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Right here on WSJS, News Talk Sports for the Triad. I'm your host, Will Dalton. Also known as WD. And you know, if you were a Tarheel fan or an NC State fan when your teams got eliminated a week or so ago. There's something that you could say that you probably never thought you'd have the opportunity to say.

And that is, at least we got the Charlotte Hornets. Can you believe it after they pummeled the Knicks last night? We'll talk about that a little bit later on because right now. We have to get to the dust. That is still settling uh after Will Wade's Private jet took off yesterday from RDU.

heading to Baton Rouge. Got to get to that dust that is still settling. Because we heard from athletic director, NC State Athletic Director Boo Corrigan. for the first time yesterday. During our show, he went on, but now we have some clips compiled of some of the best things he had to say.

And I gotta get, listen, as scummy as what Willway did. To NC State was. NC State is not completely innocent in this. I will get to what I mean in just a second. But Will Wade may not have got the memo.

that Phillip Rivers put out many years ago. But Boo Corrigan understood the assignment when he stepped to the podium yesterday. and thinking about who we are, what we are. The world pack 8% people. We're going to go find a coach that agrees and understands who we are.

and what we are. He understood the assignment. I could not believe he said that when he stepped to the podium yesterday, couldn't believe it. Was very happy he did. Very happy.

Boo Corgan was as shocked as anybody.

Now, I don't know if that's a. A good thing or a bad thing. That you maybe couldn't have seen this coming from somebody who has the track record that Will Wade does. You know, when you really think back on it, not so sure that's great that you didn't see this coming. But, From the ACC tournament in Charlotte, to the loss in Dayton.

In the first four against Texas. Will Wade lied and lied and lied to everyone. He lied like a dog. It's what he did. When he talked about, you know, we're already looking ahead to next year.

We want to get guys here that represent what we represent, you know? Like when he talked about The players on this year's team, you know, they're comfortable. They're comfortable. We want somebody that's hungry. When you just look back on it right now, it just, holy cow, the things that he said, the things that he promised, and then turned around and did this.

I get the money stuff. I get it. Not faulting you for getting your bag, but the way he went about it, again, holy cow.

So. Boo Corrigan. He was as stunned as anybody. Here he was. On Will Wade.

We thought we had someone. that I've been that came in last year. to lead our men's basketball program. And over the course of the last year, We had developed a relationship. Do not believe it was based on trust.

and accountability. There were a number of different conversations that had occurred. over the past year. involving our program, involving everything else in the landscape. of college sports.

including Tuesday evening for two hours. to talk about the entire program. and scheduling and the players and Stop. Two hours On Tuesday night they met about this stuff. Like it did it went on.

The stuff that Will Wade was telling The fans, the administration, boo, the donors. It went on till the final hours. on Tuesday. And Here's more. from what Boo Corrigan was told by Will Wade.

There was no reason for me. and my job not to believe. the words that I was hearing coming back to me. From Coach Wade. And I believe everyone here saw it, wrote about it, whatever it is.

Did I want to be at NC State? That's where I want to be. I look forward to growing it. I was as surprised and shocked as anyone else. Has this occurred?

based on the previous conversations that we had had. I believed he was telling me his true intentions. If you're watching on YouTube or X right now, you can see me doing the. The old Skip Bayless meme where he's just kind of looking at the camera and just shaking his head like this. That's what I'm doing right now.

If you're not watching on YouTube, and you should be if you're not driving, of course. That is insane. to me to hear all of the things that Will Wade was telling Boo. And Boo just straight up came out with it right there. Like, yeah, I thought he was telling us his true intentions the whole time, all the way up to a two hour meeting on Tuesday night.

What's funny about all of that is, you know, the internet's undefeated.

So, people that cover this stuff and that have been covering this stuff for years, they're terrific at finding the memes in all of this. Pat Fordy put this out.

So apparently Some uh Jack Taylor. He got a picture of a Hubert Davis. Cutout that was still in a food line. There was also a Will Wade cutout still in a food line. If it's I've got it on the screen here for our YouTube and Xtreme audience, and then Pat Forty quote tweeted it, food lion, lion spelled L-Y-I-N, of course.

Thought that was pretty good by Pat Forty. It's unbelievable. It is wild. And what's even crazier is there was a second meeting. Forget the one that was two hours on Tuesday.

There was a second meeting. with Boo and other administrators. that Will Wade was a no-show for. He didn't even show up. And his resignation.

was an email from his agent. Like, how low can you get? Then. When we looked at Will Wade's statement that he put out on social media yesterday. I'm not convinced that that was not AI.

Not totally convinced of that. You know, there's. In fact... Yesterday, shout out to our guys, Ovius and Jillia, who put out a banger of a live stream yesterday. I think it was their most viewed one ever.

Rightfully so. And I think somebody in their comments ran that thing through.

some type of AI detector. Whatever that might be, and it Looks like it very well could have been AI from what they found out.

So just keep that in your mind. 336-777-1600 is the number to call. We'll get to your calls in just a sec. But. To wrap this thing up, here's the part where NC State.

is not completely innocent in all of this. Uh the buyout was only $5 million. That's not terrific. Um Here was Boo Corgan yesterday on the buyout piece of all of this. The the buyout, we we uh everything's a negotiation.

