeah, so we're visiting with Chris Stewart Alabama
play by playboys.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
And by the way, I was quite amused.

Speaker 1 (45:41):
By a text on the text thread for SEC broadcast
this morning. Uh, by the inveterate engineer. You have the
dean of the engineers in the SEC, Tom Stipe of Alabama,
and I and and uh uh I'll put Tim Barry
of Tennessee in there as well to two guys who've
been around a lot and seen it off a lot.
Uh and uh and by the way, do you go

(46:03):
to Knoxville this year? Do you do you do you
have a game in Oxville this year?

Speaker 6 (46:09):
I know they come to us.

Speaker 10 (46:10):
I don't think we go there, but I'm this is
terrible that I'm trying to remember off.

Speaker 6 (46:16):
The top of my head.

Speaker 3 (46:17):
If we do, I'll tell.

Speaker 6 (46:20):
You what both.

Speaker 10 (46:22):
Yeah, I was about to do the same thing. I
think we play. I know we play them at home,
but I think we go there as well.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
Okay, so you're gonna have a pleasant surprise there. It's
second row right behind your bench, and the almost equidistance
between the bench and the scorers table, and obviously, uh
Tim and his crew do a good job with the
you know, obviously all the things we as broadcasters like
to have, the effects feed, the uh, the monitor, all
that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (46:47):
So you're gonna be happy there.

Speaker 1 (46:48):
I'll tell you the Yeah, I'm not surprised. Visiting with
Chris Stewer played by play voice with Alabama Crimson Tidyre
on thirteen under the Zero.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
Jake, you have a question for christ.

Speaker 4 (46:58):
Well, I know you, I know you guys want to
get to football at the moment, but just on the
fouls last night and the way that choppy game kind
of unfolded, do you feel like that's a common thread
the rare occasions over the last few years where nat
Oates has lost an SEC game where it gets to
be such a choppy pace because it goes against the
style that he really wants to play.

Speaker 10 (47:18):
Yeah, and look, there was part of why it got
where it did last night. In addition to Alabama fouling
too much on the defensive end of the floor, is
as you're trying to extend that game. Alabama is always
a layup or three point team. Lay up three points

(47:43):
for free throws. That's what Alabama wants. That's the objective
with their offense.

Speaker 6 (47:50):
Try to get to the rim.

Speaker 10 (47:52):
If you can't get to the rim, create opportunities beyond
the arc, and you know free throw line also the
option in the mits there. But one of the things
that that I you know, when Alabama understood how the
game was being called last night and you're trying to

(48:13):
you know, score with the clock stopped, Alabama was basically,
you know, tucking it under the arm and trying to.

Speaker 6 (48:20):
Get the first down.

Speaker 10 (48:21):
I think if we had run it as effective against
Indiana as we were basically running it in the last
ten minutes downhill against Vanderbilt, we.

Speaker 6 (48:32):
May have a game.

Speaker 10 (48:33):
We may have a game to play tomorrow night. No,
in all seriousness, I mean it was very aggressive. Take
it to the rim, be strong because they're going to
call everything, and Bamba was drawing a lot of fouls.

Speaker 6 (48:46):
And getting to the free throw line and it was effective.

Speaker 10 (48:48):
Unfortunately, we weren't able to get stops on the other
end of the floor.

Speaker 6 (48:52):
In Vandy was able to keep Alabama at arms length.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
You what you described about three pointers in layupship the
tied out of lot of those against Texas last year
in the game in Austin, uh In dealing with Alabama,
the long words obviously are going to be facing some
really talented guys. You talked about LeBaron Filon. I hope
hopefully he's better. I mean, did the full body cramping
finally go away?

Speaker 6 (49:17):
I you know, I think so. Uh.

Speaker 10 (49:21):
Frankly, when I got to the locker room area immediately
after the game to do the post game with Nate,
he was just you know, discussing that and we really
didn't get a chance to talk very much. And even
though we did his TV show today. You know, I
think everything's fine. It's not like it's a lingering, long

(49:41):
term deal. It's just, you know, it's something that he
you know, you're gonna do what you can to to
try to prevent it from happening again, obviously, but it was.
It was definitely an impact last night, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
And and I guess they'll we'll evaluate Aiden Cheryl cherrelle
On before the game on Saturday.

Speaker 10 (50:01):
Yeah, I think you know, he was dressed and they
wanted to try and give it a go for him. Uh,
he went through left and he didn't practice through the week,
but he was going to try to go during warm ups,
but he just didn't feel right. And so you know,
it's a long season and airing on the side of
caution and beauty, you want to make sure he's he's

(50:26):
really good to go and can play at his level
and the pace he needs to play, and that Alabama
needs him to play before he's back out there. So
hopefully that'll be the case on Saturday night when you
guys roll into town.

Speaker 1 (50:39):
Chris Stewart, Alabama play by play voice, joining us here
on thirteen hundred, The sent all right, yea, hey, listen
you I wasn't going to bring up Indiana. You brought
up Indiana, but hey, no, he.

Speaker 6 (50:48):
Brought up the Indiana. I wasn't going to bring up
Indiana either. He brought up India, right my therapist. My
therapist says, I shouldn't talk about it, but for you,
I will.

Speaker 3 (51:00):
Cleansing oneself.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
Listen, the way that I look at that is, and
I know it was a difficult loss, and we laugh
about this in re perspective, looking back at this season
for the tide, for the football program, getting not only
getting into the playoff, winning a road playoff game, and
then getting a chance to go to the Rose Bowl,

(51:24):
I think, I think those are important things despite and
I know there was the great disappointment not only in
the loss, but in the way the loss, I guess
unfolded is the way that a lot of hardcourt fans
look at things like that.

Speaker 10 (51:36):
I suppose I would agree. Weoll the expectation. You know
this because it's the same and awesome. The expectation is
to play for and win the national championship. That is considered.
You're not gonna make everybody happy unless you do that.
In Peck, I learned, even during the historic run from Saban,

(52:01):
you can't always even make people happy when that's taking place.

Speaker 6 (52:07):
So you know, but it's.

Speaker 10 (52:09):
Got to start with winning and winning the SEC and
fell short in that regard, and then to have it
finished the way it did was very disappointing. The reality
is this scene was picked eighth in the preseason nationally,
finished in the top eight by making the quarterfinal round.

