Carolina Panthers are making the right moves in free agency

Dennis, do you know which two conferences have the most teams left in the NCAA Tournament?

We have 16 teams left. I would say the SEC and the Big 12. SEC and the Big East. The Big East, okay.

Yes. My apologies to the Big East. They each have three teams left. The Big 12, where every game was a quad one game, has just two left.

I'm not really slamming any conference here. The Big 10 always has one. It's Michigan State, but that's all they've got. They've got one. The ACC has just one.

There's a bunch of conferences with one, obviously. Big 12 has two. I think Texas and Kansas State, right? Those are the only two.

I want to make sure that is correct. Kansas State and Texas. SEC, Alabama, Tennessee, and where's the Arkansas?

Arkansas. I paid so little attention to basketball outside the ACC this year. Literally, I watched almost no games that did not involve the ACC.

Almost none. I might have seen like a couple of minutes here and there. I enjoyed watching Kansas play, mostly for the sophomoric jokes about Grady Dick. But I enjoyed watching Kansas play. They were a fun team.

Of course, they lost in the second round. To Arkansas. But every time I looked at a mock draft, I kid you not, it seems like there are three Arkansas players in the top 15. And then I look at like, how are they possibly on an eight, nine seed line? What are you doing to the team that's seeded one there? Arkansas has more pro prospects than anybody in this entire tournament. They weren't healthy all year, which is a problem. But they're getting better. Arkansas might go to the Final Four out of the eight seed, like Carolina went out of an eight seed. They're that talented.

Arkansas is that good. And sometimes when you get down to it, and this is not about the discussion we were having before, and I'm not, this is not about the discussion we were having before about, don't worry about pace, not about Virginia, but it's about dudes. It's about players. If you've got a bunch of pro prospects, legit pro prospects. I'm not talking about guys who will get paid, you know, in overseas.

I'm not talking about that. You have legit pro prospects, you got a shot. And Arkansas has got dudes. So I would not be, will not be surprised at all if they end up in the Final Four. Of course, me saying this means that they're going to get beat by 11 or more by UConn. It's pretty much a guarantee. Yeah, pretty much. I am also the guy that sat here last week and said, man, Tom Izzo is Mr.

Marche. Well, okay, Izzo knocks off number two seed Marquette. But Michigan State's good. Michigan State's got a bunch of shooters and they got a bunch of old guys. Like if you go down the list of teams here, I'll bet you that every team in pretty much every team in the Sweet 16 has a bunch of seniors and guys who have played a lot of basketball.

And the teams that are really young are out. The outlier was 2050. The outliers, 2012 Kentucky, 2015 Duke.

Those are the outliers. Doesn't mean you can't do well, but for the most part, the best teams are the oldest teams. Hell, go back.

I almost said a bad word. Go back to Villanova, Carolina, Villanova, three years in a row. Go back to Baylor when they won during the season that was post-pandemic sort of 2021. When Virginia won it. Right.

Oh, do it. Villanova, Carolina, Villanova, Virginia, year off, Baylor. I think even Kansas was pretty veteran-laden last year.

You got to have older players now. They have to be really part of your team. I was able to go to Greensboro to cover the games this weekend and seeing Kansas State play twice, that's a veteran team with some really, really, really talented players. I was impressed with how they played in that comeback they had against Kentucky yesterday. I was impressed by Kansas State. Yeah, Kentucky's not great either. The coach said walking into the locker room, we have better dudes than they did. Yeah. And that was true.

Yeah, very much. Kentucky didn't have the same type of a team that we're used to seeing Kentucky have. It's interesting that they've really gotten, some of the fans have really gotten on John Calipari. It's been a while since Kentucky has been that team and we always knew this was going to happen at Kentucky because they do feel, and I'm not saying that they're wrong, they do feel it's like a birthright to always be in the final four, always be one of the best teams. And when they go through these types of years where they're not, they don't know really how to deal with it. We understand that here with either North Carolina or Duke, when they go through seasons where they're not awesome, we don't know how to handle it.

We don't know how to process it. All right, let's get to the other type of March madness and I think we should call it Martine madness. Is that okay?

