TeamZero77

DAMN, I love me some March Madness!!!!! Nothing else like it.

3 years in a row that Kentucky has lost in the opening round. The Kentucky fans are on Calipari's ass and they have every right to be. No wins in the SEC Tourney or the NCAA Tourney this year. Great recruiter but he's been average, by Kentucky standards, since 2019 when we beat him in the Elite 8. Tennessee fans are the same way about Rick Barnes. If Tennessee loses saturday in the round of 32, they'll start rumbling louder. They're complaining that he's just a regular season coach but struggles during tournament time everywhere he's coached.

Does anybody remember the story about Finebaum getting his ass chewed out at Coleman Coliseum by Mark Gottfried's then wife Elizabeth? It made headlines and is an easy find on Google. She was pissed off at Paul because he was going on his show everyday and complaining about how bad Mark Gottfried was doing as Bama basketball head coach. Finebaum would get the Bammer's stirred up and they would call for Gottfried to be fired daily. Paul also did this to Mike Shula. Anyway, Finebaum was sitting courtside at a Bama basketball game and it was sold out at Coleman Coliseum. Then Elizabeth Gottfried seen Paul and confronted him in front of the entire crowd. She was screaming at Paul and said that Paul doesn't realize these coaches have families and said that the Gottfried's 5 kids hear this stuff about how their Dad is going to be fired. Then Finebaum went on his show the next day and stirred the pot even worse. I also remember Gene Chizik saying the same thing about Finebaum trying to always get coaches fired.

Has anybody else ever noticed that Finebaum NEVER talks X's and O's about football or basketball? I never paid attention to this until about 10 years ago when Bill Curry mentioned it in an article I was reading. Curry said that Finebaum never talks X's and O's because he can't. He said Paul is only in the business of getting coaches fired. I've always viewed Finebaum as a shock jock like Howard Stern but in the sports world. It seems the past several years he is a mixture of Howard Stern meets Jerry Springer. I will give him credit on this; every fanbase swears that he hates their school and loves their rival school. Bammers think he hates them and loves Auburn. We think he hates us and loves Bammers. I guess that means he is doing his job. I think he has an allegiance to certain coaches, rather than to schools. He seemed to love Tuberville but he hated Mike Shula. He loves Pat Dye, Gene Stallings, Spurrier and Saban but he hates Phillip Fulmer and Les Miles.

I've really enjoyed watching this years team. This roster isn't loaded with 5 star players or future lottery picks but they play together as a team and now they're 27-7 and SEC Tournament Champs!! Oh yeah, they ain't done yet!!! WDE

Coach Pearl turns 64 yrs old today, March 18th!!!!!

We were a 5.5 point favorite at tipoff today. You're the only person that kept saying we would be an underdog. The announcers even stated during the A&M vs Florida game that whoever won that game would be the underdog today versus Auburn. Florida beat us because it was in Gainesville, we were only days removed from beating Alabama in a very emotional game and Florida had an entire week off to rest. Auburn is the better team and would be the favorite 10 times out of 10 on a neutral court.

Texas A&M and Florida are both top rebounding teams not only in the SEC but in the country. Florida has some trees down in the paint and Texas A&M has 3 guards that are all healthy now and playing out of their minds. Both of these teams have given us trouble through the years but I can guarantee you that neither of those teams look forward to facing us tomorrow. One thing that A&M has done during this tourney is score alot and play with some good pace. Buzz Williams teams usually try to slow the game WAAAAY down, similar to Tony Bennett's Virginia teams. Buzz even said before they played Kentucky yesterday that his guys were gonna have to muddy the game up, run the shot-clock down most possessions and play tough defense without fouling. He knew his team didn't have the talent that Kentucky does but A&M handled them very well and it has really shocked me how A&M is able to play at a pretty fast pace. Foul trouble is killing them in this game right now and that's allowed Florida back in it. As deep as the SEC is now, nothing's going to be a cakewalk if you contend for the conference title. I like our chances tomorrow and Bruce seems to have this team dialed in and focused the last couple weeks. WDE

Don't forget Kenny Payne at Louisville. He was fired a couple days ago after winning only 5 ACC conference games in 2 seasons and lost every conference game that was on the road. He played on the 1986 Louisville team that won the national title. Pervis Ellison was on that same team and he was an absolute monster at Louisville.

I was watching the SEC Network and they said that our 31 point win over USCe today is a new SEC tournament record for largest point differential. They said that today was the first time since 1983 that the top 3 seeds in the SEC Tourney got beat in the quarterfinals. All 4 of today's quarterfinal games were won by a double digit margin. We are 25-7 and all 25 wins have been by double digits. We currently have the 4th longest streak of double digit wins in SEC history. I also want to commend Bruce on playing 15 players today. 10 of those 15 players got 15 minutes or more but none of them got more than 25 minutes. It's absolutely amazing how every guy on this roster seems to be a "team first" player and they don't seem to pout or get disgruntled if they're coming off the bench. Bruce has been saying this same thing about his players all season. There doesn't seem to be any ego's on this roster that I can see and thats a coaches dream. This team was getting some love from the analysts coming into this USCe matchup but after a big win and the top 3 seeds getting beat, this team is REALLY being hyped up by the SECN guys, as well as other media people. They've got to stay locked in and block out all the hype they're receiving and I believe Bruce will keep them focused. As long as we keep knocking down shots at a good clip, this team can beat anybody they face due to our crazy depth and our defense!!! Bruce has said all year that this team is special and I don't think that's coach speak. One game at a time!! WDE

So happy that your surgery went well and your recovery sounds like it's going good too. How did you feel yesterday and this morning? Are you back home now?

