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You're on a Tuesday drive right here on WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad. I'm Will Dalton! Also known as the W D. And we got a jam-packed show for you today. The Greensboro Swarm.

Their head coach is going to join us in about a half hour. DJ Baker, as they get set to host their first. playoff action ever. Out at the field house. We'll talk to him in a little bit.

Plus, Desmond Johnson is going to join us at 5:30 to talk all things. UNC coaching search, Will Wade back at LSU, Justin Gainey coming in at NC State, Panthers, Hornets, everything local with Des, our guy. But Let's actually start with some Panthers because we heard From Dave Canalis for the first time. Since the Kanban. Heard from him yesterday.

So everybody. In the NFL. is down at the NFL meetings that's happening. There's a lot of fun stuff coming out of that that we'll get to in about 15 minutes in terms of league-wide. But.

Looking specifically at the Panthers and looking specifically at Dave Canalis. They met He met with media at the NFC coaches breakfast yesterday. Um And it's pretty clear. That They're going to continue to try and build this thing up as well as they can around Bryce Young, which I mean, that's kind of like a no-duh. But let's look at some of the details here because he said some interesting things.

This was the first of that: they want to continue to build it up around Bryce because this is a year for Bryce that. He's playing for a contract extension. They're picking up his fifth year option. They feel like he's got a good rapport now with T-Mac. He's got a good rapport now with Jalen Coker as he took another step.

And you got John Mechie coming in, Bryce's pal from Alabama back in 2021. We'll see what happens with Xavier Legette.

So You're starting to build some real weapons here around Bryce. Obviously, the key is, as always, is going to be protecting him. But A new addition to the offense this year, of course, is the fact that the offensive coordinator Brad Idzik is calling plays for the first time. Dave Canalis giving up play calling duties to Brad. And that's why they brought in Daryl Bevel as kind of not only is he the associate head coach, but he's going to help Brad.

along.

So they're already starting to put The offense in place. They're starting to put the playbook together. And one thing that. Dave said was is that He and Brad, they're already going through game-like scenarios right now as they're designing these plays. Um And they're crafting the offense and they're trying to build up.

Situational awareness. Um And that's, again, Daryl Bevel playing a big part in that as well, helping them design plays.

So that's the first thing that we heard Dave Canalis say in terms of. you know, what's happening behind the scenes there at Bank of America Stadium. The other one is The obvious one is: we're getting closer and closer to the NFL draft.

Well, what are you going to do? With that number 19 overall pick. What's going to be the move there? Because. You've already addressed some of your needs.

You've addressed. Edge Rusher with Jalen Phillips. You've addressed. Linebacker with Devin Lloyd. You've also addressed offensive tackle, bringing in Rasheed Walker the way you did.

So free agency so far has been very good to Carolina. They're not going to have to put as much priority on drafting at those spots. And number 19, but... One's One thing that Dave did say. He pinpointed a couple of positions that they might be looking at.

with his number nineteen overall pick. White out? That's one that he gave us. Tight end, which that's also a need that the Panthers have, or they would like to improve there. And then safety.

I wonder how much of that is a smokescreen? Because it is that time of year where you say things to the media, it gets out. And you do it intentionally. But You know, they do have a bit of a need at tight end.

So I don't think that piece is a smokescreen, but it is going to be fascinating to see who they could potentially get at that number 19. Pick? At those spots. And I'm very excited as the mock drafts continue to come out. We're going to put a mock draft together.

Probably do like a top 10. And then we'll also add the number 19 pick to see where the Panthers might go there. But these are three positions that Dave Canalis straight up said to the media yesterday: hey. This is where we're looking right now. Then you get to a third thing that he said that was very interesting.

And we actually have a clip of this. He talked a bit about Jonathan Brooks. Panthers running back. bit was hurt last year. And Canalis?

I mean, this is a big reason why the Panthers didn't bring Rico Dowdle back, if we're being frank about it. Because not only were they not going to be able to pay or not so much not be able to, not willing to pay what Rico Dowdle wanted to be an RB1, because you've already made that financial commitment to Chuba Hubbard. But you also had Jonathan Brooks waiting in the wings. Hurt all year last year. He only played the three games in 2024, so he was activated.

Drafted out of Texas. He was hurt coming into the draft, as we remember.

So some are already starting to give him that injury-prone label, which. I totally get it. Me personally, I want to wait and see what he's got. Before I do that. Um Give him a little more runway, of course.

But He was activated in November of 2024. He appeared in just three games, had one start. And then he had that season-ending torn ACL that was in his right knee. That was week 14 against the Philadelphia Eagles that year. But he did show some nice flashes, I thought, in the three games that he played.

Here was Dave Canalis. Speaking about the status and where Jonathan Brooks is in his recovery. Yeah, just I'm open to whatever he wants to bring and I know what he looked like. prior to the injury. I know what that player looks like, so I have that in the back of my mind.

And that's a vision that I hope he has too. And so that we can go and attack that. How do we get to a point where you can play his best, where you can be ready? And that'll be our goal. We'll make sure we do the right thing for Jonathan for sure.

But I see the excitement. He's been in the building. He's been working out and training with our guys. And I know that he's excited about this opportunity to convince me.

Sounds like he's going to be ready to go for all uh OTAs. And mini camp. Would you like to hear that?

