Chad Up The Street

The workday is done.

Social media is heating up. Ding, ding, boys. School's in session. Welcome to Sports Talk with Personality. Woo!

Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!

You riding with us? Yes. Great. Coming to argue? That's a given.

That's a given. Even better. Let's get the showgun. Woo! Yummy Live!

Clock out, crank up. People got the platform, let's give them a show. The drive starts now on WSJS. You are on! A Tuesday drive right here on WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad.

Where We are one day closer to MLB opening day. And I'm fired the heck up about it. It's a little chilly outside, but it looks terrific, and baseball. Is almost here. It's getting close, you guys.

By the way, just got to start right up here at the top. By the way, I'm Will Dalton, WD. Should probably announce my name at the top there, just minor details. There's a lot going on, I'm on little sleep. Because Amidst everything going on in Chapel Hill, With Hubert Davis and his pending situation.

Guess who reared his head today and gave a rare press conference? That would be Bill Belichick. That's it. What a troll. What a troll.

We'll get to that a little later on, but let's get to the first part of that. The impending Hubert Davis situation, of course.

So It's about to be a new era. of Tar Heel basketball. Carolina basketball. Um However, Carolina needs to go ahead and make it a new era because. Right now.

It's just still in limbo. Like, we assume that this is going to happen. Most likely, according to all reports, this is still going to happen. I mean, heck, Brendan Marks, friend of the show, national college basketball writer for the athletics, said earlier today in a tweet, a couple of hours ago: meetings and conversations still ongoing, including this morning. Expected outcome that he has coached his last game at UNC hasn't changed, but the process hasn't played out quite like plenty internally thought it might.

Okay. We've been talking about this story. Really, since Friday. It started to pick up momentum on Saturday, I'd say. But Friday is when this really got going, that it could be a real possibility that Carolina moves on from Hubert Davis.

And It's time to rip the band-aid off. You just gotta do it. Like at some point This kind of becomes a little unfair to Hubert Davis to drag this out like this. Because In Carolina's mind, they might.

Well, it could be several things, honestly. They could be trying to be respectful to Hubert Davis and let this all, you know, play out, figure out how they want to announce it. They also could be. Trying to figure out who the replacement's going to be before they announce anything. But you know what this is like?

This is kind of like uh Whenever you've got a girlfriend. Who She's trying to keep you in limbo 'cause you're a nice guy. You guys got a good history together, you know. Kind of like Hubert Davis in Carolina. I got a good history together.

This dude's got 50 years of Carolina in his blood. But the girlfriend's just trying to let you down easy because, you know, things are cordial. Things are good between you two.

Meanwhile, she's got eyes for Chad up the street. Already talking to them, already sending signals. But you know, she's letting you down. No, no, no. Rip it off.

Rip the band-aid off. We can handle bad news. We can handle this.

So. Cause what are we doing? Sitting here talking about the situation as if he's gone. when he's technically not gone yet. Bamani Jones I thought laid this point out pretty well.

Yesterday on his podcast, The Right Time with Bahmani Jones. It feels like he's so fired that I'm talking about him like he's been fired, even though he hasn't actually been fired yet. Because you have to fire him now once you waited this long and nobody said anything. You gotta fire him. If you had come out immediately and been like, hey, Say what you want, but he's coming back next year, right?

Got a big-time recruit coming in. He's coming back, and that's that. That's not what they're doing. That's not what they're doing. No, they're clearly surveying the waters behind the scenes for his replacement.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that. If you have to do that, then you need to you need to go about this. It's true. Everybody's talking about him like he's fired, but he's technically not yet.

At least not that we know of.

So It's going to have to be a new era of Carolina basketball, so let's talk about some of the candidates. Let's do that. Because Whoever Carolina goes after, They're gonna have to They're gonna have to pay up. They're gonna have to pay that person's buyout. After paying Hubert's buyout, which is $5.3 million, thought I might throw that out there.

So let's look at some of the possible candidates buyouts. You got Todd Golden, who's my personal favorite at Florida. That's a $16 million buyout. It's not cheap. Morgan, you got that kind of cash?

No, not at all.

Sound good over there. Good to hear from you already on a Tuesday. Nate Oates? That's not cheap. Over to Alabama, $18 million.

Listen, I don't have that in my back pocket either. Me and Morgan, we need some cash here to pay that. But. Let's go down the list of some of the cheaper ones. TJ, Osselberger, Iowa State.

That's around $4 million. Dusty May at Michigan, that's $7 million.

