I Wish I Would Buy A Blue Check Mark

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 sails. It's time for The Drive with Josh Graham. We've made it to a Friday Drive WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad where even though the day was Will Leviss' pro day at Kentucky, and once again there are the videos of him and Frank Reich chopping it up as if they're college buddies, we're not even welcoming a scenario that Leviss is the pick. Same for Anthony Richardson at Florida. Carolina did not give up all that stuff including DJ Moore in order to get the number one pick just to draft a guy who might have fallen to them at their original spot at number nine.

So really, it's either gonna be CJ Stroud or Bryce Young. But frankly, you're not drafting either of those guys based on anything that they did or didn't do this week. This week wasn't about that. What this week was really about was David Tepper.

And the last five days have been The David Tepper Show. This month and a half period from the moment Carolina made the trade for the number one pick until draft night the last week of April where we hear that glorious sound WD. You know what that sound is? I don't think any network specifically owns that sound but it's one of the best underrated sounds in sports. You hear it on ESPN, you hear it on the NFL Network. I've never been to the draft but I can imagine it's something that you hear when the draft picks are made or else it's a pretty underwhelming experience to watch it in person.

I'm of course talking about those chimes. Until you hear that on draft night, the Carolina Panthers are relevant. This month and a half was part of the appeal for trading up to the number one pick.

Carolina is now the center of the NFL discussion. Who are they gonna take? Who do they like more? I hear they like this guy.

Oh this is what Frank Reich's all about. David Tepper loves this stuff. He loves to be in the spotlight and it's the first time in five years of being the owner that his team is truly relevant. And this week the Panthers have treated this entire week like it is a show. Like it is a spectacle. Pro Days shouldn't really be a spectacle. It certainly shouldn't be about the teams that are showing up to watch the players but this week it was that for the Panthers. The only thing missing was a tour bus. That's the only thing.

It would have been the only thing that could have made this week more of a show for the Panthers as if it was a reality TV show where it was filmed on a Madden Cruiser. Cruising across the country. Here we are with Columbus.

Now we're here in Tuscaloosa. We're coming to your city Monday. You had the Frank Reich Scott Fitterer press conference where they told us next to nothing. Tuesday they're in Columbus having dinner with CJ Stroud. Darren Gant told us that he got the sea bass and washed it down with a strawberry lemonade. Important information there.

All about the content. Wednesday Stroud had the Pro Day and then they flew down to Tuscaloosa to have dinner with Bryce Young who apparently had scallops. Yesterday Young had the throw day. At night they met with Will Leviss and today Will Leviss had his Pro Day. And they rolled a dozen deep at every single one of these Pro Days. And it wasn't just David Tepper. It was David Tepper's wife with him, Nicole Tepper.

Nobody has ever seen anything like this. Todd McShea says, he said the only time he's ever seen an owner at a Pro Day was Dan Schneider when they took Robert Griffin III over a decade ago. That was 11 years ago. McShea's been on the draft for decades now and that's the only time he can remember seeing that. And he didn't say that Dan Schneider brought his wife. And certainly they didn't go to four or five of these Pro Days.

But they're gonna do the same thing for Anthony Richardson. And who knows, maybe they'll stop in to see, I don't know, what's going on at George's Pro Day because they want a little bit more attention. But this is the part that concerns me about all this. The content age and being at every Pro Day, that's one thing and that's fine.

It's good for radio shows such as this one. So we're not complaining about that. What concerns me is that Tepper owns the team. Which means if David Tepper wants one specific player, he will get what he wants. Even if the football people disagree with him. Remember, David Tepper once told Ron Rivera in his last year to change the defensive formation that they played.

They were either a 3-4 or 4-3 and they switched based on something that Tepper told Rivera based on several reports. Same dude. Same dude on a whim that gave Matt Ruhl a seven-year contract because god forbid he got on a plane to the New York Giants.

