Don't Eat The Sticker

He's amused Cam Newton. He's been insulted by Charles Barkley. When some idiot in the press asked him if you know what you know now, what you scheduled this game. He's interviewed Matthew McConaughey. And he's taken on Big Blue Nation.

He's just completely taken the wind out of my sandwich. It's time for The Drive with Josh Graham. Live from ACC tip-off in uptown Charlotte, the Weston Hotel.

It is The Drive. So glad you're here with us. WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad. Where, just to start things off, I want to just roll through the guests that we're going to be joined by over the span of the next three hours. In about 10 minutes, John Shire, head coach at Duke, going to drop by. Davian Williamson and B-Dot together will be playing grammar school with us. Probably informing me on how things are supposed to work.

That'll be later on this hour. Kevin Keats and Hubert Davis in our four o'clock hour. And to close things out, we've got Wes Durham and Tony Bennett and unusual questions with our friend Darren Vaught helping us set up things from uptown Charlotte today. Will Dalton, where are you broadcasting from right now? Where are you sitting as we talk to you from uptown?

Curtisville! That's right. W-D, you're a North Carolina basketball fan. Yes, I am. You're not shy at pointing that out.

Neither is B-Dot when you're doing his thing. Six man of Tar Heel basketball. Would you say, given the Coastal Division pick that I made that looks pretty good right now, picking the Tar Heels, that just from the view of the Tar Heel fan, perception of Josh Graham is at an all time high right now.

At least just for right now. I would say so. And considering you got Pitt right last year. Yeah, but I'm just saying from, you know, Tar Heel fans, they didn't like me very much during points of basketball season and a year ago and I didn't think they'd be very good in football and I just so happened to be right just pointing that out. But right now, things pretty good, like our relationships pretty good, you would say.

I'd say it's great. Let's change that, because everybody is on the Tar Heels, it seems to win the ACC in basketball. We'll get to the football stuff in a minute. There's still stuff in the news with Matt Rule that we'll talk about. Jim Phillips had some comments today that I found interesting, but it seems everybody and their mother is picking North Carolina to win the ACC this basketball season, and that concerns me. And this is why. We just saw this movie in Southern California, a year ago, where a team barely sneaks into the tournament, a blue blood, and makes a run to the Final Four, and everybody thinks, ah, at the peak moment on the biggest stage, because they won these games consecutively, that sample is the most meaningful.

That's who you are. And UCLA was the number one team going into the year last year. Did not win the Pac-12 tournament, did not win the Pac-12, knocked out by the Tar Heels fittingly in the Sweet 16 last year. I see a lot of similarities with that team to this North Carolina team. I'm not saying they are what they were for the first 30, 35 games of the year, where they barely made it into the tournament.

I'm not saying they're at that point, but I'm also not saying what they were with Brady Manick, and the run that they went on in March is who they are either. They got hot, they got to the tournament, you can't take it away from them that they got to the Final Four play in the way that they did. They're going to be a really good team, but they're not my pick to win the ACC, because my pick to win the ACC, as I'll be submitting sometime soon, is the Virginia Cavaliers. They are best equipped for a 20-game schedule, and I think they're going to win the league because I have less concerns about who they are versus what North Carolina is. I have a lot of concerns with the Tar Heels.

The expectations, as we've been talking about, bothers me. If I were to ask you, if you disagree with what I'm saying right now, you can tweet me at WSJSradio, but what I would ask you is, who's the best shooter on the Tar Heels? I'll ask you, W.D. Right now, you need to knock down a three. This guy's wide open. Who are you most confident knocking down that shot for North Carolina? I mean, even though he's had his eh points, I'd still probably go to Caleb Love.

If it's Caleb Love, then I have some concerns if that is your most efficient, most reliable three-point shooter. Conversely, I know what you're banking on when it's Virginia. Virginia knows exactly what they're supposed to be, who they are. They are a school that thrives on its pack line defense, on system, on development, and that's why, for the first time in seven years, Virginia getting its entire starting five back is going to really elevate them from a team that didn't make the tournament last year to one I think is going to be the prime of the ACC, going to be the best team in the conference. Nobody else can say that they're bringing their top six scorers back, including an all-ACC caliber player, defensive player of the year candidate, Ree Speakman, and Jaden Gardner, former pirate, by the way.

The returners, they didn't stop Tony Bennett from being proactive. So, you do have the top six scorers back, but in addition to that, they have a top ten recruiting class. They have a point guard from West Virginia who's going to come in and probably take some minutes from Kihei Clark who feels like he's been there forever, a former national champion on that 2019 team. You're talking about adding a three-year starter from Ohio who is a knockdown three-point shooter at 6'9", averaging 14 a game last year. I look at this team, Virginia's won five of the last nine ACC regular season titles, I think they'd do it again. So while all the hype is with North Carolina, my pick to win the ACC in basketball this year is the Virginia Cavaliers.

