The biggest threat to Clemson (4-6-20)

This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast.

Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons three to seven on Sports Hub Triad. Since Dabo Sweeney says he has no doubt there will be a college football season this fall, who's gonna be the Tigers biggest test in the ACC this year? According to Vegas, nobody. This morning Clemson was tagged as a monster favorite to win the Atlantic Coast Conference and they are the early favorite to win the national title. And rightfully so, nobody's really pushed them in the ACC for the last five years. You look at Virginia last year, okay team but not great. Miami, I thought they were a fraud from the middle of that year when they went to Chapel Hill against a bad Larry Fedora team.

Struggled, probably should have lost, but since they got a win against an average Notre Dame team in Virginia Tech, everybody was excited about them because Miami used to be one of those name college football programs. They got drubbed in Charlotte, just like Virginia. Virginia Tech hasn't been the same program the last ten years. FSU, they're still recovering trying to pick up the pieces from the Willie Taggart years and really since Jamis Winston left, FSU has fallen short against the Tigers. It's been all Clemson, it's been dominant, but I do think that could change very soon as North Carolina is starting to become the threat to this dominant stretch from Dabo Swinney. It's the best threat, it's the biggest one we've seen in the last five years.

The evidence of this starts with the heartbeat of any program. Recruiting, but not just recruiting, the proximity between the Tar Heel program and Clemson. Dabo's had Mac Brown on his radar since early last year. Since North Carolina beat South Carolina in the opener, Dabo was impressed with what Mac was doing. Getting a new locker room, improving the facilities, getting sellouts in Chapel Hill. They already had mutual respect for each other, but Dabo, he was once on this radio show and he said the guy that he's been most impressed with, the one that he sees a lot of his coaching style in, is Mac Brown.

He views Mac as one of the biggest competitors he has on the recruiting trail and this backs it up. UNC is top 20 in this year's recruiting rankings according to 24-7. They nearly got outside linebacker Trenton Simpson, who decommitted from Auburn, he's out of Charlotte, he was gonna become a Tar Heel and then the last minute, I remember where I was.

I was watching Knives Out in the movie theater, I checked my phone right before the movie starts, I see Trenton Simpson as a Tiger, I thought wow, this is starting to become a war. North Carolina is going to war with Dabo and Clemson. Nobody else, I think, feels like they could compete with Clemson at this moment.

NC State, they've tried and failed, Larry Fedora tried and failed. A big part of Clemson building this empire over the last five or six years has been on the backs of North Carolina-bred talent. Dabo has out-recruited North Carolina coaches, so I think it's significant with UNC getting a top 20 class this year, nearly getting closer to a top 10 class with Trenton Simpson, losing him at the last moment to Dabo.

Looking at 2021, this is where it really arrived on my radar this weekend. Friday night, North Carolina landed another four-star recruit, their 10th of the 2021 class. Right now, if you go to 24-7, they have the third ranked recruiting class in the nation. Second is Clemson. You look at Clemson's class, nobody is in the state of North Carolina. 11 of the 12 in North Carolina's class, pretty much all those four-star players, are from North Carolina.

Think about all the greats Clemson's had who are from North Carolina. Dexter Lawrence, first-round draft pick. Tanner Mews, defensive leader on last year's team.

KJ Henry, right here from the Triad, five-star player. Eric Mackling, who we love having on from the ACC Network. Important offensive linemen on Clemson's first title team in 2015 under Dabo. If those guys became Tar Heels, who knows? Will they still have the same level of success if they went to NC State or went to North Carolina or went to a Wake Forest or a Duke?

I don't know. Mack is building a proverbial wall around the state of North Carolina. Many coaches have said they're gonna do it. This is the biggest threat to Clemson we've seen.

But it's not just recruiting in proximity. Quarterback and coach factor into this. Mack Brown being the coach, Sam Howe being the quarterback. That's enough for North Carolina to be the favorite to win the ACC Coast. I'm gonna look into my crystal ball.

It's pretty much a lock that the media at ACC kickoff, if there is an ACC kickoff, they are going to select Clemson and North Carolina as the teams that play in Charlotte for the ACC championship game. Quarterback and coach, it's so important. Sam Howe, he's one of the five best quarterbacks in all of college football who are returning. Trevor Lawrence being the first guy I think of on that list. Justin Fields second. Sam Ellinger from Texas, he belongs.

Then I think it's Sam Howe or Ian Book, Jamie Newman, Kyle Trask and others would probably round out the list. But Sam Howe's in the top five. He's the second leading touchdown passer among returning quarterbacks.

