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North Carolina eyes SEC talent for its coaching vacancy as rumors swirl around Todd Golden and Nate Oats—could Chapel Hill shake up the college basketball landscape? Chris Gordy breaks down the ripple effects across the SEC, highlighting buyout hurdles, rising stars like Mark Byington, and Billy Donovan’s potential return to collegiate hoops. The podcast also explores LSU’s possible move to rehire Will Wade and reviews the impact of recent coaching changes on recruiting and tournament expectations.
Locked On Razorbacks’ John Nabors joins to preview Arkansas’s Sweet 16 showdown with Arizona, spotlighting Darius Acuff’s elite performance and John Calipari’s postseason expertise. The conversation covers tournament seeding, Razorbacks’ path, SEC underdogs facing powerhouse opponents, and how clutch and physical play could define March Madness outcomes. Plus, football transfers, injury updates, and baseball news round out a dynamic week in SEC sports. Will Arkansas advance? Which SEC teams will surprise in the Sweet 16?
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Good North Carolina swoop in and steal NSEC coach like Todd Golden or Nate Oates.
Lockdown SEC starts right now.
You are locked on SEC, your daily podcast on the southeastern conference.
Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.
I'm Chris Gordy, welcome to Lockdown SEC on today's show.
We will talk about the two teams getting into sweet 16 action tonight.
Couple football notes as well, but we got to start over at North Carolina.
The news came out about 24 hours ago.
Here were Davis out at North Carolina.
And a big question now, who will replace him in Chapel Hill?
And I get it, it's an ACC job.
This is locked on SEC, but the ripple effects throughout the sport of college football.
Well, you never say never when perhaps a coach from your conference could get poached.
And when you look at the details of the North Carolina job
in coming athletic director Steve Newmark is going to lead the search.
North Carolina stated it will hire the search
from turn key ZRG to assist.
That's the same firm that helped Indiana hire Kurt Signetti
and help the Florida Gators hire their head basketball coach Todd Golden.
Now one notable name that's
poorly not going to be considered according to industry sources.
Alabama head coach Nate Oates, who, according to one report,
is perceived to have considerable baggage off the court
in addition to a $10 million buyout
if hired prior to April 1st.
So look, Nate Oates still coaching the sweet 16.
He's been a damn good tournament head coach.
Go ahead for every year.
But sounds like North Carolina not going to be impressed
because of the massive buyout and what they call baggage.
OK, so he went and got a G league player and had a player
who sold weed, whatever the case.
But so take Nate Oates name out of the hat
for the North Carolina job.
How about Todd Golden?
Of course, he is, when you look at the betting odds,
they have his name high on that list.
But he hasn't even larger buyout, $16 million buyout
before April 15th.
He has considered, quote, decidedly unlikely
according to an industry source.
Golden, who a season ago became the youngest head coach
since Jim Velvano to win a national championship
fall that up this season as a one-seed SEC regular season champion.
He is reportedly happy with his family professional life
in Gainesville, where Florida's administrative commitment
to winning in basketball is higher than ever before.
An industry source saying, quote, Carolina is Carolina.
But Golden already has a destination job.
You only move your job if you can't get what you want at Florida.
That is not a concern.
Scott Strickland even coming out telling on three sports.
Todd wants to be at University of Florida.
I wish all those programs really good luck.
But Todd Golden is going to be here for a long time.
So if NATO's and Todd Golden, the two top coaches in the SEC
are out, who could they look to?
And you start to talk about some of the other good coaches
in the SEC.
Obviously, Rick Barnes seems to be pretty happy at Tennessee.
He can't see him jumping ship.
And of course, you know, the idea of hiring an older coach,
you know, if Carolina may want to get younger,
catch your rising star, you know, Bucky McMillan,
only one year in a Texas A&M, great job there.
But, you know, maybe a little bit more sample size needed.
How about Mark Biden at Vanderbilt?
He has exceeded every expectation in two years at Vanderbilt
as advanced to NCAA tournaments,
won 47 games in two seasons,
a program that just won 50 games in three years prior to his arrival.
Bright offensive mind plays a high tempo brand of offense.
And he has North Carolina and ACC roots.
He played at UNC Wilmington in the 90s,
served as an assistant at Virginia and Virginia Tech.
