Charles Barkley is a former Auburn basketball player, a television commentator and no stranger to controversial comments.  With the news earlier this week that two Alabama students had been attacked and three Alabama football players charged with robbery, Barkley took to the airwaves last night on TNT wearing a bandage wrapped around his head.

“Inside The NBA” host Ernie Johnson starts the exchange by asking him about the bandage.

Barkley: “Ernie, you’re not gonna believe this. Being the Auburn guy that I am, I wanted to be first class. I went down to the University of Alabama to congratulate the Crimson Tide on winning the BCS Championship – and I got mugged. I got mugged in Tuscaloosa, Ernie, and my credit cards are missing.”

Kenny Smith: “Oh my goodness. You’re just an Alabama hater, man. Why don’t you leave them kids alone, man?”

Barkley: “Oh, it’s my fault they’re mugging people.”

One person who didn’t enjoy that exchange was Al.com columnist Kevin Scarbinsky. “There are plenty of ways for Auburn guys to poke fun at Alabama, and vice versa, that are funny. This wasn’t one of them.”

The three Alabama players – Eddie William, Tyler Hayes and D.J. Pettway have been charged with two counts of second-degree robbery. They’ve been suspended and barred from campus pending a judicial review.

A fourth player, Brent Calloway, was also arrested Monday on credit card fraud charges but was not charged with robbery.  All four have been suspended from the team.

You can watch the video of the Barkley comments here.

Tom Sorensen of The Charlotte Observer probably won’t be getting very many friendly emails from South Carolina fans today.  His column about All-Everything Gamecock Jadeveon Clowney is filled with good points:

1.  Clowney is ready for the NFL now.

2.  Due to the league’s rules, Clowney may be ready, but he’s not eligible to play in the league for another year.

3.  Everyone saw what happened to Clowney teammate Marcus Lattimore last season.

So in Sorensen’s words:

“If you’re Clowney, what do you do? Give the school everything you have and try to upend the Crimson Tide?

Play not to get hurt?

Or sign with an agent, get assigned coaches and trainers and spend the season pumping up and preparing for the pros?

If Clowney doesn’t return to Columbia, South Carolina would be cheated.

At the moment, only Clowney is.”

Maurice Clarett challenged the NFL’s age limit in court and lost.  So whether you view it as being fair or not, the league’s rule is a fact of life at this point.  Clowney will have to live with it.

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Alabama added 25 players from 13 different states on Wednesday and Thursday.  A breakdown of the Crimson Tide’s “target zone” is below:

Alabama = 7 recruits

Georgia = 3

Florida = 2

Louisiana = 2

Texas = 2

Virginia = 2

Arkansas = 1

California = 1

New Jersey = 1

New York = 1

Pennsylvania = 1

Tennessee = 1

Utah = 1

In-State Signees = 28.0%

Out-Of-State Signees = 72.0%

Observation:

Alabama’s target zone?  Uh, the North American continent?  Look at that spread — 25 players from 13 different states.  Nick Saban has turned the UA program into “America’s Team,” if not by popularity then by sheer geography.  Bama grabbed the #1 player from the Yellowhammer State, the #1 player from Arkansas, the #1 player from Utah, the #2 player from Texas, the #2 player from Virginia, the #3 player from Pennsylvania, and the #4 player from Louisiana.  Love ‘em or hate ‘em, it doesn’t appear that the Crimson Tide will be falling out of the national title picture anytime soon.

Five-star safety Von Bell of Rossville, Georgia has decided to play his college football at Ohio State.  New Tennessee coach Butch Jones worked hard to flip the Chattanooga-area resident who had always been an Buckeye lean.  In the end, Jones couldn’t and that’s a hit for Tennessee.  (Ironically, ESPNU asked Derek Dooley about Bell after the young man’s announcement, but Bell’s high school coach has made it clear his star had not gotten a ton of attention from Dooley and his aides.)

Alabama also made a push to land Bell, but the Crimson Tide can afford a disappointment more easily than the Volunteers can.

Meanwhile Urban Meyer is putting together what could be the nation’s #1 class and he’s successfully coming back to the South to help do it.

Like Carl Lawson earlier, Bell handled himself well and surely won many people over with his demeanor.

Alabama enjoyed another successful day in recruiting on Monday when it received a commitment from defensive end Tim Williams from University of Laboratory School in Baton Rouge, La.

How strong is Alabama’s recruiting right now? It was Alabama coach Nick Saban who gave the approval for Williams to commit to the Crimson Tide.

“Coach Saban said he wanted me to go ahead and commit,” Williams told BamaOnline.com. “It was the overall program and how they will utilize me on the field. I like the way they develop their players and the academic program.”

Williams, who projects to play linebacker at Alabama, joins a Crimson Tide 2013 commitment list that includes defensive end Jonathan Allen and cornerback Maurice Smith.

Alabama is still pursuing several highly-touted defensive prospects, including safety Vonn Bell, linebackers Reuben Foster and Matthew Thomas and defensive end Dee Liner, who de-committed from Auburn on Monday.

Come on.  What did you think we’d roll out after Alabama wrapped up the SEC’s seventh BCS crown in a row last night?

First, a little something for the Crimson Tide and Bama fans:

“Sweet home, Alabama.  Where the skies are so blue.  Sweet home, Alabama.  Lord, I’m coming home to you.”

