Armando Is Back

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 taking the wind out of my face. It's time for The Drive with Josh Graham. You are on a Wednesday Drive WSJS news talk sports for the Triad where there's good news and there's bad news for Tar Heel basketball fans. I've always been one to start with the bad news first so that way the good news can be a bit of a what's the word I'm looking for chaser for the bad news. I think that's it yeah.

And also it works chronologically with today's headlines. Puff Johnson has entered the transfer portal. He joins Dontre Stiles. He joins Tyler Nickel.

Is that it? Is there one more that I'm forgetting that has entered the transfer portal for North Carolina as well? I think there's and Justin McCoy has entered the transfer portal too. Puff Johnson played more minutes than the other three. 15 minutes a game roughly.

16 minutes. He's a legacy. Cam Johnson's younger brother. You know what he's about.

He's a fan favorite. As a result he will be playing college basketball elsewhere next season. But the good news that we just received in the last 10 minutes or so he's back. Armando Bacott will be back for a fifth season in Chapel Hill which means this drop will not die.

Let's go. It won't go away. The Armando Bacott.

It's unbelievable. We thought he'd be a one and done back in 2019 2020 but in the year of our Lord 2024 next year Armando Bacott will still be playing basketball for the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. And that's good news. Hopefully it counteracts a lot of the negativity I've been seeing from Tar Heel fans ever since the puff news dropped in the morning. Maybe it's just the optimist in me but this is mostly positive for Carolina. This is Hubert Davis first real opportunity to build a roster for the Tar Heels. He hasn't really had that chance yet. For the last two years he's had the same four starters that Roy Williams had his final year.

Same dudes. Now they're gonna be without Licky Black. You lose a starter from last year's team in Pete Nance who's out of eligibility and we will see on Caleb Love. The college basketball insiders that I've spoken with a handful of which were in Greensboro for the NCAA tournament over the weekend seem to believe he will not go pro. It'll either be him returning to Chapel Hill or him entering the transfer portal. But even if he decides to stay, Hubert does not have limitations to go into the portal that he had even a year ago. Last year he only had one roster spot to fill.

Remember? Kerwin Walden had to enter the portal for him to have that spot and by that time you had players who potentially could have been Tar Heels already announcing where they were going to be going. Where they were headed in the transfer portal. So Hubert was at a disadvantage and let's also not forget if he had an extra roster spot last year, Gigi Jackson's probably playing for North Carolina rather than going down to Columbia. He simply did not have any roster space but because of McCoy and Puff and Stiles and Tyler Nickel transferring out Hubert has ample opportunity to add to this Tar Heel roster and to do it in the portal in a way he hasn't been able to do just yet. And there's already precedent for winning big in the portal. If you're a skeptic at something that's new, I don't know if this is a way you can win, well look at the teams that are in the Sweet 16 right now. Look no further than Miami who won the ACC and how did they do it? Much to Jim Boeheim's chagrin adding Nigel Pack and adding Norchad O'Mear through the portal.

Carolina, they have NIL in place. Why else do you think Armando Bacot's coming back to school? Other than trying to. Speaking of chasers, wash that bad taste out of your mouth from this past season.

You don't want to go out that way. How about K-State who just rolled through Greensboro to get to the Sweet 16? That team was picked last in the Big 12 way back in October. Last place.

How'd they get there? Well their two best players are transfers. Talking about Noel, talking about Keontae Johnson coming from the University of Florida.

So there's already precedent. Texas Tech, Chris Beard won big getting to the national championship game largely on the back of transfers. Texas Tech last year without Chris Beard getting to the Sweet 16 the same way before Coach K and Duke took him out.

Hubert, he needs to find some shooters and now he has the ability to do so. This is his first real opportunity to build a roster and to do it through the transfer portal. We'll talk more about the Tar Heels when Terrence Oglesby joins us from the field of 68 in about 20 minutes on Twitter at WSJS radio. That's where we're streaming video to on Twitch, on YouTube, and on Twitter. You can watch our video stream during the shows.

Also we get YouTube content out there as well after we get off the air that you need to check out by subscribing. That's not the only news that we have today. CJ Stroud had what some are calling his throw day at the Ohio State Pro Day in Columbus and the Carolina Panthers sent a full contingent to Columbus including not just Frank Reich who's getting video or pictures on his phone for some reason. He looks like me over the last 24 hours taking pictures of my new dog. He does. The way that he looks at CJ Stroud is the way that I look at my dog Willow. Makes me super happy.