He's never made a sweet 16, but at just 49 years of age,
he is considered a rising star in the industry.
So keep an eye on Vanderbilt head coach Mark Buyington.
Again, I've seen some North Carolina fans saying,
that's not the big splash name
that's going to make everybody run to buy season tickets.
But again, would be a good hire
because look at what he's done at Vanderbilt already.
You don't think he can win at North Carolina?
The other name he keep an eye on,
how about Billy Donovan, former Florida head coach,
been the head coach of the Chicago Bulls 60 years old.
And the college game has looked at some NBA coaches
and kind of we've seen coaches make that jump from college
to the pros back to college.
And only problem is he's been out of the game
for quite some time, the college game over a decade.
So does he have an interest in getting back to the college game
which is very different than what it was when he left
in terms of NIL and all that?
Well, although maybe he may look at it as,
I've been in Pro Bowl the last decade.
It's basically Pro Bowl now.
I have a GM, manage our salary cap and revenue share
and pay for players and all that kind of stuff.
So Billy Donovan considered one of the favorites
for the North Carolina job would be interesting to see that one.
How about some other names?
It could be possibilities.
I saw Rick Patino's name.
Surface as one.
And somebody threw out the idea,
how about pulling Bruce Pearl out of retirement?
And my thought on that is Bruce Pearl
wanted to go back to coaching.
Maybe it might tell his son, Steve,
and hey, Steve, go take a back seat.
I'm going to come back and coach at Auburn.
So I don't see Bruce jumping back out to coach
after just one year away.
And again, if he wanted to keep coaching,
he could have just stayed at Auburn.
He didn't have to retire.
So yeah, I think Bruce Pearl now
could be heading back to college basketball.
If you know it's Carolina, you think you'll
lob the phone call.
You at least say, hey, Bruce, any interest here, man?
We'd love to have you.
And then one other day, I'm a Butler coach, Brad Stevens,
reportedly removed his name from consideration.
Crazy, I think as long as Billy Donovan
is being in the pros, Brad Stevens
been in even longer with the Boston Celtics, 2013,
since he left Butler.
So anyway, just not completely tied to the SEC,
but tied in that.
If North Carolina tries to pull away any coaches from the SEC,
I'll certainly have a ripple effect on our conference,
but it doesn't sound like, you know,
outside of Mark Byneton, doesn't sound like any sitting
SEC had coaches, realistic possibilities to jump.
To North Carolina.
Now, it's worth monitoring.
Bill Self and Kansas is from Mercy May Retire.
So if you got Kansas and North Carolina open,
you know, may the bidding more start.
Maybe they're looking at Todd Golden and Nate Odson Sand,
let's pay whatever costs for the buyouts.
So we'll see on that one.
One other SEC basketball coaching nugget here.
There were reports yesterday, LSU,
reportedly on the verge of hiring Will Wade back
to Ben Rouge away from NC State.
The program has been under 500 in each of the past two seasons
and the school's not yet made an announcement
on the status of sitting head coach Matt McMan.
But reports are, according to John Rothstein,
LSU could be on the verge of bringing Will Wade back
to Ben Rouge.
They were reportedly looking to bring in
McNeese State, athletic director Heath Shroyer
as a senior administrator.
LSU's school president Wade Rousse was at McNeese
when he and Shroyer hired Will Wade
as their basketball coach.
And Matt McMan has been the head coach for four seasons
at LSU where there's 60 and 70 over that span.
They've been over 500 just one time.
And so you understand the appeal.
Of course, Will Wade was fired for recruiting violations,
paying players, if you remember the FBI wiretap
with the quote, a strong bleep offer.
But hey, paying players is not legal.
So if we go get them, it will be interesting to see
if that ends up happening.
But we got the sweet 16 getting underway tonight.
We've got four teams in the SEC two-point tonight.
Two-point tomorrow, Texas will take on Purdue tonight
in the first game.
And look, I think Texas has a chance.
Sean Miller is a heck of a basketball coach.
And Texas has played above their heads here
once they've gotten into the postseason, granted.
They look like a good team down the stretch of the season.
They have one on a four or five game win streak
and they were looking pretty good.
And then they kind of fell apart in the last couple games.
And they were considered a team very much on the bubble.
