The Sugar (11-9-22)

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, would you schedule 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 sails. It's time for The Drive with Josh Graham. You were on a Wednesday drive, WSJS, News Talk Sports for The Triad. Well, we're looking ahead to a game in Winston-Salem this Saturday that is to be savored. Because especially when you're a sappy person like me, it's usually wise to take a step back and appreciate special moments as they're happening.

In fact, the part of my wedding ceremony earlier this year that I appreciated the most was when our pastor invited my bride and I at the end of the ceremony to take 10 to 15 seconds and look out at the entire gallery. All the people, your friends, your family that got you there and soak it in. That's something that's going to stick with me as long as I'm on this earth. And if you're a Wake Forest or a North Carolina football fan, you should take a special moment on Saturday to appreciate how good you got it. Just having this type of game, this high quality game at Truist Field.

Think about it. These might be the two greatest quarterbacks in the school's histories going head to head at the same time. For Wake Forest, there's no doubt. Sam Hartman. He's the greatest Wake quarterback.

Sorry, Riley Skinner. For Carolina, it's an interesting answer, but Drake May has the potential to be the number one pick. Oh, Josh Mitchell-Tribisky with number two. I was more on skill set.

It wasn't achievement. No one ever thought Mitchell-Tribisky was the best quarterback in college football when he played. They just like the skill set, a la Will Levis at Kentucky. Oh, Josh, but Sam Howe put up all these numbers, too. Drake May looks the part more than Sam Howe, and Drake May is on pace to break all of Sam Howe's single season passing records this year. So what we're seeing is Sam Hartman, the elder statesman at quarterback in the ACC, the greatest Wake quarterback of all time, facing the freshman at North Carolina who's blossoming into a star and right now could be a Heisman candidate. Here was Dave Claussen talking about that matchup yesterday. Yeah, I mean, you could certainly make an argument that these are the best two quarterbacks in the ACC. And there's other good quarterbacks people could argue other ways. But, you know, Sam's overall body of work and what May has done this year is incredible, especially for a redshirt freshman.

And he doesn't make a lot of mistakes. Dave Claussen going to be our guest at three thirty this afternoon. So in about twenty, twenty five minutes from now, make sure you're here to listen to the Wake Forest coach on WSJS. And while we're talking about the coaches, they're part of this story, too. Dave Claussen's the greatest Wake Forest football coach ever.

Sorry, P-Head Walker. Sorry, Jim Grove. No Wake coach has been as consistently excellent as Claussen's been. Back to back years in the top ten. Seemingly every year ranked in the top twenty five. The consistency is what elevates him over Jim Grove and P-Head Walker never coached in the ACC. So I don't think we're comparing apples to oranges there. Would anybody argue Mac Brown's not the greatest North Carolina football coach? Of course he is.

The first era of football, the relevance he's brought back in his second tour of duty. Think about this. Mac Brown and Nick Saban are the two active FBS coaches who are seventy one years old. Why am I telling you that? Well, with the scheduling format changing next year, this will be the last time North Carolina plays Wake Forest until 2025. Are you sure that Mac Brown's going to still be coaching at seventy four years old three years from now?

Well, I'm not. So this might be the last time you see Mac Brown coaching in Winston-Salem, a Hall of Fame coach. Dave Claussen, the greatest Wake coach coaching against the greatest North Carolina coach in Mac Brown, while Drake May is going head to head with Sam Hartman. It's special.

You don't often realize it in the moment until you look at it reflectively and think, goodness. The way I looked at the final four earlier this year, it wasn't just Coach K's last year. It wasn't just Coach K's last game against Carolina. Wait a minute. Jay Wright. He retired, too. That was the last we're going to see Jay Wright at Villanova.

Sometimes you don't realize how big things are until you look at it reflectively. And with this matchup, there's a lot of special there and it's shaping up to be a really good game on the field. This is the fourth consecutive year North Carolina's played Wake Forest, which means these players are familiar with each other in a way they haven't been in a long time. The last time Wake Forest has played North Carolina four consecutive years, it was the old ACC before Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech were added 20 years ago. It's been a long time since that was the case.

So they know each other and they're giving us great games. Wake Forest took a big lead early the last time they were in Winston in 2019. By the way, that was the first week I started dating my now wife. One of our first dates we went on was that game, but it came down to the final play. Wake Forest was up 21-0.

Here comes Sam Howe in North Carolina. It came down to the last play. And then the last two meetings, North Carolina got Wake, including upsetting Wake Forest when they were ranked 10th in the country.

