How does he believe QB’s like Allen and Prescott are feeling right now?

J. Will, Keishon, and Max. Uh-huh, it's my joke.

So here's where we're going to start with J. Will. And because I asked him about coming back from a loss. How do you bounce back as an athlete?

So the question is, when it was over and your season ends sooner than expected, how do you deal with the loss? Well, number one, it's hard not to pay attention to all the perspectives around you. I don't give a damn what any athlete tries to tell you. As much as you try to, you know, um, you know, curl up in the ball, you're still somebody that watches TV. Your habits are still that of scrolling on social media.

You're going to type in your name in the search column and read comments about what people said. And usually I give like a, you know, a 24 to 48 hour morning period, you know, where you're allowed to feel bad when something ends. And then for me, though, I think the biggest thing, and it's almost one that correlates to Dak Prescott or Josh Allen, you know, with the Buffalo Bills or with any franchise, depending upon who your leader is, especially at the quarterback position, like, you know, what is the energy moving forward? So yeah. Okay. We lost, um, Dak Prescott, for example, I didn't live up to the expectations. Fine. I'm right back on the field. I'm training. I'm calling my teammates and I'm having accountability out.

I'm, I'm saying that was on me, nobody else. I'm going to make it right. Have confidence in me. Let's get back in the gym and get after it. Let's get back on the field or enjoy your downtime. I'm going to stay here in Dallas. I'm going to keep working out.

When you get back, it's time to go to work again. I think certain standards need to be set about where you're going and yeah, I can focus on what occurred and how I need to fix it and address those issues, but I'm also not going to be a prisoner of what happened. And by the way, those same principles, Adam apply when you win it, right? Like everybody, Oh, you win it.

And we same principles like 20, 40 hours, celebrate, enjoy it, take time, but like what's coming next. And I think as long as you always look at athletics and jobs and things through the prism of that's what occurred, but now I'm going to focus on what is, um, you know, if everyone can say, well, you guys were a reigning champions. No, you're not. You were champions last year. There's a new champion this year. Nobody this year cares about what happened last year. Everybody's starting at ground zero. So I think that's the overall mentality on how to, to move it forward.

And I think that's important. So take me to what happened in the, I guess the spring late winter, early spring of 2000, when you guys lost in the second, the second, you know, the sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament was yours, a physical response to what happened or an emotional response. And you do, did you do that internally or did you surround yourself with teammates and figure out we're going to get better as a group?

I focused more on myself and frankly, at 18 years old, I had gotten pumped. I mean, that was a sweet 16 game at Syracuse university playing against the likes of Teddy Dupay, Brett Nelson, Donnell Harvey, that Florida team that got all the way to a championship game. So, you know, I got punked, didn't shoot the ball well, actually shot horrifically from the field, turned the ball over a ton.

And for me, I watched over the next week and a half, two weeks Florida get all the way to a national championship game to lose to Michigan state. Right. So number one, I was like, it hurt because I got punked. Secondly, it hurt even more because they got all the way there.

Right. So yeah, their path was a team that we felt like that could have been our path, um, to get there. And then that turned into how do I channel this frustration and this anger into making me better? So for me at that stage of my career, it was, I need to be better.

Now I need to start making 700 to 800 shots a day. You know, I'm not, I'm going to go to summer school. I'm not going to go home and I'm going to be a gym rat. And Adam, frankly, for me, that was the year that changed everything because I lost weight. I got in the best shape of my life. I was making shots like crazy. And then coming into my sophomore year, there was nothing you could tell me because I knew who I was. I knew what I had prepared to become and, you know, kind of setting that tone throughout that summer allowed me to go into following season as a, as a different person because I was able to channel that. And my teammates believed in me because I had been put in the work. They had sought and my play on the court and it translated.

And I think that's what you look for. You look forward to play on the field or to play on the court and that mentality you have overall to translate. You went from a 35% three-point shooter to a 43% three-point shooter in that, uh, in the, from 2000 to 2001. Uh, and the 2001 team was great too. They were both, they're all great teams. That era is probably as, as great as the program has been over time. I don't know that that's not the best era of, uh, I mean, just absolute talent at Duke University.

Uh, but there's another part of the story that I don't think we have talked about enough. I brought it up yesterday and this is where the regular season and losing focus in the regular season impacts the postseason. You guys had the unique ability to not lose focus during the regular season.

There were very few stumbles. In fact, the year you guys won it, you guys won, you guys lost four games total. The first three of which were by a combined five points. And then the game against Maryland, which probably made you better. Uh, Maryland's, uh, rise to a national power at that point probably made you guys better.