And OK, they're going to make the postseason.
They got in as a first four, will wait ironically
and NC state in that first four game.
And then they have been on a run since.
And now they're in the sweet 16.
They are big underdogs to a Purdue team that is very good.
But look, Texas and Sean Miller don't count them out.
I think they're going to have a good chance to give Purdue
a run for their money.
They've got some great talent.
They're going to have to rebound.
They're going to have to hit some threes.
And maybe I'll physical Purdue down low.
That won't be interesting to see if they can do that.
But we'll say Purdue wins that one.
But we love to see Texas come out with the upset.
The other game happening tonight, it will be Arkansas
taking on Arizona out there on the West Coast in California.
When we return, here are a lot done SEC.
We'll catch up with everybody, John neighbors, who is out there.
We'll get the latest on his matchup, Ken Arkansas.
And there is a cuff take down Arizona.
We'll discuss that when we return right here in Locke on SEC.
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Just use promo code March joining us now to talk all things.
Arkansas razor backs are buddy John neighbors from lock on razor backs
and John is over there with San Jose, California.
You were in Portland for the first rounds and then moved on down the west coast
to California.
What's this journey been like out there on the west coast?
Well, it can never be easy.
You know, it's it's funny because the past few years for Arkansas,
I had to go on the east coast and then come over to the west coast
for the next weekend.
This one at least stayed on the west coast, which is nice.
But at the same time, it's like it was San Francisco.
The past couple of times and now it's San Jose.
So razor backs just can't avoid the sweet 16 and can't avoid the Bay Area
doing it apparently.
That's just the way it is.
Well, look, the tournament runs.
You'll travel wherever to cover the hogs.
I know that they wrapped up what practice and we heard from John Calipari.
What's what's the mindset of this team head into this one?
Well, it's kind of unique because Arkansas has not lost a game in the month of March,
which is exactly what you want to do if you're a really high quality team
trying to win a championship.
But let's just be very honest about it.
It's like the games that they've won in postseason play or even in the regular
season ones that they've won.
They've been the favorites.
You know, in the SEC tournament, I'm not taking anything away because you
still won the championship.
You kind of make that next step and you keep going and you defeat an old miss
who's a lower seed or an Oklahoma's a lower seed and a Vanderbilt who's a lower
seed, which is great.
But then in this one, of course, you take care of business.
It's Hawaii in the first round who it was a 13 seed.
And then now you get the opportunity to go against high point who beat Wisconsin and
you beat them too.
So I think a lot of people are kind of looking at them as like, oh, are they legit
or not?
You can only beat the teams in front of you.
So I mean, the vibes are high.
I think Arkansas being here, you know, having this challenge against Arizona, arguably
the best team left in the NCAA tournament.
I mean, if you want to prove to yourself to being a really legit team, this is the type
of team that you're going to have to beat if you want to do that.
Yeah, I was going to ask you that the, you know, it's a criticism.
I guess people have said, okay, Arkansas is probably the easiest path being Hawaii and
then high point who, you know, pull out the first round upset.
But I mean, does that you take anything from that or is it literally just like you beat
who's in front of you?
It doesn't matter who you play.
I mean, you beat who and who's in front of you because here's the thing is like high
point.
We'll take that for example.
Yes, they beat Wisconsin and they needed a, you know, things really to help them out.
But if you watch that game and you watch that team and I was able to see it live, that
high point team was legit.
Like, I don't know if they would have gone and won a championship, but they were as good
as advertised.
And so sometimes we get that, you get that matchup to where, you know, maybe it's just
a really good team, you know, maybe it's just a team that is better than Wisconsin.
It deserved to beat them and you got a better shot against them.
So, you know, I'm not taking anything away from them.
I'm never going to apologize for it.
That's the NCAA tournament in a nutshell.
Sometimes you get things to go your way.
Sometimes you get better matchups.
I don't really care.
All I know is that Arkansas is in their fifth, sweet 16 of the last six years.
And there's a lot of teams that would love to be in that position, regardless of who
you end up playing.
Also to Gordy.
Let's not get crazy.
Arkansas defeated two number one seeds over the past few years, too.
So I think it's okay for them to get a little bit of a break for the first couple of
games.