So The point is It's going to cost quite a bit for them to turn the page here, Carolina. But at the end of the day, you're looking at probably this exceeding $20 million to $30 million between Davis' buyout, the Target's buyout, and the new coach's salary plus NIL commitments.

So a lot of numbers here. That's what you're going to have to do if you're going to pursue a big name. And then, you know, you got boosters and things. But the prestige of the program with those boosters can often make this you know, pretty feasible. Because it's Carolina we're talking about here.

But they have to rip the band-aid off first. They have to turn the page.

So when we talk about making it a new era, We're talking financially too, as you can see. Cause You have to get it done. You got to do that. You're going to, if you want to evolve. and take the next step.

Cause Carolina is Carolina, but ultimately if you want to take that next step. into the future of college basketball, you're going to have to pay for it. As you can see here. But that's what you should want to do because you're Carolina. You're Carolina here.

You have to do it. Terrence Oglesby. Or guy. Does great work for the field of 68, the ACC network. FanDuel Sports Network uh when he covers the Charlotte Hornets.

He was on field of 68 and laid this out in pretty straight terms the other day in terms of how Carolina should be evaluating its program. And it's not just against Duke. Like damn what Duke does. Like this is Carolina. They've been right in the middle of the pack for a while and Like it's Carolina.

Like, of course, like it sucks even more whenever Duke's winning, but it's Carolina. They don't put up with like I appreciate that thing.

Well, it stinks. They're measuring their success up against Dukes.

Well, Carolina should be measuring their success up against everybody in college basketball. It's true. It's not just a Duke thing. Like, it's everybody. It's Yukon.

It's Florida. It. It's Alabama. It's all of 'em. Arizona, Michigan.

Because this is Carolina we're talking about here. But ultimately, They need to in order to step into this new era. of college basketball. They have to rip the band-aid off with Hubert Davis, and so far. They've kind of drugged that process out.

Joe Gilio of the Ovius and Gilio podcast is going to join us at 5:30 to talk about. that very subject. Morgan Corson, taking your calls at 336-777-1600. as you heard uh from just a second ago, talking about He doesn't have $16 million to just pay Todd Golden's buyout laying around. I hate that for you.

I wish you did. I wish you had some extra cash over there for that. Maybe you could help Caroline out. But. He is taking your calls on this at 336-777-1600.

If you're in our YouTube comments or our X comments here on the video stream, you can see me here now rocking the car heart sweatshirt. It's a little chilly today in the 50s, so we got to wear a sweatshirt. We're not quite into the warm days completely just yet. And here's the question of the day. As you call 336-777-1600, who do you think should take over at Carolina?

Who should it be? I'd love to hear from you. By the way. Happy Hannah Montana Day to those who celebrate. I'll be celebrating that tonight, the 20th anniversary.

of Hannah Montana coming out? Yes, I'm a younger dude.

So that was right in my wheelhouse in sixth and seventh grade. I was a big Hannah Montana guy, Morgan, and I'm not ashamed to admit that. Had a massive crush on her. And now, the 20th anniversary special is out, which premiered last night. I will be watching that tonight.

So, happy Hannah Montana Day to those who celebrate. And even if you don't, I'm telling you anyway. Don't care. Need to get that off my chest. Joey and Thomasville.

What do you got for us?

Well, first of all, I'm old enough that I have kids. I loved Anna Myanmar. There you go. Shout out to her and whatever. But listen, I mean I'm a long time Carolina fan, and I love this team.

I love this university. I love Hubert Davis. I do. He is a great man. He is a really good man.

But I mean I've been on his defense for the last few years. Sure. But. I don't think I can be that way now. Because people talk about, well, you didn't have Caleb Wilson and you lost that game against VC.

Well, you know what? I've heard it said. Yeah, we built a nineteen point lead In the second half, without Caleb Wilson. Yep. And as much as I love this guy, as much as I think he loves the university.

I think he realizes it it we need to change.

Now Whether we It's hard for a Carolina person that has been there since Dean Smith and And and and all the coaches since to go outside the Carolina family. Sure. But You know what? We have to do what is best. or North Carolina.

And boosters are looking at this. And they're looking at doing a renovation or a new stadium and all that, and they're not going to give the money. No. And so that's part of it, too. I mean, there there's a lot of like spinning wheels on this.

It's not just The coaching and all that, and as much as I love to do, as much as it pains me. I mean, I think we need to go outside. of the Carolina family and get a a coach. That can take us to where we're Carolina. We're Carolina.

