Paul Finebaum evaluates Alabama baseball's ceiling after Brad Bohannon dismissal

Alabama baseball is currently undergoing a gambling scandal that has seen head coach Brad Bohannon dismissed from the team after sportsbooks in multiple states stopped taking action on the Crimson Tide. Still, Alabama has a talented team and wants to make a deep run in the postseason this year.

Now, ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum has broken down Alabama’s chances and ceiling after Bohannon was fired.

“I think at this point, everybody loves to throw qualifiers, this team is fine,” Paul Finebaum said. “There’s just no evidence so far to support anything nefarious. If the coach is doing these things, I believe it’s on him, especially because they looked really good without him the other day. That, to me, was the most important signal of the entire event. You remove the coach, you remove the head baseball coach from a program and they suddenly looked better.”

When Bohannon was fired, it was for “violating the standards, duties, and responsibilities expected of University employees.” Since then, Andy Staples and David Ubben of The Athletic have reported that he “was found to be connected with betting activity.”

Still, in Alabama’s first weekend series since the firing, the Crimson Tide took two out of three from Vanderbilt and are currently third in the SEC West.

“To me, that’s a strong comment about these players on this team and the fact that they have apparently been saddled with something that they didn’t deserve. But, I think this team is fine,” Finebaum explained.

“I think this team is going to Hoover in two weeks and then heads to the NCAA Tournament, and I bring this up only because last year was one of the biggest surprises in NCAA Tournament, College World Series history. Wouldn’t that be something if Alabama, after dumping its coach, ends up winning the College World Series?”

Greg Sankey on the Bohannon betting scandal

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey recently weighed in on the Alabama betting scandal, praising Alabama for taking swift action. He also did his best to emphasize that the SEC has zero tolerance for sports betting.

“The University of Alabama has taken swift action after information about baseball sports wagering activity was questioned by industry regulators. Ensuring the integrity of athletic competition is our highest priority, and for that purpose the SEC monitors gambling activity through its relationship with US Integrity and has done so since 2018,” Sankey said.

“There must be zero tolerance for activity that puts into question the integrity of competition. We will remain in communication with the University throughout its ongoing review and will have no further comment at this time.”