Only trailing Fields. Fourth in the nation all together in TD passes. He had more than Trevor Lawrence did. Think about the quarterbacks Clemson's run into in the ACC the last few years.

Who's the best one? Is it Ryan Finley at state? If that's the case, okay you're talking about a third round pick. It's probably Daniel Jones at Duke, but Duke is always gonna be limited in what they could do recruiting. And I say that as somebody who's a big fan of David Cutcliffe and we love having him on this show.

Maybe our most entertaining guest, accomplished coach, he's great. But Duke's just never gonna compete at the level Clemson competes. Same thing at Wake Forest. So I like Jamie Newman, but I'd take Finley over Newman and I'd take Sam Howe over any other quarterback you could probably list. Dating back to Lamar Jackson. Kenny Pickett? Get out of here. Bryce Perkins?

What are we talking about? Who's the best ACC coach other than Dabo? Nobody else has won a national title other than Mac Brown. Mac Brown, he's a college football Hall of Famer. So you got the next best coach and the next best quarterback to Clemson with Lawrence and Dabo.

Also I think the last meeting between the two it's a signal. Last year in Chapel Hill I was there. Everybody treated it like a fluke. I didn't think it was a fluke at the time and I still don't. Everybody said this is a black eye on Clemson's resume competing with the North Carolina team even though they won on the road.

Just the idea of the game being competitive is a black mark on their resume. However, I think the more we saw of Howe and North Carolina how they finished the year with Coach Brown, I think perspective started to change thinking maybe it's possible that coach and quarterback kind of had some things figured out and it wasn't a fluke. That game's gonna be drawn on all throughout this year because Clemson isn't set to face North Carolina in the regular season.

But how's this for a number? Trevor Lawrence, he has started and finished 15 other ACC games other than that game in Chapel Hill. Clemson's won them all, ACC games and Clemson's average win margin is 41. They won that game in Chapel Hill by one point. One. It excludes the Syracuse game which was Trevor's first start.

He got hurt in the first half. A quarterback that entered that week thinking he was the third string quarterback had to come in and win it against Syracuse so I exclude that one but the 15 others, 41 point margin for Clemson all wins. One point the time they played in Chapel Hill. That is a signal. North Carolina has become the biggest threat to Clemson that we've seen in the ACC the last five years.

If you have thoughts of the matter on Twitter at sportsubtriant 336-777-1600 being the phone number. We're a little bummed out today because we were gonna be in Atlanta for the Final Four tonight. A college basketball champion would have been crowned but since we have no game to break down I have my three greatest March Madness national title games of all time but here's one important piece of criteria I need to add in here.

It's not, we're not doing old tournament format so this is since the field was expanded to 64 to a March Madness bracket that we all have come to know and love today. That excludes some great games like NC State's win with Jim Valvano in 1983. The year before that MJ hitting the shot in New Orleans for Dean Smith's first title. So 85 and on those are the games that we're considering here. Great national title games.

Honorable mentions. A few involving Danny Manning. Danny playing in 1988 against Oklahoma. Kansas winning that.

Danny being an assistant on that. 2018 that won and came from behind with Mario Chalmers tying the game at the end of regulation in San Antonio. Kansas taking down Derrick Rose, John Calipari, and the Memphis Tigers. Duke beating Wisconsin. Grayson Allen emerging in the second half when Duke needed him most. Virginia last year bouncing back after becoming the first one seed to lose to a 16 in overtime beating Texas Tech.

Honest question Robert. Can Virginia still call themselves the defending national champs since there is no March Madness this year? Like does Virginia say oh yeah we are the two-year defending national champs? I don't know if it's two years I mean but they are the last national championship holders and there were no and they were set to go to the NCAA tournament again so they were gonna try and defend their title. Who knows maybe they went on a run and went back to back we can never say so I guess they are technically still the defending champs. Here are my three greatest national title games ever.

Do we have a bell of some sorts to signify this big occasion? Number three Duke Butler in 2010. Gosh it's a pure story of a blue blood and an underdog going head-to-head. Two incredible coaches. Brad Stevens that was before we thought oh this is the guy who's surely going to be Roy Williams successor or maybe even Mike Krzyzewski's. Coach K calling for an intentional missed free throw that leading to Gordon Hayward's half court shot that almost went down it was probably off by a half an inch if it drops it's the greatest shot in the history of college basketball. Number two Georgetown Villanova 1985. Villanova they had to play a perfect game in order to win and they did. They shot 79% from the field and only won by two.

I don't know what's crazier that they shot 79% or that they shot that percentage and only won by two. That speaks to how good that Georgetown team was. Georgetown they didn't play poorly 55%.