I'm also maybe doing this just to suck up to my wife. Okay, moving things along, W.D., Matt Rule, no longer the Panthers coach. Two blocks away from us, he was fired here in Uptown Charlotte. We're here at ACC tip-off, and we're here because of the kind folks, our sponsors, David Maynard and Elizabeth Swanson with Maynard and Associates Wealth Management and also Omega Sports. Thruway Shopping Center, they have that re-grand opening a few weeks ago.

It's a wonderful store, go visit them. And also in Greensboro as well, you can find Omega Sports, thanks to them that we're here. A couple blocks away from where Matt Rule got fired, where is the next stop for Coach Rule? That's what we're trying to figure out because when I look at some of the reports, some of the whispers, so commonly is Matt Rule being linked to Lincoln, Nebraska. Being linked over there because big fan base, here's an NFL coach, this guy had success in college, it makes all the sense in the world.

But let's just play a game real quick. If Matt Rule in a hypothetical was offered, let's say every job that is currently open in college, and you're talking about Nebraska, Wisconsin, Auburn soon to be open, Louisville, Arizona State, all the jobs that are open. Let's say in a hypothetical sense, Matt Rule has his pick of the litter, what would be the best fit for Matt Rule? What would be the best destination for him to have success? And likely, whatever the answer to that question is, assuming there's interest on the other side, might be where Matt Rule ultimately ends up.

And the place that I keep defaulting to, actually, you know, let's do this process of elimination. I'd veer away from the SEC West. If you're going to Auburn, odds are you're inviting an opportunity to be fired in three or four years, going up against Alabama and LSU and Brian Kelly gets that fired up and several of the other places as well that are really tough to compete against. How about the Big Ten?

I'd veer away from them too. Like I get it, Nebraska and Wisconsin on the other side from Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and those big boys and Penn State. But I'd stay away because when you look at the level of success Rule has had in college, it's not at some of these big boy programs. And when he was in the NFL, when he played teams that had even talent to him at the top level that football offers, when the margins were small, Matt Rule didn't win as often as he did when the margins were a lot wider at Temple and Baylor.

So if you have your pick, I don't know if those make sense. And also, Wisconsin's probably going to give Jim Leonard the entire runway of the season to audition for the job. So I don't think Wisconsin's a fit. I don't think Nebraska is the best option I'd choose. I don't think he'll want to go to Georgia Tech in the southeast footprint where he's going to have to come to the west end here every year and be asked why things didn't work in the NFL time and time again. Also a lot of challenges at Georgia Tech from an academic perspective. Not saying Rule can't handle, he handled it at Baylor, handled some challenges at Temple, but I don't think that would be the ideal sense. The place that makes the most sense to me for Matt Rule is Arizona State. West Coast Pac-12, a lot of resources, and a place that when you look at the expansion of the playoff that's coming in the next few years, the 12-team format, you've got great access to the playoff and a conference that's a lot easier to get to the top and a lot more realistic to do so than the Big Ten and the SEC.

They're capable of paying you. Great state to live into. Arizona State, that seems like the place that would be the best landing spot for Matt Rule. B-Dots here, six-man Tar Heel basketball. He's mad at me twofold. Number one, he's mad because Tar Heel players and Hubert Davis are currently behind the double doors in front of us talking to the media and he'd much rather be in there where they're at than sitting at this setup with us.

And reason number two is on social media where apparently in the last half hour or so, we had a picture here of B-Dot, a video as well, of you holding up the NC State fingers. You're going to say that right when Kirsch is walking by here too? You're going to say that right when Kirsch is walking by? Steve Kirsch walking by from North Carolina. You were holding up, it's in front of the entire world and God to see you.

It's on social media now. Yeah, my Carolina family, my Hills House family, they're definitely sending me messages like my eyes are bleeding, what are you doing? But the reality is Coach Keats is my guy and I told y'all, he tried to recruit me. Two years in a row he tried to recruit me to come over there to NC State. But he's a friend of mine.

Cam that went to NC State, friend of mine, Breon Pass, friend of mine. And you notice, Josh, today, everybody's friends today. Like this is before the season starts. Like everybody's cool.

So, you know, we just took a picture. I just threw up the whoop. He said, throw it up one time. I was like, I'm not throwing it up. He's like, throw it up, man.

Everybody's friends. So when John Shire asked you to sing the chorus to Every Time We Touch, I'm sure you were doing that too, right? No, I ain't no damn puppet. I ain't going to be sitting here singing songs because Shire asked me to sing a damn song.

Imagine me doing that. Shire better be glad he ain't seen me too. You strategically are doing interviews when I'm not here. Like you talked to him earlier because you knew I was downstairs with the boys. Where is Shire? It's amazing that you walked up right as we were finishing up with Shire. I don't know, man.

It wasn't intentional that Shire rolled up right before you did. Yeah, he's dodging me. Him and that Roach kid. Where's the Roach guy? Okay, I grew up in the projects.

I know about Roaches. I wanted to talk to one. What's going on, baby? You feel me, Darren? I'm trying to figure out what's going on, DV.

Like, let me know. Are you trying to start a fight? Is that what's happening? After saying everybody's friends today? We are. We are friends.

I'm friends with who I'm friends with. Like, I saw my boy Davian. Like, are we going to talk to him later?