And now a salute to Ol’ #7 for the Southeastern Conference:

Brent Musberger calls tonight’s Alabama-Notre Dame BCS title game “the ultimate matchup in college football”
Tonight’s game is expected to challenge records for television viewership
With gamblers backing Alabama, the Crimson Tide has become the biggest BCS title game favorite in a decade
LSU could lose as many as eight juniors early to the NFL
Ole Miss QB Bo Wallace will have surgery on his shoulder this week
Backup Florida QB Jacoby Brissett will transfer
Georgia QB Aaron Murray will return to Athens for his senior season
Vanderbilt WR Jordan Matthews will return to Nashville for his senior season
Chris Wilson is leaving the Mississippi State staff to become Georgia’s defensive line coach
Tennessee basketball player Jeronne Maymon will take a medical redshirt and miss the rest of the season
For all your SEC news and headlines check out MrSEC.com every single day

1. Here’s something to ponder over morning coffee and Christmas presents – five reasons why LSU should leave the SEC and join the Big 12.

2. And here are five reasons why they should stay.

3. In the spirit of Christmas, here’s an inspirational story of  Mississippi State backup quarterback Dak Prescott and his mom who’s battling colon cancer.

4. Media report says Texas A&M junior linebacker/defense end Damontre Moore “is likely gone” for the NFL - considered a top 5 pick by many.

5. Which current Georgia receiver has played in more games for the Bulldogs than anyone in history?

6. Can Florida’s Frankie Hammond Jr make it in the NFL?  Given the track record of other Gator receivers, he thinks he can.

7. Florida’s Will Muschamp and Alabama’s Kirby Smart are just two of many coaches who’ve learned the trade at Valdosta State.

8. Tennessee coach Butch Jones’ father was chief of police in the small Michigan town where he grew up. “I was never going to do anything to embarrass my father, and my dream was to be a police officer growing up.”

9. Jones has embraced Twitter. ”I think it keeps people involved. It generates excitement.”

10. Vanderbilt’s Wesley Tate and Joe Townsend grew up in the same town but didn’t really make a connection until college.

11. Both Notre Dame and Alabama have great red zone defenses – but the Crimson Tide are much better inside the 20 on the offensive side of the ball.

12. A win by Alabama would put the Crimson Tide in “dynasty” territory.  Here’s a look back at previous dynasty programs in college football.

13. The Gator Bowl will not bid to become part of the semifinal rotation once college football’s new playoff  system starts.

14. An overview and explainer of the playoff system - which starts after the 2014 season.

15. The SEC and Big Ten prepare to renew their not-so-friendly rivalry on New Year’s Day.

16. What Derek Dooley thinks about at Christmas – “a new excuse to keep the ever popular Barbara off the air.”

SEC Basketball

17. Christmas Day basketball for Ole Miss.  Rebels will face Hawaii in the fifth-place game of the Diamond Head Classic.

18. Arkansas missed Marshawn Powell last year but the fourth-year junior forward is now a part of the Razorbacks exclusive 1,000 point club.

19. Missouri’s Laurence Bowers SEC player of the week.  Mississippi State’s Gavin Ware freshman of the Week.

20. Since coming off last year’s season-ending knee injury, Bowers has added some range to his game.

21. A standings update and a preview this weekend’s action in the SEC.

22. And finally, Merry Christmas from Tennessee basketball.  Cuonzo Martin and crew get their groove on to the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.  Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Commence with the eye-rolling.  Feel free to point out that Nick Saban once said he would not be the next head coach at Alabama only to become the next head coach at Alabama.

But the Crimson Tide’s leader has finally thrown a bit of water on the rumors that he’s unhappy and might be ready to leave the SEC and leap back into the NFL (with the Cleveland Browns).  Yesterday on WAXY-FM in South Florida, Saban opened up about why it would be difficult for him to leave college football again:

“This has been a good thing for my family to be here.  College football has been very good for us.  The positive impact that you can have on these young me as players and as people, that’s just something that we really enjoy and something that I learned about myself.

I really enjoy what I’m doing here right now.  I’m getting old now.  I don’t think we’ve got too many moves left in us.  You develop a lot of relationships and loyalties to the players you recruit and the players you have on the team and the people you have in the organization.  I don’t think it’s really fair to leave.  I regretted when I left LSU because I left a lot of relationships there.  Hopefully I’ll be able to stay here for a long, long time…

Maybe I don’t always show it (happiness) and maybe I’m always worried about the next game.  I’m happy.  I’m very, very happy.  I’m very pleased and happy with what we’ve been able to accomplish here.”

Saban also admitted that he didn’t necessarily handle “the way I left (Miami) very well,” saying: “That’s always been a thing with me that I’ve never felt good about.”

Plenty of folks will point out that Saban didn’t completely slam the door on a departure from Alabama, but we tend to believe he’ll remain in Tuscaloosa so long as the school and his bosses continue to give him the support and leeway that he currently enjoys.

That said, we’ll keep some crow in the freezer just in case.

A pair of SEC stars announced today that they would be heading to the National Football League and its draft this spring.  But another big name player let it be known that he’d be back on SEC fields next fall.

Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron released a statement through the university making it clear that he’ll return to Tuscaloosa for his senior year:

“I had many goals for myself when I came to the University of Alabama.  I have been lucky enough to achieve some of those goals, but some are still ahead of me.  There were many factors in my decision to return to Alabama for my senior year but, after talking with my family and coaches, I knew it was the right choice for me.”

McCarron has led the Crimson Tide to back-to-back BCS Championship Games and will try to win his second title next month against Notre Dame.  He led the SEC in passer rating this past season.