Ewing he had four fouls but he played 39 minutes. Georgetown out rebounded the Wildcats they out assisted the Wildcats. Villanova pulled off the massive upset 66-64 in 1985. Number one involves Villanova too. It's North Carolina Nova 2016.

Two worthy champions and a tournament where you have to win five in a row just to get to the biggest stage. You often have teams get upset you have teams that fall short even if they've had incredible regular seasons. Both those teams were awesome it had the best finish in history. Marcus Page hitting the off-balance shot. Chris Jenkins off the assist from Ryan Archidiacono from the top of the key. Great timing everybody knew the shot was good including the confetti shooters as they shot the confetti right from the jump didn't need an official review they knew it was good. Every time I see that I think about the confidence the boldness of those confetti shooters.

Oh we know this shot is good but just imagine a scenario where there was a half second left or if if the shot wasn't off in time and they still shot the confetti and they had to clean all that mess up. Two incredibly likable teams. Jay Wright the non-reaction that's the number one greatest national title game ever since the tournament expanded to 64. Duke Butler 2010. Georgetown Villanova 1985. North Carolina Villanova in 2016. You are listening to WSJS Winston-Salem WCOG Greensboro WPCM Burlington WMFR High Point those signals baking up Sports Hub Triad. It's the drive with Josh Graham.

Take it from me you're driving everyone crazy. Mission accomplished on Sports Hub Triad. Tim Duncan was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend or at least the announcement of him being inducted along with Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett came down. We're gonna talk to Tony Rutland former Wake Forest standout on those Duncan teams and he'll share some stories with us in 15 minutes but him being inducted into the Hall of Fame had me thinking what sports talk radio topics would be in the sports radio topic Hall of Fame. Things that have been discussed for decades have made people lose their minds that have lit up sports talk radio phone lines for years on end and I feel pretty comfortable with our first ballot inductee. It is the debate that keeps on giving and I expect a lot of it while the Michael Jordan documentary is going on that starts on April the 19th. It is who's better Michael Jordan or LeBron James. There are few sports radio topics that have passed the test of time topics debaters have embraced for decades and the debates still go on. This is the sports radio topic Hall of Fame.

Today's inductee. You cannot tell me in a one-on-one game that LeBron James won a dominant mic. In many sports GOAT is subjective.

This is objective and it's not close. How important should it be for LeBron to pass Jordan as the GOAT. In a one-on-one game, LeBron James. I'm not listening to that nonsense. Who's better LeBron James or Michael Jordan?