We are not mediocre, and we've been mediocre, and it kills me. because I I've been through, I've seen the summit. and we have to get back there. Joey and Thomas.

Well, thanks so much for the call. I couldn't agree more there. I couldn't agree more. You know, it's just when you, we talked about this with David Glenn yesterday of the NC Sports Network. When you factor in the last couple of years of Roy there.

And then The majority here Of Hubert Davis's tenure, like this has not been up to Carolina standard. It just hasn't. And so we'll continue to follow this story. We will.

Meanwhile, Eight miles up the road, there, as we know, is a team called the Duke Blue Devils. And they. have a heck of a weekend coming up in Washington, D.C. where currently The get-in or at least last I looked at it the get-in price Uh for the session. Duke, St.

John's, Yukon, Michigan State. The getting in price is $482. How about that? I don't have money for that either. No?

No. We got to get you a raise. $482, which, by the way, is the highest. That is the most expensive Sweet 16 ticket on record, by the way. Which is funny because remember, Duke, Michigan tickets, that was a pretty penny too, which is actually interesting to think about that because Duke, they got history at Capital One Arena playing a high-level opponent in Michigan late in the season.

It was intentional by John Shire to do that, by the way. Our guy, Josh Graham, at Westwood One Sports, he. He played a little game of true or false with John Shire in an exclusive interview several weeks ago. And he asked him, Hey, did you do that? Did you schedule that game with Michigan at Capitol One Arena this late in the season, non-conference on purpose because you knew you would have a chance to play there in the tournament?

He said, True. They also used the Wilson ball. They used the NCAA tournament balls.

Now, he wasn't that deep on, like, they asked, Josh asked him, did you do that on purpose too? He's like, yeah. Not that deep, but still. These are the details that make Duke what they are. what Carolina aspires to get.

back up too.

So Duke, they're currently a six and a half point favorite when they take on St. John's and Rick Petino. Um And there's There's a chance, a small chance. that they could be even more whole when they take on the Johnnies. Here was John Shire, so he went on with uh He went on with John Rosstein a couple of days ago, and he was a good thing.

He gave an update on Caleb Foster's status.

Well, not to reference Dumb and Dumber, but it's when he first got hurt, I maybe I felt there's more like one in a million, you know, when uh Uh think thinking back on that. Since then, since he's gotten hurt, Caleb, the way that he's worked... Uh, the chances have continued to increase, and you know, I even think there's an outside chance, maybe for Friday. Uh, I know in Caleb's mind, there was last Friday where he feels he could have done something, which he couldn't have, uh, but uh, we're he's he's trying to do the impossible here. and uh come back as soon as he can and You know, I think this weekend, I don't think I can rule it out because of who he is and how he's been working.

An outside chance, you say? Modern medicine, what a thing it is. Like when you hear that, Morgan, like it. How do you react to that? I feel like the injuries have been getting more and more like easy.

No, I wouldn't say easier to recover from, but they're recovering faster. Think about like Aaron Rodgers came back or Jason Tatum even coming 10 months. They said that should be a 14-month recovery. Maybe he might have rushed out a little bit. I don't know, but generally that's a 14, 16-month recovery, and he did it in 10 months.

So I feel like this recovery time is coming down with modern medicine. I mean, you see Paul Skeens doing what he does with his warm-up stretches. The stretches are getting wilder, but they must be doing something. I'm going to make a prediction. That we'll see him in the Elite Eight.

Not the Sweet Sixteen. That's what I think. That's just my prediction there. But the good news is. That even if you did drop Caleb Foster in there, he's going to be on a minute's restriction just like Pat Gamba was against TCU.

But. Caden Boozer has been playing so well lately that He can still carry the majority of the load, and you've got some real depth there. Again, if you do go to Caleb Foster, some.

So that's great for Duke. This is going to be. An incredible game against St. John's. It's going to be a great weekend, just period, in Washington, D.C., with all the teams that are there.

Um They face him adversely against Siena, a little bit the first half against TCU. But I think that's all going to help Duke against St. John's if St. John's goes on a hot run or things get really physical. Duke's been again, it's a broken record, but it's because it's the truth.

Duke has been tested.

So many times this year, all the way up to now in the NCAA tournament. And more times than not, they have passed that test.

So. A lot of fun coming up in Washington DC. Ready? Yes. Punch up the audio for me now.

Strap in. Sports Talk gets over. Drive now. Welcome to the drive. Uh Let's talk to the Carolina Panthers.

