Alabama
Scarbinsky: 2025 CFP is Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer vs. the Nick Saban coaching tree
Did you see it? Did you feel it? Did you understand what just happened in that moment last Saturday morning on College GameDay?
Nick Saban didn’t go viral. He got real. He didn’t toss out a gratuitous cuss word to make the rodeo clown next to him giggle. He let his guard down, put aside the coachspeak and spoke from the heart.
Saban, on the set in College Station before the Miami-Texas A&M playoff game, started to ask a question of Kalen DeBoer, who was back in Tuscaloosa after the stirring comeback victory at Oklahoma the night before. The GOAT veered off-script and off-brand for just a moment.
“God, I’m proud of ya,” Saban said, “and I’m proud of the team.”
DeBoer, on a split screen, didn’t change his expression, but you had to wonder if something fundamental had changed between the coach who stepped down in T-town and the coach who stepped up to take his place.
Before Oklahoma, Saban had questioned Alabama’s toughness because the Tide got bullied by Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, but toughness can show itself in different ways beyond a punishing running game. By withstanding the atmosphere, energy and incipient avalanche against the Sooners, DeBoer’s second Alabama team displayed an inner strength few understood it possessed.
Saban, whose teams routinely struggled to meet the moment in Auburn’s raucous house, seemed to understand the significance of what his successor had just accomplished. DeBoer, before getting to Saban’s question about what’s next, simply responded, “Appreciate that, coach.”
Do you understand the river running through the 2025 College Football Playoff? Do you appreciate that Saban’s influence on the sport has never been on more vivid display?
Of the eight teams remaining in the chase for the national championship, five of them are coached by former Saban assistants at Alabama. Unless Ryan Day and Ohio State or Joey McGuire and Texas Tech disrupt the storyline, DeBoer and the Crimson Tide may have to go through three Saban proteges to add his own statue to the Walk of Champions.
Up next: Indiana and former Alabama wide receivers coach Curt Cignetti in the quarterfinals on New Year’s Day in the Rose Bowl. Win there, and DeBoer could face Oregon and former Alabama graduate assistant Dan Lanning in the Jan. 9 semifinals in the Peach Bowl.
Win there, and DeBoer could meet Georgia and former Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart or Ole Miss and former Alabama defensive coordinator Pete Golding or Miami and former Alabama offensive line coach Mario Cristobal in the Jan. 19 National Championship Game in Miami.
In a symbolic way, DeBoer has been competing with Saban’s shadow every single day since accepting the challenge to follow him. For the rest of this postseason, DeBoer may have to tangle with three branches of the Saban coaching tree.
Fun fact: DeBoer is 7-2 against Team Saban. He’s 2-1 against Smart, 3-0 against Lanning, 2-0 against Steve Sarkisian and 0-1 against Cristobal. DeBoer and Fresno State lost to Cristobal and Oregon 31-24 in 2021.
Cignetti is the most intriguing character in this Saban family Christmas play. While Smart is the son of Saban generally acknowledged as most like his coaching father, Cignetti didn’t fall far from the tree, either. He shares Saban’s disdain for mediocre people and dumb questions. The Indiana coach has a sharp edge to his wit, his tongue and his approach to attacking opponents.
He and DeBoer have never squared off as head coaches, but their resumes have a shared history. Each has coached at the other school. Cignetti was Alabama’s receivers coach and recruiting coordinator from 2007-10, working with the program’s foundational recruit, Julio Jones. He left to start his head coaching journey at Indiana University – of Pennsylvania, a Division II school where his dad, Frank, had been a highly successful head coach.
DeBoer spent the 2019 season as Indiana’s offensive coordinator. The Hoosiers went 8-5, their best season in 26 years, which helped DeBoer land his first FBS head coaching opportunity at Fresno State.
They bring different reputations into the Rose Bowl. DeBoer is the giant killer who’s 4-0 against top-10 teams in true road games as a head coach. Cignetti is the miracle worker who’s 24-2 in two seasons at historically inept Indiana.