Certainly a worthy candidate. I can't tell you how many times during the summer I just say the words Michael and LeBron in the same sentence and all of the sudden the phone lines would light up four or five deep. I remember I was with David Glenn and he once told me oh man I just merely mentioned those two names and my show is set for the rest of the week. Michael versus LeBron. To me there's no discussion in the basketball conversation here. Like if you're just talking resume Michael the six titles Michael winning a national championship with the game-winning shot I do find it interesting how nobody brings up the collegiate career if you're talking about the greatest basketball player ever because obviously LeBron's gonna have more points more rebounds more than anything Michael had because Michael had the two years he was playing baseball and also he played three years at North Carolina so he just had more time in the NBA but why do you think college is not brought up at all in these discussions? I don't know maybe they're saying that that's the amateur ranks and if you're not playing in the NBA then you're not a professional and those stats don't count as you because you were not playing against other professionals I don't agree with that but I'm saying that's what I think those people would say. Man when you're playing in the ACC alongside Lin Bias and Ralph Sampson and other greats that's that should be included in the legacy talk so I really don't think it's much of a discussion when it comes to merely basketball resume where it is a fascinating debate is in terms of influence that's a good way to measure greatness who's had a bigger influence on the sport that they play Michael he practically created the idea of having your own sneaker and your own campaign for Nike and built sports marketing from the ground up with Sonny Vaccaro but LeBron taking ownership of his career taking his own people with them and empowering them and also starting the the player empowerment decade by choosing to become a member of the Miami Heat leading to the decisions that others have made and strengthening the appeal of the offseason that's all LeBron's impact I think influence is fascinating I'd still probably say Michael because he's a lot cooler than LeBron is like Michael he was the coolest guy in America he was the most famous person that we had like Imagine Tiger Woods but him playing NBA basketball he's the only dude that can pull the solo hoop off besides mr. clean that's an excellent excellent point that you bring up is animated and you're right so Michael is the only real person they could pull off can I tell you the discussion I hate sure and we heard a lot of it from the guys on first take it's up who would win in a basketball game one-on-one like if you watching if you throw the average pitcher in Major League Baseball today against Babe roof odds are Babe roofs probably gonna strike out yeah okay that's what you have here he has never seen a junk ball he never faced a Dominican player not once right so times have changed like that's the part where it's strictly oranges and apples here apples to oranges I don't know why I said oranges first you can still compare them but I get you that's a great point I don't know why people say you can't compare apples and oranges one is a citrus one is a they are they are both fruit yeah like why can't we compare those two it doesn't make much sense who'd win a one-on-one battle that's so infuriating I think that's part of the reason that this topic belongs in the Hall of Fame though is because it it unites two different generations the people who grew up probably our parents or our older cousins and then this generation of basketball fans who are more inclined to like long shots and celebration and grandpa is all about Bill Russell and Wilt yeah they're not included in it come on West no LeBron vs. MJ it's a Hall of Fame inductee I think it's a first ballot Hall of Famer like what are some of the stats that you think this has created Robert as a topic it cosigned the mortgage for Skip Bayless's house I believe I think it's shortened Stephen a Smith's life five to ten years it's definitely taken away the the creativity part of it because I mean I think a lot of those guys like Max Kellerman or whatever can just lean on a lazy topic like this not saying they're not great at their jobs but I am yeah I knew you would throw some Max Kellerman get out of here with that I think Stephen a is the absolute best at doing what Stephen a does yeah right it's not my cup of tea but I'm never gonna not the greatest that guy man he could get worked up about anything he would come at you be like you work on Tobacco Road down in North Carolina Archdale I sat in my car and I just stand into the distance it thought LeBron nah I'm cool with Stephen a Max Kellerman stick the boxing stick the boxing so there's our first inductee LeBron versus MJ going into the Hall of Fame of sports talk radio topics congratulations congratulations oh thank you thank you Tim Duncan he's going into a Hall of Fame and one thing I'm interested in talking to Tony Rutland about there will never be another Tim Duncan he never cut any corners in his development four years of college ball he said he needed every single one of those learned under David Robinson's wing I mean never again like if you're seen to be the best player on an ACC championship team you're going to the pros you are and that was a time where people left early the people he is going into the Hall of Fame with Kevin Garnett left in 95 before even going to college that's when Tim Duncan won as a sophomore Kobe for going college 96 he goes what is Tim Duncan do oh I'm gonna come back for my senior season at Wake in 97 so you might think oh Josh that's just how they did it back then no Tim Duncan was different his humility he had a modest game to match it never wanted attention when he won as the head coach of the Spurs filling in for Greg Popovich and Charlotte he was asked three questions about his feelings being on the sideline and he snapped back saying are we gonna talk about the game or just me feature stories every time he tried to write one on Timmy he'd say oh enough stories have been written on me what's right write one about somebody else his game it's not flashy Zion he was perfectly he was perfectly modest he was he was humble and I loved that about Zion but his game did not really match that very flashy what Zion does and he also got into basketball late almost he almost pursued a swimming career he almost stuck with swimming in specialization today I don't know if that happens for a number one pick the idea that you just get