Back at it on a Tuesday drive right here on WSJS. Good to have you in, however, you're watching or listening.

So The Carolina Panthers. They've had one of the best free agencies so far in the NFL, and that's not. Hyperbole. That's not exaggeration. Like when you look at what they did, they took one of the top Linebackers off the board in free agency in Devin Lloyd out of Jacksonville.

They took the Highest rated offensive tackle in Rasheed Walker off the board from Green Bay. Jalen Phillips, explosive edge from Philadelphia. Like they. They had one of the best free agencies and they spent like it too. They were a top four.

Some evaluators have them as a top two, top three spender in NFL free agency. Like they spent upwards to of 180 some, 90 some million dollars. Like they They made some things happen. Dan Morgan, he's really shown to have the right instincts for this as the Panthers GM since he took over for Scott Fitterer about, was it three years ago, I think? And when you Believe you know.

What you need. You should go all in. You should go on the offense. And What did they need? They needed help on the edge rusher.

They needed linebacker help. They needed offensive tackle help, especially after Ikikwanu got hurt. And they attacked on all of those things.

So Dan Morgan, he's been cooking so far this offseason. But the thing I really like about Dan In the spot that he's in, specifically with the moves that he's made this offseason, is that he is a former linebacker. He's a former linebacker for the Panthers. He knows. The right traits.

The right nuances, the right intangibles to be looking for for these guys.

So. Here he was. He was talking about the addition of Jalen Phillips. And Devin Lloyd. I think Devin and Jalen are two guys that we obviously held in high regard during free agency.

When you look at both those guys physically, how big they are. Um how long they are. Um the effort that they play with, the way they prepare. They were definitely guys that we had our eyes on during free agency. Me being a former player and watching them on tape, they have everything that you want.

In terms of the motor, the effort, the instincts, the range that they play with.

So they were really good ads for us and guys that we're really excited about and they're really going to help our defense moving forward. I heard um On the Panthers' YouTube channel, they've been doing these tape breakdowns with Dan Morgan and Thomas Davis, two of the all-time defenders in Panthers history. And They were specifically looking at Devin Lloyd out of Jacksonville, and he's going to wear the green dot on defense this year. And one of the things that... Dan said he really liked about Devin.

was How many different things he can do, whether it's drop coverage, zone coverage, blitzing, because his point there. To Thomas Davis, we're not going to spend that much money on somebody who's like singular focused, like that only does one thing really well. They're only going to spend that type of premium cost on somebody who can do a lot of different things and bring a lot of Different. Options to their game. And so I thought that was a very interesting conversation between Dan Morgan.

and Thomas Davis.

So That's the defensive piece of this. Devon Lloyd, Jalen Phillips, some of Dan's comments on them. But then I believe it was Joe Person of The Athletic who asked. About Rashid Walker, the offensive tackle, that was the top guy on the board in free agency that we mentioned. But he was asking specifically about what that could do.

To Iki Aquanu's timeline, what that might look like. And here's what Dan Morgan did or didn't say. Yeah, I think timeline-wise with Icky, I don't have any updates. You know, everybody recovers differently from injuries. He's making really good progress.

He looks really good. But in terms of timeline, we don't know that.

So, obviously, Um Signing Rasheed Walker, you know, we always have to have a backup plan. We always got to be prepared. There's inevitably going to be injuries in this league, and that's for every position.

So in terms of adding Rashid Walker, like, you know, we're excited about him and what he's going to be able to bring. And, you know, I think that definitely gives Icky time to recover. And, you know, when we get him back, we'll be excited to have him back. But timeline-wise, I don't know that.

Okay. Didn't give us a whole lot to work with there. But You got something, Morgan? You look like you got something. We got a lot of nothing out of that one there.

I don't know. I get not wanting to say the timeline, but. Maybe he doesn't know. That's also true. Maybe he doesn't know.

It's one thing that is kind of your job sometimes as a coach or a GM or an owner, whatever it might be. You need to be able to say a lot by saying nothing sometimes. You got a lot there from Dan Morgan on Icky Equani, but the one thing I will say is, in terms of. The timeline for Icky. It's like, okay.

Even when he does come back. I'm fascinated to see what That looks like with Rasheed Walker because if he really, I mean, again, top offensive tackle in free agency, he might come in and do a spectacular job. To the point where it's like, okay, do we want to put Icky back at left tackle? Or, you know, is that going to be Rasheed Walker's job? But then.