So, Jonathan Brooks, a lot of people very. Very much waiting for his return and what that might look like. But These are just some of the interesting nuggets that we got from Dave Canalis yesterday at the NFC. Coaches breakfast talking about building things up, continuing to do that around Bryce. They're already designing the plays with Brad Itzik, what they might do with that number 19 pick.

He says wide receiver, tight end, and safety. And of course, Jonathan Brooks. He's going to be ready to go for OTAs, it sounds like. Dan Morgan, we heard some from him. We'll get to that on tomorrow's program.

336-777-1600 is the number to call if you want in on today's show. Steer the ship. Take us anywhere you want to go. If you have anything on the Carolina Panthers or the UNC head coaching search or the NC State. Bringing in Justin Gainey, making that happen, or what we heard from Will Wade yesterday at LSU.

Anything you would like to get in on? We heard from Jerry McNamara yesterday at his introductory press conference at Syracuse. We'll hear some of that a little bit later on. Seems like he's going to be a really, really good fit as he's back home there at the helm. for the orange.

Morgan Corson? Producer of this show. How are we doing over there? We're rocking and rolling. Rocking and rolling.

Yeah. Man, I'm caffeinated. I really am.

So I um I've got a long day ahead of me.

So we're doing the show obviously right now, but then tonight. from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Something you can listen to here on WSJS. Westwood won sports night. Going to be producing that.

So it's going to be a busy Yeah, I'm going to be up late. 3 a.m. That's when we get off. 3 a.m. The caffeine's going to be flowing.

That's what we're going to do.

So. Pray for me. That's what I'm asking from you. Let's get to the UNC coaching search. What's the latest on that?

Because Everybody and their mother Has a report or a rumor Or just Thought On this coaching search, whether it's Dusty May, whoever you think it is. Everybody seems to think they have a nod or a lead here. And when you're talking about the Carolina. Job or jobs of this magnitude, that's when you have. The Stephen A's chiming in, the Colin Cowherd's been getting in on it, people that don't cover this stuff.

As closely or on a regular basis, like our friends at Inside Carolina, let's say, or. Tarheel 24-7 or a Pat Welter at WRAL and everybody else in the state that covers it here in our local media, which is why. Just need to be careful. Just need to be careful where you're getting your information. Um Heck, you could say that about anything.

But when it comes to these types of stories, you got to be careful on that. And You also get the rumors, and again, 336-777-1600 is the number to call. You also tend to get these types of rumors when. It gets drawn out. The process gets drawn out the way it is.

Carolina is drawing it out a little bit and It's kind of concerning to some people. I'm not one of those people. I think Carolina is the type of brand and a type of program.

So here's where the concern comes from, by the way, just to point it out. People are a little bit concerned with how long they might take on this because. The transfer portal window opens up on April 7th. And that's right the day right after the national title game. And it's a 15-day window.

And so People are a little concerned about Carolina waiting till the Final Four is over. to make this higher. And the reason they're doing that is because Well, one of the lead candidates for it is Tommy Lloyd over at Arizona. And guess what? Another one.

Um is Dusty May. At Michigan. And then If you didn't do either of those, you got Billy Donovan with the Chicago Bulls, which. You know, he's not in the Final Four. He's with the Chicago Bulls, but their season's still going on.

So you're waiting a little bit here. And people are a little concerned about that. Um Transfer portal. window but This is why I like to go to some of our local guys that cover this stuff. Here was Andrew Jones of Tarheel 24-7.

They do a great job over there covering this stuff, putting out daily drops and whatnot, giving really good intel. Here he was on UNC taking. their time a little bit with this hire. The objective is to get the right person.

So if that means that you don't hire someone until the portal's been open for four or five days, then so be it. That's when you hire somebody. The objective and the most important thing is getting the right coach for the long term, not a coach you can get in now so he can get some kind of a roster together right away. The roster will take care of itself.

So, the objective: get the right guy. And I think that they're doing due diligence. The people that are in charge of this know what they're doing. They're smart people. They're working really good, really well together as a unit.

And they've got some. Important people that are voices in the process. And I think they're eventually going to make a really good hire. And again, he covers it as closely as anybody, and he's in the know on these types of things.

So he's not worried too much about Carolina taking their time on this because it's Carolina. Um You do want to be, you want to make sure you can get your guy, especially when you're in a situation like Carolina is where you're going outside the family for the first time. in seventy some years. You want to make sure you get that guy if you're going to go through all this trouble and fire Hubert Davis and, you know, because his good just wasn't quite good enough. You got to make sure you can get your guy.

Even if it means waiting a little bit longer, it could pay off in the bigger picture. Greg Barnes of Inside Carolina echoed some of this, talking about. Again, the patience that Caroline is using. But you do have to be willing to have patience to make sure you get the right guy. And if you do that, everything else kind of falls into place.

You may not be able to maximize. uh the roster for next year i mean maybe you can But if you can't, then you you just agree to to live with those consequences. That's part of the deal. But you know that moving forward, you're going to be in really good shape. Yeah.

100%.

Now the latest that we know on this, and we'll get to your calls here in just a second. What I've read about Dusty May is again, of the three prominent candidates, he is the third. on that list in terms of He's in there, but it's probably not likely.