into basketball as an early teen or mid teenager and become the number one pick in the draft I just don't think you see another Tim Duncan that's gonna be a part of his legacy so former weight guard who was a teammate with Timmy D Tony Rutland he's gonna join the show share some stories with us this is the drive with Josh Grant so when you think about those Wake Forest championship teams from the 90s of course you probably first go to Tim Duncan who this weekend was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame then you probably go to Randolph Childress crossing over Jeff McInnes and the 95 ACC tournament but then I immediately go next to number 30 Tony Rutland who's kind enough to spend some time and share some Tim Duncan memories with us today and Tony your first year at Wake Forest was Tim Duncan sophomore year and if I remember correctly Tim's freshman year he wasn't scoring a ton I don't think he was into double figure scoring on average until his second season so what do you remember about your early impressions of Tim do you remember the first time you thought he'd be special oh no when I really like when I first met him my first impression of course was I took a visit he was a freshman he was a skinny athlete that was in Collins dorm at the time and college world series I mean the MLB World Series was on and he was just eating a gallon of ice cream with a spoon by himself so I knew right then and there he was kind of getting weak and trying to improve his body and just get better for the team so after that my freshman year just him being humble and working hard every day extended you know it set the tone for everybody along with Randolph and you know just just the relationships them two had you know when I was a freshman I just kind of try to follow after Randolph footsteps and just try to be somebody that can help them improve and get better every year hold up paint the picture for me where is Tim Duncan sitting does he have like a big spoon as he's going straight into the carton or is he putting it into a bowl take that picture for me so I'm walking through Collins dorm and he's sitting on a sofa because at the time we had I think it was the lobby to have one TV he was sitting in the lobby by himself with one big spoon and he's dipping his spoon in a big carton of ice cream that's incredible did he do that his sophomore year too or was it just or was he big enough by then I don't know by sophomore year because you know at the time I think he was staying off campus but all I know is his first year that was the freshman dorm and he was sitting there by himself watching the World Series and that's what I saw see it's my belief Tony that there can't be another Tim Duncan in 2020 I think I doubt you'd find many guys who would be willing to cut to not cut any corners in their development stay four years at Wake Forest and then be under the wing of David Robinson be perfectly willing to do that his humility his modest game and on top of that he got into basketball late I mean you talk about just specializing back then it wasn't really a thing or at least not as prevalent in sports 25 years ago or so from your view as somebody who's been about around basketball your entire life do you think there can be another Tim Duncan I don't think so just because it's just the evolution of basketball game I think that the best thing that happened to Tim honestly was that he just got into the game late and he got stereotyped as a big man and so everything that was taught to Tim was basically a lot of big man fundamentals and I think now if you have a Tim Duncan now I think the way you train him and nowadays how the game is going I think he would be more of a D type player you know Tim at the end of his career at Wake you know he he begged and he wanted to be just like a point guard and run the point you know he wanted to shoot the three he wanted to do certain things so you know that was the thing that he wanted to do now so I think now if you have a Tim Duncan in the game today I think he would be more of an AD type player I think he would be the one that just wants to you know play like on maybe a stretch five per se former Wake guard Tony Rutland with us here on sports hub triad one of your former teammates who's better known as intense wake fan hashtag intense wake fan Kenny Herbst he was once telling me a story where he said that I mean he's nothing more than a walk-on at this point and he was afraid to fly I think was the story and Tim Duncan knew about this and said hey would you like to be closer to the front would you like a window seat he was just trying to facilitate things to make Kenny feel most comfortable even though Tim was this massive human being that probably needed a lot more of the comfort than a Kenny Herbst would what's the best story you can share with us that speaks to Tim's team first nature well you know I think he was just one of those guys where he spent a lot of his time in the locker room with us you know and that's where I think the concept of men's locker room or women's locker room or sports locker room in general is where you spend majority of your time during college because you're with your family your new your new families your teammates and that's where Tim stayed so my thing was he always was in the in the locker room playing video games and he is like he knew every move for every Mortal Kombat player in there to everything about basketball games football games he was just like a student for video games so I mean that's where we always had our fun we laughed and joked in there and that's just what it was so he was always a great teammate when it came to that and you know with him he paid it forward you know I mean a lot of people know that you know he wasn't the best free throw shooter in college basketball but you know in order for him to relax and not think about it we had to tell him like funny or crazy jokes right before he shot free throw so he can get his mind off from this and free throws and it will work most of the time do you remember one of the jokes you would tell Tim yeah I just I just said it the other day I think I came up to him one time and we needed a free throw I don't know if it was Carolina or it was an ACC tournament and I think I just told him I said hey man it's a fly on your hot dog or a fly eating your hot dog right now he looked at me like I was crazy and started laughing and he went and knocked down the free throw. what's the video game you do not want to play Tim Duncan in because you know it would end poorly for you I asked him at our reunion just recently you know when we celebrated us the ACC tournament team I just asked