What you could do is maybe place Icky at left guard because in the draft process ahead of the 2022 draft. A lot of the scouting reports on Icky was the fact that not only can he be a left tackle, but he also has experience at left guard. He can do a lot of different things. He's got. You know, he's got quite a bit of experience and flexibility.

So now it's like, okay, if you got Walker in there, Icky, Robert Hunt.

Now you got some real depth on the line. You do, and it's good to have that depth on the blind side as well for especially a younger quarterback still looking to develop. I don't hate how that sounds. I really don't. Here was the last thing from Dan Morgan.

Because it's not just, you know, when you're doing this. It's pr I I would assume it's not just as easy as Here's the guys we want. Let's go get them. Here you go. Signed, sealed, and delivered.

It's not only, you know, there's evaluation. There's also, I mean, Devin Lloyd, he had an offer from Jacksonville as well, but he wanted to come to Carolina.

So there's multiple offers out there. And Dan Morgan, as we mentioned at the top, he seems to have great instincts for this. And here he was, I think it was David Newton of ESPN. One of our favorites that asked this question about the anxiousness that comes with free agency. No, I mean, that's the part about free agency that you hate.

You just never know.

So, obviously, there's always going to be anxious moments. There's, you know. There's 31 other teams that you're competing against and you don't know what's true, you don't know what to believe.

So yeah, there's definitely anxious moments, but we felt good about what we're building here and attracting players here. We felt like players wanted to be here. As opposed to when I first took over, you know, it was maybe a little harder.

So you definitely feel that shift, and you know, guys really want to be here. you know, be a part of what we're building here. I couldn't agree more. He said it when he took over. That they wanted that logo to be feared again.

And it wasn't at the time. when he took over that job. It's starting to become a little more feared, and it's also starting to become a desirable logo. That guys want to play for. You're a Patriot fan, Morgan, so this hasn't concerned you.

You don't care about this. No, but it is nice to see the hometown team coming back to life again. Like you said, they made a lot of big splashes this offseason, so it's very good for the brand. And just like the Hornets coming back into relevancy, these Panthers are going to be having some packed environments. And I remember when Newton was here.

Cam Newton, that stadium was popping, and that playoff game looked very similar to that.

So I'm excited to see what this stadium looks like coming up this season. Yeah. You just, you, when Cam was there, you just couldn't beat it, man. It was just. I don't know.

There's an aura about it. Let's go to the YouTube comments here. First take 336. Panthers over or under nine wins this season. I would lean over.

So I had them at nine wins this previous season. They had eight. All right. There was a couple in there. They probably should have gotten over the hump, but it is what it is.

I haven't made an official pick for the over this year. It's certainly going to be over the six and a half that Vegas had him at. Like, good grief. They had him at six and a half, Morgan. That's so disrespectful.

It's very disrespectful. And that was before they added the pieces that they did in free agency here.

So it was the lowest, by the way, in the division two. Like, what are we doing here? I know Vegas always knows, but get out of here.

So, yes. I'm probably going to lean 10. Wind But I'll get back to you on that. The triad's longest running live sports talk show, The Drive. Will Dalton is helping you survive rush hour one hot take at a time.

You know who the real winner was? The first weekend of the NCAA tournament. Greenville.

South Carolina. Oh yeah. People love Greenville. You got Tracy Wolfson talking about it, Jeff Goodman. People are digging Greenville.

They really are. You know where else they would dig? Greensboro. Bring that tournament back on over here. Get us a few more rounds of the tournament.

How about that? Excited for the ACC tournament to be back in town next year.

Okay. I woke up in such a great mood. The reason for that The Major League Season It opens up. Tomorrow. Morgan, give me your level of excitement.

For baseball.

So excited. 143 days since we've had a game of baseball. Wow. Tomorrow would be 144. I've been counting down every day starting today.

Oh, yeah. And I am so excited to have baseball back. It feels right. It just feels right. Football's over.

It just feels right to get some bats swinging. You know what else feels right? The fact that the Yankees get the first game, because of course they do, because it's the New York Yankees take the New York Yankees to go all George Costanza in San Francisco taking on the Giants. An 805 first pitch on Netflix Tomorrow. I believe this is the first baseball game on Netflix.

It is, yes. Is it? Do we know that?

Okay. I'm almost 100% certain that is not true.

Somebody fact-check us if that's not true. But. Netflix, and not only are they getting into the NFL flavor, they're getting into some baseball because they should. Cause baseball's on the come up, baseball's hot. You just had the World Baseball Classic, that was just more affirmation of that.