Yeah, why not? All right, so this is Martine Neches for the Hurricanes. Four times this year has produced a goal in the closing moments of the third period that tied the game and sent the game into overtime. In October, in Philadelphia, 2.05 left, Canes win it in overtime. In Winnipeg, in November, 39 seconds left, produces a goal to tie the game, capping a Hurricanes comeback, and they go to overtime.

They lose in overtime. He had two game-winning goals in overtime against Dallas. He had the tying goal against San Jose and the overtime winner against the Sharks here in Raleigh. Last night, he had a goal with 0.2 or 0.3 seconds left.

I'm not sure it really matters at that point, right? And then Carolina wins it in overtime. Here's how it sounded, not just yesterday, but here's how it sounded from Mike Matiscalco on the Hurricanes radio network. But Neches will get to the clock. Neches has got Spetsny Kop with him.

They're motoring into the star zone. Neches, backhand, Spetsny Kop, Rosewood, Wedgwood with the save, still out in front. Neches scores! Martine Neches ends it in overtime.

Ben's been on the ice for a while. Neches with a seed, and he does it again! Spetsny Kop with him. 13 seconds left. They score! Martine Neches, the man of the moment again, ties it at 4. Carolina with the comeback.

And the Kings will come out with a puck. Spetsny Kop. He's got a step, and he's got Neches with him.

Spetsny Kop. Neches, he does it again! I can't recall the last time that any player has done what he has done in those moments. Three game-winning goals in overtime. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure there are players who have done that. But the force overtime, four times, and three of them combined are 50 seconds from the final horn. Come on. That's uncanny to me.

Absolutely uncanny. So, good for Carolina to catch a break last night where that goal happens because they really should have gotten no points. They ended up with two. The Devils, at the same time Carolina was coming back to tie and then win it in overtime, the Devils went from 2-0 up in Florida to 3-2 down. Basically, at the same period of time, Devils were 2-0 up. Florida scored three goals in 2 minutes and 30 seconds, take a 3-2 lead, and Carolina went from potentially a point down in the standings to three points up in the standings just on that.

Florida won, rather, New Jersey won yesterday in Tampa, so it's a one point deficit again, but Carolina's got two games in hand. But, just incredible stuff. Sebastian Aio had a hat trick yesterday.

Yeah. And nobody's talking about a hat trick yesterday for Sebastian Aio, even though he was the best player on the ice for Carolina. Real quick, did you see the overtime game-winning goal by Aio Saturday night? Oh, he danced around Tony D'Angelo just like he did in the bubble. Through Tony D'Angelo.

Yeah, just like he did in the bubble a few years ago. So, true story, I'm doing the aftermath on Saturday night, and I'm still laughing, and because of the nature of, especially when it's a radio-only game, and it was a radio-only game on Saturday night, I have to get to the post-game a little bit quicker, right? If it's a home game and Tripp and Mike are on TV, too, they probably go for about five to seven minutes before I come on. A radio game, man, they're getting out quick, especially on the road. There's no fanfare for a win.

They just recap it. So, I am, I'm like putting my thoughts together. So, I didn't get a chance to see the replay, and I come on the aftermath, and I go, look, I don't remember exactly who the defenseman was, but I said, I hope it wasn't Tony, because I really like Tony. Personally, I'm a fan of the way Tony D'Angelo has at least interacted with me. I like Tony a lot. So, I didn't want that for Tony.

We knew what happened in the bubble. We knew how Sebastian Aio tied him in knots in the bubble when he danced around him for the goal against the Rangers. I just didn't want that for Tony again, and I got a text from Chip Alexander of the News & Observer, who also covers the K's, and he goes, it was Tony. When I went back and looked at the replay, man, he went five hole, and then around D'Angelo to the inside, I'm like, Tony, oh, Tony. It's a hell of a move. Sebastian had a great night. He was awesome, and he's, for the most part, been good, but hadn't scored, hadn't gotten an assist seven games. So, Hurricanes needed a win, even if they didn't deserve, necessarily, two points.