Over 110 points were scored in each of those games. So what does Saturday have in store for us? I can't wait to find out in primetime Saturday night because North Carolina, they might be the only ranked team out of the two and North Carolina has all this to play for. Those folks in Vegas know something, though, and Wake is still favored in the game as of right now. Keep note of that on Twitter at WSJS radio if you want in.

Will Dalton is the executive producer of this show taking your calls at 336-777-1600. W.D., your Carolina Panthers are going to be in action tomorrow. You've seen these black lids.

They look nice. It's going to look cool when the Falcons are in town. Even at the risk of falling into the primetime trap, the primetime trap being you just grade those games a lot differently than you would the others, the ones that are played at one o'clock, they count the same. But in primetime, when everybody's watching, when you win, oh, it's awesome and it means a lot more than when you win on Sundays. And if you lose, it's just all the more terrible. This does seem like the most important game the Panthers have had since Matt Ruhle was fired. Now, why is that? Well, it's a crossroads game, which will likely set the tone one way or another for the rest of this season.

This is what I mean. If they win the game, Houston not going to win two more games the rest of the way. Carolina is not going to have the number one pick.

If they win this game, the number one pick is not in the cards. And Carolina is thinking they still have a shot in the NFC South. Right now, Tampa Bay is leading that division with four wins. If Carolina has three with wins against Atlanta, Tampa, and New Orleans, they feel like they have a shot. When they look at their schedule, what they will see is they've still got Denver at home, Pittsburgh at home, Detroit at home. And we're not that scared of going to Tampa and New Orleans since we've already beaten those teams. Carolina will feel like they have a shot.

You're not going to be in the mix for probably even the top three pick. But if they lose, it all starts to come apart. They would be two and eight on the season. And probably a team not going to win more than two games, two more games the rest of the way. They'd be all set to have a top three pick. Motivation is going to get worse as the season goes on when you're no longer playing for something.

I could see it all falling apart after tomorrow if Carolina doesn't win. And that is pretty monumental on its own right. But when you look specifically for what it means for P.J. Walker and Steve Wilks, it's even more significant. If P.J. wins, he'll keep starting. If he loses, Sam Darnold's pretty close to coming back.

And unlike Baker Mayfield, he hasn't gotten his shot yet this year. It's probably going to be Sam Darnold moving forward. If Wilks can win this game, a lot of consideration for him getting the job, having the interim tag removed off of him, and maybe continuing to be the coach. If he doesn't, you're probably looking at three, four wins in 12, 13 games as coach. David Tepper's not going to pull the trigger on that guy being the full-time coach moving forward.

Prime time magnifies everything. And tomorrow night, that game is going to set the tone for the rest of the Carolina Panthers season. Ladies in the house tonight, if you're ready. B-Dot, six man of Carolina basketball.

Redman Studio with us. And it just feels like the right time. It's hump day. You want to get through the middle of the week. It's the day after the election. So there are some that don't feel so great today that could use some positivity. And fortunately, we have the perfect thing for that, which is weekly positivity. Welcome to my world. W-D is going to watch Silence of the Lambs for the first time tonight.

When you said Clarice, there was only one Clarice in movie cinematic history. So I assumed it was that. So W-D is going to watch that tonight and will tell us what he thinks on tomorrow's show. But if you want to call in and tell us something good, 336-777-1600 or on Twitter at WSJS radio, tell us something good. Well, tonight I'll be going to check out the Carolina women's basketball team. Yeah.

And you know, usually they're ranked. Oh, yeah. But usually I sit right behind the bench. Well, tonight Coach Bangheart has me floor seats. And that's good.

Yeah, it is good. I'm going to have my feet on the wood. Let's see what Queen Deja does tonight.

Queen Kelly. Get a ball out. Buckets. That's good. I bought a new car today.

What did you buy, Josh Grimm? Is that why you have on a button up shirt? That's part of the reason. That's strange. It's also at some point this week, she's going to get mad at me for bringing this up. Sarah Bradford's birthday. Today? It's not today.

Happy birthday, Sarah Bradford. It's not today. Today's your birthday. It's not today.

Happy, happy birthday. It's not today. That's good. But we are celebrating it. That's better than good.

We're not. We're just celebrating it tonight. I won't say which day it is because she'll get really mad. Is it?

Can we have some cake? Is it Friday? It can't be Friday because you just go to dinner on Friday.

Maybe it's tomorrow. Oh, no. Happy birthday tomorrow, Sarah Bradford. Yeah. Happy, happy birthday.