(52:31):
So it's where they were projected to finish. If that's
almost anywhere else, then you say, Okay, yeah, it was
a successful year. I don't think it was an unsuccessful year.
But it's hard to call a season at Alabama truly
a success unless you got confetti falling on you at

(52:52):
some point during the year, and we didn't have that happen.
So they'll go back to work. Really, I don't just
like Dalen de Boor personally. I really believe in him
as a coach, and I think history is where it's
not just betting on upside. It's belief based on what

(53:14):
he's done throughout his career and a man that knows
how to win at multiple levels and is at a
place where historically we win as much as anyone. I
believe that that's going to work hand in hand. It's
not going to be overnight. It didn't happen overnight with
Nick Saban, but I do believe it's going to happen.

(53:36):
Patience is something that's needed but is never going to
be granted, and so you go and try to get
it done as quickly as possible, and hopefully the positives
that occurred this year will carry over into next season,
but with the pieces added to the puzzle that'll put

(53:57):
Alabama back in the National Championship a year from now.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
Chris, were you surprised in any way to see Ty
Simpson say he's ready to try his hand at the NFL.

Speaker 10 (54:11):
I couldn't say I was surprised because I had been
told it was going to go. It was it could
go either way, so I really wasn't surprised.

Speaker 6 (54:19):
I'm glad to hear it.

Speaker 10 (54:22):
Because I think this is a really good window of
time for him, especially with the number of quarterbacks that
are coming out. You know, next year, I think there
will be more. They'll be there, and you know how
it is when you have a good year, and he
had a really good one.

Speaker 6 (54:42):
Most of the time.

Speaker 10 (54:44):
You're graded on a tougher curve and the only when
you're at the top they start trying to touch you down.
And I'm not saying he reached the pinnacle this year
by any stretch, but he had a really good year
and I'm just I'm happy for him that he's getting
this opportunity to make the call himself. I think he's

(55:06):
going to have a chance to get his name called
pretty early among quarterbacks. I think he's going to have
a really nice professional career. But there are two guys
that were behind him at Alabama that are ready for
their term and ready to battle for playing time. I
don't know what that's going to look like, but I

(55:26):
know that in both Austin Mack, who transferred to Alabama
from Washington with Caitlin de Boor when he got the
job in Tuscaloosa, but also Kilan Russell, who was the
top rated.

Speaker 6 (55:38):
Quarterback a year ago, along with.

Speaker 10 (55:41):
One of the top rated it's not de top rated
running back in the nation, who's an Alabama kid coming
in for next year in the backfield. I'm excited to
see what that can look like. Offensively, Not that I'm
ready for Tie to move on, but it's a good
thing when you've got to run going like Alabama has.

Speaker 6 (56:03):
And you can think about this now, we haven't had.

Speaker 10 (56:05):
A quarterback taken high and really many quarterbacks. Trying to
make sure I get this one right. I think it
was between Richard Todd and Jalen Hurts. Wow, before Alabama

(56:25):
had a regular, everyday former quarterback for the Tide starting
in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (56:33):
Wow.

Speaker 10 (56:33):
And granted we've got we've got a few right now.
But while there had been a couple of guys who
had starts here and there in terms of an everyday
clearly QB one for an NFL franchise. It was from Yeah,
it was from Richard Todd, who had the stretch of

(56:53):
namous stabler Richard.

Speaker 6 (56:56):
Todd, and then we didn't have another one.

Speaker 10 (57:01):
Jail until Jalen Hurts. But now you've got another guy
that I think is going to go in and have.

Speaker 6 (57:06):
A chance to be a fairly high draft pick.

Speaker 10 (57:11):
And then two guys that are on campus now that
are going to be I think in a heck of
a battle this spring to see comes out as the
number one guy.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
Hey, you can even throw Scott Hunter in there right
after after Stable. I guess since he started with attackers
a little bit.

Speaker 6 (57:27):
Let let me, let me gets has Scott already called you?

Speaker 10 (57:32):
Because I know Scott Hunter, well, he probably Scott I apologize.

Speaker 6 (57:38):
I apologize profusely. Yes, Scott was.

Speaker 10 (57:43):
Scott was a really good when his His misfortune was
that Alabama when he was when he was quarterback at Alabama,
and then when he was.

Speaker 6 (57:51):
The starter for the Packers, they were not as good
as they had been before his arrival. So yeah, that's
that's a good point.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
Well, the other the other thing I was gonna ask,
and you started to hit on it. Uh. I called
two of Keeland Russell's state championship games for television when
he's playing at Duncanville, so I know very well about
his his talent level as well. So I was going
to ask you, and you kind of answered a little
bit here on January eighth. Do you have a gut
feeling about where that's going to go? Or is this
thing going to go all the way to the wire

(58:22):
in terms of who's gonna, you know, wind up being
the quarterback next fall.

Speaker 6 (58:28):
You know, Austin was ahead of him just on the
depth chart this year, but when they when they did
get playing time, they.

Speaker 10 (58:37):
Pretty much split it. So that tells me that it's
very even you you've seen it. You know better than
I just how electric Keeland is.

Speaker 6 (58:49):
Let me tell you. Austin is really really talented as well.

Speaker 10 (58:53):
Big kid, you know, runs really effectively, but just a
really nice touch on the football, but also a really
strong arm. I think Alabama is in really good shape.
But here's the reason. And again this is in no

(59:13):
way an indictment at all of time, because he was terrific,
But I want to see in his offense in this
coming year, assuming it's one of those two guys that
we've talked about, it'll be the first time in three
years that Calen de Borr has had a kid that

(59:33):
he recruited, signed and has developed that will be at
the quarterback slot. Now, granted, he coached I sent in
the last two years and he wouldn't have been the
starter if he didn't believe in him, and we saw
from the results that he was worthy of that opportunity.
But I'm just talking about truly fitting the system at

(59:57):
a high level with some experience under both of their
belts in Tuscaloosa. I'm really looking forward to seeing either
Austin mack or Keel and Russell or the combination of
the two as we go into next year.

Speaker 3 (01:00:10):
Well, I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
I'm looking forward to seeing you on Saturday, if I'll
be there sooner than later, if I don't tarry too
long at Dreamland, but I'll try to go there for
early lunch.

Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
Anyway, good pack.

Speaker 6 (01:00:23):
Don't wear the white shirt. That's all I'm telling you.
Don't wear the white shirt. You're a rookie.

