Down Goes Boeheim (3-8-23)

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 safe. It's time for the drive with Josh Graham. Welcome to a Wednesday drive WSJS news talk sports for the triad. Where Wake Forest can now leave Greensboro happy. Regardless of what happens tomorrow against Miami, the Deacs beat Jim Boeheim, sent him home and won their first ACC tournament game in six years. Tomorrow when they face top seeded Miami. It'll be Wake Forest first quarterfinal game since 2009. That is three coaches ago. I can't even say that that was a Thursday ACC tournament quarterfinal because they didn't play the quarters on Thursday then.

That's how long it's been. And it was a dramatic win for the Deacs came down to the final seconds, as the last handful of tournaments have. And last year, the shots didn't go Wake Forest way.

And then over time, the Boston College that was in Boston College. The year before that they played Notre Dame, Davian Williamson in a tie game went down the floor had a shot blocked, and then on the other end Trey Wertz in Greensboro hit one at the buzzer. Had the shot go its way, and the same guy who played strong defense to stop Joe Gerard was the same guy who hit the game winning shot in Davian Williamson, and to make it completely full circle.

I didn't realize this until I asked Davian about it in the press conference room just about 20 minutes ago. Davian was the player who had his shot blocked against the Irish in this building two years ago, leading to that buzzer beater. So, you can't find a more fitting storybook finish to this game for wake, then that kid, making the defensive play against Joe Gerard, hitting the leading scores in the ACC, and then hitting the shot in the triad. He's from Winston Salem. It's his final year. He wouldn't be starting this game if it wasn't for Damari Monsanto getting hurt, a couple of weeks ago, he wouldn't be in the game playing basketball games in crunch time if it wasn't for that injury, but he steps up he hits the shot. And yes, it is even sweeter because they beat Jim Boeheim. He's the perfect villain. He took a flamethrower to Greensboro where the game's being played.

He took a flamethrower to Steve Forbes a month ago saying he was a cheat when he didn't cheat at all. If basketball karma exists, if you believe in basketball gods, Wake Forest had to win today, and it happened in dramatic fashion so regardless of what happens tomorrow against Miami the top seed. This was a win for Wake, and they can feel very good about where things stand because the other piece of the story, everybody wants to focus on close games, who makes the key defensive play who hits the key shot and I guess we kind of just fed into that by spending about a couple of minutes on it, but Bobby Klintman had the best game of his career as a freshman in his last potentially the last game of the season. Now I'm sure there's some NIT possibilities but 17 points, 11 rebounds for Wake. This guy's going to be an NBA draft pick, not this year, but expect him to have a John Collins first team all ACC type of return season, because he has all the physical tools. If you're a Wake fan, you should be so excited about what you have in front of you because Andrew Carr set to come back, Hildreth set to come back, Klintman set to come back. Matthew Marsh set to come back, Damari Monsanto set to come back, you have all these pieces that are really good players that means that Wake Forest doesn't have to reshuffle the deck in such a complete way this time around.

They had six players in last year's recruiting class, they had nine the year before that. All together, today should make you feel very good. If you wear the black and gold on Twitter at WSJS radio if you want it on today's show. That's also where we're streaming video. And your producer is WD. Where are you at WD. Where are you broadcasting from today, Curtisville.

We got more basketball. Yeah, on this Wednesday, we still have WD interrupting me for updates, even though I'm at the Coliseum and you're not, and the game that's being played right now is literally a football fields length from where I currently sit. Pitt taking on Georgia Tech right now second game of the day. Pitt leads at 23 to 18. There's currently 20,000 people in attendance. Gray Brindle is helping me out courtside as well.

Gray, quick question. Did you know what the Pitt score was? I'm blocked from this.

I can only see an edge of the TV so I did not know that. So thanks for that update. I want to hate on WD for interrupting me for that update but actually it was useful because I can't see what the score of that game is, even though I'm in the building which is always an entertaining prospect, but it is a good reminder that interruption of what we have still to go here in Greensboro. ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, going to be on the show for the first time in what, a year and a half. He's going to join us in about 20 minutes. Wake AD John Curry just texted me said he will be on the show.

A little bit later on expect him around 430. Honestly, I don't know who's going to drop by in the five o'clock hour but that's kind of the fun of it. As we're broadcasting here at the Coliseum we'll also be broadcasting tomorrow at a special time because of the Duke game, which starts at 230 pregame at 130. We will be on the air at noon until 130 and then we'll have postgame reaction to Duke versus the winner of this Pitt game that's going on right now against Georgia Tech. So, that's just a quick programming note, the Tar Heels are in action tonight. And yes WD, they play Boston College, Boston College, North Carolina shouldn't have any problems in this game. Shouldn't worry about them. It's Carolina in the Greensboro Coliseum.

Let's not overthink this. They're going to have the crowd. They're coming off of the Duke loss. You know they're going to be energized. It's after the Duke game they lost the game.

They're going to come out with the fury of 1000 Suns, and they're going to take it out on the Eagles it feels like. And with that in mind, there's enough to get these players attention for Hubert Davis. Hubert Davis has tons of ammunition for this basketball game.

Not just because they didn't play so well against Duke or not well enough to win that game, but it's a must win for the Tar Heels. Hubert, that's the way he's viewing it. When I asked him after the Duke game, Hey, do you do you have enough depth to get through the tournament if you have to win for all he wanted to talk about was being ready for Wednesday.