Gives me the warm fuzzies. Josh McCown's there. Scott Fitterer's there. Sabir Suleiman's there who's in the front office.

Is Sir Purr there? It seemed like they sent everybody. Who did they not send? See Darren Gantt there taking pictures? Who did the Panthers not send? David Tepper. It's usually a good sign if the owner's there.

David Tepper and his wife Nicole Tepper. They're there and apparently met with CJ Stroud last night. This is where I stand on Stroud. The biggest advantage he has over Bryce Young is the frame he has, yes, but really it's even larger than that. There's something that underlies that that I think makes Stroud the right choice for Carolina. He has the least risk attached to him. When I talk to executives in the NFL and ask them, what are these war rooms like when you're picking in the draft?

What's something that maybe we don't even appreciate or maybe don't appreciate enough? And every single one of the ones I've talked to have gone back to, you don't realize how detailed these injury reports are, how much we focus on what your durability in the league is going to look like. And I, with CJ Stroud, risk. It's the least amount of risk attached to him. The reason the injury reports are so central, it's how much risk is attached to this prospect that we're about to take. And that's enough reason. Being the least risky option, that's enough reason for him to be projected as the top guy. It's enough reason for that to be the case. It reminds me of the Zion Williamson draft where you had some experts out there speaking anonymously or some scouts saying, oh I took Ja Morant over Zion, who by the way was cleared for activity today, on floor activity.

And I laughed at that report. You have an owner to answer to. Good luck trying to convince an owner at that time, oh yeah we're gonna take Ja Morant over Zion. Sorry for all the lack of fanfare that's gonna come with that and all the jerseys that you're not gonna be able to sell with Zion when we take the guy from Murray State, even though years later it looks like that might be the right pick. What's gonna get me fired or what's least likely to get me fired if things go astray?

Don't overlook that motivation. Another reason is, well Mel Kiper mocks CJ Stroud as his number one pick in the draft. Here he was on ESPN. Field right now it's CJ Stroud and Frank Reich, well I don't hear about Bryce Young's size, but in the past it has been important to Frank Reich. An accuracy throw in the football, CJ Stroud was 70% over the last two years. He didn't throw interceptions, he's kind of the college version of Aaron Rodgers. He didn't throw picks. And certainly the size we saw against Georgia, he could be a full threat quarterback.

If he could bottle that, I keep saying, bottle that, take it into the NFL. Unfortunately we didn't see that each week at Ohio State, but we saw it in the Georgia game. Certainly the combine workout, he threw the ball very well. He doesn't have the howitzer for an arm, but he certainly has good enough arm strength, the accuracy is phenomenal, and he has that little swagger about him. So to me, right now for Carolina and for Frank Reich, for what he's looked for in a quarterback, CJ Stroud has.

Yes, and Joe Person is there from the athletic at the pro day. He said unofficially, CJ Stroud 44 of 51 on his throw today. Two drops, five incompletions, all of which came when he was throwing to his left. He had an incompletion as well, throwing to his left at the combine, if memory serves correct too. The knocks on Stroud are his mobility in the school that he goes to. The Georgia game changed everything.

I honestly don't believe WD. It's a conversation at all about the number one pick. It's gonna be Bryce Young, no doubt, if USC beat Utah in the Pac-12 championship game, because that would send USC to the playoff and likely CJ Stroud opting out of his bowl game, which means he would have never had that shot against Georgia if it's not, if not for the Georgia tape, if not for that game. I don't think there's a question. I think Bryce Young is the number one pick.

I think you're right. Because we didn't really see him on the big stage showing off the mobility at all, and for him to do that against Georgia, who ended up creaming TCU a week after that, yeah, I think that's incredibly valuable. And as for the school piece, oh, he went to Ohio State, he has every advantage, so does Bryce Young. Oh, but Bryce didn't have the receivers this year. While that might be true, let's not forget, when CJ Stroud was great in the Rose Bowl a year ago, a year and change ago, he did it without his two best receivers who opted out. Guys who ended up being top 10 picks, top 12 picks, Chris Alave and Garrett Wilson, and this year he was without Jackson Smith and Jigba pretty much the entire year. In that game against Georgia, they lost Marvin Harrison Jr. in the first half, and he still moved the ball on that Georgia defense, so I believe he can elevate his teammates. And the cons?

