What’s the one concern here?

I wonder when I will get to the point where that doesn't make me laugh. Never.

I don't think we're ever going to get to that point. No. It's sort of like Armando Bacot with an astrology lab. Yeah, I heard that. Two things that may come up in our conversation as we talk to Luke Tkach of the News & Observer every Friday, he joins us. First of all, did you hear that, because I retweeted a buddy of mine in Washington, Chick Hernandez, tweeted that out and I just, I died laughing. I watched it six times, Bruce Bodro, and then she called them the Vancouver Canooks. Did you happen to see that? I did.

I did. You know, they say Washington is just not a real hockey town, not a hockey market, you know? He was their coach.

He was their coach. Oh, my gosh. I was dying. I got two Canooks and a Bodro out of that, and there was even more than that.

Yeah, there's at least one other one in there. I can't remember what it was, but... Let's start with Frank Reich. Your thoughts, Luke Tkach, columnist, News & Observer. Your thoughts on Frank Reich, the new head coach.

Yeah, I don't have any problem in the abstract of the hire of Frank Reich. I mean, I think it does a lot of things that the Panthers wanted to do. You know, my one concern sort of in the, in terms of like black letter laws, that the guy's done well with good QBs and struggled when he hasn't had a good QB, and I'm, you know, although I've been a Sam Darnold defender, I'm pretty sure which camp Sam Darnold falls into. So I hope that in taking this job, Frank Reich got some assurances that the Panthers are prepared to part with the assets and the cash needed to fix the quarterback position, whether that's in a trade or through the draft. And I'm not sure at nine, you're necessarily going to get the guy who's going to fix your franchise, but you have some assets there to potentially move up if the guy you want is there. And if not, to get a stop gap till next year and see where you end up and, and maybe, maybe try to move up and make a run at someone like Drake man, who I think is going to be a pretty good NFL quarterback.

Although I should put an asterisk next to that saying like most NFL GMs, I've absolutely no way of any security in evaluating college quarter, but I think you make all the throws at any rate, nothing wrong with the higher and the abstract. I think of the names that they were talking to from outside the organization, Frank Reich was probably one who fit the best. He's been here. He's lived here. He gets the franchise.

He gets the community all pluses for Frank. Right. I do think, however, one to quote Ron Rivera, this is a missed opportunity, obviously.

Yeah. Steve Wilkes found something with that group that worked. And when you, I don't like the message that sends to the players in the locker room. I don't like the message it sends to black coaches, to be honest, that it doesn't matter what kind of job you do.

We're going to bend over backward to go find, find someone else. And, and, and, you know, as I said, I have no problem with Frank Reich. I still feel like the guy that the Panthers needed had earned the job was already in the, was already in the building. So let me, let me ask you this. Cause I, cause I said this earlier, if Steve Wilkes were white, is he the head coach today?

Let me put it to you a different way. If Joe Brady had worked out and Joe Brady was the interim coach when they went six and six boy wonder did this, got all the players in the same age. Joe Brady is the head coach of this team in November, but Steve Wilkes isn't an offensive young white boy wonder, even if Joe Brady turned out to be only one of those things. So yeah, I mean, I think you're, I think your question is fair. I think the, you know, thinking about this in terms of like a Joe Brady makes you wonder what the Panthers would have done if Steve Wilkes were a 24 year old white guy who'd won a national championship in college. Yeah.

And, and I want to be careful. I'm not trying to accuse David Tepper and the Panthers of anything. But I do think that two things can be true here. Frank Wright could be a good coach and Steve Wilkes and, and the Panthers may have, this had, may have nothing to do at all with the incredibly bad record the national football league has of not only hiring but retaining black head coaches, David Cully, Lovey Smith each got one year.

That's it in terrible situations. They knew what they were going into. I just don't understand what the Houston Texans, what their, I guess standards were for retention. If you're going to bring in guys and give them one year and then kick them to the curb.

I mean, I have no idea what they were thinking about, but it's not about them. The Texans are somebody else's problem. We've got here in the old North state, as I said, you know, like I think if, if you look at the people they could have hired in terms of connections with the franchise and the community, Frank Wright texts, a lot of those boxes, but I, the, my colleague, Mike K at the observer used the word fixated. The Panthers were fixated on an offensive guy and they never really give Wilkes gave Wilkes a chance, a legitimate shot at the full-time job. And I just think when David Tepper, what we've seen is when David Tepper gets fixated on something, whether it's Baker Mayfield or a practice facility or bringing, you know, country music to North Carolina, bad things tend to happen. And so that concerns me that David Tepper is the kind of guy who talks himself into things and then follows them to the conclusion of whether it's logical or not. David Tepper did not invent stadium concerts.