Right, as you're looking at everything that's going on. And as we were talking through this, I believe everyone knows prior to April 2nd, the buyout was going to be $5 million. After April 2nd, the buyout was going to move to $3 million. We settled at a $4 million buyout. The reason we did that is to pick up the days in between.

today which I think some 26. Yes. Today is the 26th until the second as opposed to having to wait until the second.

So for us being able to move forward. was just as important, but we understood the dollar amount versus the value of time.

So they negotiated it down to $4 million. But Uh 5 million was way too low. Like, that's where NC State really missed on this. And not, and for a couple of reasons, by the way. It's not just that it was that low.

Because even if it was $10 million, there's a very good chance that LSU, Money Bags LSU, was going to buy it out anyways, either this year or next year.

So NC State fans should actually be kind of glad they don't have to go through another year of what they just went through and then this just happened anyway. But at least if it was $10 million, you would have more money to reinvest back in your. Athletics program. As opposed to the 4 million that they settled on.

So it's a. Mess up on a couple of levels on NC States. Part. Let's get to your phone calls and some YouTube comments. Davin Clemens wants in on this.

You're the NC State fan, Dave. I've been waiting to hear from you. What's up, WD? How are you, my friend? Happy Friday.

I'm probably better than you are right now. I'm good. What you got? We got got. Yeah, you did.

And That's it. The only thing I can compare this to Is falling in love with a stripper. Like Will Wade is the stripper. We thought we could fix him. We thought that we believed what he was telling us.

We believed everything. We thought we could fix the stripper. We married him. We thought we could do it. And we thought we could win ACC titles.

And the whole time he was running around on us, setting up plotting his next move. And it's a bad feeling. It i it just is. Like you feel violated almost when somebody does you dirty like that, and that's what Will Wade did to us. And if he would have actually had a decent season, like a top twenty five, type team like he was projected to have, he would have vaulted for any job that came open.

Like he was never going to be the NC State man. He was always plotting his next move. And so with that being said, it's kind of ironic that Carolina like fired the family man and the Carolina family guy. Like, I look at that and I kind of want that, right? Like, Carolina hired from within, and like, their guys are never going to pull.

Oh, y'all are so broken. NC State fans are so broken. I'm so sorry, Dave. We got got. We got had.

And so the only way I do you think I want the high point coach? I think who. I think he would be great. I would like to go after him. But I was going to ask you another little question, WD.

If, say, the NC State or Wake Forest type position came open, do you think Hubert Davis could become a candidate in any type of those type of situations? Thank you so much for the call, Dave. Perhaps. Perhaps The Hubert Davis is somebody that has been thrown out quite a bit, and you see all the Carolina fans and some of these comments on these said suggestions. Oh, gladly take him.

It's like, come on, guys. I don't know. I mean, Hubert Davis said in his statement the other day that he does want to coach again pretty soon. He is a Tar Hill born and bred. Does he want to pull?

Well, Vanellen Lubin wasn't a Tar Hill born and bred. He went there for a year. But. Would Hubert want to go to NC State, or would he be so much tar heel in his blood that he's like, nah, let me just go to a completely different? P place all the way around.

I don't know, but that's interesting. The Flynn Clayman one's interesting as well. I want to get to some of these YouTube comments. By the way, something I agree with you on Davin Clemens is that Will Wade had clearly been plotting this for months. What I don't agree with you on is that it would just be anybody because I think this would have only happened with LSU.

That is the only place that would have. pulled all the strings for him the way they did. And it turns out that is exactly what was happening behind the scenes for several months now. We'll get into some more details of that. There's a lot of good reporting out on that aspect of stuff as well.

But in terms of the YouTube comments here, Jay Davis. Shots fired by Boo. Yeah, a little bit. I also said, think about this, WD. Will Fade, he kind of calls him Will Fade.

Had to have been talking to LSU for a little while. This all didn't happen in a week, to the point I just laid out. Jay Austin writes in. This may have been mentioned already, but we have word on Tiger Woods that he's all right. We do not have any details.

So if you have not seen it yet in the last half hour, Tiger. Who he was cleared to play golf again a couple, what, not too long ago, Morgan, you were telling me? Yeah, last Friday he was cleared, I believe.

Okay, yeah. And now this happens. He apparently rolled over his car in an accident. We don't have any details on that at this time. If any, if anything breaks or comes out, we will get to that for sure.

It's just, God, that story's terrible. Uh, Jay Davis can't turn a hoe into a housewife. Yeah, that's true. It's kind of fitting that Lane Kiffens, the football coach over at LSU. Um, We'll get to Alex Zetlow of the Charlotte Observer.

He's going to join us at 4:30. But before we do that, Duke St. John's is tonight. It's a game you can listen to on WSJS Suite 16, and it appears. That Duke Is gonna have Caleb Foster.

Tonight, after fracturing his foot against Carolina on March 7th. Yes, that is true. He is gonna go, it seems. And there's two very reliable sources on that. One of those being Tracy Wolfson.

Uh of CBS, she tweeted out Let's see here. Let's grab her tweet. As long as Duke. Point guard Caleb Foster didn't have any setback overnight. The expectation is he was going to play against St.

John's crazy, less than three weeks from surgery. I wouldn't expect a lot of minutes, but having his experience and leadership out there is huge. I wouldn't expect a lot of minutes either. Maybe 10-ish in that ballpark. Maybe a little more, depending on how he feels, but He's going to go tonight.