I didn't know November 10th was your birthday. That's really good at this. I bought a new car, though. Oh, yeah. And it's a hybrid. Is it?

It's a 2023. Hybrid? Does that mean it cuts off at the light?

No. What does a hybrid mean? It means I get like 50 miles to the gallon, and it looks great. What kind of a vehicle is it?

Are you going to share? It's a Toyota Camry. It's a very dependable car. Very.

2023? It's good. That's good. It is.

Wow. What color? Black? Silver. It's black, but I'll take silver. It's a dark gray.

We live in the south, where there's a ton of stuff that come from the sky, like pollen and stuff, that make it difficult to have a black car. Oh. You understand that.

Nice word selection there, Josh Graham. I love this segment. Me too. It makes me feel good.

It does. It makes me feel good every time. W.D., tell me something. Good? I'm just in a good mood today. I feel great. Why? Why, W.D.? I don't know.

I'm full of gratitude. He's so happy about the political results last night. Are you? I was on Triad Today this morning, talking about some of the election results. What time did you wake up? Oh, about 6.30.

Wow, that's not good. It's not, but I feel great. I'm full of energy. How much caffeine have you drank today?

Too much. You know the guy that does the touch screen board on election night? Yeah. Steve Kornacki. Jeffrey compared me to that guy. You don't look like him at all. No, but I was him today.

But he's all doped up on caffeine. Wow. W.D. had one job at the Carolina basketball game on Monday. And apparently I didn't even know it. He had to get Armando Bacot to the bottom. He had to get to the bottom of that. I asked him about Seth Tremble. You should have asked him about that drop.

Yeah, I didn't even think about it. We will get it from him. And then I sold Dot right after that.

Or he'll pay me a substantial sum. It was such a great embrace because I wasn't expecting to see you, W.D. I made it happen. Oh, and I just hugged my brother and it was great.

That was good. Yeah, it is. Where were you, Joshua?

I was in Durham. That wasn't good. Yeah. John Shires. So what?

Dave Young. So what? Just had to be there for it.

It was historical. Don't end it on a downer, Josh. Taller. Heels. And that's been Weekly Positivity. Why doesn't anybody ever call up and participate? No, they do. Every other time.

Usually Kyle, the Amazon driver, he gets in on it. Not today. He's telling us something good.

Angela has called in a few times wanting in on Weekly Positivity. It's not just a polarizing country we lived in. Polarize.

It is a polarizing segment. You'd be amazed. When I walk around and people say they listen to the show, more than 50% of the time they bring up Weekly Positivity. More than 50.

More than 50. That's cap. You think it's hot takes or it's something sports related they want to talk about? No, it's either I like everything you do but Weekly Positivity or my favorite segment is Weekly Positivity. Yeah. That's not cap. That's cap. Oh, I'm telling you. There's more than 50%. That's cap. No, I'm telling you. That's big cap.

Unless you just talk to like three people. So two out of that if there were three? Yeah. Let's hear from Mack Brown. Coach.

He's getting ready for Wake Forest on Saturday. Big dogs. We learned something about Mack Brown yesterday. I just didn't know where he was talking about having enemies.

Big enemies. And the way he's plugged in in the coaching community. You've been in it as long as he has. He's coached. You know, he knows everybody in coaching and he was in ESPN too. So he says he gets he's been a lot of people have reached out to him talking about Drake May and he's had he appreciates a simple way to communicate back.

Here's Mack. I can't not answer a text. I just thank God for emojis.

I can't do thumbs up because that was an Aggie thing when I was at Texas. So it's usually the hands and the heart and the hands. So that's that's and I've said with a blue heart. It's okay.

You can send that to anybody. Red heart. You have to be careful. So I'm learning. He's doing the hands, the hands, the praying hands, and he's doing blue hearts, not red heart.

That's a totally different implication. That's right. Yeah. So he's figuring out the emoji game.

Hey, but be careful, coach, because blue heart, sometimes it can mean Crip. Who's going to explain to him that? I think that's what you're here for. Yeah, exactly. Explain that to be that you might be the person who has to explain what the eggplant means to no way. Not going to do the peach. I could teach him peach, but eggplant, I'm just I'm just stay away from that.

There's never a reason to use the eggplant emoji, even if you're about to eat eggplant. Yeah. So be vigilant. Spell it out. Be vigilant, coach. Yeah.

Be careful. Gosh, emojis do have a little double entendre meeting. How often do you use emojis? Oh, every text. Every text? Every single text just about. You and I texted for about 30 minutes last night. I didn't use any emojis.