Speaker 3 (01:00:28):
If you do, that's great.

Speaker 1 (01:00:30):
Hey, I appreciate it. Chris, thanks so much for the time.
I look forward to seeing you there on Saturday, having.

Speaker 6 (01:00:38):
Been on and excited to have you come me to
touch sal loose about it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:42):
Thank you, sir.

Speaker 1 (01:00:43):
All right, that's Chris, take care, play by play Voice
of the Alabama Crimson Tide. All right, we have more
coming up. Stay right here with us on Sports Radio
AM thirteen under the Zone and where you always listen
to us for free on the iHeartRadio app L Long Highway.

Speaker 3 (01:00:59):
Our. Thanks again.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
Who Chris Stewart, play by play Voice of the Alabama
Crimson Tide joining us there. And I've forgotten there's two
quarterbacks there, Austin Mack and then the Keeland Russell, who
I said i'd mentioned to Duncanville seeing him play a
Duncanville in the state championship round. So Alabama's got a quarterback,
if not controversy question to deal with.

Speaker 4 (01:01:22):
Yeah, it's so funny because I think a lot of
Alabama fans are so used to following these high profile recruits,
right that come on campus and develop under Nick Saban.

Speaker 3 (01:01:32):
That's just not what the sport is anymore.

Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
No, and Torda is if on cue you didn't know
I was going to hear next, but here I am
to talk about it. I know you're familiar with this,
this wild and crazy thing going on with with Demond Williams,
the Washington quarterback University Washington quarterback. Yep, he's been dropped
by his agent, Doug Hendrickson, in the wake of williams

(01:01:55):
announcement that he's going to enter the portal that the
agent posted today on social media, made the decision to
end my representation of Demand Williams Junior, effective immediately, due
to philosophical differences. Demand is an incredible talent. We wish
him in his family the best in their future endeavors.
Because this goes back to him announcing on Tuesday he

(01:02:17):
was going to enter the portal, just days after he
signed a four million dollar contract to return to Washington
for twenty twenty six. It would have been right near
the top of the market, and this is a weird deal.
His agent also represents Jet Fish, the head coach. Conflict
of interest much well, and that's why he got out

(01:02:40):
of it at that point because sources had told Pete
Temblo of the ESPN that Washington is prepared to pursue
all legal avenues to enforce William's contract, and according to
details of the contract, Washington is not obligated to enter
him into the portal or quote otherwise assist or facilitate

(01:03:02):
the student athletes transferred to another college or university.

Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
So s drawing the attention to the Big Ten.

Speaker 1 (01:03:11):
Remember the transfer from Xavier Lucas going from Wisconsin to
Miami last year and they supported the Badgers trying to
enforce him to return. So here's Williams who completed nearly
seventy percent of his passes last year for this past
season for over three thousand yards, and it's kind of
made him the unpopular you know, in the football world

(01:03:32):
in terms of the factor as a guy agreed to
a four million dollar deal and has now said, yeah,
I'm gonna go ahead and go in the portal. So
it makes you wonder wouldn't you have kind of fleshed
that out in advance.

Speaker 4 (01:03:46):
Well, and there's a lot of a lot of cya
going on from both sides, because no football coach or
program wants the reputation of, you know, putting a former
player on blast because they go into the portal at
the same time, Right, you have to act quickly to
get somebody else in there. Well, yeah, and you don't

(01:04:07):
want to be on the hook for four million dollars
that could go to six different players.

Speaker 1 (01:04:10):
Yep, right exactly. But if he's going to leave, you're
not on the hook for the four million anymore. But
you're scrambling for a quarterback now. And I think that's
what's got Washington really upside. We wonder how Jetfish feels
about this. I mean, the agent representing both and now
and now the kid says he's going into the portal

(01:04:31):
and the agent says, I'm out of it then, so
clearly he feels the same way about it. I think
that Fish does as well, that this has got to
be you know, this, this is going to be resolved,
So we're.

Speaker 3 (01:04:45):
Going to see it's gonna go down the legal road.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
This is just the latest weird example of what's happening
in real time these days in the portal world of
collegiate athletics. All right, we'll be back to wrap up
our number two of the program right here on and

(01:05:07):
third and foul hour of the program.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
Me say that again.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
Third and final hours. Easy for you to say, run, final,
run A difficult word. Third and final hour of the
program to Sathurdoon here on Sports Radio AM thirteen under
the Zone, Craig Wade joined by the producer Jay Carman.
Glad to have you with us as well. And we
haven't had a chance to dive very much into the

(01:05:34):
NFL playoff scene this week between being out of them
being back in, but we'll take a look at the
wild card weekend coming up in the NFL here momentarily.
Also later this hour, more from Vick Schaeffer, the Texas
women's head coach.

Speaker 3 (01:05:51):
If you watch what's going on in the SEC.

Speaker 1 (01:05:56):
On the men's side, there are a good team, but
it does seem to be more up for grabs, a
little more balanced. The women's side seems to be a
little more of a third world country where you have
the teams that are really really good and then some
teams that are not good at all, and there's not
an awful lot in between. But we'll get to that

(01:06:16):
coming up in a few moments. Also, we've got a
couple other topics to get to. This is, after all,
a night of college football playoffs semifinals there with the
Verbo Fiesta Bowl with Ole Miss and Miami. But let
me jump and start off in the NFL wild Card weekend. Okay,
so first things first, we will kind of do the

(01:06:37):
word association almost. I just call out the matchup. You
tell me, Jake what immediately comes to mind, whether it's
who wins, who loses, this that whatever, all of that stuff,
or just or just the overriding thought that comes to
your mind. Let's start AFC Chargers Patriots.

Speaker 3 (01:06:56):
Hmm, that this will be prove it? Prove it Pats?

Speaker 6 (01:06:59):
Right?

Speaker 4 (01:07:00):
Can New England see their season which consisted of hyper efficient,
very exciting performances on offense. Does that translate against a
playoff caliber team and the Chargers, who I think have
answered a lot of questions about can they survive without
the offensive line?

Speaker 1 (01:07:18):
Yeah, you know, I don't know how much you heard this,
but I think you probably have, because I think everybody's
heard a bit about with regard to the Patriots, they've
been really really consistent throughout the course of the season.
They drew the number two seed, went into the final
weekend with a chance to be the number one seed.

Speaker 2 (01:07:36):
They draw the two seed.