This is going to be a terrific game. Duke St. John's. I'm excited for it. I've got Duke in this one tonight.

It's going to be game two of Pat Gamba. Being back in the mix.

So, you got that going for you if you're the Blue Devils. And I get they struggled against Sienna. I get they struggled against TCU in the first half, a little bit of the start of the second half of that game. Um, But Duke They've absolutely been clutch. They have been clutch in these tight games, or they've had their backs up against the wall.

When somebody shows you who they are, Will Wade. Believe them. Believe them. And Duke And games decided by six points or fewer. There's nine of those.

The Devils are 7-2. Want some nail biters? Had the Florida game, the Michigan State game. Bike deep. There's a nice stack of these games that Duke has had their backs against the wall in different ways, and they've pulled through.

So, I'm going to stick with Duke tonight, gonna do that. And believe it or not, it's crazy. There is still a local team playing with all of the Will Wade NC State, all of the Hubert Davis, Carolina stuff, and that is the Duke Blue Devils tonight against St. John's. Looks like we've got some more action on the phone lines here.

336-777-1600 is the number to call. Who are we going to now, Morgan? If anybody, he's over there hard working over there. He's getting the phones right. Oh, Josh and Clemens wants to get in on some wake for us.

Josh, go right ahead. Yeah. Hey, well, I was originally calling in because I just got out of work and jumped in the truck, and my wife gave me a call about Tiger. I know you guys don't have a lot of information. sit and listen to the show.

But while I was on the phone with your producer, I started thinking, my buddy had commented about Wake Forest. He was saying, you know, even though It has That, you know, Harrison, a couple of other guys are gonna take off. You broke up a little bit there, Josh. One more time for me. That the last part of that?

Yeah, I'm sorry. I was saying that my best friend was coming to me. He's got season tickets at Wake like I do. And he was saying, you know, even though that Steve Forbes has another year on his contract, that Harris and a couple of other guys were just going to take off. Have you heard anything about that?

I have not heard anything on Juke Harris, and I'm up against it, Josh. I appreciate the call. Juke Harris? I have not heard anything new on him. I will find out if there is any new intel on him.

That's somebody you're going to want to keep around. He's probably going to go into the NBA draft process and get feedback and then decide what he's going to do. I know Steve Forbes mentioned after their ACC tournament loss against Clemson that that is one of their top priorities, they want to get Juke Harris back.

So we will keep a close eye on that.

Now. The moment you've all been waiting for. This is the drive. Talking sports the right way. We'll get to Alex Zetlow of the Charlotte Observer.

At 4:30, but very quickly wanted to bring this to you. And by the way, there is an update on Tiger Woods. Uh, we will hear from the sheriff's office, they're gonna make some statements at five o'clock. That's the latest we know. Morgan, you were telling me that there's a picture of it.

And it is on its, the car is on its side, but you said it didn't look that bad. Yeah, so it has it's on its left side, so on the driver's side, but it the roof and everything else looks really like in really good condition. The roof doesn't look scratched up or dented, and the moon roof or sunroof doesn't look cracked at all either.

So it looks like it just got tipped on its side.

So that's a good sign. It wasn't a full roll, but. That we know anyway. That's good to know. Again, we'll get statements from the sheriff's office down there in Florida.

Uh what was this, Jupiter? Jupiter, Florida, this?

Okay. We'll have some information on that. Hopefully, for the five things at five, another note to pass along. UNC, there's one Carolina family guy that's been on Hubert Davis' staff that we know will not be back in any way next year, and that is Marcus Page, because according to Inside Carolina, just a few minutes ago, he's going to be taking a position on Wes Miller's staff. in Charlotte.

Pretty cool deal. Good for Marcus Page. Methinks he will be a head coach someday, somewhere. Um Speaking of Wes Miller, though He was at the Hornets game last night. Which is actually where I wanted to go next because This was yet another statement win for the Charlotte Hornets.

It's the first time they've beaten the Knicks. all year long. And it snaps also a seven-game winning streak that the Knicks had. And I'm just here to tell you this: you do not want to see the Charlotte Hornets in the playoffs. I said playoffs.

That's right. Because They are one of the hotter teams in the league. Like, there's no disputing that. I mean, here are the numbers. Like, when you look at.

When the calendar flipped to 2026, and that's when everything shortly thereafter started to shift for the Hornets, they have the fifth, let's see, yeah, they have the fifth best record in the NBA in that span behind the Celtics, the Pistons, the Thunder, and the Spurs. The Spurs have the best one in that span at 31 and 9. The Hornets are 27 and 12. in that span. You also Had Khan Kniple last night making a real statement.

Seems like he does it all the time. He got to 253 threes on the year. which now puts him at the top of the league in three pointers made, not just for a rookie, period. And who's right behind him? Luka Doncic, an NBA can or an MVP candidate at 242.

And who's behind him? Con Knipples teammate Lamello Ball. He's got 233s. That's pretty cool to have two of the best three-point shooters in the league be on the starting lineup for the Charlotte Hornets. Not bad.

Not bad. Jon Fanta. Carolina got Brendan Haywood. They were on the call last night for... uh the Hornets and the Knicks and I thought Brendan Haywood, having the local ties that he does, and John Fant as well, put a nice bow on things at the end of their broadcast.

