With the college football season officially done, it’s time to briefly turn our attention to college hoops (before we get back into college football recruiting next week!), where a lot has happened over the last several months. Indiana, Duke and Louisville have taken turns at No. 1, and the Pac-12 and Mountain West have emerged as college basketball power conferences, and the Big Ten has become the talk of the entire sport.

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That’s why on Thursday I decided to give my old buddy Rob Dauster of CollegeBasketballTalk.com a call to get both you and I caught up on the sport.

Rob is a wealth of college hoops knowledge and on Thursday we discussed the following subjects:

College football season may be done, but as we all know actual football never stops. Recruiting is right around the corner, and before you know it, spring ball will be under way as well. Not to mention the NFL Draft is now creeping up on us too.

Which is why on Monday, I wanted to discuss exactly that- the NFL Draft- with my good friend Eric Galko. Eric is the Director of Scouting of OptimumScouting.com and covers the NFL Draft 365 days a year for the website. He is currently in Tampa Bay for the East-West Shrine game and took some time out of his schedule to chat about a number of very early NFL Draft topics, including Matt Barkley, another crop of elite Alabama players and who he'd take with the No. 1 pick.

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Eric and I also discussed...

- For someone who covers the NFL Draft like he does, what goes into the evaluation process? How important is character relative to the physical, on the field skills and how much can he gauge from talking to players themselves? Also, how much does Eric trust information passed on to him from agents?

The National Championship Game may have been played two nights ago, but it isn’t yet time to give up on the 2012 college football season. And on Tuesday, I kept the party going, by joining my good friend Justin Hull on his radio show in on WSCO in Appleton, WI.

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Justin does great work out in Wisconsin and had me on to discuss a number of the biggest story lines from Monday night’s game. We talked on a number subjects, including:

College football’s championship game is now only days away, which is why it only seemed appropriate that on Friday I welcomed regular guest of the show, Alex Scarborough of TideNation.com to the podcast to discuss the 2013 BCS National Championship Game.

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Alex has covered the Crimson Tide for each of the past two seasons and always has a wealth of information concerning this emerging college football dynasty. And on Friday we discussed a handful of subjects, including the following:

- In the preseason, Alex was one of a handful of media members who actually thought the Crimson Tide could make a run at another National Championship. Now that we’re here, how much has changed from the start of the season? Did things play out as he expected?

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It’s another day and it’s time to preview another bowl game here on the Aaron Torres Sports Podcast, as on Thursday I welcomed my good friend and old Texas A&M Aggie Brandon Leone to the show to preview the Cotton Bowl.

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Brandon is a former Texas A&M running back and also previously covered the team for the website TexasAgs.com, and on Thursday he shared plenty of insight in the lead-up to Friday night’s match-up with Oklahoma

Brandon and I discussed the following subjects:

- The arrival of Texas A&M’s football program in 2012. When did Brandon realize the Aggies were “for real” and what was the biggest surprise (outside Johnny Manziel of course) about Texas A&M’s season to him?  

- Speaking of Manziel, will he be focused headed into this weekend’s game? Manziel has become a semi-celebrity since the last time A&M took the field and Brandon and I wonder whether he’s spent too much time away from football in recent weeks.

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After being on hiatus for a couple weeks, the Aaron Torres Sports Podcast is back, and ready to jump into some heavy Sugar Bowl discussion with one of my favorite guests. That man is Louisville radio host, editor of the website BigEastCoastBias.com and good personal friend, Mark Ennis.

Mark and I chatted about a number of topics in the lead-up to the game, starting with:

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- Mark’s reaction to Louisville’s departure from the Big East. No one was a bigger proponent of the conference, and Mark discusses why he was sad to leave the conference, even if he knows it’s what was best for the football program.