They're much small. I think the cons with Bryce Young or make it CJ Stroud are a lot smaller than the concerns with Bryce Young's frame, both literally and figuratively, I guess. Ayo, and if it doesn't work, it's a spectacular miss with Bryce Young with CJ Stroud. I don't see how he's a big miss in the league when coupled with the type of quarterback coaches that you have, the type of offensive minds you have in Charlotte. Jim Caldwell was also there today, too, in addition to offensive coordinator Thomas Brown. Sir Purr was probably on site, maybe one of the secretaries. I don't know who wasn't there from the Carolina Panthers. I do.

Who? That's true. Well played. Not with the Panthers anymore. That hurts.

Don't know why you did that. The big news in college basketball today or a couple of the big headlines. Puff Johnson joining Justin McCoy, Dontre Stiles, and Tyler Nickel in the portal in Chapel Hill. And our guy, Armando Baycott, returning to Chapel Hill for a fifth season. And now we welcome Terrence Oglesby to the show.

Oh, he has such childish, bully-like laughter. It's good to hear. And see you, T.O.!

You're on your way to Las Vegas, West Region. Perhaps we could get to that in a second. We know Baycott is coming back. What should happen with Caleb Love? What will happen?

And are those answers different for whatever reason? I think, to be honest with you, I have no inside information that I could give you. I wish I did, but I don't. I think what should happen, I think it's time for Caleb Love to find another home. I think it would be better for everybody involved. There's obviously Hubert's reluctance to play the bench has obviously run its course, and now most of the majority of those guys are taking off and leaving. But what a great get to get Armando back in the fold. You want to talk about a guy who, I think I share feelings with you in that, like, he was so good last year despite all the nonsense that was going on around him.

And there was some nonsense. And kudos to him for continuing to produce. I don't place any of the blame on last season on Armando Baycott whatsoever. I thought he was still really good in spite of everything going on.

This is a huge coup. Make no mistake, but a couple of names to look out for. Bobby Pettiford's transferring away from Kansas. That was a it's a North Carolina kid who's got a lot of talent. He was originally a Louisville guy.

Chris Mack leaves. He goes to Kansas, has some good years, has struggled to stay healthy. But you want to talk about somebody who fits the North Carolina style of play or what we thought was a North Carolina style of play.

He fits the bill. I got the inside scoop on Bobby Pettiford. South Granville High School. That's where I took my SAT. And my wife's mom, so my in-law, my mother-in-law, taught him in high school.

So there's a close relationship there. So I'll let you know if anything happens on the Bobby Pettiford front T.O. Other than Bama and Houston, who right now are seen to be the favorites to win a national title at this point, how many teams left standing are capable of winning four in a row? How many teams? I think, let's say UConn can, Tennessee can. Wow, Tennessee. Yeah, Tennessee can because they're gonna they're gonna they're gonna play football. And if the officials let them play football, they're gonna be able to put they're gonna be able to win some games because they beat the heck out of Duke.

That was one of the worst officiated games we've seen all tournament. And that is saying something, my friend. No, Tennessee's, they're so big and physical. They can make some different things happen.

They're really deep. So, you know, to where certain teams have, you know, 25 to 30 fouls they can give, Tennessee has like 50 and they use 40 of them. So, like, there's a lot to be said there for how they play. I think they can certainly win. I think Tennessee makes the Final Four. I just don't see Kansas State, Michigan State or FAU being able to compete with them from a physical perspective. So I like Tennessee there.

But UConn, UCLA, Tennessee, Houston and Alabama, that's where I would throw my, if I had to throw my eggs in a few different baskets, those would be the ones I would go with. Yeah, you knew it was a bad time for Duke when Kip Kissinger was on the whistle and he was the same guy who did not whistle a foul in Virginia Tech because of the celebratory punch to Kyle Filipowski's throat in Blacksburg a while back. Look, the Dukies, they don't get a whole lot of calls. They don't get a lot of foul calls. Let's keep it in perspective here.

Yes, that's right. Terrence Oglesby's with us. He knows the ACC well. He played in the ACC at Clemson once upon a time.

So be honest with me, we're talking amongst friends here. How happy were you that Miami beat Indiana on Sunday? For the conference, very happy. You know what, I fought tooth and nail for the ACC and it just didn't work out this year.

I fought and I failed. That being said, Miami's still very good. But T.O., T.O., you know and I know if Miami loses that game to a Big Ten team and they have two and the ACC has none and people are averaging Black Sunday in 1979, this week becomes hell for the ACC if they lose that game, no?