You know this area so well. The buzz, is it real? The buzz is real. The city is hype. More importantly, they believe.

They believe And they can do something that, what was once thought impossible at the start of the season, it could become reality this spring. The Hornets, a big win over the Knicks. I mean, what's scary about the Hornets is their confidence. Mixed with unselfishness. This is what Kendrick Perkins called agenda-free basketball when he was talking about the Hornets with Scott Van Pelt after the big Celtics win several weeks back.

That's a dangerous combo. And what's even more dangerous when you start to talk about playoffs is the fact that. They believe they can beat anybody. They believe, like, they. They're not scared of anybody.

Like, we've seen what they've done to the Thunder. We've seen what they've done. Against the Spurs. They've had some tight games against the Spurs, even beating them one of those times. They're not afraid of anybody.

That's scary in the playoffs. They feel that they belong here. Like, they're not scared of a Detroit Pistons team with. Cade Cunningham. And now Cade is not on the team right now.

He's on the team, but he's not playing with some health issues. Atlanta better look over their shoulder. Miles Bridges. He's a guy that's been here for a minute, and he has seen the worst of the Hornets in this stretch. And now he's.

Enjoying this part of things. He spoke last night to Terrence Oglesby, Sharon Spate on the FanDuel Sports. network post game show about How this play-in stretch where they currently sit at the nine-seed. feels a little different than the previous two times. We've been to the plan two times, but you know, it doesn't feel like this, you know.

We're five games over five hundred. We want to keep on going. And it actually feels like we're playing for something, you know. Um and we just want to continue to get better day by day, game by game, um, and and to stay humble. It's a dangerous group, man.

It's a dangerous group. You also had Drake May in attendance last night. Him and the Queen of the North, his Ann. And Michael May. And then you had the baby.

Front row, did you see this? Going at it with somebody. Apparently, somebody a few rows behind him like shot, like the ball went out of bounds, and the guy shoots it. Just shoots it. And it hits Kon Knipple in the head, just some ignorant stuff.

And then DeBaby's chirping back and forth with him. And you look a couple of seats to DeBaby's right. Who do you see but new Charlotte head coach Wes Miller in the middle of all this?

So. Some Charlotte Legends Independence. No scripts, no safe takes, no chance. You're bored. You're on the Triad's longest-running live sports talk show: The Drive.

Back end of the Friday Drive right here on WSJS, and now we welcome in. One of our Charlotte guys, Alex Zetlo, the Charlotte Observer, joins us now. Alex, good to see you, my friend. Great to see you, man. Happy Friday.

Same to you, man. We've talked to Mike Kay a couple of times. He's like, dude, you got to get my guy Alex in there. I was like, I'm going to make it happen. Um Well, I appreciate him and I appreciate you, man.

I was listening in on the previous segment, obviously, right before I was coming in. I couldn't agree with you more about these Hornets, dude. They are so fun to watch. I was actually covering the game when the Hornets just absolutely dismantled the Sacramento Kings. And I get it.

The Kings are, you know, there's an understanding that the Kings aren't necessarily trying to win at this time of year. And so you could kind of understand that the Hornets were going to come away with a victory, but the way they did it, the way that they're able to shoot the ball, the way that Kobe White. Is like looking like one of the best scorers in the league right now, and he's coming off the bench, it's just insane. They're so fun, they're a lot of fun. I'm glad you opened with basketball, though, because.

Wes Miller He has just been brought on as the new head coach of Charlotte after his stint in Cincinnati. Marcus Page is going to be on his staff there as an assistant, we've learned in the last hour. And you were telling me that you're a Wes Miller guy. That was one of your favorite Tar Heels growing up. Oh my gosh, Wes Miller was of course one of my favorite Tar Heels.

I feel like if you grew up a Carolina fan and you're in this Gen Z/slash millennial Like, like spaced like I am. I'm 29 years old. You couldn't not be because you grew up watching Roy Williams come back to North Carolina, win a national championship with The Raymond Feltons and the Rashad McCantes and the Jawad Williamses and the Marvin Williamses, and like that was all great. But you also remember the year afterward, where it was David Noel, where it was Rayshawn Terry, where it was. Wes Miller.

A guy who was undersized, a guy who didn't shoot two-pointers, just exclusively three-pointers pretty much. Like a dude who, like, if you were, I don't know, in the eighth grade and still like five foot one, five foot two, but had aspirations of playing basketball, like I did, you were like, yo, I. I can identify with Wes. And he was, and I mean, like, I am one of millions of kids who probably looked up to him in that way. And then, of course.

Um I was a freshman at UNC when Marcus Page was a senior at UNC, and his year was his senior year, but really his years prior to that too, were really special.

So, those are pretty much my two favorite guards, like two of my favorite guards. I would still probably say Raymond Felton's my number one guard, but two of my favorite guards in Carolina history are coming on the same. Um, coaching staff, and they're and it's all coming together in Charlotte. It's just like it just. Young Alex's dreams come true.

You know what I'm saying? Love it. Good to have Wes Miller back in the state for sure. Alex Zettla with us here of the Charlotte Observer. And, you know, you specialize in Carolina Panthers.