They needed to figure out a way to get it, and they got it, so it worked out well. Wendy's two for six dollars lets you mix and match some of our best items, like Dave's single with the 10-piece crispy nugs, medium strawberry lemonade with a spicy chicken sandwich, spicy chicken with a Dave's single, Dave's single with a strawberry lemonade, strawberry lemonade, strawberry lemonade, if you're into that, chicken sandwich, crispy nugs, crispy nugs, strawberry lemonade, Dave's, Dave's, nugs, nugs, Sam, Sam. Pick what you want at a price you want. Choose wisely. Choose Wendy's two for six.

For a limited time, price and participation may vary at U.S. Wendy's, solid card only, single item at regular price. Talk about the Panthers and their latest acquisitions and the acquisition of the first round or the first overall pick, and also a little upheaval in Charlotte Hornets' land. We have the one and the only Travis Hancock, T-Bone from Mack and Bone in the mornings of WFNZ in Charlotte. Congratulations on many fronts, my friend. How are you? How's Mabel? Hey, we are good.

Mabel, she found out I'm on with Adam Gold. She's a big fan, so she woke up my dog from from nap number four. So she's she's right here where we're excited. And this is the first time you and I have talked in a long time where there's actually the long-term forecast for the Panthers now includes sunshine and hope. And I don't think we've had this in a long time.

It has been a while. Like they have made so many smart decisions in free agency. It's hard to make smart decisions in free agency. I think in the NFL and a lot of times you pay for past performance rather than what you can get going forward.

But let's just start, we'll get to the first overall pick because, you know, we've been talking about this for a week. I do want your thoughts on it, but I kind of like the last two moves or maybe the last, you know, handful of moves they have made starting with the Hayden Hurst signing. But I love Miles Sanders as a running back and Adam Thielen's no longer a good number one, but he's a really good second receiver if you can get it that way. Yeah, he may not be great in terms of a receiver, but he's great for what they need, right? They need a guy over the middle, a route runner, a veteran leader.

They need all those, you know, cliches, but intangibles, especially when you got a young quarterback. So you mentioned Hayden Hurst, the Panthers over the middle of the field, really since Greg Olsen left, there's been nothing there at tight end. They haven't had guys really over the middle. They now add Hayden Hurst, a pass-catching tight end. They had Adam Thielen over the middle and his route running ability.

They add guys that can help at their age and experience a young quarterback. And you mentioned Miles Sanders. Miles Sanders getting 1,200 yards last year in that offense is really amazing when you consider all the Eagles had to work with the wide outs, Dallas Gotter, the bats, Jalen Hurts. The fact that that dude got 1,200 yards out of that offense with five yards to carry really tells you something. And I think the signing of Miles Sanders, really good player, but it sort of tells you what they're thinking right now. When you invest in a running back at this stage of the NFL, you don't do that unless you feel like you're going to win some games right away.

Well, I agree with that. I also think that it just gives them more versatility because he can also catch the ball out of the backfield. When they made the trade, and we'll get to the first overall pick here, when they made the trade and included DJ Moore, all I could think of was like, you got to get somebody for him to throw to.

And that's where Hayden Hurst, Sanders out of the backfield, because they didn't even have that. Because the two guys they had in-house, Forman and Hubbard, theoretically, I guess, theoretically in-house, they were obviously weren't both in houses. Forman signed a free agent deal with the Bears. By the way, the Bears know that the Panthers didn't make the playoffs, right? We're not sure about that yet.

So we're going to keep that between us. And look, to your point, though, when you add Phelan, you add Hurst, you add Sanders, the whole offensive line returns because they also re-signed Brad Bozeman, who was huge in the run game last year. How often do the Panthers come back with their entire offensive line? And on Corbett, the guard got injured, so he might be right up to the season, but usually we're trying to figure out like four-fifths of the offensive line for the Panthers. The entire offensive line is back too. So a new staff, same offensive line, weapons, and they still have the 39 pick in the draft to add, whether it be a wide out, whatever. So this is a really energetic, fun time to cover and root for the Panthers.

And I haven't really said that too often in the last couple of years. Travis Hancock, T-Bone, Mac and Bone in the morning on WFNZ in Charlotte is with us here in the Adam Gold Show. Do you have a sense or do you think they really know who they want with the first overall pick? It's hard to tell because, you know, we kind of heard last week the rumblings of our, of our own Intel that, you know, that Tepper still liked Anthony Richardson.