him I said I know you know how to do all the fatalities and fatalities on Mortal Kombat he said give you 15 minutes and he would get all of them whoa 15 minutes Timmy D still got it I'm trying to think about what what would be the character Robert when you think of Mortal Kombat Kombat characters Tim Duncan could potentially use who comes to mind Robert anybody because I know that's like your area of expertise I'm trying to think who would be some of the go-to characters there I could see him being Raiden or maybe Sub-Zero one of the classics and when I said when I say give them 15 minutes I'm talking about 15 minutes for all the characters he used to put it on random and whatever whatever player would come up he knew how to do all the fatalities all the 10-hit combos all that and and he would just kill us so if you beat Tim Duncan in Mortal Kombat you were doing something good um it sounds like he's a nerd I wouldn't okay so I wouldn't say he was a nerd but I would say he was a gamer it's a good answer so therefore I think if gaming was very very popular back then I think he would have one of those gamer seats he would have a big TV and he would have all the gaming systems in his room playing games Tony thank you so much for sharing memories with us I hope you're doing well and it's one of those things where just a few months ago we were all together and celebrating the 1995 team and who knows maybe there's gonna be a 20 another anniversary coming up soon maybe a 25 year before we know it but be well thanks for the time today no problem thank y'all for having and hopefully we can have the best ACC championship team which is in the 96 team you know I always joke with Randolph about that but you know I'm always gonna claim us as the best ACC championship team you're gonna bring Timmy back that's the plan next year I hope so that sounds like a plan and that is Tony Rutland spending some time with us here on a Monday afternoon it's been a pretty eventful day so far we had Danny Manning on with us a few hours ago and asked a couple of the key questions that wake fans wanted answered I think most prominently we went to exit interviews and he said that digitally or virtually he was able to get those done with players and now he's been having zoom meetings with his team but he finally had a chance to meet up with John Curry after the season he says those meetings are ongoing I just flat-out asked hey what what assurances have you been given that you will be the basketball coach in Winston-Salem this fall and this is how Danny responded well you know for me it's just I'm moving forward as I'm gonna be here that's always been my thought process that's what I said when the season ended and that's how I feel so you know we're continuing to to move forward and doing the things necessary to get us prepared for this new normal that we're in right now I think that is a noteworthy answer some viewed that as him dodging it it's not it sounds like to me I mean if Danny Manning was told by John Curry you're gonna be the basketball coach next year don't you think he would say that yes Aaron I know it's it's you know people are wondering about his future I know it's a story but to me it seems like that Wake Forest and Danny Manning are continuing with business as usual like he's on the contract so there's no need in making an announcement to say you know I'm coming back well I agree with you you probably don't want to have a press conference like you did last year because it was an awkward ordeal hey we're having a press conference why do you have press conferences because something is incredibly newsworthy right you're there you're there and you're like okay so you're good yeah okay then why are we having this press conference however it would do some good for Danny being in a spot where I have to ask him those questions Wake fans are wondering it would do some good for him and also for his recruiting efforts if they would outwardly say he's gonna come back at this point that's what I want more than anything else I just want an answer from Wake athletics yes or no and since that answer hasn't come down the same way that Boston College passed along to Jeff Goodman and John Rothstein that Jim Christian would be returning as the coach we're kind of in a holding pattern here and since that hasn't happened yet that tells me that they are still deciding because again it doesn't do Danny any favors for you not to say he's coming back in fact it hurts his ability to recruit because even though he landed in Ian de Blois Houston Baptist grad transfer there might be others he's going after who simply tell him man I need to know for sure you're gonna be here if I'm gonna commit to you so it's it's a it's gotten us to a point where Wake Forest needs to say something and since they haven't it has me believing if something were to clear up amid what's happening with kovat 19 if things were to get better and the economy bounced back and people get their jobs we saw today there's a massive jump in the market positively if that were to happen then maybe some of the people who might have been involved with a buyout negotiation which again was the reporting done by the ACC Sports Journal and reporting that I trust maybe the news changes maybe they do make a coach coaching change it wouldn't be absolutely unprecedented I'm sure that Mata did interviews after his season ended three or four years ago and then in mid-may they decided they didn't like the direction where recruiting was and whatnot so they just made a change there so I I took that as Danny doesn't know yet Danny wasn't assured however behind closed doors if you're in the spot Danny's in and you're talking with John Curry your boss and the season's ending how does that not come up think about that how does that not come up what's something what's gonna happen for next year so that was the answer from Danny also I asked him about Olivier Saar and Chaunty Brown whether or not he expected them to test the NBA draft waters and this is what he said I would be okay with it you know just from the standpoint of you can do it and it's an available to you and you know certainly want those guys to have as much information as possible and that's also so you know I'm I'm definitely under the mindset that that's going to happen but I just feel like that with college basketball in general that's what a lot of young men do especially if they haven't done that going into their senior year so I would I would anticipate that happening yes I would be shocked if Chaunty Brown left dealing with injuries I get it's a thin draft he wouldn't get drafted I don't think Olivier would either but Chaunty