Speaker 1 (01:07:40):
But in equal measure mentioned with that is their strength
of schedule and the teams they played in the lack
of heavyweight strength of schedule for the Patriots. And so
when you first said prove it to me, that's what
I thought you were referring to, because a lot of
people are looking at it that way and said, well,
now the Patriots get a chance really to prove it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:00):
They start off with a home game with that with
the Chargers.

Speaker 1 (01:08:04):
But I think that's a I think folks will get
a much better handle on them win or lose out
of this game seeing what Drake may can do and
and perhaps they won't get the full measure of that
with that offense against the Charger defense. But and then
with regard to the Chargers, when completely healthy, they're really

(01:08:26):
really good. But like you said, offensive line banged up
a Mario Hampton missed a lot of the season. I
know I had him on my fantasy team, and I
didn't have him for like ten weeks. But they've got
him back now and he looks pretty good, and you know,
now they're ready to you know, go back in if
if not full force offensively, certainly to have an opportunity

(01:08:50):
to be close to it. You know, they there were
a lot of times not only did they not have
Amrio Hampton, they didn't have Nigie Harris out there as well,
So that was you know, that was a big, big
part of it. But I think having Justin Herbert back
makes a big difference as well.

Speaker 4 (01:09:09):
Clearly, you know, Justin Herbert has put on his cape
a lot this season, playing with one hand and playing
behind the worst offensive line in the league in terms
of pass protection, and that's mostly because their two tackles
have been out.

Speaker 3 (01:09:21):
I don't think they can win this game that way.

Speaker 4 (01:09:23):
They're going to have to twenty twenty Michigan this thing
and keep Drake May off the field and run the
ball on New England, which teams.

Speaker 3 (01:09:29):
Have done in the second half of the season.

Speaker 6 (01:09:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:09:32):
Yeah, And so this is it's going to be interesting
to see, you know, with with New England going up
against that Charger defense, how we get a better view,
a better grasp on Drake May's season not not just
defined by one game, but if he plays well enough

(01:09:53):
in a home contest and he get the win, and
by the way, they would be home again for the
divisional round if they win as the two seed, so
it helps them in terms of the gathering momentum. And
I don't know that there's that much difference between the
one seed and the two seed other than the fact
you get a bye in the first round. But I'm
talking about in terms of the fashion of New England
and Denver. Right now that put that sentence, apply it

(01:10:16):
to this entire postseason. It is as flat as ever,
which brings us to Buffalo Jacksonville. I would say that
it's probably really easy for folks to draw the line
and say, hey, Buffalo is the playoff veteran team. Yeah,
they're on the road, but the weather's good and another

(01:10:37):
prove it to me team. You know, Jacksonville has got
to show what they can do. But I'm also hearing
a lot of the NFL pundits say, if you're sleeping
on Jacksonville, you're doing it at your own peril because
this team is really, really better than a lot of
people think. That may be true, I think the answer
may be somewhere in between. But I also think that

(01:10:59):
Buffalo at times has drastically underperformed this season, and as
a result, they're a six seed going on the road
to play a solid Jacksonville team.

Speaker 4 (01:11:09):
And look, this is the same formula that I just
talked about for the Chargers. If the Jags can run
the ball and keep Josh Allen off the field, I
love their chances in this game. The Bills are a
great team with one clear weakness, and that is stopping
the run. Only the Commander's Giants, Jets, and Bengals allowed
more rushing yards per game than the Bills did.

Speaker 1 (01:11:31):
That's not good company. Yeah, and not only that, Josh
Allen's been banged up. The foot hurts. Trevor Lawrence is
playing extremely well right now. And then not only that,
when they added Jacoby Myers, that that has helped.

Speaker 3 (01:11:45):
Them out well.

Speaker 1 (01:11:47):
Always makes me think of the Dodgers broadcast because one
of their big when there's a mound visit, they say this.

Speaker 3 (01:11:56):
Consultational.

Speaker 1 (01:11:57):
The mount is brought to you by Jacoby and Myers,
which is a law firm out in Los Angeles, to Kobe,
not to Kobe En Meyers just to Kobe Buyers, which
has certainly added.

Speaker 3 (01:12:06):
Then in terms on route running as well. So we'll
see how that is.

Speaker 1 (01:12:14):
And the Bills have been okay defensively, but they they
haven't been fabulous on the deal. So they've allowed the
big gash plays on the ground in running the football,
So we'll see. You know, if Travis Aten has a
big game on the ground, that could be a big
part of it as well. So also the other thing

(01:12:37):
is how this Jaguars defense does against Josh Allen.

Speaker 3 (01:12:40):
Allen is.

Speaker 2 (01:12:43):
This sounds weird to say he's the modern day Brett Farv.

Speaker 3 (01:12:49):
In my book.

Speaker 1 (01:12:50):
In other words, he can make some gigantic plays, but
he gambles a lot, and he'll throw an interception or
two at the worst possible time. That's what That's what
Farv did, I thought of his career, more so than
Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 3 (01:13:03):
Have done in his career.

Speaker 2 (01:13:04):
So it's going to be interesting to see how that goes.

Speaker 1 (01:13:08):
In terms of how Josh Allen again got a foot
issue too, having to deal with it against the Jags defense.

Speaker 4 (01:13:16):
If we were just sticking with word association, getting my
head out of the books, yeah, I would just say
Josh Allen opportunity because look how many times does he
have left in his prime in the postseason.

Speaker 3 (01:13:29):
No Lamar Jackson, no Patrick Mahomes, no Joe Burrow.

Speaker 1 (01:13:32):
Yeah makes it, you know. So this is why it's
gonna be fascinating to watching. Okay, the one other game,
of course, Drinkle Water is Texan Steelers on Monday night,
a game you can hear right here. I'm thirteen under
the zone beginning at six forty five. This is a
five to four matchup. I historically love five to four

(01:13:54):
matchups or four or five matchups, because I had found
in looking back over and did a little research on
this that this is not going to shock you. The
four to five matchup quite often has been the better
matchup in terms of how the game was played out.
The points spread, even the winter with the lower seed
of the higher seed happens more with the four to
five matchup than it does any of the others, certainly

(01:14:14):
the seven to two and even the sixty three. So
that's why I think this thing could be really really
interesting to watch and may not be a real high
scoring game.