After reading your post, I think you're probably correct about the reason Coleman left. I didn't know that Antonio Coleman had said that he really liked Vontrell King-Williams and was going to stay committed to us when Jeremy Garrett left for the Jaguars job. I admit that I haven't been keeping up with recruiting as much the last few weeks so I totally missed that. When he flipped back to Bama a few days ago, I came here and that's when I read where Coleman said he felt that Freddie Roach is solid and that Bama could develop him more. So my thinking was that Coleman probably liked Jeremy Garrett more than Freddie Roach as his position coach but when Garrett left and Hugh elevated King-Williams to DL coach, Coleman probably felt more comfortable with Roach than he does King-Williams. It definitely sucks losing him though. Maybe we end up getting him back by ESD. Thank goodness we still have some really good D-Line commits behind him but it still stings. WDE

Go back and read this thread on December 22nd when Coleman flipped from Bama to Auburn. Everybody loved it then and was saying Merry Flipmas. Nobody was saying they hate the current state of college football in this thread that day. Now he flips BACK to Alabama and people hate the current state of college football because of NIL, the portal and saying that there's no loyalty. It is what it is and like several college coaches have recently said, college sports are never going to return to what they were just a few years ago. Gotta roll with the changes if we want to stay relevant. We all love it when Freeze flips recruits to Auburn (and he has flipped quiet a bit since he's been here) but we're also going to have recruits flip from us to other schools as well. It's just the nature of the business now. I also agree that Ryan Williams signing with Bama has hurt us with some recruits but I truly think Coleman going back to Bama is mainly due to Coach Garrett leaving for the Jaguars and our new DL coach not having as much experience as an on-field coach. Coleman even said he flipped back to Bama because he feels like they can develop him better there than what we can. That tells me that Coach Garrett leaving was huge in Coleman's decision to flip back to Bama.

You're right!! Ohio State, Louisville and West Virginia (when they fired Bob Huggins) have all been rumored to have contacted Bruce's agent to see if he would be interested. I think most of the Indiana talk was mostly from IU fans who wanted Bruce to come there because they knew it was his dream job. He was also familiar with coaching in Indiana because he coached Southern Indiana for 9 years, got them to back to back National title games in 94 and 95 and won the D2 Natty in 95. Who would have ever dreamed that the Auburn basketball coach would be pursued by Ohio State, Louisville, West Va. and Indiana? Just further proves how far Bruce has brought this program in his 10 years here.

The thing is that Saban went through alot of coordinators at Alabama because they were getting head coaching jobs and leaving. Auburn has went through a ton of coordinators because we've been terrible and fire them. Big difference

Rich Rodriguez wanted the Alabama job and had actually agreed to it but then at the last minute his wife Rita Rodriguez said she didn't want to live in Tuscaloosa so Rich turned it down. I remember when Alabama fans had shirts made up after their first Natty in 2009 with Saban and the shirts said "Thank You Rita Rodriguez" because her not wanting to live in Tuscaloosa allowed Bama to hire Saban and Rich Rodriguez went to Michigan instead and was a dumpster fire of a hire. The funny thing is Rich and Rita Rodriguez both live in Alabama now and he coaches Jax St. I watched a special on SEC Network about Mal Moore and he told exactly how the Saban hire went down. Mal was told by higher up's to "go talk to Saban at his home in Florida and don't come back to Tuscaloosa without him or you're fired." They pretty much gave Mal a blank check to go get Saban. People often forget that Mal Moore was a pretty bad AD until Saban got hired. What's wild is Mal Moore sat in the Saban's living room and they agreed to a deal to be the next Alabama head coach. Nick Saban said the very next day Wayne Huizenga, who was owner of the Dolphins and Joe Bailey who was a vice chairman of the Dolphins both sat on the same sofa that Mal Moore had sat on the day before but they didn't know that. Nick and Terri Saban kind of blindsided Huizenga and Bailey with the news they were going to Tuscaloosa. Kinda s***ty but that's business I guess.

I've read on social media that Cam was the one putting this camp on. Have you heard or read this anywhere?

Thinking about you Fifty and don't flirt with your nurses too much!! 😉 Praying for great news!!