Let me see. That's because you had me hot. You was out there talking stupid. What did he say? Oh, man. He's talking stupid. Hold on. Let me go.

Virginia didn't do bleep last year. Yo, cuz, man. OK, we could get to that later. But what I say how and then what I got right beside it.

Three what? Laughing emojis. OK, I do use the laughing emoji quite a bit, but that's pretty much it. The text before that.

I told you, I just don't see it. I put a shrug. When Sarah Bradford and I text each other, we use emojis. But other than the laughing emoji, I don't really use any emojis with anybody else. Oh, no. Rolling your eyes emoji, side eye emoji, just the eyes emoji, fire emoji, exclamation point emoji, sad eyes crying emoji, hysterical laughter emoji.

What was slipping to the side? New emoji. They just added.

I'm an emoji fiend. Real quick. What was your favorite story from Monday?

What do you mean? From the game? Yeah, either on the court or off of it.

Anything cool happen? I really like I'm just going to echo what coach and a lot of the players are saying. The students like they brought it. Yeah. Usually people think that that Carolina students every game fill out their allotment the past few years before this season, even at points like other than the Duke game, they don't they usually give tickets back because of how big the student section is. Yeah, it's like 4000 seats. It's pretty big that they filled that section. It was huge. I was there before.

Like people got there to the point where Armando looked at me while he was warming up like do you see this? It is crazy in here. So big shout out to the students. You've played a role in that, too.

That's pretty cool. Dots hanging out with us has it already been an hour? I know, right? Yeah, I'm telling you, man. It'd be like daylight savings time when I come in here.

Crazy. This is the worst daylight savings of the year, the one where it gets super dark outside now 530 hate that dots hanging out before we get to grammar school. You have one or two up. You have you get to choose one of two things to talk about here before we get into grammar school. You can either tell a story involving a couple of Carolina basketball hoopers that you were telling me earlier, or you can tell the audience about the conversation.

We just had off air a minute before the microphones turned on. I think I'm going to do the ladder just because I want the audience to know how out of the loop you are. And then I'll save the other story for another day. OK. Because I'm sensitive in the idea that Black Panther drops tomorrow.

It does. Yeah. And Josh had no clue. I said, are you going to see Black Panther? He's like, what? What they're doing? They're doing another without a without Chad McBodin is is Michael Jordan.

So let it is freaking idiot. I had the Google of Ryan Coogler was directing it is Wakanda forever. Wakanda forever drops tomorrow, man. Forty six million dollars already made off pre-sale tickets. My family, we can't go until Sunday at 11 a.m. before football, but we're going to make it. We love I love movies. I really do. Just not big into superhero movies. I bet you Josh Downs is going to go see it.

It's true. You like superhero movies? He's a massive Marvel movie fan.

We found that out yesterday. Wow. Yeah. Why don't you like superhero movies? Usually they're not very good movies. Well, Black Panther was amazing.

Trendsetting even. Oh, yeah. I watched the original one. It was one of the worst theater experiences I've ever had, because on one side of me, there was a lady who. Was sitting next to her boyfriend who wanted to narrate the entire movie, just add his captions to it. There's like the memorable scene. I know the movie's been out for a while, probably past the statute of limitations on spoiling the original Black Panther, but there's the scene where they they're looking at the light at the end and. He's just it's an emotional moment of the movie. It's like an emotional crescendo. And the guy two seats down from me says, oh, that's dope.

Thanks guy. And to my right, there was a lady who brought a blanket, a huge blanket into the movie theater with her and the entire OK, maybe not the entire movie, not exaggerating more than three quarters of the movie. She's on her phone. Talking, no, no, no, not talking. She's checking her Twitter's and stuff like that. Right to my immediate right on her phone. Not a joke.

Three quarters of the movie. Did she at least have the brightness turned all the way down? Nope.

Because you got to do that. Wow. Brightness. She was not on dark mode. Oh, that's tough.

That's like a spotlight in there. That's rude. I felt bad for not saying something.

Movie. Yeah, I should have said something. Definitely should have said something. I should have said in that spot, hey, take your phone away. Now, usually if you're talking, I could tell you to shut up and I should have told the other guy to shut up.

But I didn't. If he was sitting right next to me, I would have two seats down. He's with this girl.

She feels embarrassed. But he talking like I even do that sometimes, like if something's happening, I'm like, like when. Yeah, don't do that.

Well, not like what? Who died? Chadwick. No, no, no, no. Not Black Panther.

And dang it. How am I? Why am I having Michael B. Jordan? No. Tony Stark.