Well guess what, Wednesday's here. Seven o'clock tip. Stan Cotton's walking by. Does he have to go right now.

He's got to go. Stan Cotton walking by and winking at me. You can't do that, you can't just walk by and wink at somebody and not come on his radio show. You can when you're as cool as Stan Cotton is. That's true. It's true. I guess we're indebted to him for having Take it to the House with his voice on it every single day.

He hasn't asked for royalties yet but eventually that'll probably happen. Getting back to Carolina though. They beat Louisville big yesterday and they did so without Quentin Post and I noticed. Do we have a status update on him today.

We don't. Earl Grant said that it's still day to day they don't know if he's going to play. I think he's going to play, not just because I need him to for my ACC tournament draft, albeit that does cloud my judgment.

That does cloud my, you know, where I stand in terms of partiality. But if you want to have a shot against Armando Bacot. I think you need Post tonight.

I think you need to. So from that, if Post doesn't play tonight. Carolina big, I don't know what the line is. If gambling were legal, Carolina.

Yeah, take them lay the number. Lay the points. Grace telling me that it's a 10 point spread.

If gambling were legal. If it is too late in the season to get JC horn involved in basketball commentary too late in the season. Oh, I just trampled all over. I'm sorry about that JC. What was that?

See me that cash up and understood. So North Carolina, the seven o'clock game. That's what we've got later on tonight. I'm not worried about him with Quentin Post, even if Post plays.

I don't think he's going to be a hundred percent. There's enough there for Hubert Davis to get the attention of his players. They're going to have the crowd.

It's at the Greensboro Coliseum. And that's where we're going to be. You're not well versed when it comes to movies. Yeah.

Doesn't everybody know that. But TV shows. It's always sunny in Philadelphia.

Is that your speed? I have watched some of it, enjoyed it. Not a lot of it, but I am a TV show guy.

Yeah. Well, there's a noteworthy meme with Charlie, the character in that show played by Charlie Day, where he has all the pins connected on a board as if he's a detective and his hair is strung out trying to connect the dots. That's how I feel right now, trying to figure out what Jim Boeheim was trying to say in his postgame press conference about an hour ago regarding his retirement. I'm pulling my hair out. So while I try to figure out that, let's talk about another Jim. A short while ago, Jim Phillips gave us 10 minutes. Our first interview for this show that he's done in about a year and a half, and we got to a lot of the key issues.

And here's how that conversation sounded. Here at the ACC tournament, Greensboro Coliseum and the commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference is Jim Phillips, who joins us now. Now, last week, we saw you at the women's basketball tournament here in Greensboro. This week, we're obviously at the men's tournament. Next week is the NCAA tournament here, and the week after that, Bruce Springsteen's in town. How many of these events will Jim Phillips be in attendance for?

Oh, every one of them. I've got to get some Springsteen tickets, though. No, Josh, listen, tournament town has been incredible. Not surprising to anybody that understands just the love and passion that this community has in embracing the tournaments and the ACC.

Last week, we were here. I mean, just a spectacular showcase of our 15 women's programs, ultimately crowned Virginia Tech as the championship. We're into the men's tournament the second day, and it'll be exciting because any of these teams that still remain will have a chance to win it. Next week, we kind of welcome the NCAA to Greensboro for the first and second rounds. That's quite an honor for the ACC to be awarded a site on such a prestigious tournament. I think all the people that have worked these three weeks should get free Springsteen tickets, so I'm going to tell Matt Brown and Richard Beard, the folks that are kind of coordinating these three weeks of basketball, that that's their promise, not mine.

A lot of people listening to this right now will try to hold you to that. Jim Phillips is here. Let's talk about two words that have been thrown around a lot lately. Narrative, which is a word that I feel is overused, and perception. Because when you spoke at your first press conference, one of the first things you said was, our football mindset is going to be 365, 24-7, which doesn't necessarily mean basketball isn't, but there are some, given the history of the league, that took it that way. What's followed is a couple of basketball seasons where all the conversation seems to be about national perception.

What are you doing behind the scenes that we can't see to combat what some view to be, first off, do you view it to be an issue of the national perception? I love the sport of basketball. Real, real, real early in my coaching, or my post-college career as an assistant coach, so I love the game. That was never intended to slight basketball, and no one has a better history over 70 years than the ACC, so we only want to build upon that. The football piece of it was just the reality of the economics of college sports, and so that's why there's been a focus on football. As it relates to basketball, I just think sometimes these things are cyclical. Last year we had five teams in the tournament.

I will tell you and the group listening that every month or so we meet with two selection committee members that are on the committee that puts the tournament together. They're two of 12, and we've got to go over the resumes and go over data and information statistics for all the teams in our league, and I told them at the very last call last year, I thought that we deserved more than five. You only gave us five, and no one had a better run in the tournament, 13 and five overall.

And I said, don't make the same mistake twice, kind of kiddingly, but semi-seriously. I think when you say these words, sometimes they're overused, but in my third year, I do believe right or wrong, people equate the ACC in a lot of ways, and one of them is when Duke and Carolina are not in the top ten nationally or top five nationally or at the top of the standings, the perception is, again, maybe an overused word, but I think there's some reality to it, the perception is that the league is down. If you say that, then you haven't watched our league, you haven't seen Miami play, you haven't seen Pittsburgh play, you haven't seen Virginia play, you haven't seen these tremendous teams play through the course of the year. Why don't you think that happens to other conferences?

