All right, Mike, of course, the other sporting news is joining us now on the Adam Gold Show. We got a lot of things to talk about. We will work in the all-time great Lionel Messi's World Cup triumph. Sir, before we even start, merry and happy to you and Deb and all of yours and all of your relatives here in Cary.
Yes, absolutely. We got to get to them. They're actually not, they're now in Fuquay-Varina. That is their abode now. Very nice.
Actually, I do have a niece in Cary and they're all over the, they're spread all across your region now. All right, let's, this is what I wanted to start with. How big is it, how much do we have to, how much weight do we put on North Carolina's win over Ohio State and just how big that Pete Nance shot was to get them into overtime, to give them a chance to win the game when it, when you put into context this season and what they need just to get to the NCAA tournament? Yeah, well, I think what makes it huge is that it, if you don't get it, if Pete doesn't make that turnaround and if coach Davis doesn't conquer the two seconds by calling for that beautiful ball to mid-court timeout and then the side inbound, it was really well executed.
And isn't it amazing how college kids can pull that off in the NBA guys just aren't good enough to be able to just not good enough. You didn't even let me tee you up for that. You didn't even let me tee you up for that.
I was, I was getting to that next. But here's why it was essential because you couldn't afford another loss, right? Not, not in a be where you want to be, but do you want to drag yourself from the eight, nine game again? I mean, no, and they don't have to. And if they go out and win the sec, they won't.
But if you took that one too, I mean, I don't know that you could be optimistic that you are capable of winning. So I think it was enormous for them to come back in the game because they really weren't playing well for a long period of time. I think, you know, early on I thought that motivation was a problem for them.
And I think they're probably past that. I think right now they really struggle with offensive rhythm. They they're too dependent on Caleb love having a UCLA day that last year that was a one-time thing and they needed it because UCLA defense was really good. And, and, and that's the way UCLA played.
So you needed it then, but you don't want that to be all you got the only club in your bag. It's got to get more rhythm on their offense. And eventually they found something and they defended great down the stretch against Ohio state.
And they made it so that Ohio state just couldn't get into anything they wanted to get into. So there was progress made in that second half, but I still think that the number one thing that has to happen for them is to get RJ's role and Caleb's role as defined as it was in the NCAA tournament last year and get those guys understanding that the team works best when the ball's in one of their hands. There are other teams that can play multiple point guards and all that, but it doesn't seem to flow very well for them when they do that. Yeah, I, having watched North Carolina enough, I've, I've been thinking that their real problem was defense. Leaky blacks, they're only really good dialed in perimeter defender and everything else. They, you know, they hope to funnel it to a shot blocker. But the other thing about it is that North Carolina has not been particularly great on the offensive glass, which has been an absolute staple of what they have done for like ever since the powder, the color powder blue was invented.
Yeah. When you're shooting 30 foot shots, I mean, it's, you know, the Armando's great ability to get offensive rebounds is completely negated. It doesn't, you know, he's not going to be running down balls that bounce for the foul line. No, I, I, that's what I'm talking about getting that rhythm down to where, uh, their, their shots are coming from more natural positions. They've got good offensive players and heck leaky's making shots now, and that should really help them, but it hasn't, you know, it hasn't resulted in a consistent offensive flow. When you talk, you talk about their defense and you're right. They need to be more proficient. They've never been a dominant defensive team though. They've had a one or two, but I mean, that's not really been the staple.
The staple has been, they're so hard to guard and they tire you out and they wear you down because you're, you're so tired from trying to defend them that you never really get your offensive act straight. And I, and I don't think they've done that very well to this point in the year, but I think they're very capable of it. Mike, of the sporting news is joining us. How big a challenge is Michigan? Michigan is kind of, they didn't get off to a great start.
What, what are the challenges that Michigan poses to Carolina? Well, it starts with Hunter Dickinson, obviously, uh, one of the best big guys in college basketball has expanded his game somewhat. Uh, he's, he's a threat. Now you have to think about him when he takes in the, in the same way as leaky. I mean, if you're, if you're judging by last year's scouting report and leaky is out there on the three point line, you're like, Oh, go ahead. And now, you know, the ball might go in and hurt you.
Uh, and, and that's what, what is with Hunter now? I mean, he can step out. He worked really hard in the off season.
So you have to be aware of that. And he's one of the best, probably the best low post score in college basketball. Now, just a real physical force around the rim and can, can step past you and take it to the opposite side of the rim. And obviously go one-on-one, he can just turn into his shoulder to his right shoulder and score over your eye or his left shoulder. Also, he's really, he's really capable of either hand.
And, uh, and so that's where it begins. And then secondarily it's Jed Howard, who, uh, is Juwan's son and really, really a talented young man, uh, who can score multiple ways from the perimeter. Uh, they, they, they, they missed out on an opportunity to be great when they had two guys go pro after last year's freshman seasons and then become second round picks. And I'm all in favor of guys going, if they can be in the first round, especially lottery, but those guys sold lottery talent for second round money and, and that, and that really damaged Michigan. They, they were going to be great. And now they're just pretty good.