Speaker 3 (01:14:27):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:14:28):
Uh, it's gonna be a cold Monday night in Pittsburgh Uh,
and it could be Uh, this could be the deal
where you know, we'll have to see if if the
Texans offense can accelerate at a high level like they've
done in the friendly conflop confines of NRG to do that,

(01:14:49):
to be able to do that on the road in
Pittsburgh where the wind in those end zones. After looking
at last week and ont to scare you the death
if you're a kicker, even as consistent as Kymie Fairbear
and has been, or as.

Speaker 2 (01:15:02):
Tamiko Ryans likes to call me emmy.

Speaker 4 (01:15:04):
Yeah, and we heard him talk about that on the
show on Tuesday. Look, these are two teams that know
exactly who they are. The Steelers thrive on turnovers and
they just let Aaron Rodgers play chess at the line
and make the best of a wide receiver room that
is not good. Now they are getting DK Metcalf back,
which is going to make a big differen rance. And

(01:15:25):
the Texans know, okay, twenty points will be enough if CJ.
Stroud can avoid turning the football over and if the
Texans defense can win the field position battle. Look, it
is a game where kicking, like you pointed out, might
be difficult Houston has to be better in the red
zone than they were this season if they're going to
find a way to win this one on the road.

Speaker 1 (01:15:46):
Agreed, Agreed, they'll They'll have to do that because Pittsburgh
has been able to stand tough enough on that. Although
they're in that fourth quarter, things got a little crazy
with regard to the Ravens and Steelers, and I count
that off a lot of that two desperate football teams
taking some shots and it paying off down the stretch.
Understanding that you don't win, you don't play the next week.

Speaker 4 (01:16:08):
The Steelers' secondary is beatable, but they hide that with
a really good front seven.

Speaker 3 (01:16:13):
They're pretty good against the run.

Speaker 4 (01:16:15):
And when Houston does get their opportunities against that secondary
with Nico Collins and these rookies, they have to take them.

Speaker 1 (01:16:22):
Yep to the NFC, starting off the seven versus two
matchup Green Bay Chicago, feel like we need John Facindenia.

Speaker 2 (01:16:30):
The Green Bay Packers and the Chicago.

Speaker 1 (01:16:33):
Bears, the oldest rivalry in the National Football League. By
the way, it's not the first time they've met in
the playoffs. You got to go back and believe it's
nineteen forty one when the Bears beat them when they
both tied in the west of that, and you think
about this, So here are the Packers three years in

(01:16:53):
a row. Now they're the seventh seed, and the first
two games this year, the Packers were right there with
a chance to win. And then you know, the Bears
got that last minute interception certainly as well.

Speaker 3 (01:17:10):
So this again, this is going to be another.

Speaker 1 (01:17:13):
One of those cold, defensive dominated games, I would think
between the Packers and the Bears.

Speaker 6 (01:17:21):
Now, the.

Speaker 1 (01:17:25):
Packers have been pretty good at taking care of the football.
They don't turn it over that much. This is a night.
This is a game where if you're turning the ball
over where it sets itself up for that and Chicago
can do that, they can turn over the ball a
little bit.

Speaker 2 (01:17:39):
So we'll see how the giveaway takeaway works.

Speaker 3 (01:17:41):
In this one.

Speaker 4 (01:17:42):
Jordan Love is such a streaky quarterback Craig there are
quarters where he looks like a top five guy in
the league, and then there are entire games where he
just doesn't have it. Now, most quarterbacks this season have
been able to bring out their best against the Chicago Bears.
Jordan Love will have to play the best game of
the season and maybe of his career for him to

(01:18:04):
win with the lack of weapons they're dealing with right now.
Josh Jacobs hadn't looked the same dealing with the knee injury.
Christian Watson, despite some really good performances this season, is
banged up, and then guys like Jaden Reid and Matthew
Golden just haven't really been themselves this year in large
part due to injuries. So Jordan Love does have to
put on the cape, I said, Justin Herbert doesn't have

(01:18:24):
to Trevor Lawrence. No, those teams have to lean on
the run. Green Bay needs Jordan Love to play like
an MVP.

Speaker 1 (01:18:29):
Okay, a few minutes ago, I said that the five
to four matchup, historically since they've gone to fourteen teams
in the playoffs, has been the closest played.

Speaker 2 (01:18:38):
I don't think that will be the case in the NFC.

Speaker 1 (01:18:41):
Less about the four to five matchup of Carolina hosting
the Rams. It's less about that. It's more about San Francisco.
Philadelphia and the Niners are the six and the Eagles
are the three. I think this has a chance to
be the best game of the weekend, certainly the best
game in the NFC.

Speaker 3 (01:18:57):
Absolutely. I love San Francisco in this game.

Speaker 4 (01:19:00):
I feel like the Eagles offense just has not looked
right for so long that it's time that a team
like San Francisco can come in and take advantage of it.

Speaker 7 (01:19:11):
Now.

Speaker 4 (01:19:11):
The Eagles offense this season has been just so laxa
daisical in terms of generating big plays on the ground.
That's what's missing from their Super Bowl team last year
translating into twenty twenty five. Whether that has to do
with offensive line held or Saquon Barkley or the change
in offensive coordinator, the Eagles have lost a lot of
brain power on the offensive side of the ball over

(01:19:33):
the last few years. I feel like it's catching up
with them, and I feel like San Francisco might be
peaking close to the right time.

Speaker 1 (01:19:38):
Well, and the forty nine ers have been impressive and
how they have been able to overcome injuries. Plugging a
guy somebody else makes a difference on the offensive line
when they lost Trent Williams, and the same thing in
the receiving court clearly obviously quarterback when Brock Perdy was
out for a time.

Speaker 2 (01:19:54):
So we'll see how that happens. So and with regard
to the Eagles.

Speaker 1 (01:19:59):
Can they run the against San Francisco, because the Rams
ran the ball against San Francisco when they had to
do it, And the Eagles have I think the best
running back in the game, certainly in the NFC in
Saquon Barkley. And then finally, yeah, Rams Panthers. It's kind
of weird. The Rams are favored by like ten and
a half points or something. I don't know that it's

(01:20:22):
that big a spread, but I know that several things
are working in the rams favor.

Speaker 3 (01:20:27):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:20:28):
They're going to get to Vonte Adams back. They're the
healthiest they've been in a while. They have already played
the Panthers there in Charlotte and lost to them when
they played horribly. Matthew Stafford probably his worst game of
the season, and you know, for him, I know, obviously
they'll be the determination for him.