he loves Wake Forest he loves Winston-Salem he's a leader on this team I think I feel comfortable saying that Chaunty is going to come back Olivier I just don't know here here's a question I have regarding kovat 19 Olivier he's been up seated he's been unrooted from where he was living because Wake Forest athletes students their first three years they have to stay on campus Olivier saw he's from France he can't travel to see his family he can't go there travels blocked off they can't come to see him they can't take care of them he can't stay on campus either that's shut down so he's currently at a walk-on family's house that's where Olivier staying now does that type of uncertainty push you to want to go to the NBA and test those waters or does it make you think I need to veer towards the known I need to veer towards staying where I'm at and remain a Wake Forest demon deacon like which of those do you think his circumstance pushes him like which of those two directions do you think is a more powerful pulling force for Olivier and his circumstance obviously only he can answer that but of course I were speculating yeah I would assume that since he's already playing overseas he's already been over here a little bit he probably has a nice base built up where he's obviously staying with a walk-on he's got some friends here I don't think another year of this thing that that is certainly gonna pass would push him into the NBA I think he would feel pretty grounded and maybe even better about his situation knowing he has a teammate and people have his back here yeah people who could take care of him right now like this the future it's so uncertain for what what opportunity you would get if there is a combine what opportunity you would get to impress scouts so I don't think it makes a lot of sense for Olivier also when you consider how much his game has jumped from the start of the year John Collins he wasn't a first round draft pick great NBA prospect until his second year at Wake learning under Danny so Danny's done a great job developing bigs you can criticize a lot of things with Danny and it's fair criticism but he develops bigs well and Olivier is a prime example of that I think there's more he can sharpen staying another year at Wake on top of that I mean Tim Duncan's going into the Hall of Fame and you see how he benefited being from being somebody who came from the Virgin Islands into the into Winston-Salem and sharpened up his game before he decided to go pro didn't cut any corners in the development process if you if you want to hear the entire Danny interview you can find that right now on iTunes Apple podcast Google Play Spotify SoundCloud we covered a lot with him it was a 15 17 minute long conversation you can find that again at all those places just search the drive of Josh Graham make sure to subscribe as well later in the week back Brown Mike Houston will be a guest on today's show ECU head football coach here comes the life of the party the drive corrupting the minds and the hearts of our children with Josh Graham program for low expectations on sports hub triad according to Adrienne Wojnarowski the NBA is currently working on a game of horse an NBA horse tournament so I started thinking about players that you would most want on your team if you are playing a game of horse or guys that you would take first to win and a game of horse and I came up with three names my big three here and I think the first choice is the most obvious one it's got to be Steph Curry Steph's back he's healthy he's fun like he's gonna try shots that you haven't even thought about and I think Robert if you're looking for the best criteria for a horse player what might it be maybe the game that Ben Simmons has but just the opposite yes everything different than Ben Simmons right Ben Simmons would be the worst player to have in a game of horse so the criteria you really are looking for is it's likely gonna be a guard unless you got like a Zion Williamson type and you have to recreate the dunks that he does that's what I was thinking very creative dunker could also be a nice pick right curry I think he's the first choice if you're trying to dunk he could still dunk he could still get up there it's just not gonna look as flashy or as pretty as what Zion can do my second choice I think I'm going Dane Lillard yeah that would also be my second pick the dude has pretty much limitless range as well he can knock down crazy shots and he does it in games at the most pressure-packed times ending seasons from three-point range and then waving goodbye to the Oklahoma City Thunder Paul George after the game saying it's a bad shot he took he's right yeah but it would it but it would did you call bank no game Dave Lord called game and then he stares into the camera it said no I called dame that's that's what he did so dame lowered I think is second in this and this is what's difficult there are a number of guys I was thinking about picking third but I just default on Trey young circus shots fun shots he'd be good in a game of horse it's really him or James Harden but I don't think anybody can foul you and send you to the three to the free-throw line and a game of horse so that works to the disadvantage of Harden so Trey young my third choice there I also considered Luca Dunkage but those are the three guys I'd most want to choose in a game of horse but now that I'm starting to think about Zion and some of the Dunkers maybe that changes a little bit who would you put in your NBA horse competition three three six seven seven seven one six hundred on Twitter at sports up try it I'm gonna throw you a wild card here what do you got how about Lou will Lou Williams Lou what's special about Lou Williams he can get hot at any time I think he can knock down if they're out there being competitive I think Lou could knock down the same shots that Steph and Dame were doing especially I think he'd be a nice number three pick for your team to round out yeah I I also consider Bradley Beal because he's a really good three-point shooter other guys who might be involved there it's tough like LeBron maybe yeah the big guys obviously him Kawhi maybe Katie George maybe KD maybe if he's healthy but I feel pretty good about my top three of curry Dame and Trey young my concern is if they try to televise this they're gonna take it too seriously yeah like don't you hate it when you play horse and you just have the person who's attempting the fundamental shots all right I'm gonna do a lefty layup now I'm gonna do a righty layup I'm going to attempt an elbow jumper like those people are the worst not do some fun stuff I'm gonna with one foot out of bounds