Mike DeCorcy of the Sporting News is joining us here on the Adam Gold show. Duke has a road game at Wake Forest tonight. Wake's not great, but road games for a freshmen dominated team, even though you've got Jeremy Roach, and there's a couple of veterans who came in through transfers road games for freshmen dominated teams inside the league are just different. What have you seen from the blue devils, uh, over the first month and a half of the season? Well, I've liked the way they've developed from seeing them in person here in Indianapolis for the champions classic.
I think they've made good progress. I think that they've scheduled smartly to develop a freshmen team, a freshmen based team, but, uh, by playing a lot of, uh, the, a lot of the, uh, non-conference games at home, which are good for them to get it going. And, uh, and then going out to Portland and they played pretty well out there. Uh, and from, you know, from there they had, they did a great job in their game against Iowa defending Iowa to the level that they did.
I was one of the best offensive teams in college basketball and they are almost every year. Uh, and they, they did a phenomenal job in that game. I mean, Iowa, uh, if you look at them, you know, you're talking about right now, the number eight offense in college basketball, and they just wiped them off the, off the floor with that very impressive.
So I think that they're making the right, uh, progress, but you're, you're right. I don't think that they have played a true road game yet. Uh, and certainly not a conference, true road game.
So that first time you get out there, yeah, it's going to be a shock to the system. You don't know what it's like. I mean, obviously, uh, uh, Roach does, I mean, he's played dozens of them, but most of the guys that are key players for that team, they have not been in that circumstance and they don't be, it'll be totally different. Even if they have a fair amount of people at wake, I don't know. Uh, I don't know how that the crowd breakdown will be since it's only an hour away. Uh, we'll see whether, you know, how many blue devils go along it's holiday.
So maybe not as many students, uh, proximate to be able to do that, but, uh, it's still going to be a different environment than they're used to. Look, this dude team has a ton of potential. Uh, I don't, I, at the beginning of the season, I didn't think they could be as good as, you know, a, a real contender. If Jeremy Roach was ultimately their best player, I think they needed other players to become that.
I'm not so sure I was right. Uh, Roach has been dynamite, but Kyle Philipowski has been a machine and it's cool to see Derek Whitehead, uh, really start getting involved. And we still haven't seen the best of, uh, Derek lively yet. Right.
And I think that all will come. I mean, with, with Whitehead, uh, in much the same way as Griffin was a year ago, AJ Griffin was, uh, you lost a lot of preseason and that puts you behind as a freshmen. It's really hard to make up for that. Uh, but he's doing a nice job of coming along behind that and trying to catch up and trying to be the factor that everybody thought he would be. I really, one of the things that I like about what Duke's doing is that playing, uh, Jeremy Roach and Tyrese Proctor together a lot of the time that multiple point guard look is really hard to, to, to cope with defensively. And so he's able to, they're able to do that as well. And then of course they can rotate a lot of different ways because they have a dynamic, dynamic athletes.
They have big guys like Ryan young. So there's a lot of different ways they can go, uh, with, with their rotation. And I think that's, I think that's something that, uh, John's still trying to figure out is exactly, you know, what's the right rotation for this group of guys as, as, as Derek Whitehead continues to make progress as Derek lively continues to, to sorta, uh, try to feel his way into division one basketball. It's still a challenge, I think, uh, to know exactly who needs to be out there. I mean, you have Kyle, who's been tremendous, uh, and, and Jeremy who needs to be out there, of course.
And then from there, um, you've got so many different ways, you know, you can put out five different teams that look entirely different and it's, and it's, you know, you have to figure out which ones work the best together and which ones work the best for a given situation. I mean, they could go super big. I think you go NBA in terms of size. They could go NBA size if they wanted to.
They have so much height and size. Um, all right, let me, uh, let me flip to this because, uh, this is what I heard a ton on Sunday at about one o'clock. Well, it was a great game, but what a terrible way to decide a world cup go into penalties. Do you want to handle that?
With the new Chevy Silverado, you might be driving in this, but with the Silverado's redesigned interior and large infotainment screens, it'll feel more like this introducing the new 2022 Chevy Silverado find new upgrades, find new roads, Chevrolet. Well, I I'm at the point now where I don't even see it as an argument. I mean, it's, it's, it's where we are.
I mean, champions leagues have been decided by this world cup bids, uh, I think have been decided by this. I just don't know. Yeah. You, you, I heard a television friend of mine from Pittsburgh, Bob Pompey, and he went to college with him and he was talking yesterday about how they should just expand the subs. I mean, do you really want them out there playing for five hours?
It could happen. They played 140 minutes, more than 140 minutes. Yeah. I just, I, I there's, there, there's a couple of elements that I like about the shootout is it's equivalent for both teams. I mean, there's, there's really no advantage. I mean, there's a statistical, uh, advantage that says that the team that goes second wins more often or something like that. But it's, it's really not that, you know, it's, it's still the same event for both teams now. And, you know, NFL overtime is way more problematic for me than, than the, than the penalty kick shootout because that coin flip is still way too powerful. And in, in soccer, all it decides is who goes first. Well, what difference does it make? You're going to do the exact same 10 kicks, uh, whether you go first or second, there's no difference.