Because Kentucky is not ranked in the top five or top ten nationally either, but when I watch television, I see Alabama get celebrated in a way I don't really see with the Canes or with Virginia, and I don't know if you have the same observations. I don't necessarily disagree, but the way you stated it, you've watched a lot, this is part of your profession. What I would say, what are we doing about it? Well, we're certainly trying to do what we can with the committee.

That's kind of a local thing and a one-time-of-year thing. But we have to continue to use the network, the ACC network, and our connection with ESPN as a platform for us to maybe change some of the perception. The reality is, though, nothing beats winning games, and especially winning games in the non-conference.

Whether it's right or wrong, how you begin the year in November or December, it kind of casts a die a little bit about how people believe that your season has been and is going to be. So I'm not going to change all of it, but I am bullish about where we're going. I think we have some of the very best coaches in the country. Nobody has more NBA players, no league has more NBA players than the ACC.

So maybe the numbers of teams in the NCAA tournament last year and maybe this year won't be to the level that we're used to, but I think those things cycle themselves out as well. Jim Phillips is with us here, and you brought up the television partnership piece of it. There's Steve Forbes' comments last year, we need someone to hype our league. Jeff Caple, we need to be more positive on the ACC network. Many coaches have confided that they were watching a rivalry game between Carolina and State, and Joe Leonardi is not saying positive things about the league during a league game.

You mentioned it's a partnership, it's not like it's completely independent. ESPN is a partner of yours. Have you asked for more out of your partnership in terms of supporting men's basketball? Well, we have. I mean, ESPN has been a great partner, and people need to, especially the media need to state what they believe to be the truth.

Whether it's Joe Leonardi or whatever, he believes that. But I think part of the partnership too is to make sure that we do have a chance to state our case for why we believe our conference is strong and we have really good teams and really good coaches. Again, we'll continue to push where we can, but we have to build our program, especially those that have new coaches and are just kind of getting started.

And we have to have a return back to the days where people expect us to be at the highest level and the best conference in the country basketball-wise. While I've got you, we've got to get to the Greensboro piece of this, because some of you, and this is a farewell in a sense, where the ACC's been home to Greensboro since 53, and you guys are moving to Charlotte later this year. I've defended you many times in the sense of your job is to represent all of the schools, and there are university presidents, your constituents, that probably would have pushed for this movement, regardless of who the commissioner was. But when you are in the position you're in, you're the face of whatever the league's decisions are. So I guess as we're all here in Greensboro, how does that moniker of the guy who's pulled the ACC out of Greensboro affected you at all?

Yeah. Listen, I love this community. This community has been really good to myself and my family, and I understand.

I really do. It's what makes Greensboro a special place. There'll only be one original home of the ACC.

No one will ever take that away. And we're going to be back to Greensboro in not only basketball, but we'll be in other sports. Just three weeks ago I was here for women's swimming and diving, and we're going to have a golf championship there, and men's and women's basketball will continue to rotate in Greensboro and other places. We haven't made any decisions about any of the future tournaments. That's going to come in the spring. We've been trying to work on it.

Mary McElroy on the women's side of basketball and Paul Brazo on the men's side. Just kind of understanding facility and cycle, and we're trying to get up to the northeast occasionally, like we did in Brooklyn last year and D.C. next year. But the ACC's not going anywhere. If we're staying in the state of North Carolina, we will absolutely be coming back and cherishing tournament town and what Greensboro has to offer. Commissioner Phillips, thank you for the time. Thanks, Josh. Always a pleasure, man.

Thank you. That's Jim Phillips joining us here at the ACC tournament. A lot to dissect from that conversation, and we'll do that later, in addition to revisiting Jim Boeheim's comments.

Maybe retiring, maybe not, but we need to get to the most important stuff. No, it's not Wake at the Buzzer. No, it's not North Carolina and NC State in action tonight. Will Dalton watched The Fugitive for the first time last night. W.D., what time did you finish this movie? I got done maybe around 1 o'clock in the morning.

1 a.m. Okay, W.D., we're going to get your thoughts on The Fugitive, and I don't care. At the Movies is next. Your attention, please, is showtime. This is The Drive with Josh Graham. There is real friction and tension here on the show as we are back here at the Greensboro Coliseum, as Will Dalton is still mad at me that he didn't go out last night and said he had to for this segment go home and watch The Fugitive for the first time. Yeah, that was grounded.

You didn't miss a lot. I forget the name of the place we went to. Corner Bar. Corner Bar? Yeah, that's right.

Corner Bar, a few blocks away from here. ACC hospitality takes hold later on tonight, so don't have to worry about jumping places and such. But W.D. went home since there wasn't a 9 o'clock game, and he watched The Fugitive for the first time, per Hayes Permar's recommendation. And you can't claim to be a Harrison Ford fan without having seen this movie, W.D. You like Indiana Jones.