Yeah, Davian's going to drop by our set in about 15 minutes. That's my guy. Like, that's my friend. I actually have an idea.

Did you pitch this to him? I think we need to play grammar school with somebody. Oh, I'm with that. And I'm thinking Davian is Winston Salem through and through. Fair. He is Winston Salem to his core.

Yeah. Do you think he'd be a good player today? Do you think he'd be a good player to play grammar school with? Well, I'm confused on what you mean by play.

Like, he could be someone that you could use as one lifeline but I don't think he should play. Like, he's going to know everything I'm talking about. Okay, that's fair. Yeah, like he's in the. Okay, so Davian. Right.

Is just going to play grammar school with us and point and laugh when I get things wrong. There we go. That's it. Okay.

That's it. I think that's great. Like the rest of us. In about 10 minutes, that's what we'll do. Say less. Davian will point and laugh at me from Wake Forest as we play grammar school. Okay.

So, pretty good explanation on your part and by good explanation, not a good explanation at all. We're family, man. Like, Kevin Keats, that's my guy. You had to sing Cascada one time on the radio. I was dead. I lost a bet.

Why was that? My Cowboys didn't do as well as I thought they were going to do. They didn't win 10 games a couple seasons ago and I sang karaoke on your show and I allowed you to pick the songs. So, you gave me Rhinestone Cowboy, Cascada and I'm going to tell you how ignorant I was to Duke stuff. I didn't even know that Cascada was one of their songs.

Like, I didn't even know that. Well, we just talked with Shire right before you rolled up and he said that he's boys with 9th Wonder and 9th has been wanting to maybe change things up. Now, he said Cascada is going to stay, but maybe mix some things up at Cameron.

Get some different types of music in there. Kelsey's amazing. She's sitting here eating cookies. She's wearing green two days in a row.

She had a Kyler Murray outfit on. I ate the sticker. Is that a sticker? It is supposed to be edible. It is supposed to be edible. I think don't eat it. It's probably I would not. Don't try it, Kelsey.

Is it edible? She's trying. Derek, give her a headset real quick. I just want people to know what she's eating. Alright, Kelsey, explain yourself here. Real quick. Don't mess up her hair. Don't mess up her hair.

Kelsey Riggs of the TV is doing radio right now. What it looks like I'm eating is a white hockey puck. It does look like a hockey puck and it has an ACC logo on it.

And then you bite in it and there's a Oreo in it, which is actually very exciting. Talk about it. There's what looks like a sticker on top of it. So, I peeled it off. I think, I don't know if you guys are actually my friends or not because you told me I could eat it. I told you not to. I specifically said don't.

Let me get a picture of this thing. There it is. You definitely ignore me.

Producers are trying to get Kelsey back to sleep. Alright, get back to your setup. Alright, thanks guys. There you go. I'll let you know how it turns out. Peace, Kels. Let her go. Alright, there you go.

It's a free for all right here. Alright, for the record, I tried the cookie yesterday, ate half of the sticker, and am fine. So, I assumed it's edible.

Alright, I didn't mean to have Kelsey. So, did I eat a sticker? That surprises no one. Was I not supposed to eat that? Who eats stickers?

Randolph Childress right here. I thought it was part of the cookie. Josh, when was the last time you ate something with the wrapper on? What's interesting about that. You have an answer. He has an answer.

What's interesting about that? See, this is the part where he gives out the phone number. Right, Doc?

I am 336-777-1600. No, no, no. I didn't eat it, but it reminds me.

I am never a complainer. I'm not the guy who wants a free movie or something. If they show the wrong trailer or something or like if you get the wrong movie initially before they flip it or if, hey, this is just slightly more medium.

It's slightly more rare than I want. Send it back to the kitchen. You're going to compare that to eating the wrong one? No, no, no.

Listen, listen, listen. The only time I can ever remember sending something back, I could not eat it, was when I asked for a cheeseburger and they brought out a burger with melted on cheese that was still in there. The cheese that was still in like the little plastic sleeve melted onto the burger.

You might have had a case. That's the only time I ever sent it back. Like picture, you know, like the little cheddar cheese squares like a craft single. That's right. It was still in the plastic wrapper melted onto the burger. They cooked it on top of the burger over under McDonald's. It was not McDonald's, but you know, I knew the owner of the restaurant. He got me a free meal. It was all good. There you go. That's the only time I sent it back. So you didn't answer the question.

Can you hand the headset to Randolph? It's a free for all, man. It's weird.

Wait, this is how you know you're doing a good radio show when people just come on and they wanted to chime in on things, whether it be Kelsey Riggs or Randolph Children's or they're just watching. You try to explain yourself out of this non-answer because you've eaten something wrapper and wrapper and all before. That cookie slash brownie slash Oreo Oreo looked edible. The blue wrapper. I was saying the same thing, but I even if it was edible, like a nibble in to the sticker. I was like, oh, you know what? This just peels right off.