Same dude. You don't think he's gonna get the quarterback that he wants? Even if there's a disagreement with Frank Reich and Scott Fitterer? I don't know. Thomas Dubitrop was on Rich Eisen, which you could listen to daily on WSJS. He's the former Falcons GM and he spoke to. As somebody who knows the dynamic of having a top pick and you know having to please the owner and take what ownership wants too into account, that's something that he brought up with Rich. I'm feeling it's a shroud. I'm feeling it's a shroud but in the back of my mind it keeps knocking on my door that this is a winner and they've had you know they've been looking for winners and remember this David Tepper doesn't mind. He's brought in all types of quarterbacks over the last what five years?

Right. So I don't think he's completely personally dissuaded by the size himself. Frank Reich might not want to take the risk. David Tepper's the guy who has brass testicles on his desk as a hedge fund manager that made his billions plural taking risk like drafting a Bryce Young.

So that's the one piece of this that concerns me. This week has been the David Tepper show. Let's hope draft night when we hear the chimes, when we hear this glorious sound, that it's actually the football people that are in charge of the decision. Will Dalton is the executive producer of this show and a Panthers fan who has something to say about this.

Don't we think potentially David Tepper's kind of learned by now he should listen to the football people after some of those trials and tribulations you just spoke about? To quote a movie that you watched last week for the first time, maybe. Maybe not. Yeah. I hope so.

Maybe yeah. From The Departed. Because Fitterer seems like he knows what he's doing. Love Wahlberg's character.

Don't know any Shakespeare. I think they know what they're doing but it's David Tepper's football team. David Tepper wants one guy. Just like we have conviction on who they should take. You don't think he's a human being and wants to take somebody too?

He's actually going to dinner with these guys. So if there's disagreement, if it comes down to it, David Tepper owns the team. He can get the guy that he wants. Shifting things though, earlier today Hubert Davis received the best news that he's gotten since North Carolina's season ended abruptly in Greensboro and that is RJ Davis is officially returning for a senior season in Chapel Hill. And even though RJ isn't as popular among Carolina fans as Armando Bacot, we might be partly responsible for that by the way, RJ is the one irreplaceable player on this roster. He's the one guy they didn't just want back. They needed him back.

There was no path to optimism. There is no path to optimism for next year for Carolina basketball without RJ being back in the fold. Having Armando back?

Armando! That's nice but it's not absolutely essential the way that having RJ is. They like Jalen Washington a lot in the post. He actually can shoot it and that's something that Hubert wants from every player on the floor. Bacot doesn't really shoot it much but having him back it wasn't certainly his fault the reason why things went bad last year when Carolina's been inconsistent. That's the type of player you want to have in your program. I'm certainly happy that he is returning to Chapel Hill but RJ he has the pen the potential to be an all-American combo guard. Perhaps he might be taking a play out of the playbook of a Marquis Noel who we watched last night at K-State. Huh, what do they have in common? Six feet and smaller. Guard from New York does a little bit of everything.