Speaker 3 (01:20:49):
I just think the Rams are better team and they
may win it by ten.

Speaker 1 (01:20:54):
You know, it could be whatever, a thirty to twenty
or twenty four to fourteen game, or maybe even more
than that.

Speaker 3 (01:20:59):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:21:01):
I'll be surprised if the Panthers win this game, even
at home.

Speaker 4 (01:21:03):
I don't think it'll be particularly close. You know, when
I watched the Panthers, Craig, I actually see some pretty
good things from Bryce Young, and I see a pretty
uber conservative offense with Dave Canallis at the helm. I'd
like that to open up a little bit more for
them moving forward, because Carolina just hasn't been able to
run the ball quite as well the second half of
the season. A lot of that has had to do

(01:21:24):
with their schedule. Look, Sean McVay gets his teams ready
for games like this. I have to trust his pedigree
as well as Matthew Stafford's to make this one pretty straightforward.

Speaker 1 (01:21:33):
All Right, there's our look at the wildcard round of
the playoffs. Up next, we'll hear more from Vick Shaffer,
Texas women's head coach when we continue on thirteen.

Speaker 3 (01:21:40):
Under the Zone.

Speaker 1 (01:21:47):
Down the channel of shot Clomb Jordan trying to drive
in around driving.

Speaker 3 (01:21:50):
If trouble moped the glass, it's good as a foul.

Speaker 1 (01:21:54):
Break body control by Jordan Lee got the Buckingham One.

Speaker 3 (01:21:59):
Welcome back to the Craig Way Show and the Voice
of the Longhorns.

Speaker 6 (01:22:03):
Craig Way. Follow Craig on social media. Horn voice.

Speaker 1 (01:22:11):
This one will take you back a little bit le
Stone and Trump and Jack Flash.

Speaker 3 (01:22:15):
I think it nineteen sixty eight just came down. Saw
the album get Your ya Yas Out, I believe before
came on them.

Speaker 1 (01:22:26):
So you heard the bucket there as Texas and last
Sunday's win. Overall, miss got an important win. Here's some
more from Vic Schaeffer. The long Words are getting healthier.
They've gotten some players back, but they have still been
without there McDonald's all American. Leah Crump, who was off

(01:22:48):
to a great start. She was averaging thirteen points per
game before she injured her foot, I think in the
fifth game of the season, or before the fifth game
of the season. So Vic Shaeffer was as in the
media zoom. Can he give an update on Aleiah Crump's
recovery and has the timeline been altered or changed?

Speaker 6 (01:23:08):
Well, she was six six weeks on Monday, so you
know that's about the time frame.

Speaker 7 (01:23:16):
And her foot is healed or her bone is healed.
She still got just a little discomfort that we're trying
to get out of there. And she's got a little
bit of what they call a dema, which is swelling,
and so we're trying once we get all that out,
she gonna feel a lot better.

Speaker 6 (01:23:32):
And so we just we feel like we've gone six weeks.

Speaker 7 (01:23:35):
Let's make sure we get everything handled correctly and taken
care of, because we certainly don't want this to be
something that ends up being nagging or something.

Speaker 6 (01:23:45):
We have to deal with, you know, months or years
down the line. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:23:50):
So there's a good way to describe it. Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:23:52):
So then he was asked, you know, does Crump provide
a lot of what Jordan Lee does when she's healthy?
In other words, three levels score, playing defense stuff like that.

Speaker 7 (01:24:02):
Freshmen typically aren't quite there defensively. Uh, you know, But
I think the thing that really sets Jordan and Aaliyah
apart is their confidence.

Speaker 6 (01:24:17):
You know, I said that about Aliyah early on this year.
The kid is confident for being a freshman.

Speaker 7 (01:24:25):
There's she's just got a presence and a confidence about
her when she's you know, out there on the floor
in which I love.

Speaker 6 (01:24:32):
And I think both of them possessed that, and uh,
you know, for both of them.

Speaker 7 (01:24:38):
I mean, George is just a sophomore and it's her
first year to start, and you had a Leah Krunk
starting as a freshman when she went down. But I
just think they both have a presence, they have a
skill set, they're confident, and their ultra competitive kids.

Speaker 6 (01:24:57):
So again, when you got all that, that's a really
good combination in a player. Quickly, because you mentioned the
prototypical people.

Speaker 5 (01:25:06):
Is Crittendom you said she'll start out at the four
at least she got the size, you know, muscle for
that sort of thing.

Speaker 6 (01:25:15):
Yeah, I think recritten And is going to be a monster.
I think she'll she'll be able to play multiple positions
before she's graduated and moved on here.

Speaker 7 (01:25:26):
And you know, her skill set, her ball handling skills,
her ability to score at all three levels gonna make
her a tough, tough out, tough matchup. So I think
you never know who's on your team, y'all. Y'all are
seeing this in football right now. I mean you'd never
dream of some of those guys that are over there

(01:25:47):
that have gone in the portal, and so you just
you never know what your team's going to look like
from year to year. But depending on what our team
looks like, you know, will depend on kind of where
we start with her and deal with her a little
bit and try to get her and bring her along.

Speaker 1 (01:26:04):
The long Worns have got a lot of heavy duty
postplay out of both Brea Cunningham and Kyla Oldacre. Now
old Acre of late has been called for some fowls
that you know would furrow an eyebrow even a little
bit from her. She's very mild mannered away from the
floor and he talks to her. She's very glib and
had a great sense of humor. On the floor, She's
all business. And so Vick was asked, how does Kyla

(01:26:26):
Oldacre handle the adversity of the floor and does she
get frustrated with officiating?

Speaker 7 (01:26:32):
Yeah, I mean most nights she handles it well, but
there's some nights that I mean, it's frustrating for her
and it's frustrating for me as her coach, to be
honest with you, you know, I hope we don't get
to the point where I got to go out there
and make an ask for myself in defending her, because

(01:26:55):
that kid really really takes a beating, and you know,
she wears a protective thing around her rib cage off.
She just gets hit so much and punched and shoved
and you know the thing too, that is, and then
when she does go up to shoot, they don't call

(01:27:18):
the little stuff on her. They just think she's big,
ought to be able to get through it. They don't
want to, you know, they don't they don't reward her,
and and so you know, it's just she and I
both we talk about it a lot, and I try
to keep her, you know, keep her under control and

(01:27:41):
with her emotions as much as I can, because she
is a hell of a player. She's I love her
like that. Kid is serious. She's serious about the game,
she's serious about her team. She's a great vocal kid
on the floor today she was off the chart. Just

(01:28:04):
trying to really help her right now. She's a she's
got such a helping mindset that she overhelps sometimes and
leaves her kid open, and I'm just trying not to.
I'm trying to get her to not be too much
of a helper. But that's her makeup, that's her character,
that's who she is. She's somebody that's always wanting to help.