- Mark’s reaction to Charlie Strong’s decision to turn down Tennessee and stay with the Cardinals. Mark explains the burden it lifted off the program’s shoulders and why they can now move forward not only in preparation for this game, but also in the big picture of where the program is going. Mark also explained why he never thought Strong would leave for certain jobs, including Arkansas.

It’s back to college basketball today on the Aaron Torres Sports Podcast, as I am happy to welcome onto the phone Peter Burns, author of the new book “Shock the World: UConn Basketball in the Calhoun Era,” a fascinating look at Jim Calhoun’s coaching career and legacy at UConn. 

- A thorough discussion on UConn’s eventual National Championship win in 1999, and why, up until that point many people questioned whether Calhoun could “win the big one.”

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With college football coaches coming and going at an alarming rate, and bowl matchups firmly set, these past few days truly have been one of college football’s busiest weeks of the year. And on Wednesday, old friend of the show Michael Felder of BleacherReport.com stopped by to break it all down.

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Michael is one of the most articulate and intelligent young voices in the sport and he had plenty to say on a number of issues. We discussed a whole lot, starting with:

- Bret Bielema’s move to Arkansas, and why frankly Michael hates it. It isn’t easy to recruit to Arkansas, Bielema no ties to the SEC, and beyond that Michael also wonders: With a year to look for a new coach, is this really the best Arkansas could do?   


                                           


- What about Gus Malzahn at Auburn? Michael likes this hire a little bit more, if only because in modern college football you’ve got to be able to score points, something Malzahn’s club will certainly be able to do. At the same time Auburn’s successes and failures will likely more come down to what happens on defense than anything else.   

- Mike’s thoughts on Dave Doeren to NC State, and what firing Tom O’Brien means in the “big picture” of college football? Are schools becoming too impatient with head coaches and are Athletic Directors starting to act too much like fans?

(**** Aaron’s Note: For some reason that is unbeknownst to me, the audio from this interview is incredibly choppy. I don’t know why, and do apologize for it.

Please know that I spent a lot of time trying to fix it, and when I couldn’t even figure it out sent it to my good friend, who tried to help out as best he could.

Anyway, I apologize for the low-quality of the audio content, but if you can deal with it, there is actually a lot of good news and information on the SEC Championship Game, Iron Bowl and the future of Auburn football in this podcast.

Hope you’re able to enjoy, and again, I apologize for the low quality of this audio.)

This weekend, there is no bigger game on the national schedule than the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta, which as you all know by now has turned into a de-facto National Championship Game semifinal between Alabama and Georgia.

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And as always, my good friend Alex Scarborough from ESPN’s Tide Nation was nice enough to join the show and discuss the big storylines headed into the game, as well as reflect back on the Iron Bowl and look ahead to what’s next for the Auburn football program.

Alex and I touched on a number of topics, including:

- Reflecting back on the Iron Bowl: Was there anything to take away from it for Alabama, and at any point did Crimson Tide fans just feel bad for Auburn?

- Looking back, how bad was Gene Chizik as a head coach? Yes he didn’t win much without Cam Newton, but was he as bad as everyone thought? Also, Alex shares when he believes Chizik lost the locker room and why at that point, it was clear that it was time for Chizik to go.

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It’s a relatively quiet weekend in college football, well, except out in California, where one of the great underrated rivalries will be played between UCLA and USC. And this year, it’s about more than just pride in Los Angeles: That's right, a Pac-12 South title will be on the line.

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And as I do before every big USC game, I had to have my buddy Pedro Moura of ESPN LA on to discuss all the comings and goings around the Trojans program. No one knows this team better than Pedro and earlier this week, we discussed the following:

- The irony around last year’s 50-0 USC win. For UCLA it seems like it was the best thing to ever happen to them, and for USC, you could argue it was quite possibly the worst.

- What’s the matter with Matt Barkley this year? He hasn’t seemed like himself, but should we be surprised? Pedro also explains how a disappointing senior year of HIGH SCHOOL for Barkley should’ve raised some white flags heading into this senior year of college.