Yeah, it absolutely does for a lot of people, including myself. I'm happy they're holding it up. Something has to change with the conference, whether it be scheduling, whether it be, you know, if Jim Phillips goes and takes the Big Ten job, which to be honest with you, I think he fits that job better than the ACC job.

I don't think that's a secret. I think there's a lot of people that would agree with that. He's just one of those guys where I wish we would focus more on basketball because ACC has always been a basketball conference.

I understand where the money is. I understand why you would do things differently, but something needs to change. I talked to a few head coaches in the conference. Could it be something as simple as, you know, mixing in some non-conference games in January and February and then play some conference games earlier in the year? I don't see there being a problem with that because if you're learning your team, at least you're beating up on each other instead of being beat up out of conference. So maybe, you know, it's gonna be an ACC-SEC challenge next year.

Maybe you put that in January or February as opposed to playing in November or December to where at least you know what your team is whenever you go into something with that much ramifications as far as the results are concerned. If you want evidence about how it's a scam by greedy university presidents, the idea that the ACC is in an existential crisis, not being able to compete at all at the top level of any sport if they're not able to prioritize football and go that path, look at the Big East Conference and look at the teams that right now are in the Sweet Sixteen that are contenders like Creighton, like UConn, who you noted. These are teams like Marquette even though they got knocked out by Michigan State. The Big East seems to be doing just fine so you can prioritize basketball and still be just fine.

Yeah, you can and I think that's the direction that the Big Twelve's going as well. Once Texas and Oklahoma leaves, they're bringing in Cincinnati, they're bringing in UCF, BYU, like that's gonna be a basketball-centric conference as well. So you're gonna have two of them in what I call the Power Six that are gonna be basketball-centric conferences and I feel like it's an underrated portion of your front porch is the basketball team.

And when I say the front porch, I'm talking about each university or each conferences front porch. Just because, you know, basketball, it does get delayed in viewership some because football lasts so long into the season, but at the same time you can still have some success being a basketball conference. And Josh, it was a basketball conference forever. Like, I don't understand, like, we're in a world that flipped. It's kind of an insane thing for me. Well, I mean, you could say that, is it a coincidence the last two years the ACC's had perception problems and it's the two years that Jim Phillips has been the commissioner? You can say that that's a coincidence or you could say that that's linked to the fact that he literally said in his first press conference that football was going to be front and center, 365 and all that. So we'll put that to the side for now. Terrence Oglesby's joining us en route to Vegas.

Man, that Gonzaga-UCLA matchup, that's pretty juicy. But Tia, where do you call home? I live in right outside of Greenville, South Carolina. I live close to Clemson. You live close to Clemson?

So you're the right guy. I live in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. So I want to read you an excerpt from the Greenville News yesterday where it says, Dabo Sweeney said he was a bit envious of Clemson basketball coach Brad Brownell and some of the faraway locals he's been able to take his team to play in recent years. Quote, all we ever get to do is to go to like Winston-Salem and places like that, Sweeney said.

Brownell and the boys, they get to go to Hawaii, Italy. Hey, spread the love around a little bit. I need you to tell me, where does Dabo lack more self-awareness? In taking a jab at Winston-Salem while living in Clemson, or being a football coach at Clemson, talking about what basketball gets that you don't?

Yeah, I don't have an answer for you, but I will say Winston-Salem's a lovely city. I don't have much for you. You're a basketball guy, come on now.

Football's complaining about what basketball gets? Yeah, I know. As Dabo walked into his own building lately. Have you been, have you been down to that building? I've been to the football building. I haven't been to the basketball building.

How much different are the two? Very. Okay. Hey look, the basketball facilities are very nice, but football, I mean, they've got slides to get down that the coaches have to use to get down to practice. There's a lot going on. When it comes, I think he's referring, he wants to go to Ireland or something like Notre Dame that did it last year. He said Brownell gets to go to Hawaii, home and home of Hawaii. Who says no? I bet you it's not Hawaii.

I don't think it's the Fighting Rainbow Warriors or whatever we call them now. Right. I go, here's, here's how my brain works though. You have to charter for all those football players. You can't just fly them commercial because there's just so many of them. So then you charter, what, a 747 to get over to Ireland? That's a, that's a, that's a flight.

It's well said. Are you, how are you getting to Las Vegas? I'm going Greenville to Atlanta to Las Vegas.