I thought, I thought that was the first person to think of it. All right, let me get, let me get to college, a little college basketball here. North Carolina's had, I think two, even though they didn't play well at Syracuse, they didn't bring their defense to go to Syracuse. What are your thoughts on them over the last couple of games? I mean, I think, I mean, they're, they're winning and that honestly has been their biggest problem is, is whether they play well or not is turning, turning performances into wins. You know, I thought, you know, we all got caught up in Turquavian Smith and, and Leaky Black and Caleb Love and Casey Morsell in that state game. I thought Carolina did a really good job. I mean, it's easier after Smith goes out of doing what it needed to do to win that game.

And that in this case meant feeding Baycott and not getting caught up in the jump shooting contest. They did a really good job of that at Syracuse. They did a good job of doing what they needed to do offensively against the zone and that a lot of teams and Carolina included had gotten caught up in that mentally before. So I think the Tar Heels are actually in a decent place, all things considered. I think they're starting to redevelop the identity that they started to develop about this time a year ago. And I kind of feel like, and I've had this conversation with Armando Baycott, the Tar Heels came into the season, like the golden state warriors. And they had a really hard time.

They knew they were going to be in the playoffs and a really hard time getting up to play the Kings on a Tuesday night. And I think now they're kind of got the bit between their teeth and are starting to, starting to push a little bit. You know, Baycott was clearly hurt at the start of the year.

He's not clearly not now or at least not playing like it now. I just feel like they've, they've kind of hit their stride a little bit. And to be honest with you, I kind of thought that was going to be inevitable. The shot selection's been better. The defense other than the Syracuse game maybe has been better. RJ Davis once again is kind of turning it on at this time of year.

It's a lot of things we saw a year ago and I think some of that was a little predictable. I think RJ Davis is their best player who isn't named Armando Baycott. And to me, they become a second week NCAA tournament team depending on which Caleb Love they get. I don't think there's any team in this league that's going to be playing four games in the NCAA tournament.

I believe that. But I think if they get great Caleb Love, they might have the best chance to do it. Yeah, they need the Caleb Love they had last year. But they needed that Caleb Love last year too and they got him for five games. Right.

And look where they ended up. I don't think they have quite that ceiling. And I said this before the season started. I think the fact that Brady Manik is no longer here, I thought that was not entirely about Brady Manik but they bust through the ceiling because of what Manik gave them. How do you feel about state at this point? I feel pretty good about state, especially the way that they played without Jack Clark and Dusan Mihorcik. I mean, it feels like almost losing Clark and not feeling like you had to run the offense through him at times freed up everybody else. And now they're kind of a four out team at times. They went actually went four out to beat Notre Dame against Notre Dame zone used Breon pass. Yeah, more than we really have all year and he he added a lot.

But you know, that's kind of the way it's been. They've gotten guys whether it's pass against Notre Dame or Ernest Ross against Miami. You know, they've had guys you don't normally count on step up and play important roles. And, you know, I think the most important thing for that team is the leadership that they've gotten. I mean, Jarkelle Joyner is a much, much better player than I expected.

Yeah. Based on what I'd seen out of him at Ole Miss. He's a much better leader than I expected. And I think he's really helped her quaving Smith become a leader to those guys have, I don't want to say great chemistry in the back or because sometimes it feels like they're on different teams when they're on offense. But they found a way to play together and they found a way to get everybody involved, especially DJ burns. I, I will go to my grave trying to figure out how DJ burns did not score 50 points a night in the big south, even playing 20 minutes a game, because I don't know how anybody in that league is supposed to stop that baby hook. And ACC big men can't. So I'm, I'm the old joke about Dean Smith and Michael Jordan. I think the big south somehow is the only, the only defender who could hold DJ burns under, under 14 and 10. You know, it's, what's funny.

And I keep going back to the same thing. The state Duke game spring training is right around the corner. So come for the games and have a ball in Arizona with world-class resorts, unbeatable dining and nightlife, amazing scenery and endless outdoor adventure. Make your visit unforgettable.

Plan your getaway at my spring training.com. The most surprising thing to me was when I looked at the minutes played column and DJ burns only played 16 minutes. I swear he was on the court for 35 minutes because it felt like he was always there. I love DJ burns. I can't wait till they get more church and Jack Clark back. And we'll see what that looks like. Go, you know, for the last say six weeks of the season, giving everybody time to get comfortable. I'm not as optimistic about Duke, but I'm also a little bit more encouraged, even though they, they lost the game at Virginia tech. I think I still think Virginia tech is good. I don't care what their record is. I thought I saw enough good signs from the blue devils, even without Derek Whitehead that I think there might be something for them in terms of something national that they're going to get in the NCAA tournament. But I was kind of encouraged by what I saw.