You just know mentally what the guide before you is done at that. To me, that's not enough of a difference. Whereas in football, still you win that coin toss and you have a massive advantage in, in, in NFL, uh, sudden death over time or, or regular over time, however it plays out. I just, I don't buy that that's a terrible way to decide, uh, uh, the, the world cup.
I, my, I believe me when Kansas city didn't go to the super bowl in 2018, I think it was because they lost the coin slip. I mean, that's when you start to get hysterical about how you're deciding a particular game. Well, you and I disagree about NFL overtime, but let's leave that alone for a second. Here's, here's the other thing that I think, cause I actually think penalty penalties are fine to even to decide a world cup title is because through about, I don't know, 70 minutes, France didn't even have a shot on goal, right? I mean, uh, Emmy Martinez didn't have to make a save and actually didn't make a save until he made a pretty good one right before the end of regular time was up, you know, just in hockey parlance.
I mean, what, what are the odds that a goaltender doesn't have to make a save through 60 minutes of hockey? So I actually think that it demands more of your team, not to mention the fact that penalties is maybe the biggest psychological game in all of sports. Every one of these guys can put a ball on frame from 12 yards, a hundred percent of them, except when it gets to that point, it's the greatest it's psychological warfare to the nth degree. And I think it's an awesome way to decide a game. I had people say, would you decide the NBA championship by a free throw contest? Well, let me tell you something like you don't have, uh, Kevin Garnett standing in your face, uh, trying to stop you from making that free throw.
A free throw is a free throw at totally different than having the guy dancing around and you not knowing which way he's going and him not knowing which way you're going. It really is a, an incredible piece of athletic drama. I obviously would much rather every game be decided in regulation, but look messy made his goal in the 108th minute, I think. And everybody thought, okay, they can see this out. They can finish this off and they didn't know. And they didn't, they almost lost. They should probably should have lost. And so it just, you know, it just shows you, uh, how difficult it is to get through over time, a fair over time. And, you know, people say, well, the goal should be sudden death.
Christian police accept that. Well, that's all well and good, but what happens when you're a sudden death thing is you like, man, I ain't getting stretched. If we get, if we get over that line and they counter us and they're bringing the ball back down our throat, uh, then all of a sudden we might lose.
So that teams become very passive. That's why they went away from the golden goal and into the two 15 minute overtime so that people would actually play. Uh, and if, and if they happened to get caught in the way France did, you still have a chance to come back and, and finish it off and maybe push it to penalties or maybe even get a couple and win. It was tremendous. Um, the save that Emmy Martinez, uh, made in the 100, well, it was one 20 to 42. Uh, cause I went back, I watched the entire, uh, extra time again, because it was just ridiculous how much fun it was. The save he made there was as good as save as I have seen a keeper make under any set of circumstances.
That was just tremendous. Uh, and then I've heard a lot of unsavory things said about Emmy Martinez and they're probably all true, uh, especially with what he did with the glove. Uh, the glove trophy is the best keeper in the event, but, uh, he's, he is a tremendous keeper and, uh, the, the mind games that he played with Francis shooters is tremendous. It's messy in Pele or is it just messy? Well, I think that Pele is certainly in that conversation in the way that, you know, is it Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, or is it just Willie Mays? And yeah, it's, is it, is it Michael or is it LeBron? Or is it Mike? You know, I mean, he's up there, but I think if you're saying, okay, the fit, you know, who is the greatest?
I think you have to go with messy now. Uh, there there's nothing there. The argument against him doesn't exist. Uh, the difference between messy and Pele and, and some of this was not Pele's choice was that, uh, he didn't play in Europe.
He played his entire, uh, almost his entire club career in, in Brazil, say for time he spent with the cosmos here, the New York cosmos. Um, and, and, but the King's different now too. There's more people playing, there's more money in it.
So there's more people really putting a lot into it. Uh, and messy has managed to climb above all of that. And like, if he'd gone out on Saturday and been a passenger and Julian Alvarez and scored three goals or whatever, that would have been one thing, but he was dominating on Sunday. He did everything. He made one mistake in 120 minutes. And then he atoned for that by, you know, by coming back and scoring in the, in the extra period and then lacing his pins, uh, his penalty kick to start the shootout victory as well.
I, that's what he did was at that age, you know, one of the great, uh, advanced age athletic performances we've seen. Mike to Corsey, you are the best. I appreciate your time, uh, Mary and happy. And I will talk to you very soon. Thank you. You too, Adam.
Thank you. With the new Chevy Silverado, you might be driving in this, but with the Silverado's redesigned interior and large infotainment screens, it'll feel more like this. Introducing the new 2022 Chevy Silverado. Find new upgrades, find new roads, Chevrolet.
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