I'll be there tonight and then we're gonna be doing shows with the field of 68 tomorrow. Every day we're down there and then I'll come home on Monday morning, stay for two days, and then I'm at the Final Four in Houston. And I told my wife two weeks from today it's all done. And she is, she goes, I finally get you back. I said, yes ma'am.

So she's, she's excited about that, I guess. That was me three days ago. I'm done.

Sarah Bradford, that's the end of my bass, that's the end of my watch. And what happened yesterday? We got a puppy. And the puppy's right in the studio right now, on the other side of the wall. So yeah, needless to say, I've got a, I got an 11 week old puppy in the house. So now I have, you know, I have my time being taken up.

My time's been taken up by something else. For what it's worth, I bought a horse yesterday for my wife. You bought a horse? I bought a horse.

It's our third horse. I have a, I have a Shetland, I have a Tennessee Walker that she rides back through the countryside in the mountains and everything. And then I bought her a, she's a roping, she's a, she likes to rope cattle.

So those are a little bit more expensive. Has she taught you how to rope cattle at all? Can you figure it out? No, I'm so focused on basketball right now. I don't have enough time to learn the roping, but she's getting there. I'll get there. I'll tell you what, you were a sharpshooter back at Clemson.

I'm sure you can throw one of those lassos around, around a cow, you know, just like you do from three-point range back in the day. You can do that, T.O. Safe travels to Las Vegas, and thanks for dabbling in our nonsense as always, T.O. All right, buddy.

Thank you so much for having me. We'll talk soon. This is what we call working things out.

Throwing paint against the wall to see what might stick. John Calipari gave us a gift last weekend. NCAA tournament, regionals in Greensboro, and he was talking about Josh Pazner when he said this. Josh is out of his mind.

But we couldn't resist the opportunity to create something out of this. So why not bring back a hot takes segment? Sports radio people get labeled as hot take artists. I get called that sometimes. It's not what I try to do.

I don't like that label at all. But there are a lot of people that do check that box, who do come to sports talk radio to hear some flaming hot face-searing takes. So to appease that portion of the audience, I feel like once a week we do mind-blowing type segments with mind-blowing, head exploding type takes that are so hot, oh it might even melt the radios in your car. That's where the segment comes to full fruition.

Josh is out of his mind. So this is just a chance to get something off of my chest. And if you'd like to participate and lob in a hot take as well, we'll let you.

336-777-1600 is the phone number. What might qualify as a hot take today? Well how about this? Armando Bacot says he's returning to Chapel Hill. Josh is out of his mind. Well that's not a hot take at all. That's not what we're doing here. Armando Bacot is returning to Chapel Hill, which leads me to the take WD.

This is the throwing paint part. Right. North Carolina would rather have Jaylen Washington return to campus than Armando Bacot if they could only pick one.

Hear me out. If you only had to pick Jaylen Washington or Bacot, who would you have return? It's kind of like the Mike Glennon, Russell Wilson question of ten years ago that Tom O'Brien answered. Here's another hot take. Tom O'Brien was right to pick Mike Glennon over Russell Wilson. Josh is out of his mind.

Bonus take there. You got multiple years of Glennon, you beat Florida State, you had some pretty good teams. Russell Wilson wasn't going to do much better than Mike Glennon ended up doing and he only had one year left. Jaylen has multiple years. Bacot has won and Jaylen can shoot the basketball in a way I don't think Bacot can, fitting more what Hubert I think ideally wants this offense to look like. It's a good thing that you get Bacot back only if it also means that Jaylen's coming back too. This Bacot stuff becomes bad news if we learn that 13 is going to join Puff Johnson and the other three Tar Heels in the portal.

Next take. WD, I got a new puppy yesterday. Her name is Willow.

I love her very much. So much that I'll say this. Puppies are cuter than babies and kittens and also can resolve any dispute that you're dealing with in your life.

Josh is out of his mind. Babies are not as cute as puppies. I'm sorry. Now I'm not saying babies aren't cute. They are.

But puppies are cuter and they're cuter than kittens and they can resolve any dispute. I believe this WD. I had a phone call someone last night. Didn't know how it was gonna go. There was some awkwardness until I sent that person a picture of the puppy and said, how can you be mad at somebody when you look into their eyes? You look into the eyes of Willow and immediately all the tension melted away. I've had her in the studio or in the office earlier today and tons of people I don't have a lot of conversations with just rolled on through. People that I thought didn't like me. People that I thought might have had beef with me whatsoever or might find me obnoxious. It all melts away when there is a puppy sitting beside me and immediately you're the most popular guy in the room that everybody loves. Why? Because of the puppy. See that's why having a puppy it's the greatest thing you can do to pick up girls. Well the best.