Now it's just white chocolate coating an Oreo. I'm going to stick. I only brought this up again to say that I wanted to talk about your Cowboys for a second when you lost the bet. Because Dallas has the biggest game of the NFL this week, right?

Sunday night football against the Eagles. How's money? And there's a report, Dak Randolph Children's just brought another cookie. I'm not going to eat the wrapper this time. You promise? You got to promise. It's almost Halloween. You're setting bad examples. Pinky swear for the children of America. Children of the triad. You got to inspect your take the cookies.

Yes. Inspect them. Take your candy out of the wrapper before you eat them.

There's your advice for the day. But the cat, the report says Dak gripping a football. They expect him back. Just not Sunday. Cooper Rush is going to start and it feels like one of those things. He starts until he loses. Man, he's you don't you don't take a guy out of a winning streak, right?

No, I mean, that's not what the gauge is, in my opinion. My opinion right now is there's no point in bringing that back until he's 100%. Right now we're playing with house or until you lose. I mean, but that'll probably be when he's going to be 100% healthy. I think they should take him to the to the bar week. We got three games into the bar week. Let Cooper finish it out to the bar week and then bring back back. They lose to the Eagles on Sunday and Dak can come back. You going to play Dak?

They probably would, but I would I would suggest not because is he going to be 100% like 100% and the damage has already been done. If we lose to Philly, that means we're going to drop. We're going to stay second in the in the conference.

They're going to stay undefeated. I've always had this philosophy and I had this philosophy when Christian McCaffrey was banged up the last few years, too. If you're healthy enough to play, play.

Plain and simple. Like, I'm not into this. These are professional athletes.

These are adults, right? Like, if you're healthy enough to play, play. You get paid handsomely to play. If you're healthy enough, play. But the question is, would Dallas make that change if Dak were healthy enough to play if Cooper Rush was still unbeaten? Still hasn't lost.

Cooper Rush threw for 102 yards last game. Like, he's not putting up great numbers. He's just being a game manager and he's not having any turnovers.

He's not losing ball games. It's almost like that terminology game manager. It's almost like it's a pejorative when people say it. I don't even know what that word means.

Like, it's an indictment. It's negative. No, I'm not saying it's a negative.

It's a positive. He's doing exactly what he's supposed to do as a backup quarterback in the NFL. He's coming in and he's leading this team to victory every week. He's 5-0. I'm 100% with that. The stud quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys is Dak Prescott.

That is not even a negotiable situation or conversation. Michael Parsons injured growing. I think he should sit against Philly. I think he should sit and Dak should sit regardless of how healthy they are.

Why? Because we don't have to show our full hand to Philadelphia this first game. We lose absolutely nothing if we lose to Philadelphia this first game with Cooper Rush at quarterback and no Michael Parsons. You lose two games in the standings to them. We're fine because we see them again. I know, but then you gain one game. We've only got one loss in the conference.

I mean, in the division. If you can play, play. We've already said that, Josh. Well, you just said, Micah, you'd sit him even if he's capable of playing. Well, I mean, you saw he was definitely injured last week. Sure.

Growing. And that right there, like a week, are you back in a week? But if you can play. No, you said if you're healthy, play. I said if you can play, play. I mean, that can play, but he can't grip.

I don't think he can. You can't play if you can't grip a football and you play quarterback. You can play if all you got to do is hand the ball off to the running backs. Unfortunately, you do 10 times a game. That's still 10 times.

You got a grip of football to throw those 10 times. The reality is this. Cooper Rush is playing fine. The Dallas Cowboys are playing with house money. There's no need to rush Dak back. Ooh, pun intended. I don't think so. Clearly not. To rush Dak back?

No, there's no need to Cooper Rush back. Where's the robe at? Where's the robe at? That's what I'm wondering. Oh, you know the robe's been every Monday. That's right.

Every Monday since the first week of the season, I've worn the robe every week since then and I've worn the hat twice. Darren, prediction time. I'm about to play grammar school with Davian Williamson and B dot. How am I going to do? Am I going to get a passing grade? I mean, you're going to get through it as you always do. Will I get I have faith in Davian.

I think I think Davian is going to help you out a lot. So I would imagine you technically win the game. Yes. Okay. That's a prediction on Darren Botts part. Let's figure out if his prediction is correct.

That's not your fault. Places, everyone. Places, please. We're ready. Get your morning off to a great start with Jeffrey Griffin on Triad today.

Weekday mornings at seven. Now back to the drive with Josh Graham. Here at ACC tip off where we're being joined by the pride of Winston Salem, who just so happens to be a demon deacon, one of the leaders of the Wake basketball team, Davian Williamson joining us here.

And B dot six man of Tar Heel basketball is hanging out as well. Davian, there's a game that we play on the show that makes me look bad. It makes me look bad. It's called grammar school.

My last name is Graham. Do you want to explain the concept real quickly to Davian? Absolutely. I just give him three urban words like lit or teed up or gas, and he has to tell me what they mean. Well, he has to translate them so that he can know how to talk when he's in his locker room. Exactly. He has to know our vernacular.

So it's an educational experience that way. When I cover you guys during the season, I can use words like OG or I'm trying to think 10 toes down. There you go.