Speaker 1 (01:28:27):
So Texas remains number two going into the game. Yukon,
to defending national champion is number one, and I believe
it was Corey mos from kV who asked Vic about
does he like being ranked number two? As avoiding the
pressure so called that goes with being number one.

Speaker 7 (01:28:47):
Do you not think there's any pressure being number two
in the country and everybody you play, everybody you play.

Speaker 6 (01:28:54):
Is ranked lower than you.

Speaker 7 (01:28:57):
I mean, it wouldn't matter if for one or two
we're still ranked higher than everybody, and you're still wearing
a Texas on your jersey, and you're still getting everybody's
best two days of practice, their best pregame meal, their
best you know, shoot around.

Speaker 6 (01:29:14):
So I mean, I was thinking the other day, it's
funny you ask it gry.

Speaker 7 (01:29:19):
I was thinking, you know, it's a whole lot easier
being number twenty two than number two, you know, when
you're going into some of these games because of the
expectation and just it's just the way it is. But
I ain't trading it. I don't want the number twenty

(01:29:40):
two team in the country. I want number two, And
you know, I'll leave that up to y'all who should
be one and two. But again, I think we've earned
everything we've gotten to date. You know, we played South
Carolina on a neutral floor, a true neutral floor, on

(01:30:00):
a true neutral floor, and so when we play South
Carolina again, we're gonna have to play him on their floor,
and if we happen to get lucky enough to play
them again in the SEC tournament, we've got to play
him in their state.

Speaker 6 (01:30:17):
So it is what it is.

Speaker 7 (01:30:19):
But like I said, I'd rather be number two than
twenty two. But twenty two has got a little bit
easier feel to it than number two. But you know,
I think we've earned every bit of where we are
and I'll leave it up to y'all to debate the

(01:30:41):
rest of it.

Speaker 2 (01:30:42):
Finally, one more from Vic Shaeffer.

Speaker 1 (01:30:44):
We've heard him talk about this a little bit, how
much he admires the way that Madison Booker plays the game.
She plays it at an all American level, in the
way that she drives, dishes obviously, the way she can shoot, score, rebound,
play defense, all of those things.

Speaker 2 (01:31:00):
When we've also heard him in the.

Speaker 1 (01:31:01):
Past say he's tried to push her to be a
little more selfish, to take it even further up a
notch in terms of her offensive game. So has there
been some progress encouraging Booker to be more selfish?

Speaker 7 (01:31:14):
Well, she's uh, she's just he's playing at such a
high level. And again it's uh, I was just looking
for updated but kids, shooting over fifty percent from the floor.
She's averaging seven and a half rebounds a game, you know,

(01:31:37):
sixteen thirty two over, almost four assists a game, and
almost three steals a game. So Madison Booker continues to
play like a first team All American. She's so unselfish,
you're right, but she makes a lot of great plays

(01:32:00):
and a lot of great reads. And you know, she
and I both we want to have a package where
she's running the point a little bit and uh because
when she does that, she's pretty good out there too.
And uh, so we've we've we've kind of got that

(01:32:23):
in as well, and then we've been kind of working
on that here the last.

Speaker 6 (01:32:26):
Couple of days.

Speaker 1 (01:32:28):
So tonight it's Texas against Auburn, uh and you'll hear
the contest here on thirteen under the Zone. UH six
forty five pregame start time, seven o'clock. Tip Auburn at
eleven and five oh and two in the league coming
in Longhorns or seventeen and oh and two and oh
in Southeastern Conference play. We have more coming up when
we continue here on this Thursday afternoon on sports Radio

(01:32:48):
AM thirteen under the zone of the iHeartRadio.

Speaker 3 (01:32:50):
App Yeah, it just tip me.

Speaker 1 (01:32:54):
Today would have been Elvis's ninetieth birthday, right one, ninety one,
that's right, January nineteen thirty five, that's right. The King
would have been ninety one today. You know you're too
young to know this, but there were for years, I
mean fully at least two decades after his passing in
nineteen seventy seven, and this went on in the eighties, nineties,

(01:33:17):
even in the early two thousands. There were people Elvis's
passing was treated like UFO sightings. People kept saying, no, no, no, no,
I saw him at a diner in cast for Wyoming,
you know, working behind the counter. No no, I saw
him out in the park hanging out with a beagle

(01:33:37):
and was just strumbling on gets her.

Speaker 2 (01:33:40):
If Elvis had lived, he wouldn't have done any of
that stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:33:43):
Good point.

Speaker 1 (01:33:44):
You know, people used to say thing about Jim Morrison
of the Doors, that he just went incognito and completely
disappeared and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:33:52):
Bro he died of a drug over those of berries.

Speaker 4 (01:33:54):
You know, it's like the faults of the premise of
that men in Black franchise were on earth.

Speaker 3 (01:34:00):
Why would they disguise as humans and like go to
the grocery. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:34:06):
But the king would have been ninety one today. He
still missed today, obviously. Do you ever go to Graceland?

Speaker 9 (01:34:11):
Not yet?

Speaker 2 (01:34:12):
I want to, Okay, Yeah, it's it's worth it's worth
the visit there.

Speaker 3 (01:34:17):
The first.

Speaker 1 (01:34:19):
It's not too early for this, so I this is
why I'm saying this. The first of the preseason college
baseball polls, all right, yeah, And and college baseball polls,
by the way, are kind of like alphabet's soup. There's
a lot of it, a lot of letters, a lot
of numbers, that that kind of thing, and it just

(01:34:42):
depends on which one you follow the closest, because there's
not like an ap pole, so it's all done by
different agencies, if you will. Uh, there's an ESPN Coaches poll.
There was a collegiate baseball Polish couple of The one

(01:35:02):
that most folks follow with the greatest amount of veracity
is d one baseball dot Com. Now they have yet
to release their top twenty five or top thirty, you
know whatever, and it'll come out probably in the ensuing week,
so will the other ones as well. But perfect game
is usually the first one to come out and their's

(01:35:25):
is out and you should know that the preseason number
one team for the second straight year is Texas A
and M. And so there they're preseason number one. How's
this for your SEC dominance here when it comes to
college baseball? Wait a minute, hold it, I'm looking.