So when I'm sitting there. Yeah, Iron Man. Spoiler alert. No, it wasn't. When that happened, I'm sitting there like, wow. Yeah.

Like I had a verbal outburst of sadness. You get maybe one or two of those a movie. If you have more than a dozen, then you're the bleep hole.

All right. I know we got to get into the game, but I really need more clarity on what you're saying. I'm saying this person is saying things out loud more than a dozen times in this movie. You do react to parts in the movie. I'm telling you, if you do that, you're wrong and you're a bleep hole.

I would like to think that I have very, very, very good movie theater standards or ethics or whatever the word I'm looking for. Narrator voice. He doesn't. Now, let's get into grammar school. Josh wears his shoes in the hotel room. Josh Graham has his own way of speaking. What? 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, my English teacher wanted to flunk me in junior high.

That's a lie. Next semester, I'll be 35. Josh is going to attempt to learn B Dot's vernacular. I'm from the old school. I got a street knowledge. You know what I mean? You know what I'm saying?

It's time for B Dot's grammar school. What were you saying there about me? That you go to hotel rooms and sit in the bed with your shoes on, dirty shoes, the bottom soles of your shoes on the freaking blanket. No regrets. Brought to you by Heritage Hardwood Floors.

And he walks around in his underwear and digs in his butt and then asks you for some of your candy. That's not true. It's a fact.

I got pictures. Oh, no. Oh, no. He made that part up.

Okay. Nevertheless, Superior Craftsmanship, man. I'm talking about Superior Craftsmanship. If you don't believe it, go over to Winston-Salem State University and look at the new basketball floor in the CE Gain Center. It was done by Heritage Hardwood Floors, and it looks amazing. Big shout out to Jesse and Catherine.

Appreciate y'all for what y'all did over there. And they can do it for you. Their tagline says it all. When it comes to flooring, they have no ceiling. We should do this bed. We should do this with the no ceilings bed. You made that Lil Wayne no ceilings? It's off the chain. Yeah, it is. If you need more information, go to HeritageHardwoodFloors.ws. Okay.

I have my caustic question to get things started before you give me your words. Let's go. I saw you tweeting about Duke on Monday, and you were tweeting about one Kyle Filipowski. It was his birthday. He's one of the Duke freshmen.

It's a white guy who can stroke it. Whoa. Whoa. Spell Filipowski.

All right. First off, tell me what the name Kyle Filipowski reminded you of. Oh, Saved by the Bell character. Yeah, like a full Saved by the Bell character. The guy, he's like cousins with Kelly Kapowski, because they got the same ouski name.

He's cousins, but not from the same exact last name. I don't know how that really works, but he comes there and nobody likes him because he's like this stuck up guy. Then he has to fight Zack Morris because he kisses Lisa Turtle and Screech is all upset about it. Then AC Slater's like, yo, I would do something, but I don't want to mess up my athletic scholarship. Zack's like, well, I'll do something. The crowd goes, oh. And then Zack punches him and then Kelly's like, no, Zack, no, this is my family.

And then she's got to like to make a dramatic choice. So the dramatic choice is they send Filipowski back to wherever he's from. How do you spell Filipowski?

Do I get any points for that great story I just gave you though? Yeah. OK. Filipowski. F I L I P O W S K I.

That is correct. Pee me up. Kyle Filipowski. Pee me up.

That's impressive. Nailed it. He nailed it. And he wasn't cheating.

No. He doesn't have anything else. He got that. That was all off the chain. It's usually not a good sign when Doc gets one right for my chances here.

Let's get things started. That part. You want me to give you the context of people using that part? That part means.

It's synonymous with not the synonym preach as if to say like exclamation point or you're saying that's true. That part. That's true. Oh, that part. See, like if somebody was listening to you go off about Carolina in the last segment and I said, well, UNCW out rebounded Carolina 37-32. That part would be ABC crowd talking about it, right? I definitely don't want to give you a point because I don't like your stupid, stupid. What is that?

Example? Yeah, that was horrible, but that's correct. That is how you use that part. Just basically means I agree. I agree.

I have said all of that just to say it means I agree. That part. I can gas bag sometimes. What's number two? What's the sugar? Booger sugar? Not the booger sugar. I would have said booger sugar. The sugar. The V important.

The V is mandatory. The sugar. Yeah, because you don't want to get the sugar.

336-777-1600. Now, this right here is very, very, very, I guess, selective to the black demographic. I don't think I've ever heard white people refer to it as the sugar.

So this is going to be one of those ones where you probably will need some assistance. But you could probably like if I ever- Oh, you mean W.D. didn't give you the sugar?