You're the biggest Star Wars nerd I know. So you had to watch The Fugitive, especially since many of the scenes in this movie, including the infamous jump from, you know, what's the word I'm looking for? The big water jump that he had. That was shot in North Carolina. So much of this was shot in North Carolina. So I felt like we did a public service by forcing you to watch this movie. So let's get to it. At the Movies with W.D. Over the last few weeks, we've made you watch Friday, which you hadn't even heard of before you watched that movie.

No, I hadn't. We made you watch, what, Quentin Tarantino movie? Inglorious Basterds. We're still holding Pulp Fiction on ice. For some reason, apparently I'm not ready for it. You're not ready for Pulp Fiction yet.

We'll get there, W.D. But if you have suggestions for movies that he should watch next week that are not named Pulp Fiction on Twitter at WSJS Radio, you can send those in. What did you like about 1993's The Fugitive? This movie is now 30 years old. Also, I feel like if we're going to do a Harrison Ford category, I feel like Air Force One should be in there somewhere, which I have not seen. You also haven't seen Air Force One?

Bits and Pieces was on TV one day. I'm not partial to Air Force One personally. I'm not a big fan of that movie, but if you like Harrison Ford, I guess you like that movie. What did you like about The Fugitive, though? I liked the fact that there was so much adrenaline. There were so many adrenaline scenes, whether it was the train scene where they crash and they're on the train tracks and he's trying to get everybody out and finally he gets out last minute, or the scene where they're on the subway and he finds the one-armed man, and then the end fight, the fight at the end when he breaks into the presentation the guy's giving, and they duke it out a little bit.

There is a lot of adrenaline. I have a very simple answer to what makes this movie great. It's Tommy Lee Jones.

On the poster, it says Harrison Ford is The Fugitive, and that's all it says. This movie is Tommy Lee Jones' movie. I didn't realize it because, again, full disclosure, 30 years old, but prior to this movie, he hadn't had a lot of roles, and you don't see a lot of people who are mid-40s when they really hit their stride. JFK was a performance he had before this one where he was Clay Shaw and he was painted in gold and weird things were happening in that movie, but after that, The Fugitive was the big break that led to Natural Born Killers and Ben in Black and all these others, Double Jeopardy, a movie I like a lot. So, Tommy Lee Jones, every line Reidy has in this movie is something that is to behold. He was the highlight of it for me. What didn't you like? I just felt myself feeling sorry for Harrison Ford's character.

Why? Well, he didn't... He's being chased, and I mean... Oh, and then the scene in the hospital with the kid.

I mean, that was kind of sad. You are bringing up the thing that is most obvious as a flaw here, that if this movie even came two years later, it's a five-minute movie. Like, the O.J. trial happens and the key of that, you're talking about, like, DNA evidence and things of that nature. If you have DNA evidence in The Fugitive, well, this movie's over in five minutes. Also, if you try to do this movie today in the social media age, oh, hey, look, there's Dr. Richard Kimball with a picture I just took on my phone.

Hard for him to stay anonymous, especially as he goes to the most public of places while being The Fugitive. I'm gonna go to a hospital. Yeah, and the nurse recognized him immediately. Like, uh, you're not supposed to be here. Yeah.

No doubt about it. So that's, uh, obvious what I didn't like. Uh, best quote. I think the one that got me going was, I don't bargain. No, no, no. Find that man. If you're gonna say it, you gotta say it right. I don't bargain.

Find that man. Every, every quote, I think the best quotes are all Tommy Lee Jones quotes. I don't care. Think me up a cup of coffee.

All are pretty good. But this is the moment where you can prove yourself a little bit. What is the Rotten Tomatoes score for this movie that came out again in 93, 30 years ago? I've been pretty good at this lately. Let me give me an 87.

89. You've been really good at this of late. And that's been at the movies for the fugitive. Send us your suggestions for what WD should watch next. Andrew writes in, since St. Patty's Day is right around the corner, how about Boondock Saints? That's actually a pretty good idea. What's that about?

If we choose it, we'll, we'll talk a little bit more about Boondock Saints. Here at the Greensboro Coliseum, now being joined by the director of athletics at Wake Forest, John Curry. We're a few hours removed now from that win against Syracuse. And my immediate reaction was, boy, was it about time that one of these break your way, considering the last couple have been in overtime. And this is the first time since you've been the AD at Wake that you guys went in the ACC tournament to do it in this place, in that style. What did it mean to you? Well, you know, I hadn't thought about the first time since I've been at Wake because it's now been four years since I came.

Right. So this is my third tournament as athletics director. And it's a great win. It's a great win for Wake Forest, but I'm really most happiest for our, for our student athletes because they really played their hearts out.

You know, we've had to grind the gears. And I talked about it in my, from the quad letter we put out earlier this morning, you know, with Damari hurt, that's really restricted our offensive flexibility a little bit. And I think we saw, you know, today why our coaching staff is, is, is so admired around across the country because they did a great job of building on what they learned from that game on Saturday at Syracuse, to come out with a great game plan and, and, and be resilient the whole day. I don't want to say that this season is a building year, that it was something that was viewed that way. But Steve has been pretty honest in saying our goal was to get a little bit younger. So for the first time since he's been here, it doesn't have to be signing nine guys. It doesn't have to be signing six. And when you see Bobby, Clinton have the game he had today and the physical tools he possesses, and it's not hard to figure out how many guys still have years of eligibility left.