Well I mean if you if somebody wasn't just a tip for you out there. Cam Newton he's throwing at Auburn's pro day yesterday. Not only is his football career finished. I just don't know if he knows it yet. His future is going to be in a Fox TV booth in 2024.

Josh is out of his mind. Remember Tom Brady doesn't join the lead Fox team until 24. He's taking a year off. Greg Olsen is still the lead guy with Kevin Burghardt this year. Do you think he's just gonna settle for being the number two guy and that's it? After being so good as the lead commentator and getting all these rave reviews.

I don't think so. I think Amazon either makes a run at him and stops with the Kirk Herb Street stuff. Kirk Herb Street. Or makes that a three-man booth perhaps. Or Chris Collinsworth who's been on TV for a very long time.

He decides to call it a career. And who slides right in next to Mike Tirico? Greg Olsen.

But it also would create a prime opening at Fox. How can we do something splashy in addition to bringing Tom Brady in? How about Cam Newton? That guy's polarizing. That guy's fun. That guy will attract eyeballs. He's just really good at TV. So he will pursue a TV career and I think Fox in 2024. Another take.

WD is gonna learn this tonight. Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction is John Travolta's best role. Josh is out of his mind. With respect to Saturday Night Fever. With respect to Danny and Grease. I just think Pulp Fiction maximizes the full package. Now we don't get much of him singing.

I understand that. But John Travolta. Much better dancer than he is a singer. You get a dancing scene in Pulp Fiction. It's his best script. So there's some great acting in there too. Yeah. Give me John Travolta in Pulp Fiction over Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and Grease.

Even though the latter two were probably bigger box-office successes from the 1970s. What do you think of this segment? That's been Josh is out of his mind.

Josh is out of his mind. I like it. We need to work you into this as well. Get you allow you to fire off some takes in the future.

I think I should. What do you know about the movie Pulp Fiction? That I just realized that I know what Pulp Fiction is. When you started talking about Travolta and then you mentioned Samuel L. Jackson earlier. Oh that's Pulp Fiction. Oh you've seen the poster of both of them and the suits.

Yeah and just clips of them at different points and I'm pretty sure I went past it when I was on TV years ago. Royale with cheese. Just got that text from John Dell. There's so many iconic lines from that movie. I still probably prefer Inglorious Basterds among Tarantino movies but Pulp Fiction is that's that's on the obit one day for Quentin Tarantino and they're starting to list off the movies. That's gonna be the first movie that's listed. You just it's easily the best Samuel L. Jackson's ever been in a movie and that's saying something.

I don't know if it's the best Bruce Willis has been but Bruce Willis in this movie. It's iconic. So we'll talk about that on tomorrow's show. It's a good sign that we've had a good show when I get tweets such as this one here. Out of context I like this even better for Darren Vaught that's now joining us from ACC Baseball etc and USA Baseball, voice of High Point Basketball. It was cool to run into Tubby Smith at the Kentucky games over the weekend in Greensboro. Donald writes in, snakes are commonly found in attics man. The height of your bed has zero effect on a snake getting in it. That's how I know today's been a really good show. We've fired off a lot of hot sports takes that often are accented by John Calipari saying things about Josh Pazner that were insinuating were said about me.

But yet that's the most pushback I got. Us talking about snakes and how high your bed up your how high your bed needs to be to avoid snakes potentially getting in it. It's a great segue to Darren Vaught who will join us to answer unusual question or does so right now. Darren where do, this is kind of a teaser for unusual questions, where does snakes in your bed or snakes in a bathroom rank in terms of your worst fears?

Pretty low I think. Also is is the higher bed thing that is that not as like a scorpion thing out like in the desert out west? No doubt yeah you want to have a high bed to avoid scorpions.