Yeah, a bit overlooked a bit. RJ can do that. I don't know if New York City has any regionals next year, any elite eights, super sweet 16s, anything like that but if they do let's hope that RJ gets a chance to play in Madison Square Garden but they have absolutely nobody in this backcourt nobody that is remotely as good or as consistent as RJ has been for the North Carolina Tar Heels in almost every category defensively with the steals the way he can rebound his three-point shooting percentage 36% from three which might not sound great but when you look at what Caleb loves in the last few years it's pretty good which speaking of Caleb love now Hubert needs to have the uncomfortable conversation with Caleb. Is he capable of having that? Is he capable of telling Caleb to walk? Because in order for RJ to reach his ceiling and in turn North Carolina to reach its ceiling as a team, RJ he needs a true point guard to be alongside him in the backcourt. He'd be so good if he was working off ball and able to focus on three-point shooting rather than trying to run the point and constantly being worried whether he'll get the ball back from Caleb Love who has just been a black hole since he arrived on campus in the way of sometimes the ball just go his way and it ain't coming back it's a black hole the shots going up it might not be a pretty shot that's the Caleb Love experience but today is a great day Carolina fans say that all the time it's a great day to be a Tar Heel it legitimately is that today when you get the news of RJ returning it's fantastic news for the Tar Heels. B-Dot will be in studio with us in about 15 minutes. This week we got a new puppy her name's Willow and the first week I was told make sure you're around the dog all the time make sure it's not by itself it has separation anxiety you usually see that in smaller dogs so Willow is in the office today and I just got a text a video of Willow discovering a mirror in our office and wanting to fight the dog in the mirror don't you love it when that happens it's outstanding I love that dog so much now let's recap the week in the most efficient way possible by keeping it simple five words or less that's all Josh gets to tell you where your favorite teams are at it's as marvelous and as simple as that let's keep it simple right five words or less and then a few more words after that generally trying to cut down on the amount of gas bagging I do the amount of what's a better word for it I'm just long-winded this segment tries to prevent that even though I'm kind of doing that right now let's get a dance break in here what a busy week it's been I forgot about all the Calipari stuff and Mike the course he's laugh filling up the room at the Greensboro Coliseum well it's been a couple weeks since we've been in the club so people are anxious to get in that's right is he the door long line outside the door only we're not letting everybody in you know nerds we're keeping them out waiting near the red velvet got a big bouncer outside the door okay what do we got what's the first thing since it's been a couple weeks since we've done this why not try and sum up the reason for that the ACC tournament the NCAA first and second rounds and just everything at the Greensboro Coliseum in five words the best you can Greensboro is really tournament town not a joke that's an expression that people say oh yeah you just call yourself tournament town that's cute no tournament town is you don't have any local teams at the NCAA tournament yet 17,000 people show up to watch Kansas State play Kentucky that's title that is tournament town that's what it's about and the workers there who have worked dozens upon dozens of these types of tournament the type of accommodations you get the type of hospitality you get is unlike other places and the building itself the Coliseum it's a building that was literally built for watching basketball and you still feel that every single time you walk in it the Carolina Panthers entourage going to CJ Stroud Bryce Young will let us today Anthony Richardson next week pro week Stroud should be the guy and it's not based really on pro day week that's been a spectacle it's been a show but Stroud just seems like the perfect Frank Reich quarterback brought Frank Reich in find a guy that Frank Reich you know but generally would have success in Frank Reich's offenses every quarterback he's coached all of them pretty much are six four or taller are you really gonna bring in the 5 foot 10 guy who's a buck 85 to be his quarterback when you could pick up the six three quarterback with a howitzer from Ohio State Frank Reich he's strong in his faith so is CJ Stroud they both let that know let that be known publicly I just think there there was a lot of alignment there and there's a lot less risk with Stroud which is good for a team that gave up so much to get to the number one pick so he should be the guy Dabo's shot at Winston sample Dabo clearly lacks self-awareness for two reasons number one you're gonna take a shot at saying a we only get to go to places like Winston Salem we want to go play in Ireland or in Hawaii you chose the wrong city why not just take a shot at your rival was right down the road in Colombia that would have played better then make you fun of Winston Salem when you live in Clemson that was a troll 13 times the size of Clemson South Carolina like we were talking to Terrence Oglesby he's a Clemson guy do you know where he lives not Clemson listen Greenville South Carolina that's where everybody lives that's where everybody stays who goes to Clemson no one lives in Clemson really because Clemson is not a great place if not for the university there'd be no reason to go there Winston Salem