That has to make you pretty excited about what you could do in the future. Yeah. Well, if you come out and say, well, this is going to be a rebuilding year. You're kind of creating an excuse to not win every game. Right. And so I think coach Forbes would feel like we're going to win every game, maybe a bridge year is a better way to pass.

So regardless what my point is, is that. You're right. You know, this is the third year of this coaching staff. The first year was COVID. They got a late start anyways, because we didn't make the change until, until may.

And then it was COVID. And so to see where we are today, where we've had, you know, it's the first time we've had back to back winning seasons since like, oh, nine, 10. Right.

First time you're playing in the quarterfinals tomorrow since 2009. Right. So, and you know, we've had, we won 13 ACC games last year. We won 10 this year. Those are, those are numbers we haven't had a long time. And so I think it is a great, I'd say it's a building block.

Right. And then this win tonight or earlier today, I should say, um, was, uh, was really a testament to, to great resilience. And, and then, you know, looking on the floor, every player that played made really significant contributions. And, you know, Davian Williamson when I was in the tank before they went in for their press conference a couple hours ago, Williamson was talking about how he had six rebounds in his career high and rebounds. You want to talk about the shot.

Some of the rebates. Well, what I wanted to talk to him about was everybody's going to focus on the shot. He was the defensive player on Gerard that prevented the shot from going on the other end.

Yeah, I did a great job. Got the ball, you know, got it to tie coach, coach, uh, affords made a great comment about the drag screen that, uh, uh, that car set. And then, you know, Davian hit that shot. And I appreciated you asking the question that you asked in that press conference, Josh, because, you know, David's had a hard year.

It hadn't been the year he wanted to have, you know, he's been hurt, been really sore, had to fight through it. And, uh, so to have a, a senior like him, you know, have his, um, I won't say it's the only shining moment because we still got more basketball to play, but to have that one shining moment, it's really special. I'd like to know John Curry's with us here when you first took the job back and we had you on the show that day. First thing you says WSJS 600 a.m. And we're here in Greensboro and we had Ed Harden on yesterday and it just feels really nostalgic. And I wonder since this is your first ACC tournament as the AD at wake where it feels right, 2020 obviously didn't 21 with limited capacity. How nostalgic has this week been for you? It's just really cool to come, you know, just to get in and ride over this morning and get close to the Coliseum and, and walk in and see wake fans from all over the place to sending and see the fans from all the schools being in there.

I thought we had for a noon game on Wednesday with pretty good crowd in the Coliseum today. So I to your point just feels right and it was, you know, special and thinking about, you know, as a kid watching basketball, you know, on that, uh, tell them AV, AV cart television, you know, in the classroom. There's one of those right over there by the way.

I saw the old one in social. That was, that's good stuff. They rolled, they rolled in the cart here to a media row. We're happy about that. So when you have conversations with the other ADs and with commissioner Phillips, obviously there's a commitment to be back in Greensboro twice over the next decade. But when you start talking about 60 year anniversary of the Coliseum in 27, 75 year anniversary of the tournament in 2029, how strong of an advocate are you going to be in that room to have the tournament return here on a regular basis? Well, Greensboro is always the heart of the ACC. And certainly as the closest school to Greensboro, um, it's, uh, it's pretty cool to wake up and like just zip over here in 25 minutes from Winston-Salem. So, uh, certainly I'll always be an advocate for Greensboro.

Can you tell us what those conversations look like though? Like not specifically who says what, but when Greensboro comes up, what do those conversations sound like? Um, I mean, I think everybody appreciates the history of the heritage, the hospitality, all of that is appreciated by all of our colleagues, uh, about Greensboro.

You know, some of us have more experience than others in terms of, you know, what makes it special. Um, but you know, to be candid, Josh, the, the, um, the cadence of tournaments out is not been something we've spent a whole lot of time talking about recently. Is this week important though, in trying to be instructive about what Greensboro is about?

Because when you look at turnover in college athletics and specifically the ACC, the vast majority of the ADs have not experienced Greensboro and ACC tournament, what it looks like, what it feels like because of how 20 and 21 ended up looking. Oh, I think anytime you, anytime you're the host, it's important, right? Every single game in Winston-Salem at Joel Coliseum, we want to have the best fan experience in North Carolina, right? It's not more important one game than the next and every game we try to, we work on getting better and improving, uh, and all that kind of stuff. So, uh, I know how, how special this is for Greensboro for the triad and for the North state of North Carolina. You know, you got to remember that the commitment to the governor made to the ACC, um, to, to, to make sure this is always the home of the ACC. How does the celebration look tonight when you win an ACC game, knowing one, there's a game tomorrow, but also there's more basketball with local teams here today.

I know you're a kid who grew up on tobacco road that loves it when the locals play. Absolutely. And you know, today's neat with, with, um, uh, with the games that are happening, you know, obviously like two great, I mean, great games yesterday and, uh, lots of great action.

Uh, and certainly we've got great coaches, um, and you know, anything can happen in the ACC tournament. So is that a commitment to you're going to be in the building tonight or do you got babies to kiss? Uh, I will be here.

I'm going to, I'm going to spend some time in this next game. We've got a really nice wake forest function across the street. Um, at four 30, I'm gonna come back in.