Well there's there's also what is it that you do in in certain places if you have like a newborn in a crib you got to put the crib on a like a slick surface so that the scorpion can't get around and up into the crib. Yeah everybody knows this. This is common knowledge. Getting to baseball real quickly. Darren I'm looking at my watch right now three two one gush about the world baseball classic you've got 30 seconds. Well so okay I like a lot of people didn't check in right we talked about it last week it's an overwhelming part of the sports. Not even last night? I had not checked in had not I'm getting there until the semis and I'm glad that's when I checked in because that's when Trey Turner decided to be you know the best hitter on earth for a moment and he hit five home runs in the world baseball classic tying the record for the event so he had a really good tournament for Team USA and then of course last night especially when it got to be it was on it was background noise last night you know check in here or there and then it's like Oh Oh Tony's going to the bullpen oh he's coming out for the ninth Oh Mike Trout might be due up in the ninth it's a one or two run game so then of course I'm I'm fully invested and it doesn't even do it justice to say that it's the modern-day Babe Ruth versus pitching to whatever you want to call Trout the modern-day Mickey Mantle a lot of people prefer it was awesome it was incredible Trout swung and missed it three pitches which he rarely does he's only done it 24 times in his entire big league career which spans over a decade at this point and it just goes to show how great Otani is he's the best player in the world that was a huge stage the two had never faced as pitcher and batter it was awesome it was awesome I was giddy about it and I was like laughing out loud while I was watching it Otani threw him 100 miles per hour right down the gut twice just daring Mike Trout to take it yard and he couldn't catch up swung and missed and it's like that's that's the second best player in the world they couldn't couldn't catch up to that it was it was amazing we got just what a great event we've got breaking that's well past time we've got breaking ACC basketball news that just came down on a day where we've had a lot of it Micah Shrewsbury Penn State's coach is now the new head coach of Notre Dame replacing Mike Bray seven-year contract to be the newest ACC coach alongside Adrian Autry at Syracuse and was there one more coaching change that happened in the ACC Damon Stoudemire at Georgia Tech there it is Damon Stoudemire the new coach Mighty Mouse so no more openings available in the ACC here's what I want to do with unusual questions I looked at the d1 baseball pole Wake Forest is up to number two number two number two Miami a perennial power in college baseball 13th in baseball America 17th in that d1 baseball pole they play in Winston-Salem this weekend and we've got tickets to give away brought to you by our friends at Reese builders if you call in and ask an unusual question frankly it could be like a usual sports question but we like encouraging the hey how high up does your bed need to be to avoid snakes type question three three six seven seven seven one six hundred the first few to call in with questions gets tickets to see a couple of the best baseball teams in college baseball face off in Winston-Salem this weekend again at seven seven one six hundred it's time for unusual questions last week guys everybody made it out that I got mad at Josh and I left the press conference that's not right I thought it was an unusual question and it's okay it's time for unusual questions with Josh Graham Darren Bhatt I'll get us started here if you have unusual questions again that number is three three six seven seven seven one six hundred the other breaking news in college basketball today or ACC basketball is that our guy Armando Baycott is gonna be returning to campus for a fifth season in Chapel Hill and to announce that news he put up simply an image of Perry Ellis from Kansas quote tweeting Jeff Goodman's report that's right quote tweeted Jeff Goodman's report and it was a picture with no caption of Perry Ellis who it felt like was at Kansas for a million years had me thinking about old man game who was your favorite older basketball player like having great old man games in the NBA who because it doesn't really qualify for you know college basketball as much as we could joke about Perry Ellis but although some some college basketball players have old man game yeah Ryan Young at Duke yeah he has an old man game like if you want to go Hall of Fame category Duncan yeah Kareem Kareem develop that but for some reason my brain immediately went to Zach Randolph who yeah just seems like a dude you wouldn't want to play at the why that guy with his spin moves maybe throwing an illegal elbow in there I don't know was it legal was it not you you decide the referee will do he'll decide what it is zebos good I'm thinking guard play what is old man guard play Manu Ginobili that's old man guard play is that are you only saying that because he was balding for the majority of his career yes and he's a bit finesse not really flashy has anyone ever seen Manu Ginobili dunk the finesse the Euro step he used to know that was part of his game at one point in time see like why wouldn't why wouldn't Steve Nash also qualify as old man oh but cuz he's doing the Jason Williams behind the back passes and things like that too that doesn't feel right that's not old man game if an old man's doing that you're asking whether or not it's Kyrie Irving wearing a bunch of makeup and doing the Uncle Drew deal oh true that old man gave Uncle Drew yeah that's a good answer to the question let's go to the phones Brent and Winston Salem's up first what's your unusual question Brent