Yeah, whatever, whatever easiest path to get there, of course, if you beat Arizona, that
will be a monumental win.
What do you make of Darius A Cuff and how he's been?
I mean, outstanding down the stretch of that high point game, 36 points, but it just seems
like he keeps getting better and better.
Yeah, I don't really know what else can be said that hasn't already been said.
You know, I talk about him daily on my Locked on Rage Rex podcast and it's just kind of
to the point to where, you know, for a while, I kept waiting to see, all right, is he going
to run into a wall?
Is he going to hit that freshman mark where he kind of just takes a step back?
Nope.
He's going to happen.
And in fact, he's ascended.
He's gotten better as the year goes on and he continues to play great.
And I've never seen anything like it, Gordy, because, you know, people may not know Arkansas's
history.
They've had a lot of great players.
But to me, he's already the most talented and a great race, race, basketball player
all the time.
I think he's established that.
But in the high point game, it was a great example of how many times this has happened,
where it's like, I see him make a player, too, that happens or maybe he has a turnover
because he doesn't do it very often.
You're kind of like, ah, man, this maybe it's not his A game and then you start to look
up.
You're like, holy crap.
He's got 36 points.
It's like, just you never really know how good he is until all of that kind of just takes
place in the moment.
And so I've been enjoying it.
He's awesome.
He's so much fun.
He's, he just doesn't have really any weaknesses yet and has a bad game.
And the reason I think racial back fans are feeling any sort of confidence that they could
win a national championship, it starts with Darius A cup and it ends with Darius A cup.
If he's playing his A game, you can beat anybody.
We look at this Arizona team, Tommy Lloyd's team.
I mean, this is where they kind of stalled out, right?
I mean, 22, they lose to Houston, Clemson, and 24 Duke and 25.
So Arizona, the every year feels like they're a loaded team and man, it's one of the best
teams of the country and all this and yet they get to this round and they seem to kind
of stall out.
Kind of look into this Arizona team from your perspective.
What do you see?
Listen, I mean, I know that history hasn't been kind to them getting past this weekend,
but it's like, they've lost two games and the two games they lost was to Houston and
Kansas by three points a piece.
Like, that's it.
This team is incredible and they are really well coached.
They have a lot of talent.
Obviously, they wouldn't be in the position.
They're in if they didn't.
And so I'm not looking at them from any of the previous years.
It's just a matter of, hey, Arkansas again, if you're going to be this team, this is your
A game time.
You have to play your A game.
You cannot come in here and have a B game.
You can't have Darius A cuff, whatever a bad game for him looks like, but you just can't
have that.
You can't have, you know, a Trevor Brazil going out there and not playing his best.
You have to play your A game in this one.
But I do believe that Arizona is good as they are.
They're not infallible.
They're not this.
I mean, there has no chance of losing.
I mean, they've had some, and even in the tournament this year so far, they had some games
that were fairly close to end up pulling away.
But they're not this unsurmountable obstacle that I think Arkansas can overcome.
But Arkansas can't mess around like they have to play their best game in this one.
And it's going to be a dog fight, especially with the physicality.
Looks like Nick Pringle is going to be back, which is huge.
And I've ever thought I'd say that a guy who average is four and four in a game would
be huge to get back.
But it's true.
You need all the, you need all the firepower, you need all the strength, you need all
the muscle, you know, all the bigs you can get.
So I think that this one is going to be coming down to just which team plays their A game.
And whoever ends up playing their A game is going to end up winning.
And I still think even then it's going to be a close matchup.
Well, more interesting angle I was reading is, you know, second half.
And it feels like, at least from reading the numbers, Arizona is a really good team in
the second half.
I think they outscored teams about like nine or something on the season.
So, I mean, it almost feels like one of those tales like if Arkansas is in the game
at halftime, okay, we're only down to it just feels like, you know, it's almost as simple
as if you come out and you can outscore them in the second half, you're going to be the
winner.
Yeah, truly.
I mean, and that's how that's how it feels a lot of times for this Arkansas team.
And that's where it really has raised your back fans keep waiting for something bad to
happen.
And hopefully it doesn't for their sake.
But, you know, it's kind of like when you have a closer in baseball, I go out of you,
you may remember Kevin cops back at Arkansas.