I don't even think probably. I think it definitely made you guys better. Uh, it gave you guys somebody to, uh, to go against, to measure yourself against because they were an elite team too. And we all know what happened in the, uh, in the final four, I was sitting court side for that.

That was fantastic. Even though I am a Maryland grad, uh, but I no longer give a rats about them. Um, but you got it the following year, Adam, you guys are fine.

Yeah. And actually that was 2003 was the last time I rooted for him. I swear, I swear. And when they left, when they left the league, I haven't fought one second about the university of, I really have not. Uh, I am an ACC guy, uh, way more. I'm like, I'm not, I'm not van Pelt. I love Scott. Uh, Scott and I were in the same dorm and we, we graduated the same year. Uh, Scott is the Maryland fan. I can never be.

I absolutely can never be that guy. Uh, but, um, what you guys did was you guys didn't leave anything and no meat on the bone in the regular season. And Buffalo did that. They lost in back to back weeks to the jets and the Vikings. The Vikings game was at home and that's why they had to play Cincinnati. So sometimes it's not where you play, but it's who you play and the Bengals, if they could have delayed it for one more week, maybe it's a different animal, but they left, they, they blew it during the regular season. How do you maintain your focus through the boredom of the regular season? Well, I think sports is so psychological.

So I, I literally, um, and granted, you know, games have ups and downs and you have to go along the rollercoaster ride and, and recognize when you're going through a downswing and know that you have the internal ability to make that an upswing pretty quickly. So, you know, this weekend, I had to call the college basketball game at him and I went out to Norman, Oklahoma, and I got a chance to call Baylor at Oklahoma. So, uh, there is a guy on Baylor's team, Jonathan, who I, uh, kind of like mentor and been around for a while. And I got a chance to talk to Scott Drew and the entire Baylor team after watching them practice. And they have a, you know, young stud on their team named Kiante George, and it's going to be a top five pick. Uh, the reader of that team is a guy named Adam Flagler, who has won a national championship two years ago, a Baylor, and he's a bonafide senior.

He's, you know, he spearheads everything they do. And I took the opportunity to ask him a question that I knew there was no way he was going to have an answer to. And I said, you know, Adam, this is in front of the whole team and the coaching staff now. And I said, Adam, when you were at your best, when you were easy in the sauce of competition, you're at your best.

You're your optimal play. What are you thinking? And he's like, Oh, well, you know, I'm thinking about my teammates and I'm thinking about possessions and I was like, Oh, you're giving me the politically correct answer. I'm like, no, I want to hear your real answer, Adam. What are you thinking when you're in your flow state?

And I could tell Adam that he had no idea. I'm like, see, these are, these are things that blow my mind. You guys are so gifted offensively. Do you ever think about what you think when you're that great offensively and how you apply that same feeling to what you're doing on the defensive end. So you can play with that same type of energy and excitement to get yourself there. Cause I used to think about all the time.

Oh, I just had 40 this game. What was I, what was that feeling? Was I angry? Was I at ease?

Was I relaxing? And I truly think that there are two people in different pockets, right? In particular for Josh Allen, like he has not been great. It got robbed from him last year because Patrick Williams had the ball last, but like, especially going down the stretch, you lead the league in turnovers. Like who is that player that leads the league in turnovers? Who is he when he makes those mistakes? Like, is he, is he stressed? Is he trying to fit in the past instead of just giving what the defense gives you?

Is he trying to do too much? Cause maybe you're asked to do too much. And I, I often think for younger players, even Dak, right? Like who is that player that turns the ball over in those moments?

Like, do you think of yourself as great dad, or do you think of yourself as good? Dan Orlovsky say, no, we love DACA. DACA is an incredible human being, but the player doesn't match the person. And I'm like, Oh, so like, what about the person doesn't allow the player to reach that point?

How do you get outside that point? I think guys like Joe burrow, they have that where they're able to get outside of themselves. They're able to find that flow state mindset and apply it at different times of the game, Patrick and the homes, same thing where I think for other players, you see them search for that, right? Like even when Stephon Diggs was yelling at Josh Allen, he didn't even pick his head up to look at him, like meet that confrontation, let that confrontation get you to another place where it gets you outside of your own mind. Cause you're stuck in your own mind. And when you're stuck in your own mind, Adam, you're selfish. You don't think of yourself maliciously being selfish, but you are.

Cause you're only thinking about you. You're not thinking about your teammates. So I think there are all these little tricks. I think you see young players try to figure out throughout their tenure that they're in search of it. And what other players just innately, they have it.

It's okay to compete and be ruthless or even an ass when you compete. Um, and you can also marry that with being a great person off the field. Everybody I know, uh, that I have talked to that has spent time in a locker room with Tom Brady thinks that Tom Brady is a great guy, right? Tremendous guy, but obviously on the field, right?