Now, you were telling me, Morgan, that you were reading a report from somebody from CBS about this earlier today. What did you read? Yeah, someone from CBS said that it's pretty much a done deal, but I that's the only report. I did some more surfing on it. He's the only one that said anything like that.

So, I don't know how much credit I put towards that. Yeah. But it definitely looks like they're looking into Dusty. And Dusty's buyout 7 million. And a done he said a done deal.

He said expected. Like heavily expected. And I'm like, that's like to that, I'm like, that's I don't buy it. I don't either. But I definitely expect Dusty to be in the top three.

He's a phenomenal coach. He's turned Mount Michigan in two years. Michigan fan Morgan over here, I might add. Just gotta point that out. You're wearing Michigan.

Is that yellow? Yeah, it's yellow, but not Michigan yellow. It's close enough, whatever. It's on the mind, fresh on the mind. Yeah, I.

See, I. I put little to no stock in that because that's the first time I've ever heard anybody say, like, Dusty May's that. Much in it. I don't put any stock in that. I don't.

I also heard a report A couple of reports That Michael Jordan The other day, placed a call to Tommy Lloyd. Doug Gottlieb was on Colin Cowherd's podcast right after the Duke Yukon game talking about. He had heard M. J. called Tommy Lloyd?

Again. These are things that you have to take with a grain of salt. It's possible that Michael Jordan got in the mix here. It's also not even possible. It's very much likely and probably so that Roy Williams is very much involved in this hire.

He's not just going to be like, yeah, go get who you get. That's not going to happen. Um But I don't know. Ian O'Connor, he believes Billy Donovan could go back to college at some point in the next couple of years. I heard him on a radio show saying that.

So these are the latest with these candidates. But again, Carolina's playing the waiting game on this. Just be careful with where you get your information. Let's go to Joey and Thomasville. Actually, no.

I read that wrong. This is uh Joey's friend. The human highlighter, he calls in from time to time, and it sounds like he wants in on the UNC coaching topic.

Okay. Mm-hmm. That's right. Let me tell you something, brother. That H.H.

Hale is still, still, even though he's in retirement. He is still the man. The myth, the living legend. He is the man that the kids want to be. He is a man.

That the men want to be. He is the man that the women want to be with. And let me tell you something. Knee and B dot. We have been in conversation.

With the Carolina brass. And we have made our recommendation. And I'm gonna tell you something. Pay no attention! To the Stephen A.

Smiths of the world, all these ESPN pundits who think they know about Carolina basketball. And they have no clue. We are going to make a hire. And that man That man is going to take us to the trumpet. We are going to go beyond what Anything is thought about.

Go shut up! You're a bust! You're a boss. You've had all this talent. You're falling in Kay's shoes.

You're just doing just like Kay did. You are getting all this first-round talent, and you're doing nothing with it. And we're going to tell you, Carolina. Where not? back door to anybody.

We are preeminent. We are the college brand. of college basketball. Never forget it. Woo!

Highlight! Thank you, human highlighter. Colin Johnschire a boss. That's That's bold, man. That's really bold.

Thank you as always. Appreciate that. All right, let's keep this ship moving. We mentioned. That It is NFL meetings.

Let's get to some of the highlights. Speaking of highlights, let's get to.

Some of those from the NFL meetings across the league. Let's go outside of the Panther stratosphere. Let's do that. It's next on the drive, you're listening to WSJS. Woohoo!

Well All right, let's go. Oh, I'm so excited. And three, two, one, go. The triads ride home just got louder. Welcome to the drive.

Back at it on a Tuesday drive right here on WSJS. And I've been looking forward to this.

So The Greensboro Swarm, they have made the G League playoffs now for back-to-back years. And this year, for the first time in franchise history, they will be hosting. A playoff game tonight at 6.30 out at the Novant Health. Fieldhouse earning a two seed, taking on the number seven main Celtics tonight at 6:30. Nice enough to join us was the head coach of the Greensboro Swarm, DJ Baker, on a game day.

Coach, how are you? Doing well. Doing well. Thank you for having me on. Of course, of course.

So we'll get to the game and the season itself in just a second, but What is a typical game day look like for Coach Baker? Because I know players typically have their rituals, their routines, things they like to eat before the game or listen to. What does Coach Baker have on his agenda? Today, getting here nice and early, me and my coaching staff, we do basically a film session in here of what we're going to show the players this morning, put together our practice plan, talk about rotations and matchups, kind of go through find Fine-tune the details and finalize any execution plans that we have for the game plan. Then we'll go meet with the players, do a film session with them, do a shoot around, which we just got out of right now.

Um, and then after that, just you know, get ready, do some personal stuff for the game in terms of uh. Execution type things, offensive execution, and the game type execution.

So just more planning, more preparing. Um, it's a 6:30 game, otherwise, I might be able to take a nap if it was 7 or 7:30, but that might cut my nap out of the day today. But it's a playoff, so it's all good. Is there like a special pre-game meal that you have to eat? Like, are you one of these people that you have to eat the same thing before every game, or just like whatever's out there?

Whatever's out there, but it's got to be light. You know, it's got to be light. Yeah, I gotta coach. I move and I coach, it's intense. I keep it light and simple.

I love it. I love it. DJ Baker, the head coach of the Greensboro, swarmed with us here on WSJS ahead of a playoff matchup with the main Celtics.

