Rednilla

Would Cryer be willing to be a role player for us, should Aden live up to his McDonalds High School All-American status and take over the PG position? I presume that's the issue with bringing in a quality experienced PG, or for that matter with Wen sticking around another year... P.S. Is it bad that I associate you with basketball because you're from Kansas, and that's the only money making sport UKa has ever been particularly good at?

Why is the word that we want a combo 2-3 player? Is that more a way of saying we want a big guard as opposed to a small forward, if you will, but that this player will play the 3, which is really not appreciably different from the 2 except for the need for length? Also, with Flan likely following Wes, what are we going to do with the 4-5 scholarships that are left available? I mean, is it highly likely that we will fill those spots with bodies, or is there some likelihood that we have 1-2 open scholarships this season. Thanks, I'll hang up and listen.

We're not done building the team yet, no, so maybe I'm jumping the gun a little, but I'm taking this to mean that most signs are pointing up for AU basketball right now...and even with an average starting 3, which I can't imagine we'll fall short of, having Jones with Broome and Jaylin would make us contenders for the SEC, at least, wouldn't it? Or am I still putting too tall of expectations on Jaylin's shoulders?

Well, I will say that with 8 position players batting (not to mention one of the better hitting pitching staffs in MLB history), Bobby Cox could afford a sub-par offensive player a little more easily than Bruce can afford a sub-par defensive player out of the five he puts on the floor, so we need more than just a dud on defense, and I feel confident that if Bruce wants to bring a player in, they're going to be willing to put forth at least a little bit of effort toward playing D. Besides, don't I remember hearing talk of NBA scouts loving the defensive skills they get out of Bruce-coached players? One would think that any player good enough on offense that any college team would want him regardless of defensive skill is good enough to warrant a shot at the Association, and thus improving their defensive skills would only enhance their chances, but I'm not going to pretend I understand what goes on in the heads of some of these kids.

LOVE to see the kid talkin' up his peeps. Whether they're legit or not, the fact that he is might get a few of them full rides that wouldn't have otherwise gotten them. And hell, if he tells the coaches straight up that they can ball, Bruce might want to be setting kids up at smaller schools to develop before transferring to the Plains for the big leagues. Wonder how much that kind of game is going to be played now?

I agree completely. As long as they're willing to try on defense, I feel like Bruce and the assistants can work with them and make them at least serviceable on that side of the ball. Bare minimum, Jones seems likely to play up to his 3 point percentage from a year ago, being that he's such a lengthy guard and he (hopefully) will not have to be the primary scoring threat (by the time we're finished building next year's team) for us... and even if he *is* the primary scoring threat, his subsidiary weapons will be more substantial than they were last season.

I'd say this officially makes us a contender for next season, and I got a feeling Bruce is just getting started. Hats off to Steven, too. He keeps coming up big in places where he needs to come up big if he wants serious consideration for taking over when Bruce steps down, whenever that might be.

I would add Jaylin to the list of keeping out of foul trouble, and he needs to be on for us to have a real chance. If he's making it from deep, at least one of the guards is making it from deep, and we keep Broome out of foul trouble, that's our best formula for beating Houston. Should we advance, of course, which is hardly a given.

Call it a hunch. We'll all see if it plays out this weekend.

MMW - Bama burns out in the Sweet 16, too.

I swear I didn't see this thread before I started the Mark My Words thread. This is basically what I said.

I've got a feeling we make the Sweet 16. I don't know that we get past that point, but so long as we make it out of round 1, I think we can hang with Houston. Everyone go ahead and give whatever pre-tournament thoughts you might have here. Bolder prediction than mine? Let's hear it!

I posted the dictionary definitions of the words you said meant the same thing to defend myself against the accusation. To recap, I said White impressed me as being "sharp" (i.e. on top of his game) when he was able to rattle off everything in that commitment, including a player list given to him by the coaches, without so much as a notecard to keep it all straight. You got all up in a huff about how it doesn't make him any smarter (you know, putting words in my mouth), and I corrected your verbiage because I wasn't trying to say that it made him any smarter. But you play your game. And that's okay. As I've mentioned (and, if memory serves, you've also ridiculed), I'm a writer, so I understand how much words can be weapons. Tick tock.

Uh... in case you didn't notice, I was responding to Cole there. He's the one I quoted.