Got to stay 10 toes down. All grammar school and they have the sounder to get us going here. Let's play the game. Josh Graham has his own way of speaking in high school.

He didn't play sports, but he did wear a helmet. And just when you think it can't get any worse. Josh is going to attempt to learn B dots vernacular. I'm on the old school. I got street knowledge. You know what I mean? You know what I'm saying?

It's time for B dots grammar school. I'm going to try and get it right, but I have a lifeline. So if you can, I get to use you one time if I need help. You should be good though. I hope so. I appreciate your confidence in me.

I'm telling you it's not warranted. I have to give him three words. He has to get two out of three. We've been playing this for two and a half years. Like I've used so many and every week I'm like, I clearly have no more words, but I do. I have three more words for you, Josh. Oh, this is season two. So now he has a caustic word that he has to ask. Okay. Let's go.

It's also comprehension from a conversation we had in the past earlier today. Where is Boston college located? 20 miles outside of Boston.

What's the name of the town? This is the caustic question back for him. I don't even know that you play there. You posted, no, you posted my lifeline. Um, something heel chestnut heel.

I wanted to scream, but I can't. Okay. What's the first word you got for me? Actually got that right. Okay. What does it mean to drop science?

Oh man. Drop science. Yeah. I want to say like drop knowledge.

Like man, I'm going to teach you what to know. It's either that or drugs. Wait a minute. Dot.

Dot. You got to tell him. I'm sorry. Whenever advice, whenever he's confused on one of the words, it's usually drugs or guns. That's usually the answer.

Right? So that's, that's why I said that's his default answer all the time. Right.

Cause he told me that's the way to go. That's fair. I'm going to go drop some knowledge. Okay. I'm going to drop science on you right now.

Wake forest, top 10 team in the ACC. Easy. Drop some more science on me. That's it. Oh, that was good enough. Boom. Is that right?

That is correct. Good job. I thought you had some more ACC science. You was about to drop on me. Good job though. Josh Graham means just given information.

Thank you. What does it mean to grill? Oh, like the grill somebody. Yeah.

Oh, like to light them up, like to, to criticize them or to roast them, to bash them. Is that your final answer? Yeah. No. Was it me, David?

Hey, I don't even know that. Just stare at somebody to grill them. If I'm staring at them, I'm just grilling them.

Yes. To grill some ice grill, to stare at them. That's from your time. We don't talk like that. No more grill is definitely a version of it. And nobody might say grill, like, like, like we somewhere at a party and that girl over there, literally like, well, she's grilling me right now.

Ain't nobody. No, you would not say it in that type of content. No, she would definitely just be probably just, what would you say? I was like, well, she just staring at you peeping.

You wouldn't say staring. See right now. B dot is, is grilling your coach because he's still mad that he thought Alondis Williams was the player of the year last year, rather than his guy, Armando clearly Armando Baycock was the player of the year. It wasn't, it was a lot. This was the player of the year. Not even close. No, no, no.

Where did we talk about the player of the years about the best player for the team that off there? Cause we got one more word that we have to get. What does it mean if you might not even need avian? What does it mean if something is knocking, knocking, knocking? Oh boy. That's knocking.

He's, he's, he's, he's trying to talk it out at this point. Yeah, I was going to give the phone number out, but we can't do that right now. That would be being set up here.

Absolutely. I'm going to say like, I'm thinking that I'm going to use you as a lifeline Davian. Cause I think it's like, something's like really good. Like that slaps, it's food or something like that.

This music's knocking, but I'm going to go to Davian. What does it mean? You agree with, you agree with Josh knocking and your answer was what? It's like something that's good. It like slaps.

It's like, Oh, this is great. This music's knocking. This food is knocking. I just had some food would not be knocking. That was music though. Music would be knocking, but music and food is different. Why would the music be knocking?

Because it's what it's like. I want to give you a three for three, which means it's what a four letter L word. Um, rhymes with crowd. Here we go.

If it's knocking, it's loud, bro. Do I get credit for that? I will just cause DW's here, man. Say less. How did I do Davian? I think you did good. I appreciate that. Hey, Davian was going to come to you for a couple of weeks. Like I don't know.

I'm going to go with you on knocking. I don't know what the hell it means. Hey, I'm learning new stuff on here too. What's your, um, what excites you the most?

That's been grammar school. What excites you the most about this Deacon team this year? Oh, we fast.

You know what I'm saying? We're going to be a, we're going to be pushing the tempo even a lot faster than we did last year. And I'm about to say fast.

That's scary. You guys were fast last year. So you're faster.

Hey, you think, you think I'm fast? You ain't seen Tyree play. That's all I'm going to say. Tyree Appleby. That's the dude I just met.

Tyree Appleby bringing a little bit of pace. He said try to clip him. You ain't going to be able to catch him.

You ain't going to be able to catch him. That's what he's here to do. Davian, thanks for the time, man. Yes, sir.