Speaker 10 (01:35:47):
At the wrong one.

Speaker 3 (01:35:48):
I think I was going to say, isn't it LSU.

Speaker 1 (01:35:51):
It's LSU, not not A and M. It's LSU. This
is so yes, it is LSU. Who's the number one?
Preseason number one? And I started to say, can you
imagine what the top twenty five is like when you
look at when you look at what the top twenty

(01:36:14):
five is on a year in, year out basis LS
she was number one, And can you imagine what the
SEC how it registers in think about this LS she
was number one. Tennessee is number three, Arkansas is number four,
Mississippi State is number six, Texas is number eight, and

(01:36:37):
Auburn is number ten. So, in other words, six of
the top ten are from the Southeastern Conference. And a
big part of what Jim Schlosnagle has coming back sixteen
letter winners last year's Baseball America. That's another one of
the preseason polls. It'll be out soon Baseball America the

(01:36:58):
national Freshman of the Year Dylan Valantis. Overall, the long
Horns are returning seventy six percent of their innings pitched.
They also posted the second best whip for folks who
don't know hop walks and hits alou Per inning that
sort of thing one point one eight, and the sixth

(01:37:19):
best ERA in the country at three point seven one.
They have offensive weaponry back Eaton Mendoza I think his
hands completely healed now uh and Adrian Rodriguez, the top
two hitters for the long Horns last year, are back.
They also have twenty four newcomers fourteen freshman, ten transfers,

(01:37:40):
and the recruiting class or signing class was ranked number
one nationally according to Baseball America. Three log Hoorns have
collected perfect game preseason All American recognition, Valantis joined by
transfers Carsentinia Daiden Robbins. So yeah, it's uh, it's we're
not far from being around the corner of the long Horns.
By the way, open their twenty twenty six schedule home

(01:38:01):
against you see Davis, that is the Division I program
out of the Big West Conference. You see Davis at
UFCU Dish Fault Field on Friday, the thirteenth of February there. So, yeah,
we're just around the corner from that from college baseball,
but six of the top ten.

Speaker 2 (01:38:18):
Are in the SEC.

Speaker 1 (01:38:21):
It's going to be that kind of year again where
some of the baseball, the best baseball in the country
played is in the Southeastern Conference. I will say this,
there were folks who were asking me and wanted to know,
going into and throughout the course of last season, what

(01:38:42):
were the biggest differences I noticed between the Big Twelve
and the Southeastern Conference across the board in all sports?
And I said, I think it's just accumulative thing of
a lot of small things with regard to football and basketball. Football,

(01:39:05):
you know, stadiums, a little larger fan excitement, a little
more obviously, the physical nature, and the weekly grind.

Speaker 2 (01:39:14):
The SEC kind of top that of the Big Twelve.

Speaker 1 (01:39:18):
Basketball, the Big Twelve more than held its own, obviously,
Houston being a national finalist, Kansas, you know, the ones.
Arizona is currently the number one team in the country
BYU was really good last year, Baylor's been really good,
and now this year Iowa State's unbeaten so the atmosphere
in the arenas for the basketball for basketball very very

(01:39:39):
similar as well. Now having said that, the other night
they had eighteen thousand in in Knoxville at the Food
City Center and it was jam packed and it was
very very raucous to make on I've heard the Kentucky
crowd and I've been there one time, but it was
in twenty thirteen. It was a non conference game in
Texas played there. That it's much more like some would
say North Carolina out the wine and cheese crowd a

(01:40:01):
little more than you know, laid back on that sort
of thing.

Speaker 4 (01:40:04):
So we'll see you didn't buy into all the all
the national media. They're they're they're the best fans are
the smartest basketball fans.

Speaker 2 (01:40:13):
They are not the smartest basketball fans, thank you. They're not.

Speaker 3 (01:40:16):
They're not.

Speaker 1 (01:40:17):
But but but I'm here to tell you this too.
And this is not necessarily a poke at the SEC
in the Big Twelve, there were a lot of uneducated
basketball fans. Depending on where you went where every single
call that didn't go your way results in a cascade
chorus of booze. That that's a sign of not being

(01:40:40):
the highest intellect basketball IQ for a fan.

Speaker 4 (01:40:43):
You know. The worst copor of that is, uh, the
tie up and then the booing after they point to
the away to do you not realize it's a possession arrow.

Speaker 3 (01:40:51):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:40:53):
By the way, that's one of my pet peeves.

Speaker 1 (01:40:55):
You will almost never hear me call a tie up
a jump ball because they don't do a jump ball.
It's a tie up and the arrow gives it to
one team or the others. So there's that where I
did notice a massive difference is baseball in terms of
the fan involvement, in terms of the rabid nature, and yes,

(01:41:19):
also the knowledge quotion with regard to the fan base.
So fans are fans across the board, across the country,
and there's educated and un educated fans in every conference,
at every school and all that.

Speaker 2 (01:41:33):
That just happened.

Speaker 1 (01:41:35):
But because there's a larger group of interest in the fans.
Put it this way, the Big twelve Tournament in Arlington
that first day, that first morning game, as a friend
of mine once said, you could fire off a shotgun
in there and not hit anybody because they're just there
aren't many fans.

Speaker 3 (01:41:55):
You might get.

Speaker 1 (01:41:56):
You might get fifteen hundred fans or something. At a
at a ten am game or a nine am game.
Not so on Hoover was there last year that first game.
They had a solid eleven twelve thousand fans in there
for that first game. And then of course it's the
whole tournament sold out. But the people that are walking
up in the long line of people who can get

(01:42:17):
the single admission game tickets betta put. So that's where
I've noticed the biggest difference is in baseball, and we're
just around the corner from it.

Speaker 3 (01:42:26):
It's coming up, all right, coming up.

Speaker 1 (01:42:28):
We'll wrap up today's edition of the program here on
Sports Radio AM thirteen under the zone of the iHeartRadio app.

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