So he, you know, he's still kind of in the mix a little bit now too. I don't know if Andy Dalton signing, which another veteran signing by the way, which is good for the quarterback room in there. Another really, really underrated solid signing for what they needed. I think if they would have gone out and got Jimmy Garoppolo or someone that was more than just a bridge, that that would have been an indicator that they were thinking about Richardson not playing this upcoming season, rather than the guys that can play now, we think like Young and Stroud. It's really hard to tell because they're, they're doing a gamesmanship game where they don't want to tip their hand, although they have the number one pick. So they could literally tell you what they wanted. Right. They might be trying to entice Houston for one spot up move.

I'm not sure. I really have no feel for which guy they want. I think they liked both. I think if you did the routine of writing down what you like about both, there's a lot to like about either guy. The only real difference would be the questions of the size of Rice Young.

I mean, that's, that's really the only negative per se comparing the two. So they didn't like the size, but again, Scott Fitterer, the GM was in Seattle with Russell Wilson, right? Undersized guy and Adrian Wilson, who they added to the front office from Arizona, NC State guy, also North Carolina guy. He was in Arizona with Kyler Murray. So there's some experience there.

If they were at trepidation about it, they might go away from that. I, I think CJ Stroud should be the guy, but it's not one of these ones where I'm mad about Rice Young. I think either guy is set up for success based off the roster, the, the staff. I think whatever guy that takes walking into a really good situation. Well, one of those small quarterbacks is really good. And the other is just fun to watch, but isn't, isn't really good in my opinion.

And people can decide for themselves, which is which. I do, I personally think that Bryce Young is the best quarterback in this draft. And I guess the prevailing thought is that CJ Stroud is the safest pick.

I don't know who you choose at that point, but if I had number one, I would simply say, this is the best quarterback. We'll figure out keeping him, you know, in one piece down the road. I mean, Cam Newton- And this is where David Tepper, David Tepper has to really trust the, he, he has frank back off staff. He's got Jim Caldwell, he's got Josh McCown. He's got a lot of guys in place here. Like this Tepper's done a tremendous job more so than before. Now just back up, like, let me, you got him the number one pick, you helped out. He got that done.

Just back up. Like if you want Richardson and they like them, well, then let them decide that. But now we've been raving about Tepper's job here the last couple of weeks. But if he tries to step in and do the routine of this is who I want, it's to involve, then this thing could go backwards, right?

Yes. I mean, look, I'm glad. I think the best thing that came out, not just getting the first overall pick and as Frank Reich said today, they're in control. The best thing that came out of this is what it did to the fan base. And the fan base had been down for years. And, you know, they, they like Frank Reich, but I don't believe it was the jolt of energy that, that you, you normally get.

But when you get number one, yeah, that now everybody is excited. And that's the best thing that came out of it was that it sort of re-energized the fan base. I would be curious what season tickets, what happened with season tickets after that trade.

I'll bet there was a little bit of a bump if they needed a bump in season tickets, but certainly you could feel the energy from the fans. Before I move on to the Hornets, what is left for them in either free agency or roster building, other than general improvement all over the place, because we know they added a little bit more offensive line depth. They added defensive tackle depth. Von Bell at safety, I really like.

What else do they need? Yeah, Von Bell is one of the best, you know, he's another chess piece for the new defensive coaches. And they're not going to move Jeremy Chin up to linebacker in a nickel position. So Jeremy Chin is now going to be kind of used. You know, I think he's going to be used everywhere, which he's kind of been lost back there a little bit the last couple of years.

I still think speed receiver while feeling is good. And they've got Chanel and they've got, they've got some dudes here that they could do some things with, but man, you know how the NFL is. They need, they need a speed guy. So that's why at 39, we've been talking a little bit about, you know, some of the receivers in the draft, they flowers from BC. If he was there, Josh down the guy, obviously we all know well from North Carolina. We try to look at the 39 spot because you know, there's still a need for speed.

Definitely. So I think that's where they have to DJ shark is a free agent and there's rumblings that he could be next day. You know, I just an absolute blaze of a receiver. So he could be next and then we'll figure it out. But I think feed wide out, whether it's DJ chart or the draft, they've got to add some speed at the position. They did a good job with feeling that they've now they've got a compliment feeling with somebody else.