there are some things to actually do in Winston Salem so that's the first reason why it lacked self-awareness the second reason you're really gonna complain about what the basketball team gets when you're the football coach at Clemson like the running joke is that knowing supports or cares about Clemson basketball relative to Clemson football there and you're gonna go out publicly saying Brad Brownell gets to take his players to Hawaii why don't I get to do that why as a team schedule a home-and-home Debo you won't make it happen come on I guess I couldn't talk about pro day without bringing up Cam Newton's pro day it's the end or ham I hate to say that because I love Cam Newton I would love watching him play I loved how much of a showman he was he certainly was a gift for this radio show there's no doubt about that and this is just a sad desperate move I'm gonna go throw at Auburn's pro day so I could get NFL scouts looking at me again it's not good and the Instagram video wasn't much better he said there aren't 32 quarterbacks better than me yeah you're right there are probably 40 probably 50 quarterbacks that are better than you right now because you don't have the thing that makes you great anymore the physical part of your game that was made clear with cam second tour of duty with Matt rule at the end of the 21 season and lastly and now RJ Davis staying with the Tar Heels that is really significant news it is and it more than offsets the other transfers this is something I want to talk with B dot about this idea the Tar Heels oh man the losing all these guys they're losing Tyler nickel the losing puff Johnson the losing Dontre styles Hubert doesn't think these guys are any good so why should we Oh Josh that's not being fair really when three of the four guys didn't play more than ten minutes a game why should I care whether or not they're in Chapel Hill or not you know hey Hubert now has roster spots to potentially find dudes that could play 20 minutes a game in the portal like Armando like I think it's really good news and anybody who is suggesting it Hubert has lost control of his program or whatever with some of the guys transferring out I think that's far from the truth I really did let's get one more dance break damn burgers corner stone of in the nutritious money oh that was so fun to put together a triad this is Rich Eisen catch me this evening it's six for the Rich Eisen show now back to the drive with Josh Graham there's a lot going on around here B dots in studio six man of the Tar Heels just met willow the dog did just meet willow she's a great puppy yeah she's like a s'more she's like a four-legged s'more like a little snowball yeah we've got grammar school in about 15 minutes wd watched Pulp Fiction for the first time this week we need to figure out what movie he's gonna watch next week and to make it pretty easy for us wd has a poster show off your poster to those watching on YouTube twitch and Twitter where after each movie you watch you get to scratch something off and a picture emerges wd when we started this you had about 10 scratched off how many do you have scratched off now 31 out of a hundred he's got 31 that's all right we're doing a service for wd so that top row how does it read the movies that you've already seen now the top row I've seen Shawshank Redemption I've seen The Godfather I've seen The Dark Knight watched Pulp Fiction Pulp Fiction the other night The Lord of the Rings I've seen and I've seen Forrest Gump pretty good now give me a list of movies that are on this poster that you have not seen to give B dot some options of movies that you definitely probably should watch we need to get to jaws gladiator as it seemed you haven't seen glad I haven't seen gladiator dot that's one of the ones that's my type of movie though those medieval type time period oh yeah what else Big Lebowski we've been talking about that one for a while oh I've never seen that that's like um that's like the white person's Friday really that's right it is it yeah every every white person I know loves the Big Lebowski every black person I know has never seen I'm so interested it's a great movie it's a really good comedy we've also got Fight Club that we need to get to amazing I like that description I hadn't thought of that before it was off the cup I the more I think about it it is the white person's Friday mm-hmm no country for old men never seen it never even standing movie I've heard of it but I've never seen it was the two best movies in 2007 which is probably one of the best movie years of the last 20 years this one best picture over there will be blood it was shot in the same town at some points so some days they had to stop shooting because of something else that was happening in the town and those were the two best movies that year Inception I've seen Inception don't remember Inception remember Inception being good okay I think you have enough to choose between what does he need to see out of those jaws gladiator it's got to be between gladiator a fight club for me gladiator or fight what do you know about these movies I don't know anything about them do you know who's in any of these movies is uh is Mel Gibson in gladiator no that's Braveheart have you seen Braveheart no I told you need to watch I think that's on here too somewhere definitely need to watch Braveheart yeah that's one of my favorites like that's on my mouth what's more culturally relevant gladiator or fight club what do you hear more references fight club fight club absolutely hmm like they had it was a like it was an underground fight club Josh Graham it was unreal or was it fight club it is there you go there's your movie for next week yeah like club we figured