Yeah. I mean, I think all along Duke ceiling has been very high. They just struggled to get there. And quite frankly, I'm not surprised Virginia tech won that game either. You know, people have gone on rants about analytics and the net, but the fact is Virginia tech did very well against a good non-conference schedule. They've lost a lot of close games in ACC play. They're kind of the opposite of Providence last year, Providence, you know, kept winning close games. The analytics didn't think they were that good when the NCAA tournament rolled around, they were pretty much right. And so, you know, Vegas knows there's a reason the Hokies were favored in that game.

Yeah. And you know, probably honestly, I can't remember if you and I are on the same side of this or not. Duke probably should have won that game because I would have called a flagrant foul for punching the guy in the throat. Well, you, whether you meant it or not, it's like, it's like hockey, man, you gotta be in control of your stick.

That's exactly the analogy I use. Here's the thing that, and this is what, what I wish the officials would have said. And I, cause I think if you say this out loud, people will go, Oh, okay, Virginia, that was such a good game. If I'm the official, I just say, look, I could not put Duke at the free throw line and give them the ball with a chance to win based on the way that game played out. And it was a complete accident, but it should have been called there. I don't even know why they have the option to not call it. It's an easy one. We went to the monitor, we saw the punch, even though it was not intended to be a punch.

I didn't, I couldn't figure it out, but that's exact. It's, it's ACC officiates, college basketball officiating. It's not just ACC officiating. Those weren't ACC officials. I mean, that's two guys from the big 12 and the guy from the SCC who worked very few ACC games. So the one thing you can't do for that is blame ACC officials. The state of the college basketball officiating is not great, but I don't think anybody in a position of power has any illusions about that. There's a lot of things going on right now, trying to make officials better. And we're just now seeing guys come through, you know, the sort of minor league farm system consortium that's been developed over the last five or six years, guys who are working their way up from the big south through the colonial, through the Atlantic tent to the ACC, eventually that's going to generate a better pool of referees. But the ACC right now remains pretty top heavy. It's good guys are really good.

But the level drops off quickly, but that's true everywhere. And, and, you know, the block charge stuff, that's not the official's fault. That's the way the people in power and want that goal. Look, I've had this conversation at the final four with Jim Delaney and Tad Boyle and, and our Highland and Danny Gabbitt and the people who, and JD Collins at the time, the people who make these decisions and Mike DeCorcey was in there, Mike Waters was in there. We told them the way that you're legislating blocks and charges is hurting your game. And I gave the example of whichever Martin twin it was that dunked on the use Utah state kid from about the three point line and got called for a charge saying you're rewarding the wrong play. That is obvious. And then I made the mistake of saying the NBA figured this out and all of a sudden they jumped on me like a bunch of pit bulls on a stake.

So there's only so much you can talk to these people. Coaches like the way the block wasn't coaches complain when it goes against them, but every one of them will say they want the standing in front of the guy charged to be called because they can coach that out of less talented players. And it equalizes the playing field. And they won't admit that in public, but they all know it's true. And until we get that out of the game, college basketball officiating kind of suffer.

It's amazing. And people like me and DeCorcey and Waters and you and anybody else can scream it into the, into the sky forever until the people who make those decisions change their minds. It's not going to change.

Yeah, they're, they're, they're killing the game. We should have continuation in college basketball too on drives. I just, I don't understand why we don't have it. One minute.

All right. We have one minute left with Luke to cock canes without max patchy ready. I have not heard anything about Freddie Anderson for tonight against San Jose. He's, he is going to play tonight.

Why, why did, why did he not play the second and third periods against Dallas? I don't understand your thoughts on where they are at this point. I mean, I think they're still in good shape. They need to make a move at the deadline. I would have said, and you would have said they need to add a third pairing defenseman with some offensive pop. That still has to happen, but they've got to add a forward.

Now. It doesn't matter whether it's a center or winger because they've got guys that can move around, but they got to replace patch already. And in the last 10 seconds or whatever here on the subject of Achilles, I just want to say that as bad as it was seeing patchy ready, I'm just as thrilled that white head did not tear his Achilles tendon at Virginia tech.

Cause that's what it looked like to me at first. That's a huge bullet. It's been a week of dodging bullets in the ACC. Turquavian Smith, Greek white head.

I mean, we're lucky that we didn't lose two of the best players in the triangle in the space of 72 hours. Luke to cock. If you're going tonight, I'll see you on the fifth floor or the seventh floor as it used to be called, whatever floor it is. I'll see you take care of that. At Luke to cock on Twitter from the news and observer.