All right. We're talking with Travis Hancock from Mac and bone in the mornings on WFNZ at T-bone WFNZ. Now to the Michael Jordan news. How did that land with fans of the Hornets when it was announced that Jordan was going to sell most of his majority ownership in the team? Well, there's been rumblings for a while, you know, locally and then nationally, Bill Simmons talks about it a lot. So I would best describe it as surprised when it dropped, but not shocked that it did.

If that makes any sense, like we kind of kind of do along the way that that's something may happen. And I always, I always prepped it by saying to be fair, he's done a phenomenal job on the business side and the community side and all that stuff that Florida goes under the radar. Like he's a fabulous for business. Like business is booming for the terms of income and what they do. Like they they've done great there, but the fans care about the basketball side more.

That's just the way it is. And you know, his name attached to the franchise didn't have the boom factor that it should have years ago. Well, free agents weren't drawn to the Hornets. Michael Jordan's name didn't bring in all these guys. It brought in Gordon Hayward and Al Jefferson, and it brought in a couple on the way. But when he couldn't attract the big name free agents here, there's been a ton of them. As we know in the player movement era, he couldn't attract those guys. So then they had to go draft all their guys and they misfired on about 75% of lottery pick.

So when you miss that much on the draft and you can't get the free agents here, well, that's going to be the situation they found themselves in over the last 13 years. And the thing I've kind of heard a little bit is well, that is MJ is not enamored with the game anymore, not just the Hornets, but this is not the same game he became the greatest. This is a different brand of basketball to the point he doesn't like watching the games, not just the Hornets, but just the league.

We have the greatest player ever. And the way the game is played, he's just not interested in what's going on in the league right now. I mean, I'm I'm baffled by this because I don't think the NBA as a game, as a visual experience is, has ever been better than it is today. Yeah. I mean, I guess it's just, you know, we don't like skill and shooting. Is that what we're against? Well, I think it may be more of my guess would be, it's more about the player management stuff.

The guy said it. So I think it might be part of the, the, the way it's played, but I think part of it too is, you know, how could you go to MJ and say, Hey, that's players out tonight. I get the load management angle. I get people being angry.

It's a combination of the players and the way they're treated. And I just think that, I just think he's trying to get out. He's now focused on NASCAR. Like there's a lot there and I think he tried it.

It didn't work. And I think he's trying to, you know, he's trying to make that, that billion dollars back. Well, he's going to do that. If he sells, when he bought the majority interest, it was 275 million. The he's going to sell his majority interest of a franchise that's worth 1.7 billion. He should make that money back. Yeah.

And he also still owes, I think he still owes six to $1.7 billion off from this contract that he signed. So we can now get out. We're finally out of that net, that bet. Oh, Travis Hancock, Mac and Bone in the morning, WFNZ in Charlotte. Thank you, man.

I'll talk to you very soon. Hey, thanks for not bringing up Duke, man. I appreciate that a lot, dude. It's, it's, it's, it's tough in the in-laws house right now. The connection's getting a little fuzzy. I can't hear you anymore. I got to go. Take care of Mac. All right, man. Thank you.

T-Bone. I call, why not call him Mac? I screwed up the whole thing by calling him Mac at the end. I apologize to him for me.

Gosh, that's terrible. Anyway. Um, all right. It's, uh, the whole Duke thing through me. I have in-laws that are, we have a North Carolina fan and a Duke fan. I don't know how they survive.

They say they claim that they root for each other when they're not playing each other. Oh yeah. Okay. So Dennis, cause I know you were just talking to Mac in the phone. Did you apologize?

I did. Mabel was upset, but it's fine. I'm very bad. So my in-laws are, my mother-in-law is a Duke fan. My father-in-law is a Carolina fan.

They claim to root for, uh, the other team when they're not playing their team. Okay. Do you buy that for a second? Sure. Why not? I don't. No, no.

Well, maybe not root for their team, but you're supporting your spouse. How about that? No, no.

And shouts to Carolina fan for taking a victory lap on Saturday. Again, I see it. It's fine. It's fine. That's what it is. That's what it is. So just so you know, you just like state fans. Yeah.