it out now let's get the North Carolina and to college basketball right now sweet 16 action later on tonight on WSJS last night Tennessee loss Rick Barnes has been the 27 NCAA tournaments and once out of those 27 tournaments has he outperformed his seed has it been as far as the Elite Eight or has it been to an Elite Eight in 15 years has been to one final four and it was 20 years ago do you know why Tar Heel fans don't like Rick Barnes mm-hmm that would be a fun Google going back to him and Dean Smith shouting at each other on the bench I think I was that in the Smith Center yeah yeah Clemson it was at Clemson oh no he was coaching class oh yeah I think they told me about it like in passing one day on social media on Twitter that's a fun one to learn about getting to the Tar Heels though the pessimism rooted from players who decided to enter the portal I thought was premature I thought it was actually kind of funny with respect to Justin McCoy Puff Johnson Tyler Nichol and who am I forgetting Dontrez Stiles with respect to those guys Hubert didn't think any of those guys were game-changing players none of the four and here's how I know that they didn't average 20 minutes a game Puff was the only one that averaged double digits a game I made this point yesterday folks used to get mad at Roy for playing rotations that were too wide why are we giving Luke May these types of minutes this guy can't play only to get burned when Luke May hits the shot in Memphis and it turns out Roy knew what he was doing now it's the exact opposite and many of those same people that were complaining about rotations being too wide are now complaining about not enough players are playing and they're saying oh well he's lost control these guys are transferring out oh my goodness I'm like well Hubert's told you how he felt about these players it's not hard to figure out who he thinks is a dude he'd play him and now he has roster spots unlike last year he had to wait for Kerwin to go into the portal in order to try and find somebody and he might have lost out on the potential to get some players that would have been better than Pete Nance if he had the ability to do so he now has the opportunity with those roster spots vacated by players who weren't playing anyway to find guys who might be game-changing players that was my reaction to what North Carolina's done the fans were just emotional we came off a season where we didn't make the tournament Josh and then you got guys leaving this is a this is new like why would you ever want to leave Carolina is the thought process from the average Carolina Tar Heel fan and players like puff like you've been in the Smith Center when puff checks into a game just gonna walk into the scores table sends the crowd into eruption because of his name he's a fan favorite his hair his brother he's all of that but the fact of the matter is he's a fan favorite sure when you think about Dontreuss you think about the things that you were told about him before he got here it's almost like seventh woods all the accolades that he had built up about his athleticism before he got here and still not to be able to see any of that it's like dang when you talk about the Carolina family we think the family is supposed to be there and forever like you are Tar Heel through and through you graduate or you go into the league you don't transfer and go to another team but the reason why you ask why would you ever leave Carolina well the same reason why kids transferred in 1985 because they want to play more right that's not changed people are saying all the portals changed everything that what we're seeing with Carolina that's not different but it's not right the portal has changed things in the idea Josh that if the the thing that they should change in the portal if somebody said it on Twitter I really agree with it that when you transfer you have to sit out a year now you don't now you don't so that makes you just so I'm not even gonna stick out my situation here I'm just gonna go but the motivation is the same the motivation is the same but the reality is that they have to sit out a year it wouldn't be as many people jumping into the portal because they would just stay in their situation and make their situation work which is usually what they should do anyway if Hubert Davis I know you want Caleb love to return I do if this is my stance if Caleb love plays college basketball next year I want him to be a Tar Heel and I think he's going to play college basketball right so let's say Hubert Davis disagrees with that let's say Hubert Davis wants Caleb love to leave right do you think he's capable of having that conversation with Caleb because that's a tough one where you're like can he tell Caleb listen it's best for you it's best for me that we go in a different direction if that is in fact the way Hubert feels I'm not sure I couldn't speak that to that point of Hubert I really don't know because that I don't know that yeah cuz Hubert is this guy just seems like I'm gonna believe in you no matter what all these things and if Caleb wants to return I think he would let him return agree and I think it's best for Carolina that he goes and I don't know if Hubert's capable of having that uncomfortable I don't know if it's best for Carolina if he goes like everybody is harping on this last season Caleb has had three seasons last season was a forgettable season for Caleb love I think he would say that I didn't think it was great all three years but the two years before that he was he was fine like the two years before that the first year he swept do remember if you look at a savage in the face that was the first year the second year he is the biggest shot in the rivalry