That's that's your jam. Uh, You know, it's funny. It used to be where Washington was the spot where a lot of Panthers would end up, whether it was Ron Rivera. Like, we've seen so many Panthers go there. Josh Norman went there.

Now it seems like the Buffalo Bills are kind of that because between the head coach Joe Brady's there, DJ Moore, Sam Franklin, Curtis Samuel, we've seen all these Shaq Thompson, and now it's happened again, Austin Corbett. has gone there. Are you surprised that Corbett decided to head to Buffalo instead of re-signing Carolina. I'm not surprised that he decided to go to Buffalo. In fact, I'm not sure.

I'm not sure how much decision power he necessarily had in this sort of circumstance. He really want, I mean, he expressed it quite clearly that he wanted to stay in Charlotte. He has a home in Charlotte. He's going to move back here after his NFL playing career is done.

So, I think if everything kind of aligned, he probably would have preferred to be in Carolina, in full disclosure. But, you know, things run their course as players and as players in certain locations. He obviously had some pretty substantial injury history his last couple of years here. He won the starting center job at the beginning after training camp, gets hurt, and then ultimately Cade Mays takes the starting job away from him. And then once he gets back on the offensive line, not at center, whether that be right guard, left guard, whatever, Robert Hunt comes back.

And so he takes that right guard spot from him. And so when you kind of and then the Panthers sign Luke Fortner at the center spot. And so I think Austin still wants to be a starting offensive lineman. And um if he doesn't have that chance in Carolina, because he won't. He's going to want to compete somewhere else.

And, like you said, there are a lot of connections between the Panthers and the Bills. Joe Brady, obviously, among them as the head coach there. He was obviously an offensive coordinator here in Carolina back in the Matt Rule days. If you can remember that, it feels like a long time ago, when in reality, it wasn't all that long ago. But.

I'm happy for Austin. Great person, great family man. And he'll be back in Charlotte, just maybe not wearing a Carolina Panthers uniform. Yeah, we're big fans of Austin Corbett around here.

So, it's been a very eventful free agency period for the Panthers. They've made some really nice moves on the defensive side of the ball, but they've also made a really nice move on the offensive tackle side of the ball. Rashid Walker, who you just did a story on, and you were talking about how that might have been an incredible steal that the Panthers got there. What did you mean by that?

Well, here's the thing, he himself called himself a steal. Which I think is bold and fun. And I'm, and as a writer, I think that's wonderful. But when you actually, you know, kind of mine through the deal itself, it kind of does feel like a steal. The Panthers got them on the Friday of free agency.

So, like the legal negotiating window, or whatever people are calling it nowadays, that opened on Monday. And the top Offensive tackle in the free agency market. Had to wait around until Friday to get signed.

So that kind of gave an indication of how his market was going. It ended up being a one-year, $4 million deal, according to Over the Cap. It's pretty incentive-laden. The contract will get worth up to 10 million after all these incentives if he does achieve all that. But still, that $4 million average per year.

is outside the top thirty among offensive tackles.

Now you might be thinking, okay, well, he's gonna like they signed him as a backup. Don't we have Iki Ikwanu as the Panthers' starting left tackle. Yes, you do. And in fact, the Panthers picked up his fifth-year option, and he's in a contract year. The bad news, he ruptured his patellar tendon in the final game of last year.

And the Panthers have been actually surprisingly quite coy about his timeline for return. I would imagine that he would miss If not most of the season, at least a substantial part of 2026, because that's a really serious injury. And so he's going to be a starter. you're getting a starting premium position for one year, $4 million. And then you fi you you take all that f stuff away and and if the Cynical Panthers fans come back and says, well, what's what's good of him being durable and what's good of him being the starter if he can't actually play?

Well, he started for a really fiery offense in Green Bay. He played all 18 games in 2024. And then, oh, he played. I'm getting this wrong. Oh, he started in 17 of 18 games in 2025 and started all games in 2024.

And then, on top of that, he is a really good pass blocker according to the stats.

So. He had a pass block win rate of 94% in 2025. That's pretty good.

So. I don't know, man. There are just so many reasons why he could be a steal. And there are also other reasons why his market might have been depressed. But at this point, the Panthers coming off an NFC South Championship with Bryce Young ascending.

With all with the end, with Dan Morgan doing so many things to get defensive playmakers on the defensive side of the ball during free agency, with the NFL draft still ahead of them. I was thinking that the Panthers were going to have to draft an offensive tackle. Yeah. They now don't. And And I think that they would actually be okay if they end up not drafting one.

Now, they probably need to get an interior offensive lineman, and I am officially rambling now, but I think Rasheed Wallace, I think, not Rasheed Wallace, you got Tario Basketball on the brand. I know Rasheed Walker is. An answer. for the starting offensive line. I think ultimately it is a steal.

So you brought up a good point there that I actually wanted to transition to. Alec Zetlo of the Charlotte Observer with us here on WSJS.

So what do you think the Panthers do with that number 19 pick? Oh my gosh, it's a great question. There are so many options for them at safety. The thing, like, I get it, the safety spot is not a premium position. Um But man, dude, like.

If If the draft board kind of falls away, and this is still really early, so I hope no freezing cold takes come my way. But, like, if the draft board falls the way it is right now, I think that the Panthers could go out and get a Dylan Fianeman. Of Oregon. He's a safety. He's a really athletic safety.