Also, of our 6 losses, 4 of them are to ranked teams: Baylor, Alabama, Kentucky, Florida. I saw a stat that said all 21 of our wins are by double digits. We're the only team in the nation that can say that. The SEC has 6 teams ranked in the top 25 again this week. Tennessee, Auburn, Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina and Florida. The SEC has either had the most ranked teams or tied for the most ranked teams more weeks than any other conference this season. The SEC is also projected to get 9 teams into the NCAA Tournament. That is tied with the BIG 12 for the most teams projected to make the NCAA Tourney. I know there's people on the basketball threads that love to rag on Bruce Pearl and this program but we are again in the mix for another SEC Title in arguably the hardest conference this year. The last 6 or 8 years, the SEC schools have gotten more serious about basketball and it has shown. For the past 6 or 7 years, Bruce has had this program on the greatest run it's ever seen for a 7 year stretch and he has done it during a period that the conference is as deep as it's ever been. Our basketball program will always have some problems just like every program has problems. Our problems aren't nearly as bad as what some people want to act like they are. We've been as consistent as any other SEC program the past 6+ years. If every SEC basketball program threw all of their problems into a pile, I would just about bet that we would pull ours back out. WDE

I just looked up the highest paid coaches in men's college basketball and the top 5 highest paid as of 2024 are: 1.) Bill Self $10.6 million per year 2.) John Calipari $8.5 million per year 3.) Tom Izzo $5.7 million per year 4. A) Rick Barnes $5.45 million per year 4. B.) Bruce Pearl $5.45 million per year

Sending prayers to Mims. Hope you're back soon and feel better than ever!!

The MLB players are complaining about the new Nike baseball pants because they're too thin. You can literally see through the new pants and there were plenty of examples shown. During photoshoots recently, you could see tags and labels on the players briefs/sliding shorts that were under the new pants. Nike is claiming it was a lighting issue during photoshoots causing the pants to look like they're see through. The teams are complaining that there aren't enough of the new Nike uniforms to go around so alot of guys are having to use old pants from last season. If Nike decides to stick with these new uniforms, I predict that some unhappy player is going to go "Commando" before his first at bat just to prove a point to Nike. Could you imagine opening week and the primetime MLB game is on ESPN. Acuna, Aaron Judge or any other big star goes down into the clubhouse right before their first at bat and they take off their underwear and just wear the new, thin pants. They come to the plate and then as soon as the camera zooms in, BANG, the entire viewing audience gets a glimpse of why they really call it a "stick and balls" sport. 😳

Oh I loved that. Tyrone Shoelaces was the character 😂 I got a basketball jooooones, a basketball jooooones......."I loved that basketball. That basketball was like a basketball to me. I even put that basketball underneath my pillow. Maybe that's why I can't sleep at night. I need help ladies & gentlemen" 😂 Did you know George Harrison played the guitar part on that song when it was recorded? Carole King & Billy Preston both played piano on it too. Michele Phillips sang backups on it. She was in The Mamas and the Papas. Growing up, my parents always had albums playing in our house. For some reason I would always listen to Cheech & Chong albums and an album my Dad had of Saturday Night Live. It was the original cast of Belushi, Dan Akroyd, Chevy Chase, Garrett Morris, Gilda Radner, etc. It was an album full of SNL skits that they put out in the 70's. I'm not sure why my 5 year old self was so hooked on those comedy albums but I wore them out. Damn I miss those times. A turntable, some albums and headphones and I was set. Music was always huge in my parents home. Back then if my parents would've had to make a decision between music on the stereo/radio or having cable TV, they would've taken the music 10 times out of 10. I truly miss those simple times back then.

Reading this post and you mentioned taking too much of a gummie and getting a hell ride instead of a good high, I immediately pictured a bad high like the girl in Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke movie. She thought she was snorting some coke but Tommy Chong walks into the room and tells her that wasn't coke you just snorted, that was Ajax. 😂🤣 She was making elephant sounds and acting like her arm was an elephant trunk!! She damn near started foaming at the mouth. I used to watch their movies alot and my dad had their albums I would listen to. Do you remember Cheech knocking on the door and Tommy Chong said "who is it?" It's Dave man, let me in. "Dave's not here man." No man, I'm Dave. Let me in man. "I told you bro, Dave's not here."

Dang I hate cancer!!! Hopefully she beats it. I remember a couple years ago your first ex wife passed away from lung cancer. Wasn't she from Boston or NYC? I remember you keeping us updated about her fight with it. You seem like a really good, genuine guy Fifty. From what you've told us here before, you've remained good friends with your ex's so that further proves that you're a good hearted guy. That last part where you asked if I'm fighting hard right now theough cancer, I'm actually in remission. I had cancer from 2017 until 2020 but thankfully Im in remission. I was actually commenting to im4aual because he had said he just finished another round of radiation last week. Bigbird was right when he said that cancer effects everybody in some way because we've all had it or known someone to have it. The country singer Toby Keith just passed a couple weeks ago from stomach cancer. I watched a video where he was on Bob Stoops podcast right before he passed away and he said "when you haven't had cancer, it just seems like some deserted island that you fly over. But when you get cancer, it's like you actually land on that deserted island and you find out that it's actually packed with a ton of people. Once you get this stuff, you quickly find out that everybody has had it or does have it." I thought that was a good way that he described it.