*Sigh* You're never going to listen to anyone who might know more than you do, because no one might know more than you do. Sharp means a person is on point, at the top of their game, or however you want to say it. Merriam-Webster defines it as "keen in intellect, perception, and/or attention." It defines smart as "having or showing a high degree of mental ability." In other words, you don't have to be smart to be sharp (i.e. on top of your game), nor do you have to be sharp to be smart (i.e. possessing a great deal of intellectual potential). The two words are very similar, but they DO NOT mean the same thing. Of course, this goes against your narrative, so naturally, I'm lying, right? 🙄 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sharp https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/smart

Yes, he did. It's impressive that he was able to remember everyone he wanted to thank and everything he wanted to mention about what had gotten him there, as well as a list of players given to him by the coaches as players they want on board with him, all off the top of his head without stumbling over his words and without a printed out version to keep everything straight and make sure he didn't forget to mention anyone. I didn't say it makes him smart, I said it makes him sharp. And yes, pretty much every QB recruits to his school of choice, but rarely do they come out on their commitment day and list a dozen or so players they specifically want to bring with them. That's why this is news. That and the lack of any other football news to go on, so it's something to talk about. You know, like you normally do on message boards. Downplay this commitment all you want to, it's still a pretty big deal.

What about Uncle Rico's drunken birthday proclamations?

You're right, and yet at the same time, you are so very, very wrong. To deny that it wasn't lucky is, in fact, nonsense, but you're the one who is denying that it wasn't lucky. The rest of us are agreeing that it wasn't lucky. The only luck involved is that Bama's freshman kicker didn't get enough on the kick to drive Davis behind the back line of the end zone. As soon as Davis caught it, the play went exactly as it was drawn up to go. It's not luck that caused Saban to put slow, fat linemen in the game. It's not luck that Davis went to the wide side of the field. It's not luck that the field goal unit knew they needed to be blocking to funnel UAT players away from the AU sideline. You're right about that, because we aren't far from being there as it is. Good friend of mine mentioned a couple of days ago that football season needs to hurry up, because it's the first time he's been excited about it in about half a decade. I can't say that I really disagree.

This. I cannot ever remember a recruit rattling off a list of players he wants to bring with him when committing, and the fact that he pulled it off (along with remembering all those other things he mentioned) without so much as a notecard to keep it all straight in his head is impressive to me. Either he spent a fair amount of time memorizing the speech, or else the young man in *incredibly* sharp (or both).

Yes, let's put things into perspective. In spite of NIL, Alabama and Georgia still sat at 1 and 2 last year in recruiting rankings. They are currently 5 and 1, per 247Composite. What that means is NIL didn't change a whole lot, proportionally. The probability is that Alabama and Georgia were never doing anything that every other big time program in college football wasn't doing in the first place, we're just most sensitive to it because they are our two biggest rivals. There is no doubt that Smart is a good coach, and recruiting talent to his program is part of that.

You realize that since White is part of this class, he's the one that can be recruiting for us, right? Don't believe Ashford is allowed to recruit high school players with whom he wasn't already acquainted. And even if he can, he'll be a senior by the time the kids from the 2024 class (those in question) even get on campus, so...

That Hail Mary pass shouldn't have ever been necessary. Aaron Murray was stopped short of the goal line on 4th and goal, but there wasn't enough video evidence to overturn the call on the field. I've always thought of The Miracle at Jordan-Hare as divine intervention to right a wrong, because that game should have ended 37-31 good guys.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like that's his worst year, record wise, while at Alabama, with the exception of his first year when he was rebuilding...

Saban will be 72 this year. Yeah, maybe he's gonna JoePa his way into his mid-80s before he hangs them up, but I gotta believe he's getting close to the end. I don't know exactly how relevant this is, but he was just turned down by UDub's offensive coordinator, who was offered the same job at UAT. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Freeze turning up the heat at Auburn might push him to go ahead and call it a career in the next few years. Of course, he might well be like Bear in that when he retires, he'll lose his drive to keep pushing forward and his body will quit on him pretty much as soon as he stops going full steam. I doubt it, because I don't believe Little Nicky has the substance abuse problems that Bahr did, but you're right about him being a workaholic. It's not inconceivable that having nothing like coaching football to occupy his time, he might keel over, and hell, if I were him and I felt like that was coming, I doubt I WOULD hang them up so quickly, just out of self-preservation. *Disclaimer* While I would love to see Saban's tenure at bammer end, I am wishing absolutely no ill will on his life, simply drawing parallels with the other legendary bammer coach.

For what it's worth, while I don't know if this is what Niebuhr was talking about, I read that bit about finding our Dabo/Kirby as we found the perfect fit for the program, who will capitalize on the advantages inherent on the Plains in ways his predecessors just weren't doing. Another way to say essentially the same thing is that Freeze is the modern day Pat Dye. He's taken over and changed the trajectory of the program from day 1, at a time when a legend at Bama is nearing the end of the road.