hey it's maybe not an unusual question but question why did the Panthers not wait a year to draft someone like Caleb Williams instead of going so hard into a first round trade and everything for CJ Stroud and that number one overall pick sounds kind of stupid to give that much up so I'll tell you I'll answer that question for you Brent thank you so much for the phone call because Carolina expects to be a lot better than picking number nine with this roster that finished so well towards the end of last year they don't expect to be this close to picking number one to get a guy like Caleb Williams or even a Drake May and the other thing is this man it's become a racket the projecting two drafts ahead deal like the draft I remember a time where people said oh man people are gonna be tanking left and right for CJ Stroud and Bryce Young you better watch out and then when their season actually happens you're underwhelmed because of those expectations we did the same thing with Justin Herbert and then people overthought it and Justin Herbert was an amazing player I pass me miss me on the let's look to 2024 or look to drafts ahead of time and it's also a racket because nobody's gonna remember what you said a year and a half before the draft happened so you can really say whatever you want without consequence pretty thorough answer there I'll let that's fine cuz I wasn't gonna answer yeah I'll let WD and Darren take this question from Michael and Kernersville Michael and Kernersville what do you have yeah I got a geography question for you love it Everest was discovered what was the highest mountain on earth Darren my guess is Kilimanjaro keep him on the line please so that way we can actually get an answer to that was it Kilimanjaro no what was it oh well what do you want the answer yes I would love the answer he's not gonna guess he doesn't like sounding not smart the answer is Mount Everest because just wasn't because just because it wasn't covered doesn't mean it wasn't the highest mountain on earth great that isn't that is an unusual question that's pretty good on your part there goes Michael and Kernersville already in Thomasville fire off unusual questions all right I got an unusual for you uh given that when Peyton Manning won his last Super Bowl he couldn't throw the ball past the line of scrimmage he goes out on defense no doubt and we saw Cam Newton throw it at pro day at Auburn how unusual would it be for him to get picked up at this point by anyone great question it would be incredibly unusual because the reason you pick up Cam Newton is not because he throws the football well it's because he trucks people while running it and he's that type of threat and it's amazing we see all these highlights from his pro day not a lot of him running the football which is the reason why you sign cam and cam's 34 it would be incredibly strange if somebody were to pick them up is he like publicly looking for a job right now all there's no doubt can we play can we play the sound actually no let's not play it but cam put on IG before he went to the Auburn pro day man how do all these randoms continue to get signed there aren't 32 mother bleepers better than me okay yes so that's a resounding yes he's he's trying to get and it's a it's sad he's throwing at Auburn's pro day it's not good it would be very strange all right let's go to Darren thought for his unusual question what is the farthest drive to make you consider other travel plans so like I so I called baseball at Clemson this past weekend from where I am that is about a four and a half hour drive not terrible not great but I don't know that it would have been worth a quick little like puddle jump from I guess Raleigh to Greenville South Carolina is that is that if it's if it's within six hours yeah I'm with you on that I'm driving yeah six hours is probably if it's more than six I might want to fly if it's less than six yeah like six and a half seven like Baltimore I'd be willing to do Baltimore DC but beyond that like Pennsylvania nah I'll fly see in the triangle he seems like a two-hour drive for me there's there's no way I'm flying that right but but Atlanta like I mean it probably depends on what you got going on to like I I would consider flying but I also really like driving at night I do where really I love it because there's no traffic and you are so old in so many other ways in spirit but old people hate driving it they do I you you reversed the oldest 29 year old thing in a big way with that state and also I just got a new puppy that was in the studio and people are still raving in the studio or in our lobby right now about how cute willow is I read that right on your Instagram three pounds yeah how have you not crushed her yet that's I would very small terrified small puppy very small and cute wd picked her up he can vouch for this she's very light and she stays out of the way she just kind of chills out like you would expect a puppy like to be barking and hyper and all no barking like just chillin chill puppy you know no bouncing around no none of that no be bopping no really quick wd you got something yeah I already asked it to you earlier so I'll just pose a staring block dogs should you let them sleep in the bed yeah really yeah I wouldn't what kind of existence is owning a dog and not letting it just like I don't do whatever I don't know Josh out no no rules are dumb for dogs I mean obviously don't like don't like you know also I probably poop in the house I'd probably crush the dog if the dogs in the bed in this case yes you know what I'm worried a snake is gonna eat willow get her up a very elevated crib full circle this segment went now that's a terrifying thing to think about thanks for putting that thought in my head Darren Bhatt it's good to see you and we'll talk to you next week sounds good see you guys