Appreciate y'all. Davian Williamson joining us here on set. Get their mics turned down. They're just staring at each other right now. Darren Botts getting back in here. Yeah, I still think they're on the Alondis Williams Armando Bacot debate from Armando and we need to get to the bottom of that with him to see if we can get a new version of that drop.

Figure that piece out. You going to come back on? Dot's giving me the single finger, so well, we'll let them handle that debate. Darren Botts now sitting in with us as he's been here as our onsite engineer slash producer. Before we get to the big four, the big conversation here at ACC tip off today has been some iteration of NCAA tournament expansion. The triad's favorite person, Jim Phillips, spoke earlier today about the idea of NCAA tournament expansion, and he's for it. Let's hear from Jim Phillips.

Logistics, first of all, right? And how does it affect the regular season? How does it affect your conference play?

Maybe at a weekend, maybe there's first round buys for teams that are ranked at a certain level or seeded at a certain level. So it's a Rubik's Cube times two, but the ability to increase a championship can happen. You hear that, Darren?

A Rubik's Cube times two. I don't even know what that means. You hear your head explode. That's big time. Dot's finally done debating Davian Williamson about player of the year from last year has returned to our set.

He's biased. You know we're doing a radio show here. Well, I mean, there's a lot going on, man.

You're just debating things with Davian. Like, there's just a lot going on, man. Like, I'm seeing people that I know and stuff, and then, like, you should see Wes Durham.

We're going to talk to Wes Durham later. He's giving me hell out here, just because I made a simple slip up earlier. Like, I can't win around here, man. Like, I'm being flipped up. I mean, I...

Okay, you know what? I'm going to text Wes. We're going to get Wes on the show later. Oh, my God. We will figure out a way to make that happen. Thanks.

That should be fine. B Dot, I think just... I'm debating what the best content is from ACC Tip-Off today.

Is it having John Shire, Kevin Keats, Armando Bacott, Hubert Davis, Tony Bennett, Wes Durham? Is it having those guys, or is it just having B Dot be B Dot for the last five to six hours? Dude, just put her camera on. Why not both? Yeah. Keep them here and bring the people around as they come through? Why not?

It is amazing. I don't know if the Kelsey Riggs, Luke Hancocks of the world... I would like to think they'd drop by and still say hello if Dot wasn't sitting here. Not a chance. No, you know, we know.

We have... They wouldn't interrupt your show. Because I had to stop Kelsey and start a conversation, she would have just kept walking just because that's the professional thing to do. Yeah, she was going back to set.

Her producer came and was pulling her away. Yeah, the producers are grilling me right now. But even though I'm professional... Thank you.

Kelsey Riggs is there right there. Thank you. Even though I'm professional, there's still a bit of inexperience and just a bit of fandom in me that just sometimes exudes through, so whatever.

Getting back to the NCAA tournaments expansion. You're really upset about this? I am. I have this feeling about Jim Phillips.

And this is... I'm not alone in this sentiment. This is a sentiment I felt in the basketball community of the ACC. When Jim Phillips speaks, football coaches feel like that he's speaking for them. Like, speaking out against expansion to the playoff, he is representing the views of his constituents. He views his constituents as being the football coaches. However, basketball coaches do not feel that way about what Jim Phillips says publicly.

They do not feel that way. And I know that that is the case among a handful of coaches. Because I guarantee you the majority of these ACC coaches would not prefer expansion of the NCAA tournament. Those who are within the sport would not support messing with what is a great thing. And we're from an area, we're talking to an area, we do radio in an area every day that is the number one market in the country for NASCAR. And if you understand NASCAR just a little bit, you know that that sport was once huge for decades.

And the folks in the sport took it for granted. Took areas like North Wilkesboro for granted. And what place am I forgetting about W.D. that Ryan McGee's from that name slips me right now? Curtisville.

Starts with an R? Not that place. Not Curtisville. I was actually asking you, I was asking sincerely, like where they used to have races. Oh, you're thinking about Rockingham.

Yes, Rockingham. When they left those types of tracks to go to like Texas and Kansas and God knows where else. Right. They abandoned their core fans. Will it ever get to the point if on a piece of paper you look at a March Madness bracket and with 96 teams, there isn't enough room to fill it out because you're chasing money so much.

Will it turn off the casual viewer? We're back at ACC tip off Uptown Charlotte in 15 minutes. We are going to visit with Tony Bennett. He's going to drop by West Durham.

B dot on site with us. You'll appreciate this. Got to thank the kind folks who got us here.

Yeah, I want to go to Maynard and Associates Wealth Management. Shout out to David Maynard and Elizabeth Swanson. Thanks, David.

Thanks, Elizabeth. And also Greensboro in Winston-Salem. They have that new re grand opening in Winston-Salem. The Thruway Shopping Center, which is always a busy spot. That's your neighborhood sneaker store. And you can make a sports in the Triad West speaking of re grand openings, re grand opening, regan grand closing. Feels right with Matt Rule quoting Jay-Z lyrics.

Maybe not lyrics. I hope it beat that thing to death. Yeah. See, we're in Uptown Charlotte in two blocks over.