So getting to the season itself, as I mentioned at the top, you guys. You've made the playoffs now back to back years. Last year was the first time in franchise history you guys did that. What do you think have been some of the keys to your success and your growth this year from last year? I think number one, from an organizational standpoint, it always starts with ownership, you know, giving us the resources we need, giving us the support that we need.

Obviously, we've had multiple owners come to games throughout the years, through the last couple of years, which you don't see very often, if ever, at the G-League level.

So, and then you move down, and then you have the front office and their support and how much they value it. Um You know, the type of players that they want to bring in our program, having the right character and DNA type of guys. And then from a coaching standpoint with Coach Lee, you know, he's always following us. He's coming to games. Me and him are texting, calling frequently.

Same thing with the assistant coaches.

So I say the foundation of our success is the support from the organization top to bottom. And then obviously, you gotta have really good players. And Cole Teal or GM has done a very good job of bringing in the right type of players from a competitive standpoint, from a character standpoint. And then, obviously, the name of our game of the game is: can we help develop and help prepare? Players that we're getting on our roster to play meaningful minutes for the Hornets in the future and the NBA in the future.

And so it's really having a developmental mindset. My staff obviously is the same coaching staff we had last year. Vetching group, they know the league. Very knowledgeable, committed to player development. And so I think when you put a lot of good people together and bring in the right players, and everybody's aligned and has strong communication skills and is bought into.

maximizing the development for each player, you're typically going to have some good success. I'm glad you mentioned the alignment between you guys and the Hornets, of course, because I heard Charles Lee saying that after a post-game presser a couple of months ago talking about the alignment between them and Greensboro, of course, and how you guys were very much on a similar page because there's been so much growth between them and you guys. Growth is a big buzzword, no pun intended, among the franchise.

So I'm glad you mentioned that. Let's get to the home aspect of this because. You guys are hosting a playoff game for the first time ever. How excited are you to be sharing this moment with the city of Greensboro and how impactful do you expect the crowd to be tonight?

Well, ever since I joined this organization for my press conference, you know, coming up on two years ago now, there is a loyal and passionate fan base here. People that are knowledgeable about the game of basketball. Like they care, they're invested. And you see so many similar people from game to game, whether it's kids or adults, and you see their support. They love.

Coming to the games, they love supporting our staff. And I felt So much appreciation and gratitude for the fan base and the community because they care. And we have great facilities, obviously. We have great partnerships. The size of our gym makes it a very intimate setting.

You know, it's not a 10,000-person stadium like you might go on the road and fit. It's a great size arena. But, like I said, People here, I've learned since moving here, whether it's high school, college, G-League, any type of professional level, they're passionate about the game, their knowledge about the game, that knowledgeable about the game, they study the game, and so it's really cool. I'm thrilled for our fan base. And we've done a lot of different events throughout the community over the last couple years and with different partnerships and whatnot.

And everyone always has so much support and appreciation and encouragement for us. It makes us want to perform at a high level for them.

So definitely very exciting for everybody to be a part of it. It is the hoop state, and there's no better example of that than right here in Greensboro. In fact, we want to send the audience out to the game.

So, if you would like a pair of tickets to go out and see the swarm take on the main Celtics tonight, 336-777-1600 is the number to call if you want in on that coach. I know you're busy, so we'll let you get out of here. But I really appreciate you taking a little bit of time for us today on a game day and go out there, get a win tonight. Good luck to you. I really appreciate it.

Thank you, Evermion, and just thank you for the support throughout the season. There he goes, the head coach of the swarm. DJ Baker, and again, 336-777-1600 is the number to call if you want in. on that game tonight against The main Celtic 630 out of the field house. Pretty exciting stuff there.

Got the swarm jersey here in the studio. Very quickly, though, before we. Get to some bets. I want to Talk for a second about How things might evolve. Under Bill Belichick because As we know, it wasn't a great go of it in year one.

Had a lot of drama. You know, I again, it was such a fever dream how it all got started. Between the introductory presser, the buildup, and then, of course, the beginning of the TCU game, that first drive. But After that, it was kind of all downhill from there. There was a little bit of improvement on the defensive side of the ball in the back half of the year, but.

Let's be honest, that what we saw last year That's not why you're paying him $10 million per year, 30 guarantees. That's not why you're doing it.

So A lot of the things that held you back from last year. Have been left at the door as it needed to be. One of those being Freddie Kitchens as the offensive coordinator. He's out. Um Also You've pretty much emptied out your quarterback room.

Gio Lopez. He's now over at Wake Forest. Uh Max Johnson. Not there any more. Bryce Baker, he transferred out, which I still.

I still can't quite get over. Bryce Baker coming out the way he did when he Said that he was going to keep his commitment at Carolina. It was a whole waiting game there for a little bit. Um After Belichick decided he was going to be the coach, a lot of people wondered: is Bryce going to keep his commitment there? Then they bring him out in front of the entire Smith Center.

And make it seem like, yeah, this is going to be a team. This is going to work. And then Bryce Baker's now on James Franklin's quarterback. Roster at Virginia Tech, and I think that's going to go very well. I think he's going to stick it to Carolina at some point down the way and make Belichick look a little silly for that.

But Bobby Petrino, he's the new offensive coordinator at Carolina.