No, W.D. didn't give me the sugar. But if you ever came to like, for like Thanksgiving, we might be down in Augusta, Georgia with my family for Thanksgiving. And like when my aunts and granny and all them get together, you would definitely hear somebody say the sugar. It ain't no doubt about it. You're going to hear the sugar.

Oh, somebody's calling to help? I take it it's not brown sugar. It's definitely not brown sugar, which was a great movie, a great album, and it's great to add to your grits and to your oatmeal. Yeah.

Thanksgiving. Sure people use brown sugar? Yeah.

I just thought about that. Brown sugar is a movie. And do you know who did the album, Josh? No.

For brown sugar? Who? D'Angelo.

Interesting. Are you familiar with D'Angelo? Yeah.

He's- Brown sugar bae. He's the naked man. Yeah, he's the naked man. Yeah. Let's see what Stephen- Fire points there? Yeah.

Thank you. Give him naked points. Let's see what Stephen and Greensboro think. Hey, Steve. No. Steve played us.

Now I feel like the naked man. Thaggy did you, Greens. Steve was going to help you too. Steve from Winston definitely knows what the sugar is. You just hope you don't have a family member with the sugar.

I'm going to take a guess. All right. The sugar is that, now WD is telling me that we might have another caller on the line while also keeping his mic on.

Just know that T-H-E ends the sugar is very important. Oh, it's spelled T-H-E? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. This is the sugar now. Everything is spelled exactly right. Just making sure that we got things.

Is he back? No, this is Artie. Why are all these people trying to help you? Artie, what's the sugar? I am not 100% on this, but I'm pretty sure, I'm pretty sure it's referring to money because back after, during slavery, sugar equated to plantations, which meant the men had money.

So having the sugar meant they had money. Got you. Okay. Thank you, Artie. It sounds like Artie's white. Does.

Take that with a grain of salt. I'm going to ask Artie if he was white. Yeah. Speaking of Artie's answer, I would just like to say- Do I get a second opinion on this potentially? Yes. I would just like to say that I don't, I didn't know, maybe you didn't either. I just left a meeting, Josh, where I just signed for a second season that will be dropping in February. Oh.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that was what Artie's answer about talking about slavery and sugar and all of that. Are you going to go with Artie or no?

I want a second opinion. Let's check out David and Greensboro. What do you think? David. Okay. Okay, David.

What is the sugar? Okay. David. I'm going to go with David because I don't think David is white. What the hell does that mean? David, are you black or white?

God, he's gone. Wait, so your basis- You told me to base it that way. What?

You said, probably something that black folk know and white folks don't. That's what you said. All right, so what was his final answer?

What was your final answer? Diabetes. That's 100% correct. Yeah. Diabetes is the sugar, baby. Diabetes. You hear Granny talk about that all the time.

Yeah, baby. Granny got the sugar. She used to tell me that I was going to get sugar diabetus. See?

Because I always ate all the fudge at Christmas time. See? And see, black folk just said you got the sugar.

We need to introduce him to Wilford Brimley, diabetes. That was great. Big shout out to David. What's number three? Oh, you've already won.

You've done a great job today, Josh. Thank you. We both did. What does it mean?

What does this mean? I ate that. Ate that. Yeah. A-T-E-T-H-A-T. I'm just going to take a stab in the wind at this.

I'm going to say like punch it, like kick that, smoke that, beat that, all synonymous with it. Ate that. Hmm. Now, you know what? Ate that means currently that you're doing a great job.

But if somebody gets punched in the face and they take it and they say, I ate that, that's true too. That's what I'm talking about. Josh, I'm going to give you that point as well.

Thank you. You did it. You got everyone correct today, Josh Graham, even though ate that is what you actually did in this segment because you got all over it.

You ate that today. So you gave me the point there, right? I did. Can't get rid of the point.

I wrote the number eight down that. Take the point away. No. Buzzer. Take the point away. Too late. Take the point away. Perfect score.

We all did great. The number eight that. And that was brought to you by Heritage Hardwood Floors today. Just to set the record straight, David called back. He's actually a 58 year old white man. What up, David? White people.

So white folk use the sugar. Thank you, David. Thanks, David.

Man, I don't represent the race well sometimes. No, you don't. David does. Yes, he does. W.D. does.

Yes, he does. In this segment, we all learn and grow. That's what the show's about. We have areas where we need to learn and grow. And W.D. needs to watch movies.

B.D. needs to learn about White Mamba and Kyle Filipowski. Thanks. Although I can spell his name. Watch out, Kelly Kapowski. You know it.