This one may tie Saban’s heartstrings in knots. Cignetti helped him pour the foundation of Alabama’s dynasty, and long before that, Cignetti’s father hired Saban as his defensive backs coach at West Virginia. Meanwhile, Alabama is the school that gave Saban the chance to take his career to an elite level. He’s still a paid ambassador, and the field in Bryant-Denny Stadium is named in his honor.
Alabama AD Greg Byrne went outside the Saban family to hire his successor. DeBoer keeps reinforcing the wisdom of that decision. Making Saban proud added to the confirmation. Mowing down one Saban protege after another to win a national title would be the ultimate validation.
Alabama
How to watch Tennessee Volunteers: Live stream info, TV channel, game time | Feb. 28
Labaron Philon’s No. 18 Alabama Crimson Tide (21-7, 11-4 SEC) hit the road to match up with Ja’Kobi Gillespie and the No. 22 Tennessee Volunteers (20-8, 10-5 SEC) at Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday, Feb. 28. The game starts at 6 p.m. ET.
We have more details below, including how to watch this matchup on ESPN.
Prepare for this matchup with everything you need to know ahead of Saturday’s college hoops action.
Tennessee vs. Alabama: How to watch on TV or live stream
- Game day: Saturday, February 28, 2026
- Game time: 6 p.m. ET
- Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
- Arena: Thompson-Boling Arena
- TV Channel: ESPN
- Live stream: Fubo – Watch NOW (Regional restrictions may apply)
Check out: USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll
Watch college basketball on Fubo!
Tennessee vs. Alabama stats and trends
- Tennessee ranks 78th in the nation with 80.5 points per game so far this year. At the other end, it ranks 62nd with 69.1 points allowed per contest.
- The Volunteers are thriving when it comes to rebounding, as they rank third-best in college basketball in boards (39.9 per game) and second-best in rebounds allowed (25.9 per contest).
- So far this season, Tennessee ranks 30th in college basketball in assists, averaging 17.1 per game.
- With 11.8 turnovers per game, the Volunteers are 257th in the country. They force 10.7 turnovers per contest, which ranks 224th in college basketball.
- This season, Tennessee is making 6.9 threes per game (271st-ranked in college basketball) and is shooting 34.7% (139th-ranked) from three-point land.
- With a 30.2% three-point percentage allowed this season, the Volunteers are 22nd-best in the country. They rank 182nd in college basketball by giving up 7.8 three-pointers per contest.
- Tennessee has taken 67.3% two-pointers and 32.7% three-pointers this year. Of the team’s buckets, 75.8% are two-pointers and 24.2% are three-pointers.
Tennessee vs. Alabama Odds and Spread
- Spread Favorite: Volunteers (-4.5)
- Moneyline: Tennessee (-222), Alabama (+179)
- Total: 164.5 points
NCAA Basketball odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Odds updated Saturday at 4:11 a.m. ET. For a full list of sports betting odds, access USA TODAY Sports Betting Scores Odds Hub.
Watch college basketball on Fubo!
Follow the latest college sports coverage at College Sports Wire.
Alabama
Alabama ‘Fully Aware’ of Losing Streak to Tennessee Ahead of Road Rematch
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Losing to a rival almost always hurts more than falling to another opponent during the regular season. Years of hatred, unforgettable moments and tradition boiled up into one game, and the delivery is nowhere to be found for one team.
No. 17 Alabama has won seven straight games and is eyeing an eighth on Saturday on the road against No. 22 Tennessee. This is the second time that Crimson Tide will face the Volunteers, as Alabama lost in Tuscaloosa in January.
The loss a month ago to head coach Rick Barnes and company brought UA’s losing streak against Tennessee to five games. It’s the first time that the Tide has dropped this many games to the Vols since 1968-72 — a streak that came two years before Alabama head coach Nate Oats was born (Oct. 13, 1974). It’s why Oats is not treating Tennessee as a faceless opponent or like any other team the Tide has faced.