So, this is the beginning of trying to make this thing. Evolve and look better offensively. Here was Bill Belichick last week when he met with the media. And he spoke a little bit about Bobby Petrino. And so, but I'd say, you know, foundationally, a lot of the things that Bobby did at Arkansas or even going back to Louisville, I mean, look, I've known Bobby for a long time and, you know, some of our coaches have worked for him.

Um And so let's say there's overall pretty good chemistry on the staff. I think he's got a great grasp of it. Offensive football, and certainly familiarity with his system on how to call it and the adjustments that he makes within it and so forth. Um you know, I'd say it's probably going to be similar to the relationship I had with Josh McDaniels. you know, as an offensive coordinator where it's you know, they're calling it, they're running it, but there are certain things that, you know uh we're gonna collaborate on and you know that's what we'll be Hmm.

Josh McDaniels, you say. That's what this relationship is going to be like. That would be nice. That'd be pretty terrific. That'd be quite a turnaround.

I mean, last year. Carolina averaged 290.9 yards per game, which was the fifth worst naturally, and they averaged, or they had. Just overall, 22 offensive touchdowns, which was the fewest in the ACC.

So. Hey. That'd be a nice turnaround if Carolina could. Pull some Josh McDaniels type stuff with Bobby Petrino there. He was.

Return to Arkansas in 2024. After a season at Texas AM with Jimbo Fisher.

So he was interim head coach last year at Arkansas after the Razorbacks parted ways with Sam Pittman.

So fascinating to see how that's going to turn out year two for Bill Belichick. Coming up next, though. Let's make some money, or at least attempt to. We actually did okay. It's been such a split bag for me lately.

Went 2-2 last night. Let's find out what hit, what didn't, and see if we can improve on it. In tonight's best bets, we do that next on the drive. You're on the drive, the Triads Only Live Sports Talk Show. All right, let's play some bets.

Went two and two last night. Had a couple of NBA picks, a couple of MLB picks. Let's review right now in Dalton's dollars. Stack it up, stack up, stack up, stack it up. Get the money, get the money all the time, though.

It's time to cash in. Welcome to Dalton's Dollars. Throw me the money! Yeah. Show me the money.

Breaking down the board and building the bankroll. All right, here's what we did. Had Spurs last night as an 18 and a half point favorite against the Bulls. It was a close one in terms of that line, but the Spurs won by quite a bit, but they didn't quite get to the 18.5 mark.

So that didn't cash. But you know what did? Or what did not actually? Both NBA picks did not go so well. Sixers, money line against the Heat.

Couldn't get that one done. But my Major League Baseball picks, though. Royals took the money line against the Twins. That cashed. Trophy Divide!

Then. Yankees Mariners last night. I didn't want to mess with the spread. Also didn't want to mess with the money line. Cause I was a little split on that.

And I'm a Yankee fan. I did however like that Uh total. Going under seven and a half. I went under seven and a half runs, and that cashed. STROPHING DIVINE!

Yeah. Yeah. Shout out to Yankees Mariners. They uh Meet again tonight at 9:40. Mariners dealt the Yankees their first loss of the season.

last night, unfortunately. But it was. Tight ball game, not anywhere near that seven and a half line. All right, tonight's picks, though. Let's get to those.

Got five, I'm gonna give out. Hornets, they're at the Brooklyn Nets. Jay Davis in our comments. I'll get to that comment here in just a second. Hornets.

17-point favorites against the Nets. I will take that. Trophy divides! A day of rest for Charlotte.

So Coming off of a couple of Tough losses. One a close loss against the Sixers on Saturday. And then. Beat down against the Celtics on Sunday. I have tested.

That spread a number of times when it's a big spread like that. I've not touched it and then paid the price for it.

So we're going to go Hornet 17-point favorites. Lakers. I want in on this. They're two-point dogs against the Cavs tonight. Jay Davis says I should bet the Lakers.

I will. I'll take him to cover two points. Strophy dividers! The Phoenix Suns. They're playing pretty well.

Got Dylan Brooks back. Uh I think I'm gonna take The money line for them. Think I'm gonna do that? SHOLFIN DIVINE! They take on the Orlando Magic, who are struggling a bit.

That's a seven o'clock tip. I like the Phoenix Suns money line against Orlando.

Now, let's get to a couple of. Major League Baseball picks. Yankees, Mariners. If it ain't broke. Don't bother.

Don't bother trying to fix it. I'm going to do it again. The money line again, or the run total again. Under seven and a half Yankees Mariners. Stroving dividers!

Sorry if that bores you to be repetitive, but I like making cash, quite frankly. And lastly, Brewers against the Rays. I'll take brewers. A run and a half point favorite. Show me the money!

I like that. Milwaukee, one and a half.

So there's our picks for tonight. in Dalton's dollars. There you go, Jay Davis. I finally bet on the Lakers. I like that a lot.

Justin Gainey, he has officially been announced as the head coach of the NC State Wolf Pack.

So that's a done deal. That's in the last half hour. We actually got a statement from Justin Gainey per release. I'm humbled and honored to be the head coach of the NC State. Men's basketball program.

This university helped build me as a player and as a person to now lead it as head coach is truly a full circle moment. There's a responsibility that comes with leading your alma mater, and I embrace it fully. We're going to honor our tradition, represent this university. The right way and build a program our Wolfpack family can be proud of. This place means everything to me.