he's fine the third year was a slouch year like I think that this has been the first year where he's really had this much that chip on his shoulder and if he was to come back for a senior year four years I think it would be a different type of Caleb love an aggressive Caleb love that will be beneficial for this program I think coach HD is a part of that Carolina family and of course if HD I mean if uh just like Armando you say he doesn't even want Armando in that spot but I'm not saying he doesn't want him in a spot but like to your point he wants a shooting big and that's not Armando so he sort of grandfathered in at this time if he wouldn't tell Armando Armando's best for you to leave he wouldn't do that I don't think no it'll be interesting we'll learn something in the next week we're gonna take B dots gonna take me to grammar school next on the drive do I need to break it down one time yep as I walk through the shadow of the valley of W Dean knows the movie improve the mood in the building yeah improve morale and when it's one more time by Daft Punk oh yeah that was yesterday got him fired up this song and rocky top that'll do the trick B dots in studio dot you could see him at the Greensboro swarm games as they close things out this weekend big time big time man been a full season we sucked it up boy tough year for the Hornets and the swarm mm-hmm but building for greater things ahead there are only eight games left for the Hornets this year they're pretty much locked into the fourth worst record in the NBA which means they'll have a twelve and a half percent chance of getting the number one pick which is a 1.5 percent chance 1.1 1.5 percent chance fewer than what the bottom three teams get so they write there and there's a chance oh I know they have a really good chance mmm versus they've just as almost just as much of the chance as anybody at getting the number one pick at the top come on number one pick the hornets have the number one pick and the Panthers that'd be kind of a big deal when the Josh Graham is that ever had our let speak that into existence I just did brother now let's go to grammar school Josh Graham has his own way of speaking and just when you think it can't get any worse Josh is going to attempt to learn B dots vernacular I'm gonna put one in the air it's time for B dots grammar school brought to you by heritage hardwood floors when it comes to flooring they have no ceiling damn right they don't heritage hardwood floors have been providing superior craftsmanship Josh Graham to homeowners businesses and educational institutions since 2005 did you know that I did not how about this did you know they can help you choose and install a wide range of quality flooring options like hardwood luxury vinyl and waterproof laminate see given all that you've said about them in the last few months I figured they did that did you know that they also offer expert hardwood floor refinishing to bring your hardwood floors back to life if you scuffed them up and stuff like that that's pretty dope and they do it with high-end customer service and personal touch that you Josh Graham and others deserve they stand behind the products they sell and their craftsmanship Josh Graham is guaranteed they got employees over there too I don't know if y'all know that if anybody's looking for a job these employees over there they've been over there for 60 years of combined experience installing and refinishing a wide variety of hardwood floors I'm talking about heritage hardwood floors I got my caustic question for you let's go if you're ready to go we'll fire this thing off as I mentioned WD watched Pulp Fiction for the first time this week he's gonna watch Fight Club over the next week which he hasn't seen before John Travolta had a great performance in Pulp Fiction can you name one of John Travolta's characters in Pulp Fiction in any movie that he's ever done can you give me the name of a John Travolta character give me a second give me a second give me a second give me a second um because one of my favorite moves talk us out we want to talk movies real quick yeah what do you know that he's in of course face-off face that's one of my favorite movies of all time yeah with him and Nicolas Cage right yeah yeah yeah but I can't but I know that he was an officer because he went in and tried to fake like he was Nicolas Cage and then he got trapped but what was he was Sean officer Sean something Sean come on come on Sean Archer Sean Archer Archer it was I'll give you credit for Sean will you that's pretty good I think you got a face-off I thought you might go to Danny Zuko and grease or no I've never seen grease or trying to think what else Saturday Night Fever maybe never face-off is amazing all right here we go Josh Graham today Josh Graham we're gonna teach you some stuff okay great aren't using stuff in sort of sentences and things of nature but you're sort of learning today is my daughter's birthday happy birthday yeah Ryan turns 11 today Ryan's 11 yeah and you have a 16 year old now absolutely he'll be 17 this year yes I'm getting a little long in the tooth so we're gonna be back to birthdays in a second but before we get there have you seen on Twitter they're trying to make you buy a blue check yes I saw that so I put these letters down put these letters Josh Brown okay I W I W P F ABC I W I W P F ABC what does that mean none of those are curse words I won't in you didn't help them with this one did you WD no I did not you have any idea what this stands for I'm not sure yet I W I W P F ABC this is almost like a Wi-Fi password almost a little bit three three six seven seven seven one six hundred I thought about this because when I put it on Twitter