“Every year we’ve been here they’ve caused us issues,” Oats said during Friday’s press conference. “Our players, are fully aware that we’ve lost five in a row. They’re fully aware of what happened out there last year. I’ve taken ownership for my share of what happened up there last year.
“We’re fully aware that they beat us at home. We haven’t lost very many home games in conference, period, really since we’ve been here, and they handed us one this year.”
After falling to Florida on Feb. 1, Alabama moved down to the ninth spot in the conference standings, and the college basketball world started to question whether or not the Crimson Tide would be a threat in the postseason.
But a switch flipped after that loss, and the current winning streak has Alabama tied for the No. 2 spot in the SEC standings. Everything seems to be trending in the Tide’s direction, as there are only three games remaining on the schedule.
Oats is in his sixth year as Alabama’s head coach. Following the retirement of former Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl during the offseason, Oats became the second-longest tenured coach for one team in the conference. The coach in front of him: Tennessee’s Rick Barnes, who has held his position since the 2015-16 season.
Both Alabama and Tennessee have finished conference play in the top-4 of the standings since the 2022-23 season. The Crimson Tide was the regular-season and SEC Tournament champions in both the 2020-21 and 2022-23 seasons, while the Vols won the 2022 SEC Tournament and were the conference’s regular-season champions in 2023-24.
“So our guys know, but at the same time, we’ve got a lot of respect for how they play and what they do. We’ve got to come in with a healthy amount of respect for them, but we got to try to win this game.
“There’s a lot riding on this game. What happens in Arkansas-Florida, you’re either going to be all alone in second place if we could get a win, or you’re going to be one game out first. If you take a loss, now you’re in danger of losing a top-4 seed. They’ll be tied with us if we take a loss.”
“So there’s a lot riding on the SEC standings in this game here. They know that. They know what our struggles against Tennessee have Been as well.”
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Alabama
Selmont seeks incorporation to become independent Alabama city
SELMONT, Ala. (WSFA) – An unincorporated community in Dallas County is seeking to establish itself as an independent city, hoping to gain control over local government services and community priorities that have long been managed at the county level.
Selmont, located across the Edmund Pettus Bridge from Selma, is home to approximately 2,700 registered voters and carries a significant place in civil rights history.
The community was the site of a pivotal moment during the Bloody Sunday march in 1965, when roughly 600 civil rights marchers were tear-gassed by Alabama state troopers, including 13-year-old Mae Richmond.
“People ask us ‘Were we afraid?’ No. We were not afraid. We were not afraid, first of all, even as a 13-year-old child, we knew that we were doing what God was permitting us to do,” Richmond, a 60-plus year resident of Selmont, said of the historic event.
As an unincorporated community, Selmont lacks its own municipal government. Residents must contact the Dallas County Commissioner for public works services. It’s a situation that community leaders say limits responsiveness to local needs.
Erice Williams, a community activist leading the incorporation effort, said the change would fundamentally alter how the community operates.
“It would give us decision power and allow us to get funding that we can allocate to our own community that we can make our own priorities be clear and resolved at the same time,” Williams said.
Williams also highlighted the strain on current county services. “Connel Towns (county commissioner) is the only person we have to call, and the resources and time that he would have to serve our community is very limited,” he said.
Operation Selmont, the group spearheading the incorporation effort, is currently gathering signatures on a petition to present to the local probate judge. The organization needs approximately 500 signatures to move forward with the incorporation process and has already collected 40 percent of its goal.
The next meeting for Operation Selmont is scheduled for March 6 at 6 p.m.
For longtime residents like Richmond, incorporation represents an opportunity to ensure Selmont’s future and maintain its identity for generations to come.
“That we will be able to teach and train our children to give them the strength that our foreparents had that they will be able to stand up for justice and for equality,” Richmond said of her hopes for the community’s future.
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