I wore the jersey with pride, and now I'll lead this program with that same passion, toughness, and commitment to winning that defines the Wolfpack. That's what you want right there, State fans. That. Will wait who? They can have him in Baton Rouge.

You got a winner here in Justin Gainey. I believe that.

Okay. Let's go, baby. What kind of like this? Let's go! Go!

Now back to the drive. Back at it on a Tuesday drive, right here on WSJS. Going to be joined by Desmond Johnson of. Tobacco Road Sports Radio. Gonna join us at about 540.

He said he's stuck in some traffic, so we'll We're going to give him a little bit of time to get situated, but he'll be joining us in about 20 minutes or so. But that's good because it gives us plenty of time to get educated. That's what we're going to do here. Morgan, our producer. Has compiled a list.

I like lists. Really do. Do you like lists? Clearly, because you put one together. Every week.

Why am I asking you? You made one. Uh. This is a list of things you didn't know You needed to know. Things you want to know, you should know, but you don't know.

Oh my. The game within the game. What do you mean by that? Let me give you an example. Time for stuff you didn't know, you needed to know.

Really? All right, starting off with the MLB. The Rockies finished the 2025 season with a minus 424 run differential, the worst since the 1800s. Really? That long?

It's been a long time. I mean, I knew they were bad, but like, that's. Historically, historically bad. Three straight seasons, 100 losses, too, on top of that. A little bonus knowledge.

You know what? It was one of my favorite things a year ago is like when the Rockies just kept losing. Their social media. As opposed to they got to a point late in the season. The Chicago White Sox did a version of this too.

Where, as opposed to posting the final score after every game, They would just put out things like you can just look it up on ESPN Or They scored more than we did. Just like clever things like that. I appreciate the awareness on Colorado's part. sticking with the MLB. Barry Bonds Yeah.

and intentionally walked 688 times in his career. the total distance he walked. was 43.6 miles as a major league player. Wow. I mean, he was one of those hitters where.

You You would rather intentionally walk in a run than give up a grand slam if it came down to it, depending on the situation. Were you a Mary Bonds fan? Did you like Barry Bonds very much or before my time?

Okay. A little bit. But it's true, I've got I've got you by some ears. I loved Barry Buns when I was a little leaguer.

So I remember when he was making his Home run chase for the record, and a lot of people don't count it because of the steroids, whatever. Still impressive to watch. We love offense. We love to watch the long ball. He hit quite a few of them.

And when he got one, he got one. I remember when he was on that run. I was in Little League and I I got my first wood bat. And I wanted a wood bat that looked exactly like his. Like the color scheme.

The way he had his grip tape, like all the way halfway up the neck of the bat, I wanted it like that, and like around the knob on the end. I remember these details. Maybe you don't care about it, but. I was a big fan of Barry Bonds' work. He was intentionally walked with the bases loaded one time.

I know. That's why I brought that up. All right. The 1982 NFL season, shortened by a player strike, only nine regular season games. had an unusual MVP winner.

The Washington Redskins. Mark Mosley. Hit 20 of his 21 field goals, although he did miss three extra points. But he was The MVP for the season, and they were actually bonus knowledge. Coached by Joe Gibbs, Hall of Famer in NFL and NASCAR Hall of Famer.

Yeah, Joe Gibbs racing. That's got to be such a flex, like to be able to say, hey. I'm the only pure kicker in NFL history. To win an MV. Man, that's so cool.

It really is. 82, man. What a time. With the final four coming up this Saturday. This weekend, 1939, the Oregon Ducks won the first.

NCAA Basketball Championship defeating Ohio State by a score of 46 to 33. Oh, the Buckeyes. The last time a tournament game was held to fewer than 80 combined points was in 99. When the 12-seed Missouri State beat No. 5 Wisconsin 43-32.

Ugh, what a gross score. That's like... Yeah. Like, we love offense. We love scoring these days.

I'm just imagining watching a game like that. That's just. It's not very fun. It's not very entertaining to think about. I like to be entertained.

Maybe that's a young person to me. I don't know. One last Facts. This one's a good one. I heard this one earlier.

I snuck a peek at his notes on this one. You're going to appreciate this. Not sports-related, but a ridiculous amount of skill to use one of these things. We're talking about yo-yos. The Yoyo toi became was originally a weapon.

in the Philippines in the sixteenth century. before being distributed in the United States as a toy in 1929. When it was used as a weapon in the Philippines, It weighed four pounds. And it had a foot a 16 long foot sixteen foot long cord. To be used as a weapon.

And it was steel or some sort of metal. Heavy metal.

So it was. It was horrible.

So the thing that we let our toddlers play with. I don't know about toddlers. There's toddlers that play with yo-yos. Three-year-olds? That's a toddler.

Yeah. Well anyway, And to think, hey you know what that used to be? A weapon? Watch all the parents freak out. I played with a yo- I remember there was a time I want to say when I was in maybe like Fifth, sixth grade, whatever it happens to be.

There was a little bit of um A phase. Like, do you remember when you were in school coming up in elementary or whenever? When something was cool for a little bit, and more and more people started to get them in your class, and it's like you had to get one. We went through a yo-yo phase in like fifth or sixth grade, and I did get one. I got a few of them because we started to learn how to do tricks with them and.