It's just like if you had a lead and going into the seventh inning and he was coming in,
you won the game.
It's automatic check.
We won.
The game's over.
We won.
And that's kind of how fans feel about Darius Acuff where if Arkansas just goes and then
the final, you know, under four time out or in the final minute and they have a one
point lead, two point lead, or even if it's tied, you're like, we feel great because we
got Darius Acuff.
I mean, he hit the dagger shot against high point, you know, he hit a buzzer reader against
Alabama.
It's been not only to be incredible as a talent, but the clutch factor is there.
It's just a matter of getting to that point.
Can you get to the point where you don't get worn down?
You don't get in a foul trouble.
You're not, you know, you're not going out there and not taking care of business and
spreading the ball out because as much as all of Acuff, he's not, he is not even good
enough to buy himself beat Arizona.
You have to have other guy step up and he's great at facilitating that, but it's just
a matter of, can you get to the finish line?
Can you make this a game because I'm telling you right now if Arkansas gets to the final
few minutes of this game and they either have a lead or it's close, I'm going to the
house.
I'm going to Fandall and bank it on Arkansas because it's going to be that level of
confidence that you have because he is that dude.
He continues to showcase.
He's that dude in the sweet 16 in Arizona.
I don't think that phases him one Iota in this one.
Last thing, how much does it help having a guy like Caliperi who's coach at this level
and knows what it takes to win in the tournament knows what it takes to get through sweet 16.
Well, don't tell your Kentucky listeners this, but the guy can still coach.
I don't care what anybody says, is he the greatest ex is a knows coach.
I don't know, but here's the deal, the proof is in the pudding.
The guy is now in his second straight, sweet 16 here at Arkansas where all I heard when
he left Kentucky was that he can't make it to the second weekend.
Well, he's done twice in a row now and he has one of the best players and this is the
best guard he's ever coached and dare say, Cuff, so here's my thing.
I understand that there may be teams that have more talent and all of that, but when it comes
to managing that talent and being able to not let the moment get too big form, Cal is
the best at that.
And there's a lot of teams that we've seen who have a lot of level talent, but it can't
be managed really well by a coach because sometimes they're just trying to make everyone
happy.
I don't want you to transfer out though.
So I got to make sure you're happy.
Got to make sure you're doing this.
Got to make sure you're doing that.
Like all these things come together where Cal's like, oh, yeah, you don't want to listen
to me.
I have over 50 players that were trapped in the first round.
You know, I've made $6 billion for them all star games.
Making just goes on and on and on.
And then even the players as crazy and they're like, man, we can't say nothing.
So it's always great to have somebody who's a Hall of Famer as your head coach, but it's
extremely, extremely great to have a coach who's been here, been at the stage many, many,
many, many, many times before, especially with the schedule that they have, because people
forget Gordy, Arkansas and the non-conference schedule, they played Michigan State on
the road.
They played Houston.
They played Duke.
They played Texas Tech.
They had an incredible non-conference schedule to prepare them for games and for teams and
stuff like this.
So I think they've done everything they possibly do to set them up, self up for success in
this game.
It's just a matter of executing it and actually going out and winning it now.
All four SEC teams are underdogs.
Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama.
How many get through the next round?
Well, are you asking how many I want to get through or how many do I actually get through?
I think that there's, listen, the Texas thing is weird.
I didn't even think about Texas at all, but yet they just kept winning.
And you got to give them credit and Miller's such a good coach.
He really is.
So I don't want to discount them and I always feel like Purdue kind of falls a little short
sometimes.
Everyone's surprised me if Texas took care of business.
Alabama means shoot if they can just hit 23s every game, they can beat anybody.
So then Tennessee is another one that, I think the allegations of regular season Rick have
gone out the window because he's been doing really good to go into the sweet 16 at least
in the second weekend.
And then the fact that you know, I just really hate to see like Florida leave and all
that.
But the point is that I think, I think that you, I think only two of them get through.
I think that there's going to be some, as you said, all of them are underdogs.
It's tough.
I think maybe a couple of them, hopefully Arkansas is one of them.
It's kind of slaying a giant or overcoming a little bit.
But yeah, I just don't, I just don't see any way shape or form that all five teams go
through this, especially given some of the matchups that are going to be going through.