So Let's look. At some of these storylines going into the Major League Baseball season. The big fat one up front, right there for you. is the L A Dodgers. They're trying to go for a three, Pete.

For the first time since. The two thousand Yankees? I'm just going to throw it. I'm going to throw in every Yankee reference I can get. That's what I'm going to do.

You're a Yankee fan. Oh, yeah. So Morgan appreciates it. I appreciate it. Yeah.

Yeah, don't have to talk as much Orioles on this program anymore. Don't have to do that. Uh The Dodgers So they are heavy favorites at plus 225 odds are better. Uh to go Back to back to back. We'll get to Dalton's dollars here in just a minute.

But That's going to be an incredible storyline watching them and their pitching staff, and Shohei Otani, Mookie Betts, the whole nine. The other big storyline is going to be this ABS challenge system. You ready for this? Robot umpires? Emotionally, yes.

Mentally, no.

So it's not actually robot umpires, as we know. I mean, it is, but it's like it's just it's a challenge system. It's not a robot calling balls and strikes the whole time. You get a couple of challenges. They tested this out in the minor leagues last year.

I dig it. I like it because you know what it reminds me of is it reminds me of The challenge system like in tennis. Like whenever You know, they challenge a play, they challenge a call, and it's fun because they can make that entertaining too. Because it's like, you know, you get to see was the ref wrong, and sometimes like it's a microscopic, like how close it is.

So I imagine that's what it's going to be a version of. with the challen with the ABS challenge system, which I think is very interesting. Beyond the Dodgers The A L East is going to be loaded, I believe. Toronto. Stinking Blue Jays.

Yes, they're going to be very good. Very good. The Yankees are two. And I'm knocking on wood here that Max Freed. Uh Garrett Cole Cam Schlittler, gotta be careful with saying that on air.

I'm gonna make sure I don't mispronounce that. Stay healthy, all of you. Aaron Judge. Stay healthy. Gian Carlos Stanton, stay healthy, please.

I'm begging you. Do it for me and Morgan. Do that. Please, healthy. That's all we need.

Tariq Skubel. Does he get a third? Third straight Cy Young. There's that. Paul Skeens.

Continuing to watch his development. Is he going to stay in Pittsburgh for the long haul? These are just some. You're shaking your head no. It's not happening.

You don't see it? Nope. You don't think him and Livy Dunn are going to hunker down and stay in Pittsburgh? No, it's too cold. Manda.

The Pirates actually think they're going to be pretty solid this year. Yeah, I have a prediction they're not going to finish at the bottom of the AL Central or AL Central. What a prediction that is. Not going to be the bottom. It's going to be the Reds.

Yeah, give me some of your predictions for the season.

Okay, so. My divisions, we're going to go AL East, Yankees very close. Mm-hmm. Central, I think Detroit gets the nod this year. They staggered off in the second half of the season after the all-star break.

Okay. Have Detroit. And then the West, the Astros get back on top. They almost had it last year behind seven or eight games. They're going to get it this year.

In the East for the National League, the Phillies. Central, the Cubs. Milwaukee can't do it two years in a row. Just not a big enough market. Doesn't attract enough players.

Cubs made some big deals. And the West, no one can stop them. It's the Dodgers. I I don't think that San Diego has a shot. Yeah, I don't think that's too controversial of a take.

I mean, I think San Diego could be good, but. Not that good. No. The Dodgers, they're just, they're going to be a problem. They really are.

Um, The Tigers They do emerge as a clear favorite in their division in the AL Central, which. You know, it would be nice to see them potentially end a long drought. Yeah, since 2014, they haven't won the division. Yeah, this would be their sixth division title, too.

So I graduated high school in 2014. I mean, come on, get with the program, Detroit. Um You got Bobby Witt. Over in uh Kansas City. Tigers I could see them around 85 to 90 wins.

That's my prediction for them. Yeah, that's respectable. I like that. I like that. Maybe the Royals steal a wild card.

I don't know. But baseball, it's about to be back. Mariners, you got them as a heavy favorite. As we talked about. The Braves, what what's going on with the Braves?

Did I read that they have more issues in the pitching staff now? Yes, three are already out for opening day. Three starters are out for opening day. One on IL, I believe, already.

So it's not good for the Braves. I genuinely mean that. You do hate to see it. You really do. I mean, the Braves, I'm a Yankee fan, but.

You know, a lot of people view the Braves as the hometown team around here.

So I have a soft spot for you, Brave fans. I mean that sincerely. I do. Okay. Let's play some bets in Dalton's dollars.