Yeah. We had this guy come to my school and sell us yo-yo's. And they were cheater yo-yos. They would bounce up on their own. You didn't have any skill, you just throw it down and pop right back up.

Cheater yo-yos. That's lame. My brother got one. Shout out to your brother. Yeah, he still has it.

It broke in two days, but yeah. It's karma. Another fun fact here is we're getting out of the stuff you didn't need to know, but you do know now. $75 Memorabilia Cup in Los Angeles. What?

Oh yeah. Seventy fi for what?

So you go to this you know how you go to the ballpark, go to a stadium or an arena and there's like the commemorative f the the commemorative cups. Yeah. Cups. Um, generally sometimes come with uh free refills.

Sometimes you go to the college football game, like a UNC Cup. Yeah, this one has Otani on it. And $75 and originally was only for free refills day of purchase. There's not enough refills in the world to make something worth $75. But it sounds like.

Now the Dodgers have changed it. And I think if you buy the cup. It's for Reef Reveals the whole season. Oh. for seventy five dollars if you go to like fifteen games It's not horrible.

No. That's like uh Uh five dollars of refill maybe? Math. That's what we're doing here. $3 a refill.

Okay. Weren't you also telling me the other day that the Yankees had Like a chicken drumstick. Chicken drums announced the chicken, fried chicken drumstick ice cream.

So it just looks like it's vanilla ice cream that just looks like fried chicken. It's the same color on the outside. I don't know if it's crispy. Yeah. I hope you can.

Can you make ice cream crispy? I gotta look this up. I gotta I gotta look up a picture of this. Indulge in indulge me for one second here. Yankees, this is me googling things live.

We should do a segment where it's like I'm just googling things live on air and just. Have a list of things for the day. Yankees. Chicken tender ice cream. It comes with a bucket.

See what p You see it, don't you? Yeah! What is that? That is insane! Yeah, it comes with a commemorative bucket.

Wow. Well, ice cream chicken. All right. I mean, I've seen something like this before. Yeah.

Not at a baseball game.

Now. You know what my favorite thing is? Michael Kay, the voice of the Yankees. when he he does on his uh social media like chicken tender reviews. at all the different ballparks he goes to.

Uh That's a fun series. I would love that. Just be on the road, calling ball games specifically for the Yankees. And just eating chicken. Just just reviewing chicken tenders.

That sounds like a good time to me. May I present to you? Will Dalton brings Triad Sports Talk with a little extra horsepower?

Now, back to the drive. Back at it on the drive, right here on WSJS as we welcome in. One of our friends of the show, it is Desmond Johnson of the Tobacco Road Sports Radio Des. How are we doing, my friend? What on, man?

Can you hear me okay? Yeah. Yeah, y you got did you get c uh stuck in a little bit of traffic? I did. I got stuck in traffic.

I was way out in Madison, of all places. And I looked at the clock and I was like, oh no.

So hit with you and. I'm actually in a parking lot of the Moravia Moravian Church in Oak Ridge right now in their little shelter area.

So I'm using it as a makeshift studio. Nice.

Well, I know we don't have a ton of time with you, so we'll get right into it.

So Carolina still got the search ongoing. It's going to take a little bit of time. They're waiting for the Final Four to play out. Feels like Tommy Lloyd, Billy Donovan, Dusty May, that seems to be the list. With Dusty May, probably the less likely of those three.

Who are you liking of that trio? I I'm at a point now where I think uh It's going to probably be the loser of the Michigan. The Michigan Final Four game versus Arizona. Whoever loses that matchup is probably going to be the leader in the clubhouse. I was leaning towards Tommy Lloyd because of all the parallels that apparently are starting to pop up.

Uh regarding him. and the program assistant coach under Mark Few. You and Roy Williams have a great relationship. Lloyd had Steve Robinson as one of his main assistants on his staff. Carolina fans know Steve Robinson was very popular here as a Tar Hill.

He just retired last April, matter of fact, from Lloyd's staff. I'm kind of leaning towards Lloyd. I'm very intrigued now, though, the longer we have to sit here and think about it. I'm very intrigued about Dusty May bringing his offense to Carolina. If we're gonna really go outside the family, And let's get back to the run and gun.

80s, 90s points per game, dunking everywhere, that kind of game that they're playing in Michigan. That's Carolina ball.

Well, that's old school Carolina ball. I wouldn't mind seeing that again in Carolina. We've kind of got bogged down the past couple of years, but. I'll be honest with I don't really have a favorite right now. I'm so used to kind of knowing who's the person that's coming next, like in succession, with it being from the Dean Smith tree.

This is the first time in my lifetime where. More than likely, it won't be from the Dean Smith tree. And I'm scared. I'm nervous. I have no idea what they're going to do because I'm nervous that they don't know what they're going to do.

So that's the main problem here. Desmond Johnson with us here of Tobacco Road Sports Radio.

So I thought it was pretty funny yesterday listening to Will Wade's introductory press conference at LSU and kind of like comparing it to his introductory press conference at NC State a year ago and him saying very much similar things. LSU fans are thrilled about this. They feel like, hey, we got our guy back. I don't think NC State fans are like upset that they lost Will Wade. I think they're upset at ha at what he did to them and the way he did it.