And I need to learn urban vernacular. Thanks for being here, Dot. Thanks for having me. Even though college basketball is officially here when you get to talk to this guy. Prior to Monday night, where I was grabbing some Sour Patch Kids from the concession stand in the first half of Duke and Jacksonville, I had not seen Luke Hancock since we were together on Bourbon Street at the Final Four. So what a great occasion that was.

Luke, a part of the nothing but net crew that was going back and forth from Cameron to the Smith Center. So he's already had a chance to see up close the Blue Devils and the Tar Heels. Joining us now from the ACC Network, Luke, what first impression did you have seeing the Tar Heels and Duke up close that you are most convinced is a legit first impression that you believe is real?

Well, first impression seeing you is I was surprised that it was only Sour Patch Kids because when I hit the concession stand, it's popcorn, it's hot dogs, it's candy, it's all that good stuff. But it was a heck of a day for college basketball and for us to kick off with the three ACC teams that made the Final Four on the ACC Network. It was fantastic. A little Louisville love on the women's side and Duke and Carolina.

So a really fun opening day. First impressions from Cameron Indoor, it was great to see John Shire kind of walk out as the head coach at Duke for the first time, kind of starting that new era. And first thing that really, not necessarily took me by surprise, but I was really impressed with is Jeremy Roach. I thought he played like one of the best guards in the country.

He was steady. He had this competitive fire about him, this chip on his shoulder that I thought brought the rest of the team along. There are some other veterans on that team with transfers, but it's a lot of young guys. And as soon as they adopt the competitive mindset that Jeremy Roach approached that game right from the jump with, the lone starter returning from a Final Four run, that team is going to just continue to get better and better and better. He's a great leader for them. And I thought you could see the raw talent with so many of these guys, really impressed with Mark Mitchell, still, although he didn't shoot the ball well at all, Tyrese Proctor, the way he moves, the way he can kind of get around the court and get to certain spots was impressive. I thought Blake was really impressive. I mean, he looks like a totally different person, confident, ready for the physicality.

So I think they have a lot of bodies. The weakness right now is pretty obvious on the inside. Kripp and Mr. Young just weren't as physical as I think they needed to be. Jacksonville, a veteran team that came in second last year in their conference, was able to out-physical them for part of that game. Once they decided they weren't having any more of that, they looked better and better. But you see where Derek Lively is going to step in and really fill a void for them.

And then the next piece of that puzzle, you know, the number one player in the country is great. It's also nice when you back him up with the number two player in the country when Dereek Whitehead's back, what a great scoring punch and just versatile guard they'll have. Guard wing.

Yeah. Even when Duke gets Whitehead and Lively back, though, how convinced are you that Duke is still going to lean on the defensive end? Because it does seem like to me, watching it up close, that the bones, the skeleton is there with Mitchell and some of the physicality, that Duke is going to be defense first.

I think so. And I just think with that length and athleticism, you'd be kind of crazy not to. And versatility. You know, I look at Mark Mitchell and I see this just freak athlete, he's six foot eight, six foot nine, he's got long arms, he's quick off the floor, body's ready for college. I think about pairing him with a guy like Dereek Whitehead, whose athleticism will blow you away.

Now, he doesn't have the same body as Zion, but he's that kind of athlete. Then you think about, okay, if it's Jeremy Roach, the head of the snake with his competitive fire, maybe Proctor, maybe it's Dereek Whitehead, depending on how he wants to do it, a couple of those versatile wings. And then you just fill in whoever at the four spot, maybe slip, maybe you play a little small ball with a rim protector like Derek Lively.

I think you'd be crazy not to spend, I'd say 75% of your practice on defense because they can hang their hat there, talent and just how smooth and high level these guys are. I think the offensive end will almost take care of itself. He's on Twitter at LukeSkywalker11. It is Luke Hancock from the ACC Network joining us, flipping it to North Carolina. What do you think ultimately is going to be Hubert Davis's rotation? Will Puff Johnson, when Puff Johnson returns, will it be any more than eight guys?

That's a great question. I was impressed with his ability last year and making a tough call shortening that rotation. People talk about when Dawson Garcia left, but early on we were talking about what's Kerwin Walton going to mean to this team? How vital is a guy that can shoot the ball the way he can?

And he's a Texas Tech now and was, through much of last season, not there. So I think he is going to, through the year, continue to shorten their rotation, but he's got a lot of options, especially in the guard spots. I liked what I saw from Seth Trimble, another guy with elite, not good, not great, but elite athleticism.