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's crazy when you think about, I mean, you know, there's upsets
all the time.
And so, you know, whether it's Purdue or Arizona or Iowa State or Michigan, somebody's
going down, I feel like.
So I feel like SCC is going to get at least one.
We'll see if it ends up being two when we get to this weekend.
He is John neighbors out there in California, covering his razor back.
He's got you covered with locked on razor backs.
John always appreciate the time and any time.
Hopefully we see you in Indianapolis, my man.
Let's do it.
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All right, guys, roll along here, locked on SEC, a couple of football and other news and
notes before we get out of here.
And let's start over at Texas as Steve's are teasing given the latest injury update on
archmaning with their spring practice rolling on, socks saying, all right, the arts, the
progress has been, I think I said it two weeks ago on par with where he should be.
He was throwing the ball through it really well.
He'll gradually work back in again, not in a rush because I do think these reps are so
valuable for KJ Lacey and Dia Bell right now.
This is a great opportunity for them, but it's nice to see some of the guys coming off
injury, working their way back into it, of course, why do you see Ryan Wingo, working
his way back into a modified state as well, according to Steve Sarkisian, of course,
archmaning has offseason surgery, but everyone's saying no big deal.
He should be fine once we get closer to the start of the season over at Mizzou.
They've been picking up a couple players here and they're in the transfer portal still.
This week it picked up Baylor Freshman Edge, Kamarin Morgan, signed with Mizzou on Tuesday,
and a six foot five, 251 pounds, all limited action as the Bears third string outside linebacker
last year as a freshman participated in 125 total snaps last year, including 67 of those
snaps coming in past rushing situations.
So Mizzou already went through their spring ball.
They've already hung it up.
They're done for the spring.
Still adding players to their roster, Kamarin Morgan, the edge coming over from Baylor.
How about over at Alabama?
They are set to hire Trent Simpson as an assistant D line coach.
Simpson previously worked under Brent Venables at Oklahoma.
He will now leave Norman and make his way over to Tuscaloosa.
So a mid spring ball staff addition for Kaelin DeBore, but Trent Simpson.
But the last four seasons at OU, three of those were as a defensive analyst.
So he joins a group led by Kane Womack, of course, Freddie Roach, the line coach.
And so we'll see what role he fits in there.
Remember the name T.J. Finley?
Well, he is officially going pro now, according to on three's Pete Neckos, the former LSU quarterback,
Auburn quarterback, Western Kentucky, Tulane and Georgia State quarterback,
had entered the transfer portal this past season after applying for a seventh season of college football,
was transferring over to Incarnate word.
And he were reportedly no longer head to Incarnate word.
He looks to be taking the next step in his football career.
He will turn pro after having thrown for 73rd passing yards, 43 touchdowns in 27 picks.
Old disclosure, former guest of the show, we had T.J. Finley on here.
I think not once, but twice.
Well, here's what's in the LSU quarterback, what's in Auburn quarterback.
So it was T.J. the best of luck, man.
It's been a tough road for him, the last, us, handful of years.
And then lastly, a quick SEC baseball nugget Vanderbilt, Tim Corbin sharing some unfortunate news this week.
Austin Nye, one of their starting pitchers in their rotation, will not return this year.
He said, I'll let a doctor talk to you about it.
We'll get him back at some point, but not this year.
Things have been up and down for Vanderbilt this year, but Austin Nye was off to a good start.
Had a 0.0 ERA through three starts through only one inning against Arizona on February 28th,
but 10 ratings work and allowed just one runner run on six hits,
striking out 13 and walking only two.
He was a freshman standout last year.
So he was heading into his sophomore season.
And so it was named a first team freshman all-America by perfect game last year.
So big loss, therefore, Vanderbilt will see who fills in for him.
And that's going to do for this edition of Locked On at SEC.
Thank you guys for tuning into today's show.
Make sure you subscribe and follow so you get all the latest episodes.
And hey, becoming every day or if you never miss an episode,
the everyday club is built for you.
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I'm Chris Gordon.
It's been Locked On at SEC.
Have a great day, everybody.
Talk to you guys tomorrow.
Good luck to all the teams in Hoops Action.
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Locked On SEC – Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast

Locked On SEC – Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast

Locked On SEC – Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast
