Coach K's Valentine

This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast.

Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons 3 to 7 on Sports Hub Triad. Two of the ACC's three best teams and two of the top ten teams in America met at Cameron last night and you won't find the difference maker in the game on any stat sheet. Florida State has more depth and was more rested than Duke last night however it was obvious they weren't mentally prepared for Cameron Indoor Stadium. That's why the Blue Devils won because quite frankly even though Coach K was elated to see his team bounce back from the emotion of winning in surprising fashion in Chapel Hill, his Blue Devils didn't really play well last night. They were tired. 21 turnovers, a lot of them being careless leading to home run layups by Trent Forrest and others.

Two days removed from that epic game. Duke at one point was trailing 52-50 and were just beginning to give in. Florida State was on a 5-0 run. Coach K called timeout with eight minutes and 31 seconds left to go. He did so right before they were about to have a media timeout but it was at a point of desperation. We all could see it. Coach K saw it as well.

He even admitted as such after the game. When they went ahead 52-50 and instead of waiting for the eight minute, we were ready to get knocked out. And so we called a timeout.

Alex came in and Alex gave us five quick points and that last 8.29 we were terrific. And also Florida State wasn't. Florida State never took control in the final eight minutes of the game. It was an opportunity for the Knolls to send a message to the nation, hey we are a legit national title contender. We beat Louisville in the Yum Center and we could have beaten Duke inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.

They didn't because many of these guys didn't know what that environment was going to be like. In fact the aforementioned Trent Forrest, he is the only Seminole before last night to ever play in Cameron. The last trip for Florida State was in 2017. He was the best player on the floor. How's this for a stat line Robert Walsh? 18 points, 9 rebounds, 8 steals, almost a triple-double points, rebounds, and steals in Cameron versus one of the best defensive teams of the country to go along with four assists. I'd say that's a pretty decent night. I wouldn't argue with you. Robert Walsh, the producer of this show, Sawyer Dillon in here as well as an assistant producer.

You could tweet us at sportsuptry at 336-777-1600. What did you make of Duke Florida State last night? Nobody else on the floor was great for FSU. So while Forrest was as the only player who's ever played in Cameron before as a freshman on that 2017 FSU team, I don't think it's coincidental that nobody else was great and specifically nobody could hit foul shots other than Trent Forrest. At the free-throw line Florida State was 12 of 20.

12 of 20 from the line. Kind of like the North Carolina game. You just got to hit your free throws.

It sounds so simple. We try to make things difficult on ourselves. Read the stats, the analytics, don't look past the advanced saber metric of free throw shooting. You can't really even blame Florida State though.

There is nothing like Cameron. Like if you're used to playing in ACC venues, used to playing on big stages, you're probably used to watching Cameron on TV but fans have said it, basketball players I've covered over the years have said it, you don't really know how small that environment is or what I should say is how small the building itself is and how intense the environment can be until you're actually a part of it. So many guys have folded as a result of that building and I thought the building, the environment, Florida State's lack of mental preparedness for it was the difference because Duke wasn't that good last night and they still found a way to beat a top 10 team. Matthew Hurt, a lot of people were talking about the call he got at the end of the game. He skies for the rebound, seemed to push two Knolls out of the way and elbow another before being fouled. It was 66-63.

His offensive board led the two free throws that cemented the game. Listen, Hurt only gets that call in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Oh but Josh is that officiating bias? No, it's human bias.

It is human nature. When coaches talk about home field advantage in football or home court advantage in basketball, wanting to have those stands full, it's not to get an advantage because of the noise that you make, how loud you are. Most times that doesn't really affect the game. You have silent counts in the NFL and college football that they practice on end. You have ways you work around that non-verbally in basketball too. No, the home court advantage and home field advantage comes with officiating. It is just unconscious human nature for a referee to give the call, something close, to the home team versus the road team knowing that if you choose the visiting team, giving them the advantage on a close call, you're gonna be met with a bunch of people booing you and be met with negative words.

It's just human nature. That's why Matt Hurt gets that call and that's why home field and home court advantage really matters. That's what coaches value most. Got a huge show today. Jeff Pearlman gonna be with us, one of the best sports authors of the last few decades. He had a book on the USFL that published in the last year and a half, so I'm interested in his thoughts on the XFL which rebooted this past weekend.

Also he's written about the Los Angeles Lakers so we'll get some Kobe Bryant stories out of him as well. I want to shift things to a big day for Tua Tahovola. Maybe we should just edit that out and post Robert. Do you want to or you think it wasn't that bad? You want to stick with it do it again?

Eventually I'm going to get it right. I think I'm going to. Let me do it one more time.

Yeah I already reset it. Thank you for that. Let me count down three, two, and... It was a big day for Tua Tahovola. Nailed it.

Yep. As his three-month CT scan came back very positive. It came back with his hip fracture being healed. Now it's still gonna be a month before he could participate in football activities.

The draft of course late April early May. Tua isn't going to fall to the Carolina Panthers at seven. He's not gonna fall because he's the best quarterback in this draft. The health, specifically the hip, was the big concern. When they hear hip fracture they think about Bo Jackson way back when. But Bo continued to play on that hip so it's not fair to compare the two.

Also I'd like to think that modern science has changed in the last 30 years or so. Right in front of the Carolina Panthers are two quarterback needy teams. Miami of course at number five. They were the team all year long that was associated with tanking for Tua before Joe Burrow appeared on anybody's radar.

The Los Angeles Chargers just parted ways with Philip Rivers. The Chargers and Miami picked directly in front of the Panthers. So Tua is not gonna get past both those teams.

Heck I'm not even convinced Tua gets to number five and six. There might be a quarterback needy team. A team that's already complete but feels quarterback is the one area they're lacking. Or a franchise quarterback is the one area they're lacking might trade up to try and get that number four pick from the New York Giants. I'm talking about the Indianapolis Colts who are picking 12th or 13th. They can jump up maybe to that fourth spot if they don't feel that Jacoby Priset can win them a Super Bowl.

That their ceiling right now is low with Priset at that spot. Tampa Bay closer than the Carolina Panthers are. The Panthers they have so many needs they're trying to rebuild with the new coaching staff. They're still putting together their front office. David Tepper it's a complete reboot. They are not going to trade up to bring in Tua even if they think he's great because there are so many needs there that you don't want to give up draft capital to extend your rebuilding process.

Your rebuilding window. So I don't think Carolina would trade up from seven. There are too many great players in this draft. Carolina is gonna get one at seven. But Indianapolis is one I think could do that. Maybe Tampa Bay. I'll throw another name out there.

Don't tell me it's impossible. The New England Patriots. If the Patriots gotten to that four spot and drafted Tua, are you counting out New England? Is there a better situation than that? Good offensive line.

Great situation. And if you're still quabbling with me or squabbling with me on the number one quarterback in this draft debate, I'm taking Tua over Joe Burrow every single time. Just look at the numbers that Tua has produced in college. This is crazy. 87 touchdowns 11 picks.

Do you need more than that? 87 touchdowns 11 picks. 69 percent completion in the SEC.

That's pretty nice. He has a far larger sample than Burrow does. More than a seasons were. Going back to the national title win coming from behind against Georgia. Then the next season he was tremendous. This year he was tremendous until he got hurt against Mississippi State but he was also a little bit banged up before that.

He's years younger than Burrow. We've seen how Tua reacts when he's faced with adversity. When he goes down at halftime of the SEC championship game in 2018, he is fully supporting Jalen Hertz with that comeback run. He's a great teammate. He's humble. I like everything about, let's get this right Robert, Tua Tahovahola.

Love everything about him. He's not gonna fall to number 11 in the draft. Wake Forest faces North Carolina tonight inside Joel Coliseum. We'll be there and I'll tell you why we'll learn more about the team that loses then tonight's winner next on The Drive. It's The Drive with Josh Graham.

Take it from me, you're driving everyone crazy. Mission accomplished on Sports Hub Triad. The Tar Heels are in Winston-Salem and tonight's game in the Joel is the rare game where the most fascinating narrative is going to follow whoever loses, not whoever wins. If it's Danny Manning's Wake Forest Demon Deacons, I think we'll learn everything we need to know about Danny's tenure and I think it's gonna be the final dagger in his time as Wake Forest head coach.

Of course he's in his sixth year. They made the NCAA tournament one time. Danny's record against North Carolina is 0-5.

He has no wins against the Tar Heels, none against Duke, none against Virginia as well. If they lose this game they will fall to 10 and 14 with six games left to go with road games remaining in Raleigh and Chapel Hill and in Durham. So this will pretty much submit a losing season for Danny's Deacons if they lose tonight. As for the Tar Heels, I'm worried this North Carolina team might quit.

I don't say that lightly. Think of all the body blows this team has taken both physically and emotionally. Of course you have the injuries with Brandon Robinson who's not gonna play tonight, still dealing with that sprained ankle. He's gonna be out for at least another week and a half too. Of course Cole Anthony was out a month and a half. Sterling Manley out the year. Anthony Harris out the year. So many guys hurt. Jeremiah Francis for a stretch.

Armando Bacot dealing with injuries too. How much can a team take? That's the physical side of it. The emotional side is just these last three games. Really it's more than that but look at this three-game sample where you blow a lead against arguably the worst team in the conference, Boston College at home. Lose that game. You lose against Florida State which was a massive missed opportunity on the road, missing foul shots, missing dunks, untimely turnovers, an 11-minute run where you didn't hit a field goal. Then of course the Duke game where North Carolina played its best game. They scored more points than any team has scored on Duke this year and they scored more points than they've scored at any point this year. They played their best game. They were at home. It was their biggest audience. It was something to salvage the season in some's minds and they blew it. They blew that game at the foul line and with inefficient shots this is the first game since then.

So how are they gonna come out? This was Roy Williams after the Duke game talking about what he wants to see from his club. Yeah if you want to go woe is me and be a little pansy or something you know that's your choice. If you want to be a tough competitor and pansy doesn't mean anything except a guy doesn't compete so don't give me any of that stuff okay. That's what pansy means. The guy's not a competitive guy.

We're not gonna be like that and if you want to go do that and go lay in a corner and get in the fetal position and call for your mama you can but if you want to be a competitor you're gonna apply to try to bust your tail at practice tomorrow and bust your tail practice on Monday and try to go on the road and see if you can play your tail off on Tuesday. I love that Roy is explaining pansy. What a season it's been where Roy says the thing that makes everybody uncomfortable. Oh this is my least gifted team which is leading to David Glenn who's a guest on today's show writing a very long athletic story getting 10 ACC coaches to react to that quote. All of them or all of them said they want it say what Roy said publicly but all of them agreed with Roy's assessment that they're the least gifted team. It doesn't strike me that that guy who doesn't apologize for that comment despite the fact it's led to flames to engulf for flames to engulf some aspects of North Carolina's PR and things to get on Roy's radar but he's going to explain what he means when he talks about pansy. Anyway he goes on.

We have no assurances. I told him that we've got a chance to play again. I told him we also have a chance to play Duke again.

Old coach is not gonna freaking quit and they're not even. There it is on his way out the door. Somebody noticed that he put his stat sheet he folded it up and put it into a different pocket than normal.

Like you know one place is where the stat sheet generally goes but against Florida State he maybe put it in a different pocket. That's how he ends his press conference. Remember yesterday ESPN said that that was him walking out of the press conference? If that is the case where he's walking out due to just being filled with unbridled anger do you think it sounds that polite? Because I don't think so.

Yes Robert? No I agree with you I don't think it's that polite either. But then again some people were just naturally quieter. Like Sawyer I don't even know what it would sound like if Sawyer was filled with rage. Like if Sawyer was mad I feel like he'd just be like yeah dude that wasn't cool bro why did you do that?

That was pretty accurate. I feel like when I'm more mad I just say to myself and thoughts just go around my head. Like if you were gonna storm out of here right now could you give like an example of like say Josh was like Sawyer your workmanship is just unacceptable. Sawyer strikes me as somebody who gives the silent treatment. Like if he gets mad at somebody he's gonna just stonewall them by not responding to their texts or calls which I think is the worst thing.

For sure. Like I'd rather you be outwardly mad at me. Silent treatment get out of here. I'll call you back and say listen I'm gonna tell you this one time and one time only. I'm mad at you. Stop calling. There you go. I've actually done that before.

I haven't made you that mad that you've called me and you said let me tell you one thing and one thing only. I'm also a phone caller type of guy. Yeah. Which we've learned some of the people who might be incriminated in this NC State notice of allegations case with the NCAA.

The stuff with Orlando early TJ Gasnola and Dennis Smith Jr. They're big phone call people too. A lot of phone calls.

44 between the trainer that was delivering the 40k allegedly to Dennis Smith Jr. and TJ Gasnola. That's a lot of phone calls. You accuse me of a lot of phone calls. I don't think I've ever called you 44 times in let's say a week or two.

Or as long as I've had your number. I don't think you've called me. I am a call a phone call person though. You've accused me of that.

You are. I accidentally bud dialed you on the way home yesterday and then I get a call right back immediately that was like hey what you need. I was like I didn't mean to call you. Wolf writes in. So are you just passive-aggressive Sawyer? I don't really know what I am honestly. I don't think I've ever gotten mad at someone and deliberately told them hey I'm really mad at you.

Like I'm just like you know what I don't need you and I just block them out. Whoa! Holy bleep Sawyer. That's hot. That's red hot right there. My god.

You need to calm down right now. Jeff Perlman is gonna join us from books you might know such as Football for a Buck on the USFL. Also he wrote the book Three Ring Circus on the newest Showtime Lakers with Shaq and Kobe. He also wrote a book on the older Showtime Lakers as well.

Brett Favre. He's one of the best sports authors out there so look forward to chatting with Jeff in just a few minutes. In terms of Wake Forest and North Carolina tonight my gut is this North Carolina in order to be competitive where it matters most which is now the ACC tournament in Greensboro in about a month. We're gonna be at the women's tournament, the men's tournament, the NCAA first and second round. All of those are gonna be in Greensboro. As of right now we're planning to be at the Final Four as well in Atlanta too.

We're looking forward to what next month is going to bring. That is where things are gonna be ultimately decided for the Tar Heels. I think we'll learn a lot about them tonight. If they lose there's a good chance that the effort might not be great. Like there is a chance North Carolina could quit tonight even though Roy Williams says all that publicly.

Just body blows. Losing a Carmichael to Wofford. Losing to Clemson at home blowing the lead. Losing the Georgia Tech by a ton. Losing to Duke that way. Losing the Florida State on the road missing an opportunity.

Losing the Boston College at home. How much can a team take emotionally and physically because that's what's being put to the test with North Carolina. That all being said the Tar Heels needed Cole Anthony to look the way he did Saturday to have a shot. And they had a shot because Cole was great shooting over 40%. That's the best Cole's played since returning from the injury.

That's against a very good Duke defense. I think Cole's gonna be great tonight. Remember Wake Forest was among the top three to land Cole Anthony at the end. I think it was North Carolina, Wake Forest, and Oregon Cole's decision came down to last year. My gut, Cole is gonna go off in the Joel Coliseum. He went on a visit. I think it was for the North Carolina or Duke game last year Cole went on his visit from what I was told. He was quiet.

He was a little aloof. It didn't surprise many people at Wake Forest he chose North Carolina of course especially how things went with Jalen Hord. So I think Cole Anthony's going to be big tonight. I think North Carolina is going to win the basketball game. But would I be surprised if it's close? Would I be surprised if Wake Forest wins? Not at all. I'm more fascinated to see who loses tonight than who wins.

I can't think of many examples where that's the case. If you're wondering where Vegas is leaning, they have North Carolina as a point-and-a-half favorite. Mike Houston still making appearances on this show. Jeff Perlman, the author of spring football and Laker books will tell us what he thinks about the XFL reboot.

Will it work? And share some Kobe Bryant stories with us. Next. We handle our microphones slightly better than the Patriots Bill Belichick. This is The Drive with Josh Graham. Jeff Perlman's one of my favorite sports authors and he's kind enough to spend some time in North Carolina with us now. The author of Football for a Buck. I was thinking about him over the weekend as the XFL rebooted because he went through a bunch of great stories and extensive research on the old USFL in the 80s. He's also the author of many books. The Brett Favre book stands out.

Three Rings Circus. That's something I need to go back and read especially with the sad news from last month regarding Kobe Bryant. Jeff now joins us who you can also find on Twitter at Jeff Perlman. Based on the feedback you've gotten from your book going through that entire circuit a little over a year ago, Jeff, how much demand do you believe there is for spring football? Not a ton. I think you're gonna see you really can judge these things by TV ratings after the first and second weeks and see if people are still watching. It's a tough sell. It's a tough sell because you're not selling big names. You're selling a sport that sort of dominates much of the year in a league that is the dominant league in you know sports in the least America if not the world. So to come along with the second league and say look here's more football. You're like well who are the players? Well they have Cardell Jones and other guys. It's tough.

It's really really hard. What made the days or make it the early days of the USFL different from the other football leagues that have tried and ultimately failed? Well spring was the first one.

I mean going spring is smart obviously. You can't go head-to-head with the NFL. So that was wise and they added Herschel Walker. They got the biggest name in football coming out of college.

So the USFL has Herschel Walker and the USFL has a bunch of guys from Delaware and Florida A&M. It's hard. It's really hard to get people to watch professional football when they don't know the players and the league seems kind of weird. It's just hard.

It's hard. USFL had name coaches which the XFL does too which is smart. USFL had a lot of name players. They got Craig James out of SMU right out the bat. They had Herschel Walker right out the bat.

A lot of NFL veterans right out the bat and that kind of helped them at least early. It's Jeff Perlman who's with us here on Sports Sub-Triad and I acknowledge that this question might not be that relevant to the audience right here in the Triad but it seems nationally speaking there is a hole, a 10-week hole where something might be able to profit. Something might be able to thrive in terms of a sports league whether that's the NBA growing or something else being put there. College basketball is big in the month of March with the brackets and it's huge 12 months out of the year where our audience is at but do you think there is room for some other league be it football or something else to thrive in the months of February, March, and April?

What do you think? I think it's tough. I mean honestly the NBA has ballooned so the NBA has really become something it wasn't whatever 30-20 years ago with an enormous it's not quite the NFL but it's getting closer and closer to the NFL. I just think the thing is like with all sports we need a rest. I do I really think most fans need a rest like I love the NBA but once the NBA is over I'm kind of glad not to have basketball for a while it's like it's like if you eat your favorite food every day you get tired of your favorite food you know I don't want to I don't want to go to my favorite Mexican restaurant every week I want it to be special and I feel like if you overload anything it starts losing its sort of pizazz. I feel like baseball a lot of people I know like why does it have to be 162 games it's so much baseball and I kind of feel like with football I just don't know I mean I think the accident has a lot of great things going for it Oliver Lux is running it he's super smart they have a TV network behind it super smart the markets seem pretty wise there are a lot of good positives to it but the track record of an alternative football league in America just is very very important. We just need a rest that's a perfect way to say it's kind of like the argument against specialization in sports where some people say I'm not recruiting the guy who only plays football and plays basketball year-round that's not what I'm doing here I want you to play multiple sports it's just healthy you get a rest and there are more injuries that happen when you play a certain sport and you specialize and in this case it's hey I mean football it probably hurts the NFL to a degree or it's certainly gonna hurt this XFL league if you just have a little bit too much we just got done with the Super Bowl we might need a little bit of a rest. Jeff Pearlman with us he's on Twitter at Jeff Pearlman. What's your favorite Kobe Bryant story you heard or learned while writing the book Three Ring Circus or even since then?

Well, first of all, one mistake in the intro, not a big deal. The book doesn't come out till September so it hasn't come out yet so uh and it's it's it's a real thing because I worked on this book for two years and really sort of studied Kobe Bryant at length and then one day he dies and it's you know preposterously sad and tragic and everything. He was a he was just a basketball killer you know he was he was Jordan times a thousand in some ways in his competitiveness and viciousness on the court. You know there's a back in 1997 after so after his rookie year he played he played on the Lakers summer league team heading into the 96-97 season. Then 97 that summer he played again on the Lakers summer league team out here in California and you know he hadn't enjoyed his rookie year that much he didn't get to play that much he's a bench player he was frustrated at Dale Harris the coach didn't give him much time and that summer league team one of the other guys in the team is Jimmy King who had been on the fab fives on a fab five in this team and Kobe looked at Jimmy King and just decided this guy I am I am attacking this guy and every day in workouts every day in practice you just talk trash to Jimmy King decimate Jimmy King because he saw Jimmy King as someone who had what he wanted which was fame, celebrity, a certain bit of basketball royalty and he just killed Jimmy King and the number I Kobe just destroyed Jimmy King stories I heard were amazing and that was kind of him like he was I wrote about 96-04 and he was just all about winning and destroying you and taking you apart and one teammate after another in practice you didn't respect you just take apart and that viciousness which I think later on in life kind of became actually a very loving and adhering human being but that viciousness early on combined with his athleticism and his intellect made him sort of a great legendary player who we now mourn.

As I mentioned you've written about this team with the Showtime book and then you said three to bring circus it's coming out later this year how does the layout of this book and the process of you trying to market it change with the news last month? That's a great question I don't know it's uh it's weird I mean it's really weird right because right now Kobe is being celebrated as he should be and people are remembering Kobe and the great things and he was this wonderful dad which he was his great husband which he was a smart businessman and an Academy Award winner and you have this book and it deals specifically with 96-04 and those are the years where Kobe was kind of a shark and we could be a jerk and harsh and mean and cruel and it was all part of his development really his developmental years you know you have to remember he grew up in Italy he didn't grow up in America he came here as a high schooler he didn't he didn't fit in with his other teammates all the time it was really a maturing process so I think when I promote the book part of it is explaining look this is not a takedown of Kobe it's an explanation of who he was during a period of his life and hopefully people understand that how do you it's very weird. How do you feel about the feedback towards Gayle King that you feel towards other people who try to say we need to button up some of the other rigid aspects of somebody's legacy I'm not even just talking about 2003 but what I'm talking about is what you're referring to that era where he was more rigid before he became beloved how do you where do you side and how to handle that? Well it's an interesting question I face a lot of I wrote a Walter Faith biography called Sweetness about eight years ago and it came out after after Walter Payton had died and Sports Illustrated ran an excerpt of the book about three weeks before the book came out and the excerpt was a piece passage from the end of the book that talked about Walter Payton's sort of depression and infidelity and the backlash was how dare you how dare you write about these things about Walter Payton and then people saw the whole book and they saw oh actually it's a full explanation of his life and you know understood. I just I understand the backlash right now with Kobe Bryant because it's really fresh and it's really raw and his family's still dealing with it and coming to grips with it and I think I think it's okay like there were people the day after Kobe died who were tweeting about the rape case in Colorado and I just thought you know we can we can wait a little bit we can let his family and friends and the fans mourn before we sort of examine his legacy but that doesn't mean we don't examine his legacy I just think it's wrong right now it's raw so we don't have to rush to everything it's not we live in a culture right now where everything is brushed get on Twitter put it out put out every thought in your mind and I'm as guilty as anyone we don't always have to do that. Gunslinger is great football for a buck is great and I'm looking forward to seeing Three Rings Circus what can you tell us in terms of when that can be expected? Well I'm interested to see how you feel when we get closer to it being published perhaps we can talk then but in the meantime I appreciate you spending time here all right take care you got it that's Jeff Perlman kind enough to join us the book it's gonna be interesting Three Rings Circus how do you think that's going to be met because what did he say September towards the end of the year that's gonna be published is that enough time where people will be okay with a book being published and it talking about Kobe being a bit of a bleep hole it's okay if you're a bit of a bleep hole right yeah I would want him to tell the accurate story behind it I wouldn't want him to candy-coat it just because of how things ended but then again look at the movies that have been put out in Hollywood Bohemian Rhapsody and this one that came out on Elton John Rocket Man you got Queen and you got Elton John who are actually a part of these projects and I doubt anything is gonna cover the rigid or points like they didn't go heavy on the HIV AIDS stuff where Freddie Mercury we got live aid at the end of that at that movie but nobody wanted to hear about that right the Motley Crue documentary that they did on Netflix was pretty good documentaries I think I mean not I mean not documentary whatever their movie was you know what I mean where it's like a movie doc a bio pic there you go it's very good damn I'm not happy about this coming up this is so damn wish you could share it forget it I'm gonna be selfish that's coach K talking about how much he loves this Duke team and I think the source of his smittenness last night is just how much Duke has exceeded everybody's expectation not just all of us in the media but coach K himself who has been pretty reserved throughout the year giving public praise to his guys until yesterday he's been hesitant to say that this team is a contender that this team is one of his better teams he's always kind of undercut things a bit said all right we're a little bit less developed than what this team's been in the past what some of these guys coming in have been some of the prospects that we've had 11 lottery picks in the last five drafts Duke not missing it NCAA tournament in the last 25 years or it'll be 25 years this year but it's true this team it is less mature it's less I think decorated it's it's less talented last year coach K he made no bones about it Zion Williamson right from the jump a special talent unlike anything else I've dealt with RJ Barrett a very good player he had no problem anointing those guys building up those guys he didn't feel it was necessary this is my opinion to put pressure put extra pressure on this team after the Louisville game coach K said this team needs to grow up quickly and what's happened since then six straight wins for the Devils including four games in ten days three of those four games being on the road and each of those games presented their own challenge Syracuse they were lighting up the scoreboard scored 88 points more points than Duke is allowed in regulation this year still found a way to win that they overlooked Boston College and learned a lesson there they faced a buzzsaw of a team in North Carolina on Saturday still the leadership of Trey Jones they maneuvered past that and they became tougher as a result they've become a tougher team in fact it reminds me a lot of Louisville Louisville the big difference between the Cardinals this year and last year's team is toughness its maturity last year's team they lost to Duke blowing that lead in the um Center and then just spiraled into an abyss down the stretch and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament Duke they lost a tough game to Louisville but since then they've been great and last night might have been their best win of the season beating a top 10 ranked team and doing so less than 48 hours after having an emotional comfort behind win against North Carolina that's pretty impressive but coach K wasn't done no not by a long shot here's more of him just showering praise onto his team I love my team I love my guys they're 18 19 20 these guys are developing man anyway and they they were terrific tonight not many teams would have won tonight after Saturday yeah I'm so damn proud of them and I wish you could feel what I feel I hope that you'd have your jobs and you could have a moment where you could feel as fulfilled and proud of a group as I do of this group is there more he was smitten man he was feeling the holiday spirit Friday it's Valentine's Day he's wanting to show love to his team and he's wanting to voice it publicly that's what he's wanting to do so here's more from coach K man they've really they're really developing into a good team there I really love these guys and because it's different guys you know we don't have a starting lineup we have a we have a team and in some sometimes when you have a starting lineup you put a ceiling on the other guys and ego and opportunity and all that and this it hasn't happened here are you taking issue with something that coach K saying there Robert no just another caller wanted to let you know that this Duke team is not great and they won't sniff a championship all right man people they get so uncomfortable when we talk about Duke like we had the Tar Heel stuff just a short while ago what are we supposed to do like North Carolina they are three games under 500 like what are we supposed to do with this team we supposed to talk about Wake Forest who's also 10 and 13 like they're playing the night we're gonna be at the game we'll spend plenty of time on it tomorrow Duke's good we talk about who's good and yes I punched my microphone twice this hell out of it just go ahead you know what one here's what we're gonna do to appease the people that dislike Duke I want you to put something together musically something going on with Valentine's Day related to what coach K is doing with this team the way he's the way he's celebrating no Duke and speaking about them post coitily it sounds like you need to set things up I'll do it see if you could put something together musically to appease these people while I get to the basketball stuff here I want this done in the next few minutes because we got David Glenn gonna join us in about 10 minutes Alex O'Connell and Javan DeLaurier this is another area where I think this Duke teams exceeded coach K's expectations they escaped the bench somehow the last two games like it looked like they were out of the rotation all together Alex O'Connell I thought it was done so for him I didn't think he was gonna be back in the eight-man but dire circumstances change things he comes in with 12 13 minutes left to go and starts hitting threes against North Carolina last night he had two of the biggest shots of the game it's 52 50 Florida State's leading Duke they feel like they're starting to relent a bit Alex O'Connell hits a big two-point jumper to tie it and then hits a big three Javan DeLaurier was awesome defensively had six rebounds last night playing a lot of minutes so those guys might be more involved while Jack White the last two games has played last minute it's a different team and coach K has communicated that let's go to turpentine Mike who wants in on the topic turpentine Mike do I have it right you have a joke to tell us thank you turpentine Mike all right Robert I given you enough time give me something musically with what we just heard with Mike Shushevsky damn I love my team damn he loves that team I love my guys oh he loves his guys they're 18 19 20 Oh barely legal these guys are developing man feeling out those jerseys real nice we have an old-fashioned team we don't expect to kiss until the third date some of you are gonna put out and some of you won't but that's okay because I love my team oh yeah baby and you shouldn't Barry white that's the music to set the mute the mood to baby when we're talking about Duke I wish we could have got turpentine Mike to tell his joke over this music I think I might do the read in this music maybe do a tease very quickly don't tease me what defense doesn't see state have against the NCAA at this point DG is gonna fill us in baby next on the drive want to become a real sports fan leave it right here it turns everyone it touches into raging psychotics all fake sports well sometimes on the drive with Josh Graham I don't have a law background and I also don't have 30-plus years of experience covering the ACC so I bring in David Glenn to help fill in some of the details of how NC State fans should be viewing the wolf packs battle with the NCAA as the wolf pack last summer received a notice of allegations dating back to the Mark Godfried allegations and the Dennis Smith recruiting a response was given to the NCAA from NC State and then NC State received a response back where the NCAA laid out evidence of a $40,000 payment from a DDS exact TJ Gasnola to former NC State assistant coach Orlando early to give to an NC State trainer to pass along to Dennis Smith senior everybody following along the biggest detail I took away from the response based on everything I've written NC State doesn't seem to be denying anymore that early received the $40,000 from the Adidas consultant TJ Gasnola that seems to be significant to me also there's no question that the coaches everybody involved in this knew each other there are text messages there are phone calls and there are a lot of them during this entire process that lead to there being a lot of smoke and a lot of people I think need to know and DG maybe you can add to this the committee of infractions for the NCAA it's not like the court of law I don't think you need to prove something beyond reasonable doubt in order for a ruling to come down that might not be favorable of NC State so I feel like NC State could be in danger here to be hit with a significant punishment because we still see those level one charges being alleged by the NCAA with its recent response here how defenseless is NC State at this point well I wouldn't say they're defenseless but certainly there are major facts against them and they are fighting an uphill battle the rest of the way and it's good to be with you as always Josh one question I get a lot from state fans is if the wolf pack just lawyers up the way the Tar Heels lawyered up in the AFAM case why can't the pack just get off the hook entirely the way the Tar Heels of course ended up getting no sanctions whatsoever from the NCAA and whereas there are some parallels between the cases including both schools lawyering up to steal that phrase the biggest difference is the underlying wrongdoing accused of accused in the Carolina case had to do with academics as they spilled into athletics and NCAA rules have never been a great fit for governing that and the underlying incident in this case is paying a player with the help of an assistant basketball coach and maybe even the head coach there's nothing gray area there's nothing complicated there's nothing confusing old school new school in between the history of the NCAA it's always against the rules and a cardinal