Second. Stack to stack, gotta stack it up. The money, get the money on the sign up. It's time to cash in. Welcome to Dalton's Dollars.

Come in! Yeah. Breaking down the board and building the bankroll. Let's play some NBA bets. Steve the hat.

The Charlotte Hornets, they're back in action tonight against the Sacramento Kings. Where they are a 17 and a half point favorite, yeah, Morgan can't believe it. A 17 and a half point favorite. That is Just ridonculous. That's so crazy.

Did you say ridonculous? I did. I mean, they've been crushing teams, though.

So I get it. And the Sacramento Kings, they're one of the worst teams in the league. They're already eliminated from playoff contention across the board. Mm-hmm. You know what?

In the past, when the Hornets have had these massive spreads, at least here recently, against some of the worst in the league, whether it's Indiana, Washington, I've been like, nah, that's too many. Not today, buddy. I'm going to take the Hornets. I get them at minus 114 odds, 17 and a half point favorites against Sacramento tonight. STROVE DO LITE!

Yeah. Let's take a look at some more here.

So, also on the ledger tonight, you got the Knicks taking on the New Orleans Pelicans. New York, they're an eight and a half point favorite. I think they cover that. It's a home game for them. I like that spot.

I get that at minus 114 odds too. Knicks, eight and a half point favorites against the Pelicans. Strong vegan fighters! I got one more. I want it on Cleveland.

Cleveland, they're hosting the Orlando Magic tonight. Cleveland, they're a 10.5 point favorite at home. Eight o'clock on NBC. Give me the Cavs. We're going three favorites tonight.

Cavs. Show me the fire! I get that at minus 108 odds.

So. In review. You got Cavs, 10.5-point favorites against Orlando. New York, 8.5-point favorites against New Orleans, and the Hornets to cover 17.5-point favorites against. The Kings.

It's been Dalton's dollars. You're on the triads-only live sports talk show, The Drive. Can't you see I'm just too swag? We say what you're yelling at your radio. Boy.

A lot of press conference talk. Today So Jordan Hodgson. He just or Brian Hodgman Hodgson, he just took the Provenance job. And He just said this in his opening presser. He said.

If you ever want to question my recruiting abilities, just look at my wife, Jordan. I haven't seen a picture of his wife, but I'll just take his word for it. Uh What a way to open your presser, man. Just All gas, no brakes. Speaking of pressers, though What an ironic time for us to hear from Bill Belichick today.

It's it's what it made me do, made me laugh. Um Because you have all this stuff going on with Hubert Davis and his impending probably departure from. being the head coach of North Carolina. And Belichick. Rolls up and decides, hey, I'm going to do a presser.

Maybe it was already planned, but it's so much funnier to act like this just came randomly. Like, yeah, let's just do it today, the heck with it. We haven't heard from Bill Belichick in a little while, of course. I don't think we've heard from him since signing day. And Nobody quite does oppress her like Bill Belichick in the sense that.

He's not great to deal with whenever Carolina or the Patriots lost. Um Little bit better when his team wins. Still not a great listen, but sometimes he'll get into a story about Tom Brady or, you know, the old days with. Yeah. Patriot greats like Gronk and things like that.

He did do that after one of the, I think it was the Syracuse game. No, I think it was the Stanford game. in Chapel Hill there. That he kind of started to give us a history lesson about Tom Brady and things like that. He was a lot more fun to deal with, but.

The best of Bill Belichick is when we haven't heard from him in a little while, and he's like greeting the media for the first time again. He's a lot more open to questions. And here is how Bill Belichick. Rolled up to the podium and opened his presser today. Hey, everybody, how's it going?

Good, good, good. As you're all seasoned then. What all season, right? What all season, I know. Just want to go out and grab a beer with him.

Like, just the heck with it. What offseason? How are you guys doing? What a cordial guy, man. What a cordial guy.

Um On a serious note, it's no secret that Last year was a bit of a, it was, let's just call it what it was. Yet, last year, given what the expectations were. Given the magnitude of the Bill Belichick hire and how it was presented and how it was. put out there Last year was a disaster for Carolina football. You're a Patriots guy, so you might actually have thoughts on this.

Yeah, I do. I had high expectations for Bill Baldeck and. his presses are all time. Just we're on to Cincinnati, you know. On Cincinnati, but he's he's I was expecting high things from Carolina.