I got a guest coming over for the, for the first part of the evening game. I do have a dinner obligation later on in Winston Salem. So I won't be here for the bitter end of the Carolina and the state games. It's good to have you on WSJS, John, congrats on the win today.

And for the first time in 14 years, we'll see you on quarterfinal Thursday at the ACC tournament. We look forward to that, but regardless if you're listening right now, and obviously WSJS 600 has enormous reach, right? Yeah.

Right. This is the moment in time. Get on, get, get a ticket, you know, tickets are available. We get on ticket master, pick your seat, come over here and be part of this.

If you've never been, uh, I'm inviting a friend who's recently moved to town, uh, to be there tonight because I need this. I think they need to see what it's all about. Come on. There are a handful of Syracuse fans that are looking to sell their tickets.

So you can figure that one out. That's the closest thing we'll get to a shot at Syracuse during this conversation. You said that, not me. That's right. I said that John Curry ticket master and support this great event.

I mean, it's a triads event, right? So let's go fill it up for all these games tonight and tomorrow. Hey, you did your job and getting a local team to Thursday.

Let's see if North Carolina and NC state can follow suit. John Curry. Thanks for the time. Thanks, Josh. It's the drive with Josh Graham, WSJS. West Durham joining us courtside or not courtside at Radio Row, the Greensboro Coliseum. It's already been a 25 steps from courtside. That's true. 25 steps from being courtside day two of the ACC tournament. And it feels like it's already been a week when you consider all but one game has been decided in the last minute. And we've had not one, but two coaches. Yeah.

Step away from their programs after being there for multiple decades. Mike Bray yesterday and Jim Boeheim today. Yeah, we're probably a couple of things to keep in mind here. We're probably not going to break the record of the tournament differential, which was like, you know, two points, some points in the 1970s, like 75 was the closest tournament ever played. Well, reason it's closest to ever played at this argument one time a few years ago with somebody, because they only played seven games to win the tournament tournament was only seven games. So, you know, we're going to play one to play 11 in before we get to the semifinals.

Think about it. So the closest tournament we've had in the 14 game format is 2014. It was a seven and a half point difference. Eight games were four less than two with overtime. Last night was 18 points for B.C. and Louisville, three points, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Notre Dame. That's right. We had the close game, obviously, with Florida State, Georgia Tech. We had the Davian Williamson three point shot for Wake and we would have eight points here at the end. That's it.

So if you get two good ones tonight, you might be on the way to doing something. But we'll see. But I think the tournament record overall, the one from the 70s, I think is pretty safe right now. Does it bum you out at all how Jim Boeheim is going out, considering the last few years? Like, Mike, even though it was a loss to North Carolina, what a high for Mike Krzyzewski to win the league and to get to the final four. Sure. Still riding high. Right. Well, Jim Boeheim had the comments that he himself said was regrettable a month ago, talking about Capel, Aranega and Forbes and obviously would wish to go to the NCAA tournament. Yeah, I understand all that, Josh.

I'm not look for a long time. I've always told people you can't write the script at the end. Rarely do you see somebody get to write the script. John Elway did it. Peyton Manning did it right. They wrote the script. They won the Super Bowl in their last game as a quarterback. Right.

Peyton Manning obviously beat the Panthers in Palo Alto or Santa Clara. For me, you have to kind of have a sense of where you are, self-awareness, if you will, about where you are, what you do, your age, your success, your imprint, your impact. I can speak to a little bit with broadcasting. I can speak to it a little bit with athletes who have been around.

Tony Gonzalez came back after Atlanta lost in the NFC championship game to the 49ers to play one more year. And he and I had a conversation early in the training camp of what was his final year. And we had gotten to know each other well enough where we could have a conversation where it wasn't an interview. And he said, are you surprised I came back? And I said, a little bit, yeah. I said, because I know how much you value your time. You love Southern California.

You've got he and his wife, October, with kids and so forth. I thought, you know, the timing seemed right. You played in the NFC title. You've gone to a Pro Bowl, that type deal. He said, I wanted to give it one more run.

I said, I understand that Falcons weren't very good. Tony Gonzalez's final year. And in his last game, he looked at me in the locker room after the game was over. He said, don't ever forget, you can't write the script and you can't write the script.

And for Jim behind, you can't write the script. You know, my dad's last broadcast was a regional final loss to Kentucky in Newark. Carolina did not go to the Final Four. And then the Coach Smith's last game was a Final Four loss, right? I mean, they had won the regional final in the east at Syracuse. And they went to the Final Four and they lost in the first round.

I guess maybe. Or on semifinals, I should say. I don't think anyone should be surprised at this point that he's deciding to retire. But it's the fact that there's still an NIT possibility and we're here in Greensboro. The body's still warm, Wes. But Josh.

They lose and the announcement comes. Yeah, but sure it does because he teeters with the media. He's teetered with the media for years. He teeter with the media three weeks ago. He allegedly teetered with the media Saturday night. It's a little bit of a game he likes to play, right?

You know, his proclamation a month ago of there is a plan in place and we know the plan and everybody's comfortable with the plan. Oh, well, good. Was that supposed to make us feel better?

No, it only created the conversation. Okay, there's Mike Waters, I think, at Syracuse.com has, you know, said that Red Autry is going to be the new head coach. Yeah.

Well, that's the plan. From Monroe, North Carolina. Right, great kid, great guy.