on the baseline attempt a left-handed shot here or these are guys I think would be fun playing the game who do you think would not be fun you already hit on one of them man Ben Simmons would be all he would be KD KD I think would take it too seriously because we saw it in the video game he was awful in the video game on Friday night talking trash like he took a three with Zubach I think he was playing with the Clippers and he immediately gets mad at the video game like why are you out there I mean that happens yeah well why did you attempt the three with Zubach I mean he that happens in those games though you throw it to the corner expecting it to be somebody's supposed to be in the corner I kind of get what he means but on the the spectrum of players I would not want on my team but I would love to watch or just guys you don't want in any who you don't think would be any fun like Russell Westbrook would not be fun Patrick Beverly would be terrible oh I love Beverly trying to play defense against you he'd be talking trash though that would make things more fun see Russell Westbrook doesn't talk trash in a fun way Russell Westbrook takes things way too seriously he's the guy who's gonna get mad and take his ball home when he has ho RS that's that's who Russell is I would think of guys like maybe the Lopez brothers to maybe Enos canter guys they get mad really easy I was thinking the Morris twins I doubt that would work too I've heard a lot of stories on the Morris right I would just who if you were gonna build a whole game of just people that cannot shoot to play horse I would rather watch that then watch Steph and them knock down ridiculous shot just the worst shooters in the NBA playing Penn Simmons yeah who boy see Kyle Lowry is so streaky but Lowry's Lowry still puts up yeah yeah he can shoot well he's just don't throw Kyle Lowry into this group JaVale McGee let him jack a couple of the biggest but no no no no no I'm not calling McGee a bus before you come in here I love JaVale McGee I knew he was about to come get me I was I will stand JaVale McGee but then you were ready to stomp on me really quick I mean JaVale McGee is one of my loves like I love JaVale McGee more than I love some family members like him running back on defense when his team has the ball not knowing a shot didn't go in JaVale I have so much profound respect that I have no issue jumping on a good friend of mine Robert for even merely suggesting he might not be great or sounding like he was criticizing the great JaVale McGee you know who I bet would be a great horse player but wasn't a great NBA player I bet Swaggy P I bet Nick Young would be an amazing horse player and then not be able to do any of that in the game mm-hmm I'll take JJ Riddick too yes I bet he would be another one but I mean he's a little more proficient we've got let's get crazy in ten minutes let's hear the Dabo sound that people got really mad about this weekend Dabo Sweeney just an eternal optimist in every single way so when you put the coronavirus at his feet and concerns there might not be a football season who expected any other answer than this one from Dabo I think that's what's gonna happen I don't have any doubt that I'm at zero doubt that we're gonna be playing that stands are gonna be packed and the valley's gonna be rocking and you know we're gonna be we're gonna be back at it I don't have any doubt that's the only thought I got is is that thought right there all that rest of that stuff I don't think about any of that he later said that he was traveling on a private plane according to Matt Connolly who covers Clemson closely he he's he's traveling to Florida to see family on a private plane that he says is sanitized and he's also going to travel around Easter to again on a private plane remember I'm not sure if you've ever flown private before but let me tell you you're not around people like you're not going into the terminal you're not going through baggage claims you're not going through TSA when you're flying private you drive through a gate to the tarmac and then you have somebody who gets onto your bus or vehicle and make sure that you don't have any explosive devices or anything on it so it's incredibly safe Dabo I have no issue with what he said at all now I know there's gonna be some people out there and there have been I've seen it all over my mentions oh but Dabo you carry a ton of influence you need to send a strong message to the people to stay indoors okay Dabo can still say that and say there's gonna be a football season right like he's not a doctor neither are you in all likelihood oh but he has so much influence if you're getting your coronavirus info from a guy named Dabo who coaches Clemson then that's on you if you get coronavirus it ain't Dabo's fault if there isn't a football season it's not because Dabo didn't say you need to stay at home if you're listening to Dabo that's where you're going wrong and I love Dabo I love the optimist in him I think we need more optimism out there you can find a lot of the negative stuff he's somebody who believes in America he believes that things like what Bill Gates is doing and you can read a lot about that what he's doing to try and expedite the process of getting a vaccine they're great and that he believes that we always overcome things and we have a lot of the resources I'm fine with him exuding optimism we need some of that also thinking differently it doesn't benefit him at all there's a benefit as players he's sending a message to them when you're in a press conference of that setting people are sitting at home you don't think Clemson players are following what Dabo has to say come on now he's sending a message to them we're playing this fault this is what we're gonna do this so that way not for a minute those guys think oh should I be doing this workout right now what are we doing if there's not gonna be a season it's smart for Dabo to say things that way he's fine with being I'm fine with him being an optimist that's who he is it's not disingenuous at all you could disagree with him flying but no the details of it being private and how safe that is he's not a doctor I'm not relying on Dabo's information and his influence to push us to where we need to go so I have no problem at all with what Dabo said on Friday all right hot take central every Monday at this time we suspend journalistic integrity responsibility we throw it out the window we just get reckless with our opinions we welcome the audience at the same time to bring some of their hot takes three three six seven seven seven one six hundred bring them now it's called let's get crazy and it's coming your way thanks