I was rooting for Carolina, too. I love Bill Belichick, rooting for him to succeed, and they didn't. And I talked to a lot of UNC fans, and they were calling for his head already last season. Oh, yeah. So.

You better turn it around this year. They were doing that. And It was funny to go from we're on the Cincinnati to we're on the Wake Forest. That was a real thing that happened. Um being in the room for a lot of these pressers, quite an experience.

But Last year. It was kind of a bit of a fever dream. The way everything was presented. Whether it was The day he did his introductory press conference, and literally it was on every channel. And I've, like, we were in this studio.

We were, me and Josh Graham, we were prepping for the show. And we always have FS1 because I like FS1. It's one of my favorite sports channels to watch because I like Cowherd and First Things First, which is on right now. free plug for them. But Colin Cowherd.

Who never has his show interrupted. Like, I get it. If ESPN, they put the presser on, NFL Network, it's Belichick, it makes a lot of sense. All the news networks. But Colin Cowherd, a talk radio show.

Had He interrupted his show to to put up And live stream Belichick's presser. You just don't see that.

So it was insane. And it's like. Wow, this is actually happening to Carolina football. Football. And then The magic of the opener against TCU, College Game Day, Kirk Herb Street, Sabin, Pat McAfee, they're all there.

And Even um even the dog. Kirkerb Street's dog, Peter.

So You had that, then the game itself starts where the crap Keenan is packed. Even the blue zone, if you know, you know. Even the blue zone was packed. And Carolina, they go up the field. They score that opening touchdown just like that.

And you get the pan. On the TV down to Belichick, stone-faced as everybody's going bananas. Like I was in the stadium for that, that place was shaking. You get the shot to Roy. Up in the box with Michael Jordan, then Jordan Hudson, and Randy Moss.

Like, it was like, wow. This is a new era of Carolina football. Even the first defensive play or defensive drive for Carolina, they got a great stop. And then uh everything went to to heck. And that was r and it just That was that.

It was very short-lived, and of course we know what it became. There were a few bright spots in the season. One of those was Jordan Schipp, of course, who you get back. On occasion, Damon June in the backfield. Davion Goss had some moments in the backfield.

The defense hit a little bit of a stride and made some improvements down the stretch of the season, but for the most part, Carolina got embarrassed quite a few times. Clemson came in there and embarrassed the heels. We saw what Duke did to end the season, the fake field goal. Yeah. Not great.

Not what you signed up for, bringing in Bill Belichick and paying what you are.

So. I say all that to say this. Bill Belichick? He had some thoughts on This year. as compared to last.

But I'd say the big difference between this year and last year for me is just that we have our team now. This is going to be a big percentage of last year. You know, we were obviously late coming in on the recruiting end, late coming in on the portal end. And then at the end of spring ball, we had a lot of changes between the end of spring ball and the start of ball camp. Our two quarterbacks last year in spring fall didn't take one snap for us during the season.

And so, you know, things like that. It's just really, we didn't have anywhere near the continuity that we expect to have this year.

So I hear that. And I can't help but think about Wake Forest football. And how they completely overachieved in year one of Jake Dickert, who actually was hired right around the same time. As Bill Belichick, and he made out okay. Here's the only, if I could give Belichick an out, and I'm not even calling it an out, but just.

I'll give you this one thing in terms of not having your team, not knowing what to expect necessarily, coming in late. He was not coming from college experience. I will give him that one caveat. He wasn't. Freddie Kitchens wasn't.

His son was, the defensive coordinator, Steve. But Mike Lombardi wasn't.

So, maybe they were in a little over their heads on this in terms of the college aspect of things, the NIL, all of that. This is not the NFL. I get it's pro now because of NIL, but it still ain't the NFL. These are still kids you're dealing with. And so I would like to think Belichick learned some things, even though he may never admit that.

He learned quite a bit last year, and we'll see what that means. We'll see what adjustments are made. You got Bobby Petrino now. A lot of the negatives from last year aren't there anymore. Gio Lopez is now up five minutes up the road from where I sit.

With Rob Ezell, his former OC at South Alabama, who he did very well with, now Jake Dickards' OC at Wake Forest. That's where Geo is. I got a funny feeling Gio Lopez is actually going to look a lot better next year. Just a thought. You got Bobby Petrino in his OC as opposed to Freddie Kitchens, who had no business being an offensive coordinator.

Coming back over from Mac Brown's staff. I didn't understand that one. But We'll see what it looks like. We're going to dive more into this press conference and some more details of it tomorrow, but that was just a couple of the things we heard from Belichick earlier today.