And they have other options in the defensive backfield as well. I think that they have the. I think that that would be actually a really smart move. Um, now, if you're still kind of curious about the offensive tackle thing, I think that's cool too. Um, Blake Miller out of Clemson is a guy that I have Written about a couple of times, read about a lot that would end the drought of the Panthers not drafting a Clemson dude.

And he's and I think he's gonna I think he's projected to fall at kind of in that 19 to 20s range as well. And of course, the Panthers' offensive line coach went to the Clemson Pro Day, probably to scout him.

So I think safety, offensive tackle, but really, because of what Dan Morgan and company did over free agency, they can just choose the best player available. Which is just a luxury that the Panthers haven't been able to have. Really, since 2023, really, since Bryce Young has gotten there.

So it's going to, like, I hope my optimism is coming through because, like, this is just a new feeling that Steve reporters have had. Uh going into the season. I'll ask you one last thing here on the way out. Because we've talked so much about the defense, the line.

Now, let's get to some of the flashy stuff. Like, I'm fascinated about this John Mechie signing because that's Bryce's guy from Alabama in 2021. Um you got T-Mac who's ascending you got Jalen Coker, who's ascending. What do you think year three holds for XL, Xavier Legette? Mm.

Man, you're asking the right questions. Dude. He's got to step up. I mean, I apologize for the kind of milquetoast answer, but. This is a massive year for Zay to look at.

I mean Dave Canalis essentially said, We are running our passing offense through TMAC. He's not only our number one option. If he can't do what he needs to be able to do, it's just our scheme just doesn't work as a passing offense. And then The second option was Jalen Coker. And I think Brad Isaac specifically really, really likes what Jalen can bring.

Yep. they still believe in Xavier. I think that there is the rationale of oh, Xavier Legette is a first-round pick. This is not how first-round picks should. perform or whatever.

He I mean, he was the thirty second pick in the first round. And like a second round pick was always going to be a little bit of a developmental project. I'm not saying I'm not making excuses for certain things that he did in his sophomore year. But there are going to be some sort of developmental like Realities that come with that. They really traded up and got him in the first round so they could have the, if he does benefit from, he can, they can have the choice for a fifth-year option.

But you're so right. With Jalen Coker being at that second spot, what happens at the third spot? I think Xavier Liguette will still get. all the starter reps at the z position. with um with Tedderelle McMillan at the X, but He's got to find a way to Yeah.

the the the massive target that he was brought into the league thinking that the Panthers would be. Because They still need A deep threat. And I'm not just saying speed. They need more speed, and that's what John Mechie can do. And he's a yard-after-catch monster, but they need someone to go up and get contested catches.

Bryce Young is remarkably accurate throwing down the field. If you look at his pro football focus stats, he is one of the best in the league. He's also one of the best in the league on fourth down. Yep. The fact that Xavier Legette hasn't been able to kind of benefit from Bryce Young's amazing stats is a bit concerning.

It's just a massive year for him. And he knows that. The coaching staff knows that. As far as role form right now, we're going to have to wait and see. But this is.

The Panthers are going to want to evaluate him. And so they're going to give him some early chances. They're just going to see what happens from there. Alex Zetlo of the Charlotte Observer. Check out his work there along with Mike Case, Scott Fowler.

They do a great job over at The Observer. Alex, we appreciate the time and we'll do it again sometime here soon, buddy. Yo, I appreciate it. This was so fun. And now.

On with the show. Showtime. The sports conversation starts here. You're on the drive. Back at it on the drive.

A Friday drive right here. On WSJS. Let's make some money. Let's play some bets. Let's do that.

We'll do it live.

Okay. We'll do it live!

Now what could that mean? That's not no, that's not placing bets. No, that's a update for your only MLB game on right now. Yankees are playing the San Francisco Giants, and I just wanted to cut in and say It's still tied at zero. Gee, thanks.

What time was first pitch? 4:30? Actually, yes. It's the top of the second. I know this because I was trying to get it on in the studio here.

And it's got me locked out and I can't get it. I'm really upset about it. It's very frustrating. Don't love it.

Now could we make some bets? That good. Stack it, stack, gotta stack it up. Get the money, get the money on the time up. It's time to cash in.

Welcome to Dalton's Dollars. Going to London! Breaking down the board and building the bankroll. All right.

So Yeah. Here's some of the bets that I took last night. I I'm not gonna lie to you. I got in kinda late on some of my bets. And so I had to live bet a few of these.

So the lot yeah, I kind of screwed up. The line kind of moved around on me a little bit, but I was like, you know what? Nah, I still want in on it. I still want in. Gotta get in on it.

You believe it, you believe it.

So here's the first thing I did. I took the Knicks. Eight and a half point Uh Spread. They were eight and a half point dogs at the time that I bet this and during the game. Uh the Hornets 1114 and 103.

So that didn't cash. Then I also live bet Nebraska? And Iowa? Morgan's over here laughing at me. Uh I had Nebraska as four and a half point favorites.

Well, they lost, so um there's that. Texas. My one Let's see. No, I had one other that cashed. Don't believe me on that.

Texas, though, was the first one of the night to cash. It was the first game of the night. I took Texas to cover seven and a half point dogs. against uh Purdue and it came down to the final. Texas darn near won the thing.