Just so you know, it's all good. Wendy's two for $6 lets you mix and match some of our best items. Dave single with a 10 piece crispy nugs, medium strawberry lemonade with a spicy chicken sandwich, spicy chicken with a Dave single Dave single with a strawberry lemonade, strawberry lemonade, strawberry lemonade. If you're into that chicken, Sam, crispy nugs, crispy nugs, strawberry lemonade Dave's Dave's nugs, nugs, Sam, Sam, pick what you want at a price you want. Choose wisely. Choose Wendy's two for six for a limited time. Price and participation may vary in us.

Wendy's on the card only single item at regular price. So I have not done the math on mine yet, Dennis, but here are the losses I lost. They had a five team ACC parlay for the first round with all ACC teams. That's a loss. I also had a five team, five game ACC parlay, but with Furman to win, which did and Iowa state to win Pitt beat them.

Yeah. But I also had state to win and they lost. So that lost, uh, I had, I picked all the eight, nine games. I got, did I get all of them wrong? I got, uh, one of them, right? Okay.

One in three. I picked all the 10, 11 games and got two of them. Right. So I lost that. I did have the first number one seed Purdue to lose.

So that was plus two 25. So that was good. Uh, I'm still alive with number one seeds in the final four with two West coast conference over two and a half wins as a, as a league, a big 12 under 11 and a half, big 10 under seven and a half.

I'm still alive with those four, but I'd have to hit all of those in order to do better in order to get over plus money for the tournament so far. I've been bad. That's fair. All right.

You start. All right. I'm going to go NCAA tournament. Sure. I'm going to go future. I'm actually going to go ahead and go to Thursday, even though I know I'm going to be here Thursday.

We have no games today for the NCAA tournament. Well, there's some, and I, I'm going to give you an NIT pick. Oh really? Yes. I'm going to give you an IT pick, but I'm going to take Kansas state at plus one 10 over Michigan state. Okay. The fact that Michigan state is actually a minus on the money line. I'll take Kansas state factor. Yeah. That that whatever factor that is, I'm not buying it.

That's my first pick. All right. Mine world baseball classic today. Oh, okay. I was really excited.

I wanted to see if I could get like props on, uh, Sasaki the pitcher who was amazing, but I can't find any individual, uh, game props, uh, for him. So we're just going to say Japan to win by three runs. Okay. Plus seven 50. Okay. I'm actually taking Mexico to win this on the money line. Plus two Oh five plus two Oh five.

Japan is a big favor. This kid is amazing. This kid is just ridiculous. You go, if you watch the game tonight, I think it's on FS one.

He is ridiculous. All right. I've got a women's NCAA tournament game.

Give it to me, Colorado on the money line over Duke plus two 55. Okay. In Cameron indoor.

Is that where it is? Yeah. Okay. My final one NIT tomorrow, Wisconsin over Oregon plus one 80. Okay.

Really? I can't watch Wisconsin. You'll have to, uh, you'll have to tell me anything about watching.

Yeah, I can't. This isn't about watching. This is just about who wins.

All right. Uh, my final wager on the ice tonight, the Detroit red wings at home to the Florida Panthers, Florida coming off a very big win against the New Jersey devils. Give me the red wings plus one 60 on the money line at home to end Florida's I think two game winning streak. Panthers are right there for a playoff spot right now. They are just one point out of the second wild card spot. Uh, and they've got a game in hand. The Islanders had think have played three fewer, three, three more games than everybody else.

I don't know if the Islanders are going to hang onto it, but we'll take a Detroit to beat Florida. Wendy's two for $6 lets you mix and match some of our best items. Dave single with a 10 piece crispy nugs, medium strawberry lemonade with a spicy chicken sandwich, spicy chicken with a Dave single Dave single with a strawberry lemonade, strawberry lemonade, strawberry lemonade. If you're into that chicken, Sam, crispy nugs, crispy nugs, strawberry lemonade. Dave's Dave's nugs, nugs, Sam, Sam, pick what you want at a price you want. Choose wisely. Choose Wendy's two for six for a limited time. Price and participation may vary at US Wendy's. Solid card only. Single item at regular price.