What did you make of that whole situation? It was probably the most NC State thing that could have really happened in NC State. They try to go out of their way, they make a splash higher. They hire someone who's kind of known to be kind of a snake, kind of a backstabber, but no, he won't do it to us. We're in P State.

We're different. You're marrying the the woman that you were cheating with that was cheating on someone else. And then you marry her. And then she ends up cheating on you with somebody else, and you're like surprised. And it's like, that's how you got her.

That's literally how you got her. That's exactly how I feel about this. I don't think, if, honestly, if. The stuff that Will Wade had to leave LSU for, all of those kind of legal now.

So I don't think they ever want him to leave.

So once they got some things out of the way where they could clear the path, It was only a matter of time for him to go back. He never really wanted to leave LSU. And you see people all the time saying, why would you leave this place for that place or whatever? LSU's got SEC money. And I know it's mainly football type money, but they're putting money in their basketball programs.

Look at Kim Monkey in the women's basketball program. The LSU basketball program, if the right donors throw in, With Wade at the helm, they'll be okay. With State, I don't know if they thought this was gonna be like a long-term thing, then they were fooling themselves because I don't think anybody thought Will Wade was gonna be in Raleigh for long, but the bluster and all the stuff that he was saying coming in. threw a lot of people off. And I just had Joe Gilio on my show earlier today with David Glenn, and he was saying, you know, how huge of a state fan he is.

And he said he did not like the. The red reckoning talk, all that stuff that he was saying at the beginning, it was just kind of writing a check. He wasn't sure that he was going to be able to cash. Less than a year later, he's out of here. I don't know.

I do think state made an excellent move after that, though. I will give them credit for what they've done this week.

So let's talk about the Justin Gainey move because it became official in about an hour or so ago. Um And I mean, after what Will Wade did, like, what more could you want than somebody who actually loves that program, understands it, is a part of that program? How do you think Justin Gainey will do at NC State? I think it's gonna be great. I think it was a knockout higher for states.

uh gainy played at greensboro day school uh at high school here in the triad Played for uh Less rocks. You played four eighty six or two thousand. Uh NC State four-year player was their starting point guard. I love the fact that he's been sitting under Rick Barnes for however long in Tennessee. I think he can come in.

And I'm sure he still has his uh connections at Greensboro Day. The Pride School that pumps out players all the time. If he can get back into the prep circuit here in North Carolina, in particular, and as well as telling Joe earlier today, too. State was always. Run middle of the pack to good in the 80s and 90s because they constantly recruited players from North Carolina, like from the state of North Carolina.

They always have a couple of guys from here. And if they can just put a circle. on the map around the triangle area and try to get as many great players as they can from there, from Charlotte. You know, well, the triad has great high school basketball players that people are just now starting to buy them, fucking them away and taking them out. to the SEC in the Big Ten, that Ganey can kind of Put that fingerprint on the triad and the state in general that we're NC State, we're going to retain some of the better players here.

and use his background for that. I think they can hit the ground running. I thought it was an excellent hire. Michigan helped out by beating the brakes off of Tennessee over the weekend, which made Dainey free.

So. If that hadn't happened, they might still be waiting too, but it kind of fell in their lap.

So good job NC State for, I think, getting this right. Yeah, five years he spent at Tennessee for those was as the associate head coach. Let's get to some Panthers very quickly.

So we heard Dave Canalis yesterday at the NFC coaches breakfast over at the league meetings that. Jonathan Brooks, he's going to be ready to go for OTAs. Minicamp, sounds like. Coming in after a year out the way he did, what do you expect? Because I know in believing Panthers, your podcast that you do with Jonathan Stewart, I mean, you got a great Panthers running back there historically.

How do you think Jonathan Brooks, what do you expect from him this coming year? I, you know, honestly, I've tried to keep my expectations low for Jonathan Brooks just because he honestly hasn't played meaningful football and gone on two calendar years.

So I don't want to put too much expectations on.

Well, we didn't need Rico because we've got Jonathan Brooks coming in. He's going to kill it and get a thousand yards, blah, blah. I don't think that's very fair.

So I haven't really. I don't know what to expect from Jonathan Brooks. I do know when we drafted him, he was probably the best running back in that draft two years ago out of Texas.

So, I mean. if he's healthy and they get this Olon, you know matched up and uh you know Okay. I think he can have a good year.

Now, I now granted, I I don't know enough. Of Jonathan Brooks on the pro level to say what kind of year he'll have because he hasn't really had any tape yet. He had that one game where he got re-injured and he really only had a couple of plays in that, but he looked good right before it.

So I'm hoping that he's going to have a great year. Jonathan Stewart, who I just talked to on the phone a minute ago. Uh he's actually been around Brooks in the building uh down in Charlotte and had conversations with him and he was just like, Yeah, people are gonna be pleasantly surprised uh with that. I think Canalis might have been trying to downplay what they're seeing in the building from him. But from my understanding, he's going to be in the spring OTAs.

So he'll be full 100% ready to go.

So hopefully. We'll be able to add Brooks Hubbard in the backfield and have an exciting running game. Desmond Johnson, Tobacco Road Sports Radio. I appreciate the time as always, and we'll catch you again sometime soon, buddy. All right, brother.

Anytime, man. Talk to you soon.