This year's team is not one of Coach Murphy's best. Pitching is good but we struggle to score runs. They are good enough to earn the #14 Seed and host a Regional. 25th straight postseason bid and 19th straight as a host is pretty impressive. Should we win the Regional we are paired with UT in the Knoxville Regional.


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A good pickup for the staff. Jones adds experience and depth. The ACC is not the SEC but our freshman have high school experience. If nothing else, he will make the talented freshman work hard and earn their playing time.

I think Coach Vaughn is doing good. He took over a mess. After Coach Bo for fired mid-season last year for gambling on our games the team finished strong, but all our top talent hit the portal. Coach Vaughn had to basically rebuild a roster.

We are a solid tournament team. Our record is 31-18 (11-14) but we play in the toughest conference by far. Our RPI is #11. Strength of Schedule is 4. We have two game left with LSU this weekend at The Joe and a three-game series next week against last place Auburn. We are currently projected as a 2 Seed. Finish the season strong and win a couple games in the conference tournament and we will be in discussions of hosting a Regional.

I like Vaughn. I think he has the program on a good path.

Since Cliff Omoruyi was added Bama has jumped from being projected as a Top 10 team next year to Top 2. Kansas and Bama are projected to play for the championship. ESPN Bracketology has Bama projected as a #1 Seed.

We are getting a 6-11 240# big man in Big Cliff. That will allow Nelson to play his natural 4 position. Big Cliff is a two time all defensive Big Ten player. Second team all Big Ten. A rim protector and rebounder who will average 10-12 points. The piece we were missing last year.

We also have 6-10 Aiden Sherrell, a 4  star freshman, coming in. If Jarin Stevenson returns he is also 6-10. Even without Sears this will be our best roster ever. With Sears it will be beyond great.

Football is slow. Basketball is like the wild wild west. It is wide open.

Too bad they have already given out SEC and National Coach of the year awards.

We had a good regular season. Enough to get us a 4 seed. We had a bad end to the regular season and a terrible SEC Tournament. We got hot at the right time and had a great NCAA Tournament.

This was an amazing run. I hate to see it come to an end. A tip of the cap to UCONN, they are a very good basketball team.

What will happen to our roster? Only Estrada is out of eligibility. Will Sears go pro? Will Nelson return? We have a top 10 class coming in. I am hoping we just reload and do not have a completely new team next year. CNO knows what he is doing. I trust he will put a good team together and compete for an SEC title.

I remember in 2009 after beating Texas to win his first Championship at Alabama he said, "This is not the end, it is the beginning". I feel like that applies to basketball. I like where CNO has us positioned. The program is on the rise and will only get better.

Final Four Day!!! Miracles can happen and underdogs sometimes win. Roll Tide!!!

Oats is a top tier coach that I am glad is leading our team. The quality of head coaches in the SEC has never been better. It is hard to say who the best coach is because it changes every year. I am glad Greg Byrne renewed Oats contract with a big increase and massive buyout. It appears he is committed to Bama and likes being here.

Who is Arkansas going to hire to replace Musselman? With the right hire Arkansas will be a dominate SEC contender.

Barners are not handling our tournament run well. Pearl's one Sweet 16 in 10 years is not looking so good with Bama having 3 out of the last 4 years. They thought they were going to go on a good run, and we would go out in the first round.

All good points MD. I would add:

1. Limit UCONN scoring runs. They had a 30-0 run against Illinois.
2. Play at our pace. UCONN likes to slow the game down.

We are a big underdog, but stranger things have happened in this tournament.

Roll Tide!!!

 

From what I have read Eli is the one who made a mess of this. CTSN and the school stood by and supported him when he was sick and missed a full year in 22 and all road games in 23. Eli's contract was up for renewal this year. The CTSN decided it would be best not to renew the contact with the old terms. They wanted him to continue but in a lesser role and move Chris Stewart to the play-by-play announcer role. Eli said no. CTSN then wanted to make a joint announcement that Eli would be retiring, and Eli went nuts saying he would not agree to the announcement. That left the CTSN no choice but to make the announcement they were parting ways with Eli and thanked him for all he had done.

It was Eli's choice to make it ugly. IMO, he burned a bridge with a university that had been very good to him. I think he thought the fans would rebel and demand he keep his job. He underestimated the fact that all games are on TV, and no one listens to him on the radio anymore.

The CTSN and the school will be better off with Chris Stewart. Eli will regret he acted like a little bit@#.   

He seemed like a good guy. He was a lot of fun with a quick wit. He left us far too young. Prayers to his family.