Texas covered, only losing by two. STRAMIGO! That's right. Then In a stunning turn of events, I live bet Houston. Houston, three and a half point dogs, they were at this point in the game.

This is fun. This is so wonky what I'm doing right now, trying to remember my live bets here, looking at my settled bets on my app. Houston, three and a half point dogs.

Well, they lost by 10 to Illinois. Totally forgot Stoyakovich. Guy from Cal last year was at Illinois this year. They beat Houston by 10. Kelvin Sampson's group.

Heading home. We'll get to that game a little later on. Then the last one of the night, another one that I won. I took Arizona, eight and a half point favorites against Arkansas. Arizona is just rolling through everybody.

109 to 88, they finished. STROW VIGO! Blood!

So of all those bets Went two for five. Yeah. Could be better, but it could always be worse. Let's get into some bets for tonight, though, very quickly. I will bet these on time, I promise.

I'll make sure to do that. St. John's Duke. Game you can listen to right here on WSJS. Duke is a six and a half point favorite.

I'm taking St. John's to cover. Six and a half point dogs. Strove me to. I get that at minus 108 odds.

I think Duke wins the game, but I expect St. John's to keep it close. I do. Watch Duke just run away with it. You watch.

Nah, I think St. John's keeps it close. Michigan, Alabama. Morgan, you're wearing a Michigan shirt.

Okay. He's very adamant that Dusty May does not take. The Tar Heel job. In Dusty, we trusty. He did.

Yeah. is Well, there's the podcast title. Alabama, Michigan. Michigan is a nine and a half point favorite against the tide. I like him to cover that.

Michigan. DRAW VEGO! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh. That's that's my picks for tonight.

That's my picks. We'll just take two, we'll keep it simple. Duke. Or St. John's to cover against Duke, Michigan to cover.

Uh tonight. Will Dalton turns group chat arguments into live radio, The Drive, the triad's longest running live sports talk show. Back at it on a Friday drive. You're listening to WSJS.

So we'll get to Some of the things Boo Corrigan had to say. As the dust settled, From Will Wade's departure yesterday. And by dust, I mean literal dust under the private jet that he flew out of RDU to Baton Rouge from. In fact, That's actually where I want to go next. is some of this footage.

You ready for this, Morgan? Are you ready?

So. Because LSU was thrilled. The General's back. Were you aware of that they called him the general? I was not aware that he was the short insurance guy.

Oh boy.

So again, This has been in the works for months. LSU was ready for this. Like they've got a new Actually, I don't know if this is new or not. The boot up thing. I don't know if that's revamped here recently or if that's always been their slogan.

But Like they've got all of this new branding out. on their social media. Like in fact, Well, before we get to LSU Here was the moment yesterday, and then if this is a good opportunity now for you to go to our YouTube stream, our X stream, if you're not there already, because. Here's Will Wade. Pulling up to R D U.

Rolling up to the side gate, and he's about to bolt. He's like, man, get me out of here. I've seen enough. Yeah. I obviously don't have the sound on on this clip for obvious reasons because there's.

Some not so FCC friendly things being yelled his way. There he is. Get a little side shot of him right as he's about to go. Yep, there he goes. Right through the gate.

Heading towards the jet, you know. Not terrific. For an N for MC State fans, of course, to see that. And then Here is Will Wade arriving in Baton Rouge. And I'm just going to share LSU's X page here in just a second.

Again, trying to give you plenty of time to get to our YouTube stream, our X stream, if you want to see this. Will Wade, he's hugging people. He's gotten off the jet. He's got his LSU shirt, his polo. Oh, yeah.

The funniest part is, you can't see it on the stream right now. But that video The caption on it Was our fearless general has returned or our fearless leader has returned? Yeah, so much so that you couldn't. It's like, yeah, Carolina Duke, I don't want any part of that. Like, get.

It's just it's just rich.

So I'll get to um I'm gonna share right now their their X page because you just you got to see some of this stuff here. Um Some of the stuff that they've put out. Like, all right, here you go. This is a shirt. Morgan likes this.

This is a shirt. That they're promoting and it's got Will Wade in the general's outfit. Essentially doing the uncle Sam pointing at you and going, I want you. to boot up. Yeah.

Again, the introductory pressers at noon. Scrolling here, there's more about the introductory presser. Get this. Aggression is the weapon of the brigade. They call it the brigade over there.

You getting this, Morgan? You you gettin' all this? Back in the saddle. Yeah. As we continue to scroll here, our fearless leader has returned.

There's that one. That's a beauty. L S U basketball. They're holding up the the L thing. Yeah.

Boot up. It's the um It's the cinema meme. But it's Will Wade saying boot up. One of my favorites though is this one right here Calling from Baton Rouge. It's Will Wade on the jet.

He's smiling, he's laughing, he's on his way. Colin Baton Rouge. Yeah. It's just unbelievable, man, how he did NC State like this. It really is.

So you actually ran his statement yesterday, Morgan. his, you know, very long statement of Where we essentially go, I'm either sorry that that happened or congratulations, I'm not reading all of that. And it really reeks of this was AI generated. Morgan. What did you find out?

So I didn't just run it through one, not two, not three, not four, but five AI to do what LeBron did: five AI generators. And uh not generators, but like checkers.