sin for you know a player or his family prospector his family to get money that jeopardizes his eligibility obviously when a coach from the college level is accused of being a part of it or two you know that makes it an even more egregious sin in the eyes of the NCAA so that's the biggest problem for the Wolf Pack there's a lot of evidence that this happened but to you know as they should they're forcing the NCAA to try to prove their case they're bringing up some technicalities that they're going to argue in front of the committee whenever that next meeting takes place and they're saying well you've connected some dots here but you haven't connected all the dots because we don't even see evidence as to who accepted the money on behalf of the Dennis Smith jr. family and the NCAA saying you're right we don't have every last connecting of the dots but common sense tells you that if the money went from adidas consultant to an NC State coach and the Smith family moved from government-assisted housing into their own house around the same time well just like a jury is allowed to connect the dots so is the NCAA committee on infraction and also go a step further with this NC State I don't think it's coincidental hired the same law firm that North Carolina used in its battle with the NCAA and I'm glad you're spelling out the differences there but is it another difference DG that the FBI was involved in this and that the FBI and federal government have subpoena power unlike the NCAA which means that they could have evidence more substantial evidence that you want to get in a normal NCAA investigation what's the difference and oddly enough I mean this is not funny to NC State fans I realize that but funny curious the lack of the NC double-a the ability to use all the documents that they wanted to use in the UNC case actually led to a change in NCAA rules where for the first time they said if there are other proceedings if there are independent investigations if there's a criminal justice matter if there's a civil justice matter if there's a governmental investigation for the first time ever the NCAA compliance people are going to be allowed to use certain types of that evidence not every last shred of everything but they basically opened the door to something that they were not allowed to consider before well guess what the NC State case is one of the first cases that has put all this FBI evidence in front of the NC double-a that they otherwise would not have had and when this TJ Gasnola guy Adidas consultant is under investigation and that entire FBI you know federal government investigation of funneling money from shoe companies the prospects and their families well NC State wasn't the only school caught up in that but any evidence that made its way into the trial under these new rules is now allowed to be considered by the NCAA and guess what the TJ Gasnola evidence is a huge part of the foundation of this case against NC State if this same set of circumstances happened years ago the NCAA would have had to connect more of these dots all by itself instead it was handed about 75% of their work just because the new rule allows for this FBI evidence so it's that's what makes it harder for NC State here it wasn't FBI evidence in the UNC case it was different types of documentation but yeah the the rules have changed in a way that makes the wolf back defense a lot more difficult and for anybody who really digs into the details of this case there's a lot of evidence that Orlando early was participating in this that Mark Gottfried who's now at Cal Northridge also had a role in this not all of that evidence is in front of the NCAA however and that's of course something that the wolf pack and its attorneys are trying to exploit right now David Glenn with us our early afternoon hosts on Twitter at David Glenn show if you have any law questions you can tweet him at David Glenn show I'm not sure if he can help you get out of like a speeding ticket or anything like that but maybe you could try calling his show right before we go in the air earlier in the afternoon if you plan to go that route North Carolina is facing Wake Forest tonight in their first game since the classic on Saturday in Chapel Hill the Tar Heels I really feel like this game DG it's the rare instance where whoever loses I think we'll have the more interesting narrative follow them Roy Williams says my team's not gonna quit I'm not gonna quit but I'm fascinated to see what type of effort they put in and the Joel Coliseum tonight what they have left because we saw what Duke had left last night against Florida State with shorter rest and Wake Forest meanwhile Danny Manning is 0 for 5 against North Carolina and his career if they lose this game it pretty much submits a losing season for the Deeks they'd be 10 and 14 with six to go and games in Raleigh Chapel Hill and Durham the rest of the way in your mind what do you expect we'll learn tonight in Winston-Salem I think we'll learn what the Tar Heels are a legitimate threat to make something of this season and what I mean is I think Wake fans while they'd love to win this game of course I mean some are saying we know how bad things are we know this is going to be a fifth losing season in six years under Danny Manning we know most of that fan base is ready for Wake to turn the page on Danny Manning but let's go out and beat the hated Tar Heels tonight the other side of the coin is that the Tar Heels when they're at their best when they're healthy they're actually a team good enough to push Florida State to the wire to push Duke to the wire before falling and Wake Forest's ceiling is simply not that high if Carolina lays an egg tonight in Winston-Salem the way they lost at home to Boston College with Cole Anthony ten days ago well then there is a 0% chance that they can avoid you know the first losing season that Roy Williams has ever been associated with as a college coach a streak that goes back to 1978 when he was an assistant to Dean Smith at Carolina if the heels win after putting up a fight at Florida State and almost feeding Duke and Chapel Hill well they get Wake again they get NC State at home again they have potential wins against Virginia at home Notre Dame on the road they can creep out of this 10 and 13 hole they can make a run at whatever maybe they're 15 and 16 as they head to the NC at the ACC tournament and like ten years ago the only NCAA tournament Roy has missed in his last 30 years as the head coach at least those Tar Heels ten years ago made the NIT with a 500 record and made a run to the NIT title game if Carolina can't beat Wake tonight there's no way they're gonna make anything of this season and I think they realize that and they've got to avoid the kind of train wreck they had ten days ago against Boston College two things you need to check out from DG in addition to listening to the David Glenn show doing two three right here on sports up triad it's our ACC rankings one through fifteen that you can find at ACC sports comm along with Brian Geisinger's for the first time this year I think we're all in agreement