He can grow into one of the best defenders in the country. DeMarco Dunne and Dontre Stiles can add a little bit of shooting out there, a little bit of ball handling. Even Tyler Nichol getting his few minutes of burn, he's a guy who's going to be out there hunting shots and can shoot it at a great clip. And I would think seven or eight is probably the most based on how last year went.

But they are certainly thin when you look at the front court. Right now it seems to me it's going to be Armando, Pete Nance playing 35 minutes a game and whoever they can spell for a minute. Maybe it's Leaky Black, maybe it's Tyler Nichol, but those guys are going to be in there sparingly and be moved around. DeMarco Dunne and Seth Trimble, the only two players aside from the starting five that played more than 10 minutes in the opening win against UNCW, Luke Hancock is with us here.

I picked Virginia. That was shocking too. Say it again? I don't mean to interrupt you, but I think that was pretty shocking because even during the game... Just like last year too. Same deal last year.

Yeah. It kind of blows my mind because Armando, he didn't look fully healthy almost. Like I know he's wearing the wrap on his leg and it's like, this is a guy who should be up for National Player of the Year contention and to think they're putting him out there not fully healthy against UNCW, I was a little shocked. Even Leaky Black during the game kind of tweaks his lower body, looked like an ankle and he comes back in the game and just doesn't look like he's running well, it looks like he's stepping gingerly. I was a little shocked that they didn't go a little deeper, a little longer into that bench to try and give those guys a little more of a rest. But that kind of seems like how Hubert Davis is going to do things for now.

Keep an eye on health on Friday. They got the Charleston and for Duke, Jon Shire said on Monday that Derek Lively likely will play on Friday making his debut, Dereek Whitehead still a week or two away. I picked Virginia in the pretty season to win the ACC. Got done watching their game and Miami's game last night because I feel those are the three best teams along with Duke, I guess the top four teams in the ACC and man, the three balls back in Charlottesville with them hitting 11 after being 247th in the nation, Miami, I knew they'd be small, but once I saw it up close, dear Lord, that's a small team. Hard to think that they're going to win the ACC with a lineup that small, but Nigel Pat can really shoot the basketball. I think Virginia is the greatest threat to North Carolina. What say you?

I would say yes. You know, they returned six guys that started at least 15 games last year. I know Tony Bennett's got to just be, you know, so happy to see a few shots go in for Armand Franklin. Hopefully he can keep that confidence, but him hitting four threes, it changes the dynamic for Virginia. If they can space the floor out a little bit, all that mover blocker action where they're trying to get so much movement and trying to run guys off double screens and trying to get overloads, all that is so much easier when you have a floor spacer. You know, you can kind of do to Virginia what they usually do to other teams in terms of packing it in, protecting the lane, making teams shoot jump shots, you know, that's effective against Virginia.

But if you have guys, if they're making 11 threes like they did the other night, so much tougher. And they have a couple of new guys that I think will really help there. Ben Vander Plas in particular, from Ohio, six foot eight, can provide the kind of dynamic that Armando Baycott and Brady Manik had, the bigs for Virginia are back to the basket, score on the block, go get you something off the rim kind of guys.

Ben Vander Plas is a 3-4 that can give them a lot of space in there. And I think Jayden Gardner is one of the most underrated players in the country and could sneak up there first, second team, all ACC. He didn't have a great game on the opener, don't get me wrong, but guy's really, really talented, put up great numbers last year, and I think the shooting around him is just going to continue to open things up. And you know, this is Tony Bennett, I think I saw eight out of 11 years, they were top five on the defensive end in the country. Last year, they were just an absolutely abysmal like 15th, you know, they in Tony Bennett's eyes, that's as bad as it gets. But I would imagine with six guys returning, that that defense is going to be back to the norm that that is top five. And you're not going to see them, you know, the reason they didn't make the tournament last year, some of the non-conference games they lost early on, like Navy, or like JMU, I just don't see that happening with them shooting the ball at a higher clip and having so much continuity coming back. Yeah, Tony Bennett going on the last 11 years, too.

Last year was the only season Virginia in the last 11 seasons has not finished top five in the ACC, so I think that's bound to change. W.D., fine, throw it out, throw it in there real quick. Whatever time he gets mentioned on the show, this is a bit that's been going on way too long. We thought he'd be a one and done. Luke Hancock, appreciate the time, and I hope to see you at a game sometime soon, maybe with some popcorn, maybe with some Sour Patch Kids. There we go, anytime, thanks for having me, and we'll do it again soon.