There's a lot of stuff going on. There's just scored again. They did. So the Cardinals the week before. See you cats in three weeks on Thursday night with Marcus Mariota. Oh, joy. And the birds. Can you tell Kyle Pitts to suit up?

He's killing my fantasy football team. Oh, really, now it's about me and not we. Okay, this is what we need to do. Okay, you want me to tell the story from earlier first?

No. We need to tell this story. I thought we were taking that to the grave.

Okay, West Durham. Hard to do when you did it in front of 100 people. I'll let you set the stage for what B Dot did earlier. All right, here at the Fabulous West in Uptown Charlotte where we're staging the ACC tip-off presented in part by the Atlantic Coast Conference Television Network, an ESPN subsidiary. They have these fabulous escalators, and some of the participants come riding the escalator up, and when they come up the escalator, it brings them into the middle of the promenade area, Josh.

What's that P word you just said? Promenade. Were there a bunch of radios set up? There are a bunch of radios. There's television. The ACC network, television, a lot of dignitaries and celebraties are standing here, right? Yeah. So as you come up the escalator, everybody looks around and so forth. Well, earlier today, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill contingent arrived, headed by Armando Bacon, Caleb Love, R.J. Davis, and head basketball coach Hubert Davis. HD was there.

And as they got up the escalator, all of a sudden in the room, we started hearing this. Yeah. Yeah. There they are. There they are.

Who's doing that? You were. Well, I get excited. Brian. I get excited. He used your government name. B Dot became legal, Brian.

I look over there, I'm like, really? What does it say on your credential, by the way? Brian McLaughlin. What you told them to say, Brian McLaughlin.

Government name. You always do that. I actually wrote B Dot this time around. They're not putting that on there.

They should. I wrote that. I wrote that. B Dot is a trademark name. B Dot is a real name, not just a moniker. I wrote that on the actual request.

They wrote your government name this time. I don't believe it. It's a wonder, though, when they came up the escalator, you didn't hug them as they reached the top of the escalator. Couldn't get there.

That would have been a bit much, I think. Well, it's only because I couldn't get there. That's it, yeah. Yeah, I was actually about to do an interview with Josh here, but I was- And I'm looking at people around the room and B Dot's like, whoa, yeah, let's go.

Here they are. And I'm thinking, I'm looking at people going, what in the world? Who's the new weird guy?

Who is that guy? Yes. What did you make of the commissioner's comments about the ACC or the NCAA men's and women's basketball championship? Oh, the expansion thing? Yes. That part in particular? Mm-hmm.

Look, I get it. If we're going to look at all of it, we ought to look at all of it. I don't think it's necessary.

I think what we're doing is we're just bringing more participation ribbons to the table. But anytime commissioners bring up stuff like that and they're willing to go there and say, oh, we're just looking, usually that's not what it means. No, no.

Like when they say, we're just going to look at you. I disagree. I disagree. No, no, no. We're just going to look.

We've already looked, too. Two separate levels. Understand. Okay.

First of all, when they're looking at this, they're looking at the National Collegiate Athletic Association's biggest money maker. Mm-hmm. Okay. So we have to recognize that. We also have to recognize that there is a, what, 600 and some million dollar contract that's tied to that event, right? Yes. With the CBS and Turner. Okay.

That goes through 2030. Right. ESPN also facilitates their renegotiating at some point the women's event.

So we understand the equality of the events. That's fine. We're getting to that.

I think the women are doing the double regionals this year, which is going to be interesting to see, where you don't have four regional sites, you only have two, right? You guys are aware of that, correct? Yes.

Okay. So I think you have to look at the event. Now, in terms of the number of teams, there's really only one way to go, and that's the 96.

You're going to go from 68, you're going to go to 96. You can't fit that on a piece of paper. Well, it doesn't matter. Your office pool is not their problem. Well, it is their problem until when people stop engaging in it. I don't disagree with that. Okay. I don't disagree with that either. And we can have a similar conversation to the college football playoff expansion.

I could fit 12 on a piece of paper. That's fine. I mean, but we're not doing it for that. We're doing it for the revenue. Sure. And that's why.

Part of it, though, I'm with Josh, though, Wes, and the idea that that part of it is what generates so much money. There's no question. You got people that don't give a dang about the tournament for Play-Dohs.

I'm going to watch Ohio play Virginia because I've got the 14-3 upset. Okay. But, B-Dot, to your point, I think the fan experience is going to factor once they get to the table, but they have to do some due diligence on it. The problem is, I think, is they do the due diligence. They're going to find that America is so disconnected from basketball that they need to keep the framework of the event as the framework is. And that's the part where if you expand this thing further, you make a product that's already hurting, and I'm talking about regular season basketball. Correct. Irrelevant in regular season. Even less meaningful.

That's right. Basketball has to be very pragmatic about what it's doing and very careful. Remember now, we've now, in the big sports calendar, we've pushed the Super Bowl back a week. I think you and I had this discussion last year. When you push the Super Bowl back a week, does that postpone America's engagement with college basketball one week? I could argue it does. Right. I would agree with that. Most of America does not engage in college basketball until after the Super Bowl. I agree.