Exactly. Who's the best teammate that you ever played with? I would probably, you know, Shane Baddie obviously was an incredible teammate because he always was there. I think one teammate that I learned a lot from was Ben Wallace during USA basketball. I don't forget to say, G I kept coming up the screen in practice and I kept hitting him with a pocket pass. I never heard somebody break down basketball this way because he was so secure with who he was. And I kept hitting him with this little pocket pass at the elbow. I'm like, shoot it. And he wouldn't shoot. He would pass the ball up for a different screen and you're trying to drive and have to practice. I'm like, you know, Ben, shoot the ball.

Why would you shoot? He's like, Jay, I didn't get paid a hundred million dollars to shoot the ball. Do you know how I think about this game? If I give you two rebounds per quarter, I'm going to end up with eight rebounds, hustle plays. If I give you two put backs per quarter, I'm going to end up, you know, with 16 points at 16 and eight. If I give you two, like three hustle plays per quarter, I'm going to give you a steal, right?

Like that's four steals a 16, eight and four. That gives me my money. That's what I do. I'm based off effort. I know who I am. Use me for who I am. Don't try to make me into something I'm not.

I was like, I've never heard somebody talk to me that way. You know, somebody, and I think for certain players, knowing who you are says something like, cause now you helped me best orchestrate how to utilize your talent. Cause you're not trying to do something outside of yourself. You're keeping it within the realm of who you are and how comfortable you are.

So I'll probably say Shane and Ben walls. All right, cool. All right. Final question.

And I know you got, you didn't get in trouble on social media. Stan van Gundy called you out and we alluded to it last week when you called Georgetown and I'm assuming head coach of Georgetown, not the, uh, not the play-by-play voice of Georgetown, uh, your dream job. It take, it took me back to a time where I was watching, you know, my formative years watching college basketball was in the, uh, the early to mid eighties when Georgetown St. John's temple DePaul city schools were great in college basketball. Like people forget that DePaul was a thing back in the day. So why can't the city, none of the city schools are any good. Temple's probably the best one. I don't consider Villanova city school because it's in the suburbs.

So explain to me why, why you think maybe the city schools are all struggling at this point. It all has to do with how you market yourself and, and, and how you're doing recruiting wise and how you're branding and how you're getting Niles. Um, I think that's a big part of it and creating a culture and a pace that is exciting, right?

Uh, makes it feel different, makes it jump off the page. And by the way, just to explain myself on that, I'm like, I was having conversations inside our studio with a whole bunch of our staff and we were all talking about like, what are our dream gigs? Like literally, I went back on the air. I was like, yeah, I'm just going to treat it with my dream gig was like not thinking anything of it. And people are like, well, who are these people asking? I'm like, oh, I'm sorry. People on the Twitter verse weren't asking. So I mean, nobody was like, no, people in my real life were asking me. I responded via Twitter and I wasn't calling for a Patrick Ewing's job. Like I respect the hell out of Patrick Ewing.

I know how difficult his job has to be, but also at the same time, like I'm not making a, a ploy to coach, but that is one school that if it were to be open, if that ever were to happen, I would seriously, seriously consider it because to me, Georgetown basketball was big John. It was AI. It was Victor page.

It was city guards in your face, pressure style. You know, they're helping young people from different socioeconomic backgrounds become great human beings, getting an exceptional education. And people say, well, why wouldn't you do? I'm like, I don't want to build a shoes of coach K and John started my guy. And John has that role. Like, so for me, there's nothing wrong.

I think we're just putting out your dreams and not saying you need to make a strategy to go out there and accomplish it. But I also don't give a damn what people say on Twitter. Twitter is not real to me.

It's not true. Doesn't pay my bills. Twitter.

When I walked in my door, didn't say, daddy, I love you. You know, Twitter is not my life. So that is what it is. And I wish stand on gun is the best of luck. He could have called me and spoke to me like a man, but I thought he would do that. Well, maybe Stan wants that job. Maybe he does.

I don't think you should go for it. But by the way, also, Adam, I laugh because when it's like, oh, what's, you know, have some integrity. I'm like, okay, so integrity means the way I've seen other coaches go about the job where they're like, you know, they're smiling, Patrick, you know, his face with their back doing it with the AD or the assistant coaches that do all the dirty things behind the scenes to then put themselves in a position to get the job.

Like that's integrity to me. Okay. Got it. Instead of just saying openly, I, that would be a dream scenario for me. What's wrong with that. Awesome. Absolutely awesome. Every Tuesday, we talked to J. Will at real Jay Williams on Twitter.