You know, played his high school ball in New York City but grew up in that area. Terrific guy. And he and Jerry McNamara, I hope Jerry stays because that's a great combination to carry through Syracuse. But it was time.

It's time. You don't need to have what I believe to be a contentious relationship with your head coach and your media and your fan base. And the rest of the ACC coaches. Well, it doesn't matter what the rest of the guys think.

It doesn't matter. You have to answer to the people who are your boss if you're Jim Boehm. And his boss, whether he likes it or not, are John Wildhack, the athletic director at Syracuse, and Dr. Kent Severud, the chancellor at Syracuse. So there you go. West Durham with us here. Wake Forest did the job in order to potentially give us Big Four, Big Thursday.

See, they did the job. Duke, they prevented us from having this on Wednesday. Now we need to see if North Carolina and NC State can do their part tonight. Who are you more concerned about tonight, the Tar Heels or the Wolfpack? Probably the Wolfpack because they played Virginia Tech early in the year in Blacksburg. They won a great game. Hokies did not play great that night, as I recall.

Yep. I think Carolina, Quentin Post is nowhere near 100%, even if he plays. Carolina will give you the A-ball tonight. You should know that. We did the ACC tournament draft.

Oh, did you? Okay. Good.

Connor O'Neill and others. Okay. I took Quentin Post with my last pick. Nice.

Can you believe he would do something like that, West? Side tracked at the end, apparently, huh? Yep.

Tried to sneak one in as the old GM, didn't you? Yeah. I took Grant Basile, though. Basile? Basile, sorry. It's always good to pronounce his name right if you're going to take it.

That's right. Okay. Grant Basile. Basile. Basile.

Basile. Yeah. He did good for me last night. There you go. Who else you got? Ty Appleby.

That was a good one. Yeah. Are we counting points, rebounds, assists? Steals and blocks.

Okay. Javon Franklin's been a winner for somebody. He has been. I hope somebody took Javon Franklin. Javon Franklin, I don't think, went on the board. You're kidding me.

Nobody got Javon. I'll show you the graphic that W.D. put together here. Oh, wow.

We have our five teams here. Connor O'Neill, Will, the great Jeffrey Griffin from Wake Forest, who's retiring this year. Oh, Jeffrey's retiring?

Yep. Congratulations to him and also to Gary Strickland. No doubt. We showed Gary today on the broadcast. It was an end of the era at Wake Forest with Jerry Strickland and Jeffrey Griffin no longer going to be over there anymore. Jeffrey's got what's bigger. Jeffrey's doesn't wait for a long time to take Baycock, Carolina guy.

Traquavion Smith, Hunter Tyson. I like Jeffrey's team. Jeffrey's team's good. I got O'Mear, Pack, Henson, Vasily, Appleby and Post.

Nicely done. Let's see. Connor, Elon Mann, Jordan Miller, Smart, P.J. Hall, Smart, Burton, Smart. Burton had a big game.

Tyrese Proctors. I think a really critical piece to this tournament for Duke. Beekman and Leszewski. I wouldn't have taken Leszewski, but that's okay. Notice who wasn't taken. Caleb Love did not make it in the six player round. At least we now know who the MVP of the tournament's going to be then.

That's right. Because if it's not on your roster. A little surprised here.

I don't see. Well, everybody thought Louisville wouldn't hang, so they were gone. I just wanted to get two games out of Appleby. And I wanted to get two games out of Post.

Appleby the only Wake player taken, huh? That's it. Wow. Nobody had.

Nobody had Bobby and Clinton. Wow. W.D.

took Jarkel Joiner. R.J. Davis. Nice.

Obviously a team built on volume. Judah Mintz. So long. Farewell.

Albedo Zane to you. Philip Powski. Derek Lively.

Nellie Cummings. Huh. Okay.

Nobody took Federico Federico who was perfect from the floor today. Seven of seven. Yeah. Yeah.

Again. What games do you have tomorrow? I'll be on ESPN radio tomorrow.

First two quarter final games. So. Excited to be part of it. It's cool for you to be back in Greensboro. It's great.

Considering 20 and 21 didn't really feel right for obvious reasons. It's been eight years. Josh, you could play this event for me personally. You could play this event in a parking lot at old Carolina Circle Mall or Haines Mall.

I don't care. If it's the ACC tournament, I enjoy being a part of the ACC tournament. This is, and I've said this to a lot of different people, not just this week, but I've said it in the past. This is, and I've done, I've been fortunate to do national championship games and Super Bowls and things like that. This is emotionally for me, my favorite event because I grew, I didn't come to this event until I was 13 years old. A lot of people thought, well, you must have gone since you were two or three. No, I came 13 for the first time and I incredibly enjoyed being connected to the event itself. It was your dad's favorite event, wasn't it?

Oh my gosh, yes. And that's probably why it's mine too, because we did the event together for 16 years. And so when that happened, as we were able to work the event together in the last two years, I purposely flew to Raleigh-Durham from Atlanta and rode with him to the event every year, back when we all did the games.

And it was great. And I'm grateful for the experience and I'm very appreciative that ESPN asked me to be part of it this year in some small way to work with our great crews and talented people that are a part of college basketball. So it was fun being a part of the games last night with Jordan. It was emotional for Jordan, who played and was recruited by Mike Bray. I wasn't going to say that because at the end of the game, when I was walking out of my seat, I noticed that he kind of lingered standing there. Yeah, it's an emotional night for Jordan. That's his guy, that's his coach that he played for.