The rest of America only engages for three and a half weeks. Right. And that's the national tournament.

Okay. So we have to be careful. Are we, by expanding the tournament, are we endangering the regular season?

Well, the regular season's flipping all blown apart at the seams anyway with made-for-television events, MTEs, those kind of things, right? So we just have to be careful how all that sets up. I think long-term here, we have to keep an eye on what is good for the game of college basketball. But right now, it's the NCAA's warehouse for its revenues. Right. And that's where this is reached. I wanted to get your thoughts on this while I got you.

Okay. Wes Durham's here. We're in Uptown Charlotte. ACC Tip-Off.

B-Dot on side two. So a couple days ago. I think he's more than just on site. He's an active member of the media here today. He is.

Thank you. Apparently a very vocal member of the media at times. Very vocal. And a bit inexperienced. That's what he is.

A couple blocks away, news was made at Uptown at Bank of America Stadium. Matt Rule was fired. You cried. You wept. I wept? Yes, you wept. I'm sure you did. You've been the biggest member of the defender for three years. See, that's not necessarily true.

Wow. I just don't think he should have been fired after two. Look at some of the shunning attitudes this has been.

So when that statement was uttered, look at some of the attitudes that were approached on that. I just don't think he should have been fired after year two. I still stand by that. You think he should have been? Should not have been. Oh.

Should not have been. In terms of, you're sending messages to whoever you're going to hire next. So you waited five games into year three to fire him and you felt like he shouldn't have been fired after year two? I agree.

Okay, so he was fired at two and a third years? Yes. Right. Okay, good. Just checking. Okay.

I love it. So when you think about why it didn't work, there are people that put, because sometimes we get lazy with simplicity, we put Matt Rule into the same box as Petrino and Lou Holtz and Urban Meyer because they're college coaches that, air quote, didn't work. When you look at why it didn't work for Matt Rule, is it anything to do with something he did in college not working in the pros? No. Or is it more about the quarterback?

I'll ask you this. How many games did his best player play again? Well, he missed. In two years and a third. Right. Yeah, he played 10 games in two years, the first two years. He played the first few this year. Wow.

Not great. 15 games in three years. So that's 34 plus five is 42. Mm-hmm.

And he basically played less than half. Is that about right? Yeah. Okay. Sorry. I got it figured out. And then quarterback.

It's, you didn't get it right. Oh, but why didn't you draft somebody? Who would you have drafted? I mean, Justin Herbert was taking a pick before Derrick Brown was.

And the year later, you talk about, okay, you should have taken Fields or Mac Jones. Are we having a different conversation in year two of those two quarterbacks? I don't know. I mean. I don't know.

I mean, Stafford, it didn't work out. Yeah. I mean, the reality of it is your best player didn't play, but less than half of your games, right? 20 some to 47 games, right? That's right. Roughly. So there. I mean.

Officially, he coached 38 and McCaffrey played in 15. So more than half. Wow. Wow. There it is. Okay.

23 of the games he did not play. Look, I can tell you that if. Look, I think Matt Ryan was the Falcons best player last five years he was there.

Okay. So if Matt Ryan did not play the last five, played less than half the games the last five years, they would have had coaching turnover. They'd had GM turnover.

They'd have had whatever. What I default to is, is Matt rule a worse coach than Cliff Kingsbury? Is Matt rule any worse of a coach than fill in the blank?

Zach Taylor at Cincinnati. But see the landscapes of the landscapes of the league are all secular. Okay. Every every job is different. There are 32 of them.

They're all different in some way, shape or form. Right. Because you get, you start with a different deck of cards than the next guy. You know, Matt rule and you know, however, the Scott fritter are starting with a different deck of cards than Terry Fano and Arthur Smith and Atlanta, or Mike McDaniel.

And you know, whatever conglomerate is in Miami at this point, or, you know, Jacksonville and the situation there, right. With Doug Peterson and Trent bulky, they're starting with different decks of cards. What you have to do is you have to be able to exchange the cards and be productive with the hand that you've been dealt.

That's hard to do. So I'm standing just keeping the conversation with the Panthers because he's a cowboy fan and it's what you mean? We're straight. It's a little obnoxious. We're straight. I just don't want it.

What the problem is. I said till the next injury or the next game against Philly. Don't speak that on us. And listen, I'm not worried about Philly. Okay. Philly undefeated in the conference, but we are straight. We are correct.

Clicking on all. I'm going to be honest with you. Look, let me just offer this to the only redeeming quality of any Dallas Cowboy game right now is Jerry Jones postgame. Yeah. It's the best part of the whole deal. And Brad Shams, a friend of mine, and I tell Brad all the time, best thing about your games is when the owner slash GM slash lead singer and driver of the Winnebago grabs a microphone. Oh yeah.

I remember. It's not even close. West has to go.

B dot also has to go. Hey, good job with live action the other night. Thank you, WD. Yeah, man. It's a catch phrase now.

That's a, that is a live action. TM. See you for Gardner Webb. Absolutely. I'll be there for Gardner Webb. All right. See you both.