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Buzz Williams discusses impact of being able to ‘live scout’ opponents during SEC Tournament
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Texas A&M is on a roll, dispatching Arkansas on Saturday in the SEC Tournament semifinals to advance to the championship game on Sunday.
That makes it 3 wins in 3 days for the Aggies, including back-to-back wins over ranked opponents. Texas A&M took down top-seeded Auburn on Friday before Saturday’s win over the Razorbacks.
One unique aspect of tournament play is the ability of head coaches to sit and watch games of their potential opponents live. That provided Aggies head coach Buzz Williams the opportunity to get an up-close look at Arkansas during a Razorbacks win over LSU.
Williams was asked about his live scouting, and he discussed why he does it after the win:
“I know everybody makes fun of me. I think I’m probably the only head coach that still attends games,” said Williams. “That’s one of the NCAA rules that you are allowed to do. You know, if you are in a tournament, you can “live” scout, and when I was young and coaching, you could actually go scout games, you know, live-scout and watch somebody. That kind of went away a long time ago.
“So I’m kind of like a little kid when I can actually watch a team and don’t feel the stress of having to win or lose, so it’s just good for me to get a feel for things that you can’t pick up on tape.”
Williams did admit that he trust and lean on his coaching staff in preparation but also appreciates the extra look at opponents. Being able to pair live looks with film study provides “as much help as possible” to Williams:
“We kind of do it football-style in regards to the responsibility of our staff,” Williams explained. “The buckets of responsibility that they’re in charge of, I never step on, but to be able to sit next to those guys and watch something live and go, oh, what was that? Yeah. Let me see it again. Then go back to the hotel and I saw it, and then I can watch it again on tape. For somebody that needs as much help as possible being able to watch a game live is really healthy for me.”
We’ll see if Williams is able to get a better feel for Sunday’s opponent with a live look Saturday afternoon. Kentucky and Tennessee are currently battling it out for the other spot in Sunday’s championship game.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