Okay. They all said some level of 90 to 100% AI. And then I looked over, so I copied it and pasted it into Google. And what I noticed is the dashes or hyphens were longer. Chat GPT and these newer AI models use these things called M dashes, and it's a dash that's the length of a capital letter M.

And uh That's not a key on a keyboard. You have to know the shortcut to do that. And Will Wade does not know the shortcut because I consider myself pretty computer savvy. Yeah, you're pretty good at it. I don't know the shortcut.

Oh, boy. You have to go in the settings and figure it out. Yeah. It's ridiculous.

So there is a lot of M-dashes in this. Which tells me that it most likely is AI Which is just another nail in the coffin. Yeah, like, listen, we're not breaking any news here, we're not confirming it 100%.

Well, we did some due diligence, as did somebody again. Shout out to Ovis and Jillio and their banger of a podcast they put out yesterday.

Somebody hopped in the comments there and was like, hey, I just ran this thing kind of like what Morgan just did, and I'm telling you, it's AI.

So Do with that information what you will. Let's move along to Hubert Davis, though. and the situation in Chapel Hill. Because He's been fired, as we know by now. Um A lot happening in the triangle.

And a lot of people are not happy with how it went down With It drug out for five days. I mean, we had the six-man of the Tori. He was beat out on here yesterday, and he was talking about he didn't really like that. There's a lot of people that didn't, a lot of Carolina family people that did not. Uh but Coach K He was on with Pat McAfee, as I mentioned a little while ago.

He's been doing it throughout the tournament and He gave his two cents on Hubert being let go the way he did. Hubert Davis is a good friend. Actually, his wife, Leslie, her father, who passed in the last year. was one of my teammates at West Point. And so I think Hubert's one of the great guys.

Yeah, I'm sad that that happened. Yeah, I think every coach in the country has empathy for him. You lose a player. uh the caliber of cable balls like he He's a top five pick in the NBA draft. And you don't have him the last.

few weeks of the season, that's a big thing. Yeah, that's a huge thing. It is. And I mean, it is something that needs to be considered. Um I don't necessarily agree with how Carolina dressed.

Like, again, a couple of things can be true. I don't agree with how Carolina drugged this out the way they did, and all the conversations they had, they felt like they needed to have in the halls of the Smith Center or wherever they do it. wherever their offices are. To come to the conclusion to move on from Hubert Davis, but I do feel that. It was Probably time to move on because you just had enough sample of over five years to see this is not quite up to Carolina standard.

It's good. We've acknowledged that it's good with 20-win seasons and A one seed in 2024, an ACC regular season title in 2024, a national championship appearance as an eight seed. Taking out Coach K are you know, the way you did twice. But again, when you look at all the stuff in in the meat of it, it just wasn't quite up to standard.

So Can move on but not do it in the way you did it is what I'm getting at. Bruce Pearl Last night on The broadcast at the desk, you know, that they have pre-halftime and post-show or post-game, I should say. This Clip right here started to make the rounds. He was talking about Hubert Davis, and then he kind of threw in.

Some personal things at the end of it. I just hate hearing the words, Hubert Davis was fired at UNC. That sentence right there bothers me to my core because if Huvis Davis, who has had such a great career, and you know, Jaywen, to your point with his character and everything like that. can get let go because he didn't win enough when his best player got hurt. That's why I'm sitting here, guys.

That's part of the reason why I'm sitting here because there is no loyalty anymore.

Some might argue that you're sitting there because your son, Stephen. was in waiting to become the coach at Auburn. who they uh they're in the NIT semifinals now, Auburn is. But Take it easy there, Bruce. I wouldn't necessarily say that loyalty or a lack thereof was what it was.

And I think a lot of people would agree with that. Lastly, Rick Petino. This isn't necessarily a Hubert Davis thing, but this is something that was making the rounds a little bit. We actually asked BDOT about it yesterday. And that was Rick Bettino kind of insinuating when he met with the media or saying as much that blue bloods.

I'm paraphrasing here like they don't exist anymore, or they don't run things anymore. And he kind of gave some color commentary as to what he meant when he met with the media after his original media availability. I don't mean the Blue Bloods are dead. I mean that it's just they don't have the advantage they once had because now everybody's on the same level playing field and there's no difference between um an MC State and a North Carolina. Uh there is no difference between an Illinois and uh Michigan.

They're based on what players want and care about what you may have. Yeah, you're no longer going You're no longer going to Kentucky because of the facilities or the great history. You're going there because you want to play for that coach, and obviously, your contract. is very good. I get what he's saying.

Like, Blue Bloods. They don't have as big of an advantage as they once did. I would not say blue bloods are dead or blue bloods don't exist any more. But I don't think they have the same advantage that they once did just because they're blue bloods. Um at least not for the most part.

Because to his point, and I think this is the point he was trying to make, but sometimes things can be taken out of context, which is why I agree with this part of it, is the money controls a lot of things now. Like what happened to Clemson football? Like people don't just go to Clemson anymore because hey, we're Clemson. Doesn't really work that way. Same for Alabama.

Um there might be a few that do, but more and more. Players aren't going. To Carolina because, hey, this is Carolina, and Dean Smith was here, and Roy and Tyler Hansbroten. For the most part, it's because of that check. and also who the coach is going to be.

Which is why this hire is so fascinating for Carolina. But I get where Rick Patino is coming from. Don't agree 100%. But I do understand where he's coming from.