there were certain people it was like I knew exactly what that was and there were other people actually in group chat saying I can't get it tell it to me and then those people were more times than not of the car cash stick persuasion and it was very funny to me so I said I'm gonna use that on grammar school today again we're talking about the blue checks on Twitter they're trying to make people pay for a blue check on Twitter I put I W I W P F ABC I will in pay for a blue check mark I know I know but I'm trying to figure it out WD help me finish that what's the first four I got pay for a blue check mark what do you think the first four letters are I wish I would I wish I would pay for a blue check mark that is correct all right it is my daughter's birthday okay Josh to get this next point all you have to do is when I sing happy birthday you have to finish it out singing the black version you got it happy birthday to cut the music please wd happy birthday to you cha-cha-cha no no happy birthday to you shut up happy birthday dear Ryan happy birthday to you and then the black four jump in and say how old are you now how old are you now see that sounds called casting that's very very that's like what goes on in the back room and golden corral when they have to get together second golden corral reference for you this week is that where you want to go he said no it's why I used to go growing up there's having 12 or 14 people at all these meetings how are they sitting at the table he thought it'd be like one of those circular golden corral tables it was fresh in my mind that's what I that's probably where they took will let us last night now golden corral how do we turn up on the birthday song at the end of that happy birthday to you three three six seven seven seven one six hundred if you would like to call up if you listen and you immediately went into it started clapping and everything if you would like to help Josh Graham out and be a lifeline for him today three three six is the area code seven seven seven one six hundred go Ryan go Ryan just end it just is that your final ads yeah just give me an X happy birthday all right now for your final point Josh Graham for your final point do you know sings the song first of all no you have no clue who sings this song I don't think I could have done that for you but I'm gonna let you hear the voice person here's voice listen you know who that is no clue that is Wow that Lionel Richie no Stevie Wonder geez I get them confused by the way they're clearly all right now Stevie Wonder made this birthday song for what activists in the 60s what activists would he make this song for in the 60s Stevie Wonder made this song for a very very very prominent activist told you were gonna learn something today who was that activist activist yep activist there's an activist he was a preacher Martin Luther King there you go there you go brother passing grade passing grade you got two out of three correct man Stevie Wonder made this birthday song and we sing it all the time he made that for dr. Martin Luther King when we started celebrating his birthday as a federal holiday happy birthday Ryan thanks so much for being here and happy birthday to Ryan before we get to picking the games on this rhinestone cowboy Friday NCAA tournament picks went two and two last night a quick word for the haters there are some out there that just hate college sports they don't think it should exist even folks in the media you can tell who they are oh I don't watch college basketball even in March I might watch sometimes but the product isn't so good is what you will hear the product it is inferior to what we see in the NBA for all the negativity that's out there nothing touches March Madness and yesterday was just evidence of that again where you have this perception about the product and then here's K State and Michigan State hitting 50% of their threes across didn't across an entire game and Marquis Noel the players aren't as good as they were back in my day okay how many guys have dropped 19 assists in an NCAA tournament game nobody you know guys stuck around for four years Marquis Noel has been there I think this is his third season at K State he's an older player you know fantastic game that went to overtime Gonzaga and UCLA guys don't stick around drew Timmy has yummy jacquez jr. has you talk about Tiger Campbell he has what a finish that was last night you have upset always delivers every single year they say there aren't stars in college basketball drew Timmy had 36 last night Noel 20 points and 19 assists it's amazing these guys are stars now and the ratings they are still soaring CBS and Turner announced last weekend that they're first and second rounds highest ratings ever for first and second round games and this is why I always laugh at the idea of Oh college basketball has to worry about G league ignite if to worry about whatever the overtime elite league with respect to the Greensboro swarm who finished their season tonight and tomorrow they've had a rough year because the Hornets frankly have had a tough year I don't think anybody ever is going to say you know what the the Greensboro swarm I need to make sure to watch them over watching a big college basketball program I'm sorry the the history the pedigree it's not there oh these great players they're gonna decide to play in the G League let them and let them ride a bus in Rio Grande have fun with that and watch watch them play in buildings that are half full college basketball is playing at MSG and they're putting on a show and a well is a massive star and these ratings they're going through the roof college basketball is still a great sport that's still in a great place so I'm