one through nine on those rankings surprisingly also you need to check out DG story of the athletic Carolinas because it's fascinating stuff I love stories like this the headline what does recruiting and NBA evidence suggest about Roy Williams least gifted comments about the Tar Heels that dates back to the comments he made after the Georgia Tech game last month calling this team his least talented team or excuse me least gifted team he's coached since returning to Chapel Hill you talked to ten ACC coaches and there was a little bit of conflict on whether they had an issue voicing it publicly but everybody was together agreeing with the sentiment that this is the least talented Carolina team what was the most interesting thing you learned talking to those ten ACC coaches I think they're just savvy enough that unlike some fans who just want to take shots at the school they like the least or the coach they like the least you know not all four star prospects are alike not all five star prospects are alike and many at all of those coaches of course have competed against the Tar Heels you know a couple of tidbits are one half of them didn't want to go on the record and say anything you know they just didn't want to get into Roy Williams's business but all ten coaches that I talked to said Roy is factually correct this is the least gifted team he has had in his 17 years in Carolina and whereas there are some years where you trot out five McDonald's all-americans in the starting lineup at UNC under Roy Williams I looked at the future NBA players in some years Roy had seven on his roster right now he has one maybe two at most I looked at top 50 high school prospects in some years Roy has had 10 10 top 50 high school signees out of his 13 scholarship players this year he has two Cole Anthony and Armando Bicot so whether you view it by recruiting rankings which some fans are or you view it by future NBA talent which others have looked at or you just view it as the eyeball test you know these professional head basketball coaches and assistant basketball coaches all the numbers and even the eyeball test all agree all ten coaches did agree on that part this is the least talented team some of them said not only in Roy Williams's 17 years in Chapel Hill as the head coach but any other team Roy Williams or Dean Smith was associated with and you know a half century of UNC basketball there was that bad Matt Doherty year of course but otherwise Roy was right should he have said it out loud or not that's a different debate and the coaches disagreed but was he right actually that this is his least gifted team anyone who's willing to do their homework and look at the numbers is going to come to the same conclusion that those ten coaches did that I did and that Roy Williams himself did and there's just not as much talent as there usually is right now in Chapel Hill and the losses are just painful I argue that heartbreak is a lot more painful than just sheer disappointment the Doherty teams Doherty wasn't a Hall of Fame basketball coach that those teams weren't picked number two in the preseason poll like this team was so when you go throughout the last 50 years you can make the argument that this is the most miserable season because here are the seasons North Carolina's missed the NCAA tournament in the last 50 years of course you noted 2010 2002 2003 under Doherty then you have to go back to 1974 1973 1971 1970 and those years you had to win the ACC tournament in order to get into the field so really in the last 50 years four of the seven times North Carolina hasn't made the tournament they had to win the AC to tournament to qualify we didn't know what an at-large bid was so that really speaks to just how great this program has been and just how painful this season is altogether DG appreciate you spending time here as always every single Tuesday look forward to hearing your show tomorrow appreciate you spending here oh gosh always fun to be with you but take care that's David going early afternoon house he's on twitter at David Glenn show read his stuff the athletic Carolinas also ACC sports dot-com David Tepper he is a talking and meeting with reporters talking about cam Newton cam Newton we played the sound he's he went on Radio Row and was asked if he's gonna be a Carolina Panther he says absolutely I'm gonna be a Carolina Panther so David Tepper who has a media event he was talking I think it was a charity event he's giving some money to an elementary school over $100,000 I think twice a year he gives money to teachers it's something that's close to his heart growing up in Pittsburgh he's had family that we're in that profession this is how it sounded this is audio that we've this is courtesy I think of Jordan Rodriguez this is David Tepper talking about cam Newton said again and again again about it's a question of how healthy is foot and otherwise and that's still the number one overwhelming thing to see how healthy is and how we can figure out when he's healthy or not and you know everything comes from that David other teams reached out inquiring about his trade possibility if he's available for trade and if so was that something that you'd be open for you know I could ask Nicole she answers the phone in our house but no I haven't heard about that so let me stop that real quick okay some would think that's him dodging a question though that's David Tepper knowing the rules of the NFL and being a bit charming in the process it is not the start of the new league here Carolina cannot trade cam Newton today they can't David Tepper in turn because he's not able to trade cam Newton and you're not allowed to make trades or even inquire about trades until the start of the new league year he had to deflect that if he answered the question and said yeah I've been taking calls teams inquiring about cam that would be the definition of tampering he can't do that so at this point I can't tell other reporters what to do obviously that's gonna get a response on this radio show we're gonna talk about these things anytime David Tepper opens his mouth but what good is gonna come out of asking whether teams have traded knowing that he can't talk about it like it's like asking a basketball coach hey can you talk about this recruit that you're looking at no the rules say I can't I can't talk about the recruit like know the rules it's that simple like the Panthers they are so smart here Tepper turn Marty Hurney they're so smart not talking about cam keeping their mouth shut about it because that was right until he's healthy they have nothing you know he's not a doctor cam's not a doctor they're gonna see how healthy he is next month and when the new league year begins they're gonna get calls it's gonna happen I don't know if he's gonna be traded or not but he's they're gonna get calls so that's my biggest takeaway from what David Tepper just said right there anything to add to that Robert nope I got a real humdinger for taking to the house though oh yeah what do you got why NASA lied to you and you guys ate it up hook line and sinker hook we take it to the house next