But that was good for him. I mean, you know, it's been emotional for me this week's five-year anniversary. My dad passed away five years ago yesterday. When he died and we were at the ACC tournament in Brooklyn, I knew every year would be like this. And so the last couple of years when I couldn't be a part of the event in one form or another, it was tough for me. It's tough for me because I know how much it means to him and what it meant to his career and also what it's meant to me in the now, good heavens, let's see, 95, 28 years that I've been involved professionally with the ACC since I went to Georgia Tech in 1995. Tonight, are you going to stick around for a little bit?

My son is coming over. Obviously, he's a GA at Clemson. And so he's wrapping up his second year with that program. And he went to the tournament last year in Brooklyn and we missed each other because we and Mark and I only came up here and did one show and then we're gone. So I'm excited to see Will a little bit.

I had Clemson Notre Dame on Saturday and stuff like that. So hopefully I'll hang around here a little bit before I go back. I haven't had a chance. We just heard Stan Cotton's call of the game-winning shot. I bet you haven't heard that yet, though. I haven't heard Stan's. No, but I bet it's good. Do you want to hear Stan and the Dinger?

Sure, anytime. All right, let's fire that up. This was Stan and the Dinger calling the game-winning shot for Davian Williamson. Rebounded by Wake with six seconds. Williamson to Appleby.

Beers to the right. Back to Williamson. Long three to maybe Williams. He hit it. It's over. Hit it.

Two-tenths of a second. They can't do anything but tip the ball in. Williamson hits it from the deep right wing right in front of the Wake bench with.2 seconds to go and gives Wake a 77-74. Dinger said it was over. I love Stan very much on point saying might win it. Here's the shot that might win it. On the air today, I said for the win because I knew he had it in his hand with a minute 1-4-1-3 in his hand. So I said for the win on the air. And I guess what Dinger said at the end there that you only have time to tip it in.

Yeah, I mean, you got to throw it 94 feet on the rim. But hey, look, semantics of the call. We were a fair fortune. Adam Bryan, our director, did a terrific job.

Good games, man, usually mean good broadcast. Just a matter of not screwing it up, Josh. My favorite note from the game, though. I asked Davian about it afterwards, what it meant to him, and he reminded me that a couple years ago when they got beat at the buzzer by Notre Dame in this building, it was his shot that was blocked. Wow. That then led to the shot going in.

Today, Williamson was the one that guarded Girard to get the stop, and then he hits the shot as a senior. Yeah. See, that's the moment you get in this event that you rarely get in others.

I mean, there will be other conference tournaments and things like this, but you remember moments in here. And that's why I think it's important that they're going to bring the 74 Maryland State guys around in this building this week. Is that right? Yeah.

The city of Greensboro and the Greensboro Sports Foundation, I think, are involved in it. Who do you know is coming? I don't know.

There's a release out about it, but I knew that they were going to be honored at some point this week, so that's pretty cool. I know Jay Lucas was mentioning not too long ago that he was excited to potentially coach in this building tomorrow. Sure, because of his dad. Absolutely.

Yeah, I mean, Jay, you know, that's what I mean. The legacy of the event carries itself where very few go. This event has enough juice to it. I mean, you've got to remember the Southeastern Conference just resumed their tournament about 25 years ago. Big Ten didn't even have a tournament until about, what was it, 98 or 9? Definitely the 90s.

Yeah, it was late 90s. Because I remember when they did a site visit here when we were conducting the tournament to determine what they wanted to do when they started the tournament. So, you know, the history of this thing is amazing. This is 70, and in a few years we'll be keyed up and see what it looks like.

Look, there's so much history here, it's just fantastic to be part of. I need to ask you this on the way out. We sent Will home last night because he had not seen The Fugitive, and we needed him to correct that. He hasn't seen any of the good movies. Does West Durham have, like, a Mount Rushmore or two or three movies? Movies?

Yeah, that are metal stamped. You need to ask my wife this. She's the movie. You're not that person? Kind of, but not really. I mean, I like Kelly's Heroes.

Oh, wow. Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Gavin McLeod. I'm a Kelly's Heroes guy. This will hurt your feelings.

Viva Las Vegas with Elvis Presley and Ann Margaret I think is hilarious. Will has probably never seen a Clint Eastwood movie. Okay, well, yeah. That's what we're trying to correct. Tell you what, if we ever have the shutdown again, Will will be ready. You can catch right on up. Well, I'll let you. Catch right on up, Will. It won't take long.

Does that sound right, Will? Yeah, yeah. Josh will lock me in a room for about a week, and I'll be safe.

Well, you might want to lock yourself in a room. Stay away from Josh. You know what? That's a good point. That's why this week's big for him. He's just in that little box over there. Works out good for him. I'm away from him. I don't have to worry about him. Good for you, my man.

That's the way you want to live life. I promise you. He's in our Kernersville studios. There you go. West Durham. Good to see you, man.

Be well. Yeah, that was Stephen A. telling us where WD's broadcasting the show this week or where he gets to be in Kernersville. Yeah. Kernersville. All right. Thank you. Good to see you.