tired of hearing about Oh back in the day when the transfer portal wasn't a thing back in the day when Ralph was going up against Michael and Lynn it's still good now find me a game in the 80s that was as great or as significant as Duke in North Carolina in the final four last year I'll wait not always better when you go into the past with that in mind let's pick some games for tonight tomorrow and on Sunday and we start with the sweet 16 games that you can listen to right here on WSJS starting in less than one hour San Diego State faces Alabama and how about this WD I'm going with the Aztecs give me the Aztecs to upset Alabama the tide has not played a team that can push them physically yet in this tournament San Diego State can do that that is their calling card remember Bama was held to under 60 points by Tennessee when they played each other in February they haven't played a team that could shut people down like that San Diego State can plus think last night toss taught us how overrated the SEC is Arkansas got rolled by Yukon and Tennessee the aforementioned Vols lost to Florida Atlantic and a sweet 16 game Bama goes down Paul second game Houston in Miami I get labeled as being an ACC homer but even I can't pick the Miami Hurricanes to beat Houston tonight no sir re the ACC run ends and the sweet 16 the canes they are a good shooting team but they are a finesse team and Houston is not they've got adults they play an incredibly bruising brand of basketball it's a bad matchup and for the first time this tournament they are fully healthy according to Kelvin Sampson I think is bad news for the Hurricanes and Jim Larranaga night cap Creighton all these games are at night but this is the one that's supposed to start at nine o'clock Creighton Princeton should be the game of the night because Princeton's not a fluke this is a seeding error Princeton should not have been a 15 seed they dictated how that game against Arizona was played and they did the same thing against Mizzou and last I checked Arizona's higher rank than Creighton is I think Princeton can win this basketball game but I think the Blue Jays figure things out at the end the Big East has all sorts of teams that play all sorts of different styles I think that's gonna be an advantage for the Blue Jays I think they hold on in a great 15-6 game who would have thought in the sweet 16 we'd be talking about Princeton versus Creighton being an awesome tournament game I think that's what we get I really do out in Louisville and the last game on tonight's slate is Texas and Xavier this is a coin flip it could go either way I hate to pick one of these two sides but I gotta Texas they are the more talented team there without Chris Beard this interim coach I like the shades that he wears or the glasses that he wears during games seems to have a good personality that's a guy you need to remove the interim tag off of considering where they're at especially if they win this game I wasn't all that impressed with watching Xavier in Greensboro they advanced through but they did so by narrow margins and many points I like Texas to get past Xavier tomorrow in the elite 8k state is facing Florida Atlantic can the ride continue for cusa and the owls no the purple Wildcats from Manhattan Kansas in Manhattan the Big Apple New York advanced to their first final four since 1964 which is crazy because only blue bloods have gone to more elite eights than K state has historically a K state has gotten to this point a number of times for elite eights in the last 35 years since the tournament expanded they've had a lot of success but haven't been able to punch through that final door I think they do that with this lovable team that reminds me a lot of Yukon teams we've seen in the past decade and change Kimba Walker Shabazz Napier winning titles speaking of Yukon I'm done picking against the Huskies I did it yesterday egg on face Yukon won in a route they've blown out every team that they played so far in this tournament I don't know if they blow out Gonzaga but we're talking about Gonzaga in the tournament I felt nervous picking them last night and they made me nervous even though they were up 10 with two and a half left to go we're going with the Huskies we're going with the Big East advancing to the final four Yukon getting by Gonzaga last two games for us to pick Creighton facing San Diego State as we all thought in the elite eight and Houston meeting Texas and an all-lone star state matchup to try and get to Houston starting with Creighton San Diego State I think the Blue Jays have just a little bit more offense both teams like to play inside out but the Blue Jays have just a little bit more offense to get by we saw it against the Wolfpack that they're really difficult to handle when they get catch the ball near the basket I think they're gonna be able to do that in a way that Alabama will struggle with tonight two Big East teams gonna get to the final four this year it's been a big year for the Big East the Blue Jays they're gonna continue dancing and then Houston will beat Texas to get to their hometown hosting the final four what a story that is people talked about it all year can Houston host a final four and have the Cougars there Jim Nance is a Houston alum following the Cougars and his final ride through March he's gonna be calling his alma mater in his final final four of course he's going to that's what we've got my final four predictions updated looking to the weekend out of the top left region Creighton in the Big East top right region Houston bottom left region Kansas State and then the bottom right UConn off the top of my head that is a one seed a six seed a four seed and a three seed advancing to Houston